We were without power for 8 days. I have to admit, we were very well prepared for the subsistence angle: we have city water which stayed with us for the duration, and we had a lot of alternative heating sources which we used to cook, heat water and our home.
We did not, however, anticipate the effect of the dark and cold on us. Even with the wood stove burning for 6 days straight, we never got the living room above 63 degrees F even during the day; usually it hovered around 57 F. With the light fading at 3.30 and dark falling at 4.30, there wasn't a great deal we could see to do in one room by candlelight. Too dim to read or knit or even color, we had to entertain ourselves in other ways.
We used to own five oil lamps, but the moving company required us to leave those behind when we came across country. We'd never replaced them because they'd always been a novelty item, something we used infrequently. They did shed much better light than our little camping light!
The power took with it the phone, as we have cable telephone service, and my cell phones, as I have no car charger for my cell phone. With the grid disrupted, when my phone was charged, it still roamed a lot more than usual. P-daddy still had his, so he would call my friends, who would in turn hear from me. It was convoluted because Qwest sucks like that and my phone wasn't ringing the whole time. But that's another post.
The kids slept in their own rooms under heavy blankets, as did we. When P-Daddy had to leave for a busines strip, the kids all slept with me. That was the coldest night, 24 degrees outside. The stove stayed stoked for 6 days until the pine finally took it's toll on me and I could no longer fight the bronchitis. We stayed two nights with a friend, returning home to pack to go to a hotel. As I sorted clothes, the power returned.
This series starts with pix from when the outage was still fun.
Day three: Storm's Aftermath
We did not, however, anticipate the effect of the dark and cold on us. Even with the wood stove burning for 6 days straight, we never got the living room above 63 degrees F even during the day; usually it hovered around 57 F. With the light fading at 3.30 and dark falling at 4.30, there wasn't a great deal we could see to do in one room by candlelight. Too dim to read or knit or even color, we had to entertain ourselves in other ways.
We used to own five oil lamps, but the moving company required us to leave those behind when we came across country. We'd never replaced them because they'd always been a novelty item, something we used infrequently. They did shed much better light than our little camping light!
The power took with it the phone, as we have cable telephone service, and my cell phones, as I have no car charger for my cell phone. With the grid disrupted, when my phone was charged, it still roamed a lot more than usual. P-daddy still had his, so he would call my friends, who would in turn hear from me. It was convoluted because Qwest sucks like that and my phone wasn't ringing the whole time. But that's another post.
The kids slept in their own rooms under heavy blankets, as did we. When P-Daddy had to leave for a busines strip, the kids all slept with me. That was the coldest night, 24 degrees outside. The stove stayed stoked for 6 days until the pine finally took it's toll on me and I could no longer fight the bronchitis. We stayed two nights with a friend, returning home to pack to go to a hotel. As I sorted clothes, the power returned.
This series starts with pix from when the outage was still fun.
Day three: Storm's Aftermath
Trees on Danforth. As bad as they looked, they didn't really impact the power situation.
Cuddling after baths heated by water we boiled in the turkey fryer.
Playing continued, no matter what! It just all centered in the living room, by the woodstove.
Doesn't she look like an urchin, all smudged with soot?
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