Playing on the computer in our own ways last evening with rain and wind going on outside, suddenly, PARUNCK! (new word)  the power goes out!  I calmly turned the switch to my hard drive off and headed to the top of the stairs to make sure Sherry is alright down stairs…she is still on her computer as she has a battery backup, just no internet.  She shuts her system down and then we find ourselves sitting side by side on the couch discussing the days events.

This is a normal thing for us to do each evening, sitting there discussing what went on that day, what we were going to have for supper, what big plan we have for tomorrow and we watch the world go by outside our front windows and the shadows getting longer and longer as the daylight turns to dark.  What is not normal is the fact that the power is out.

We have a gas furnace in the house for heat, which is all well and good, unless the power is out and then the blower doesn’t work and so the furnace is worthless.  Such is the case this evening.  But, not to fear!  We have both a fireplace upstairs AND a wood burning stove in the basement!  We are good on wood and have all the necessary tools to build a nice fire if we need it.

What about food?  Supper?  We can cook hot dogs over the fire if need be.  OR we can cook whatever we want on the stove downstairs if we want and let’s not forget we have a camp trailer AND a motor home outside and both are equipped with full kitchens, including microwave, generator and battery lights.  Heck, we have it made in the shade.  OH YA, and the BBQ sitting on the patio.  Talk about made in the shade with bells on!

So, with no fear about the food issue, I pop myself another cold drink of choice and we relax and continue to watch the world outside as the natural light dims.  Sherry decides that perhaps since we can still see with the light from the outside that perhaps we should get some candles lit and maybe even open up a Christmas present of touch lights and place them around the house in case the power stays off for a couple of hours during the dark times before bed.

We are quick to find out that those wonderfully smelling candles that sit atop the heating elements of candle warmers don’t have wicks sticking up anymore.  Lots of those baby’s sitting in the pantry, and all worthless as far as candles go.  But there is one she was saving for Thanksgiving that smells like Sugared Pecan pie.  It is quickly lit and set on the window seal over the sink in the kitchen.  MMMMM smells yummy.  Another is salvaged from the candle warmer that has been heating all day and we were able to get the wick to stand up before the wax solidified.  There, two candles are lit and we are good to go.

Too bad we can’t watch the presidential debate on tv, oh well, we have better things to do, like watch the world go by outside and cuddle a bit closer as the temperature in the house begins to cool.  I’d rather not put on a sweater or coat.

There goes a Dominos car….somebody is having pizza tonight!  As for us, I will start a fire in the fireplace.

That feels nice and toasty!  I’ll get myself another beverage.

We discuss our unpreparedness and a 72 hour kit.  We have something down stairs that is called an emergency kit, but I don’t recall even opening the box.  We don’t have any water stored but we have a lot of food on the pantry shelves.  Beans, bottled fruit and tomatoes, a couple cans of Kipper snacks, more beans, some tuna…enough that we could make do for longer than 72 hours if need be.  We could even invite the neighborhood over to help us if they didn’t have enough.

So, in the end, we decide we need to have a 72 hour kit, but not have it all stored in the basement.  What if the emergency was a flood, we would not have anything because the basement would be filled with water and mud.  So we need to make our 72 hour kit and have it stored upstairs someplace.  We need some good candles, matches, flashlights, batteries, radio that runs on batteries, a battery operated clock, food upstairs enough for 72 hours and yes, water.

We could always walk down to the field and fetch water if we absolutely needed to.  Then boil it up before drinking, but it would be much easier if we has some stored to use.

Hey, look outside, there are some dark figures walking down the road.  That looks like a good thing to do on a night the power is out.  I wonder if they were the ones that had the pizza?  Is it time I broke out the hot dog sticks?  The fire is really nice right now.  Na, too early, I’ll get another beverage of choice.

I made a comment to Sherry, when the power comes back on, all this ambiance will be gone in a flash, we better enjoy it while we can.  But then, we will be able to watch the presidential debate if it’s still on.  I’ll go get some more wood for the fire.

And so, there you have what we did during the power outage last night.  I think it came back on just a bit before 9 p.m., so we were able to fix our supper of chili dogs and watch the news before retiring to bed.  What a wonderful evening.  I hope yours was just as nice.

Bears Butt

Oct. 17, 2012