Connected again!

[deborahjross]

Our area has been without power since about 4 pm on Wednesday. It's not unusual for that to happen for several days at a time every winter; this is a hilly, forested area and high winds blow down big tree-parts, boom! across roads and power lines and such. Normally, it's not biggie for our standby generator. Except this time, said generator failed to generate. So we got out candles, kerosene lantern, flashlights, and made up a fire in the fireplace. The repair person was in the area, and he got it started. We trundled along quite happily until yesterday suppertime, when the generator again decided it was not going to generate. Fortunately, dinner was hot, candles were to hand, and both our laptops had enough power so we had interesting things to do until bedtime. Power has now been restored, and things that have batteries are re-charging. The generator is due for a check up, not to mention a severe talking-to.

I am struck by how comfortable we were. We weren't cold, we had plenty of food, even without digging into our emergency no-cooking-need supplies, and a means to make hot tea this morning (a propane-powered cooker-thingie that would also have provided stir-frying wherewithal for tonight's dinner). We had running water (even hot showers, because our water heater is gas) and working toilets. This morning, we had plenty of things to do that did not require electricity: taking the dog for a walk, playing piano, sweeping up storm debris, working in the garden, reading a book... Our landline telephone worked. Our neighbors chatted with us and those with functional generators offered to run extension cords across the street if we really needed anything.

Still, it's nice to be in touch via the intarwebs again.

Comments

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

It's good to hear you were able to cope without power. :)

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

I'm delighted by how many wonderful things there are to do that don't require electricity.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're back! I'm impressed by how prepared you were for an extended outage.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

We live in earthquake territory, so a certain amount of preparedness is a good idea. We are not, however, as ready as we should be for a quake that knocks out power, natural gas, water, and access to the "outer world" for more than a few days at a time. That is, we have emergency food that doesn't need to be cooked, some medical supplies, am radio, batteries, stored water, candles and the like, but not enough for say, 2-3 weeks. At that point, the whole neighborhood gets together. I hope. We'd be better off with a switchover on our generator so we could use propane, and have a propane tank. Also rain capture water storage system. But those have migrated down on the priority list. Risk assessment is a strange thing.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Goodness: I'm glad the generator co-operated at least some of the time, if only so you could have warm food. I can do without power for a fair while, but the lack of warm drinks/food does get to me.
Clean running water is the single greatest blessing of the modern age.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

In the house I bought myself in Boulder Creek, we lost power for about 5 days in the winter, during one of those rare times when it snows. Rose and I and our Japanese exchange student were okay during the day, at work/school, and we had enough hot water in the tank for very very short showers. Propane fireplace insert gave enough heat, and it was fun reading by candle light. I brought take-out on the way home for hot dinners. When that wore thin, my office manager opened her home to us for hot showers and a kitchen in which to make a real meal. What a relief.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I'm glad you had such a kind office manager.