Friday, July 13, 2012

8 Days without Power!

Our power went out on June 29 due to the historic derecho storm.  I remember I got an alert on my iPad about 15 minutes before that a severe thunderstorm was going to hit.  I didn't think much about it but when the wind started to pick up, I knew this was really different.  The trees swayed back and forth more than I had ever seen.  We stood on the bottom deck and heard a crack and saw the hickory fall and lean over the driveway.  The photo above was taken several days later.  I went into the basement because I thought it was a tornado or something worse.


My husband had two generators going--a smaller one for the refrigerator, TV, computers, and lights and a larger one for the water pump and hot water heater.   The first night we ran the small generator while we slept.  That was a mistake since it must have overloaded because the extension cord melted!  After that, we didn't run any at night and enjoyed the peace and quiet.   We would put the freezer stuff in a cooler packed with ice and put frozen water bottles in the fridge to keep the other food cold.  So, we didn't lose too much food.

I cooked on a camp stove outside enjoying the sounds of wood thrushes. On July 4, I made blackberry syrup on the camp stove instead of my usual cobbler.   All in all, we didn't fare too badly.

Our power was restored last Saturday, July 7.  Many in our county didn't have their power restored until days later so we felt somewhat fortunate.

On Wednesday, we had a guy cut the hickory tree down and then saw the lower part into logs for the woodstove.  Steve chainsawed the upper part and we stacked up the logs to dry for about a year. He also cut up a black cherry tree back up on the land so at least we will get a lot of firewood out of the storm.

My husband also went over to  the Amish community to buy his granola he likes there.   The Amish were not affected by the power outage because they don't hook up to the power grid.   They use generators, gas, wind and solar and are quite independent.   We could learn a thing or two from them.


















Eastern Box Turtles  July 5, 2012

These box turtles did not seem to mind the power outage either.  I saw three in the yard last week which was a little unusual.

This is an experience we won't forget any time soon.

9 comments:

  1. We were on vacation when it hit and didn't get back until Sunday afternoon - so we lost everything in our fridge and freezer. Luckily I had cleared a lot out before we left so we didn't lose all that much.
    We didn't have a generator and got power back Monday evening - so Sunday night was our only night sleeping without power. I remember thinking how peaceful it was ...... I LOVED that part :) IT was pretty hot so that wasn't too comfortable.
    Hoping we don't get any more of those for a LONG time!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice to have generators....hope everything is back up and running...guess you are ready for any time of year without elec. with the woodstove. In FL we have a lot of outages at times. I also have a woodstove. Never miss the TV but nice to have the fridge working.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah..I heard that it was quite a storm. Glad you fared ok! Scary that the cord of the generator melted though. We all could learn from the Amish.....

    ReplyDelete
  4. so glad you and your husband are okay and were very self sufficient during the outage. love that the trees didn't go to waste... i agree the Amish are very knowledgeable when it comes to living without societies amenities. hope all is well. have a great night~

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow!!! Seems like you took it all well! We lost our power for 4 days in the Christmas day ice storm a few years ago up here in the Appalachians (Boone, N.C.) and it was a little daunting as it was soooo cold. Of course, we used a wood fire to keep warm and to cook; the snow outside for a cooler (like the eskimos!)

    So glad it went well for you. The heat can get to you though...Like those box turtles!

    Thank you for the story!
    lg!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. P.S. Your husband looks like he took it especially well! Nice smile!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Everyone--thanks for the comments. We've been getting rain a lot--wish I could send it to the drought areas.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lovable post, the tortoises are really enjoy themselves in the sunshine!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi -- !

    We're in this spot right now, following Hurricane Sandy. We lost power on 10/29 -- eight days so far. Ironically, our home Internet access is back (fueled, for now, by generator). Boy, can I relate to this. Neighbors have been shuttling and swapping generators. When one household gets power, they lend their generator to another household that needs it. Even at that, we can't run any generator continuously, due to the unpredictable availability of gas. Uprooted trees, downed power lines . . . and so much worse, as on the news, in other places. I wish we lived near the Amish. They have much to teach us. (The Beverly Lewis novels are wonderful for this, by the way.)

    Lovely journal. Hope you post again soon.

    ReplyDelete