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Our electricity was out for about ten hours the other day. This event happened, of course, right in the middle of Judge Joe Brown, which is my second favorite TV show right after Judge Judy. Joe Time starts at 4 pm. Judy starts yelling at people at 5. The power went out around 4:30. I missed Joe and Judy, and it is a wonder I am here today after that disappointment.
First, we revelled in our fantasyland about how this was going to be resolved any minute. Then we bothered the cousins until they called the power company. We only have a cordless phone, so we can’t call anyone when the power is out. The power company said the electricity was going to be back on at 7. This didn’t happen, of course. We sat on the porch and engaged in actual conversation (shocking!) and then we pulled out books to peruse with our flashlight. One of the books I grabbed was Country Wisdom and Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land. Ha. Just what I need. I turned to the section titled What to Do When the Power Fails. Let’s see how prepared I am!
1. Know your plumbing. Let’s just skip this one, shall we? Cuz, I mean, get serious.
2. Electrical preparedness. This one tells you how your electrical box should be clearly labeled. This is a 100-year-old farmhouse. Nothing is clearly labeled. Moving on…..
3. Gather food and supplies. We need food, water, and fuel. Okay, my car has half a tank of gas. Oh, that’s not what they mean. I think the propane was filled up recently, whew. We have food. Water is a problem. The well runs on an electric pump, so we’re out of luck. We have no water.
4. Drinking water safety and storage. Water again! Usually I keep my two 2-1/2 gallon water containers filled up at all times, but I was lax and they were empty, so leave me alone already!
5. Light. I always have candles. I lit about six or seven scented candles around the house and it smelled really good! I have one little flashlight, too, and after I finally found it, I used it to read this book.
6. Keeping warm. We’re doing good here. We have propane heat and lots of blankets. And dogs. Dogs make good heaters in bed.
7. Contact with the outside world. We went next door to the cousins’ house again later and they were sleeping. It wasn’t even bedtime! Apparently some people take naps to get through power outages. So we used their non-cordless working phone to call everyone we knew. We were bored.
8. Transportation. I had half a tank of gas!! I was ready to roll!!
So does that count for five out of eight? More or less? Maybe I should have read that section before the power went out? I wonder if they have a section on driving in high water?
Never mind. Stupid book!
Posted by Suzanne McMinn | Permalink
