Saturday, January 10, 2009

And Then the Mountain Went Dark

I could survive. That's all I'm committing to right now—survival. But it wouldn't be pretty. I'm fully addicted to electric power. My life would be dramatically different without it.

Last night the power went out all over SunCrest. I got home to a cold and dark house that just proceeded to get colder and darker. I piled all my blankets on my bed and dove into the middle of them and trusted that the power would be back on by the time I woke up. That's how it usually works. But it wasn't. I woke up to an even colder house and a new quandary. Should I buy a kerosene heater? Should I buy a generator? Should I find a really big candle?

I'm not really prepared for an emergency at all. If something bad happened and the power was out for days, my house would be nearly useless. I can't cook, no hot showers, my phone doesn't work without my modem, my fireplace won't light, my food would all spoil, and my flashlights are all junk. But the real problem would be staying warm. My house was 45 degrees when the power finally came on today. If a power outage lasted for any longer I would be in trouble. I guess I need a plan for emergency heat that doesn't include breaking up the furniture and burning it on a make-shift alter on my kitchen bar.

My emergency plan has always been simply this: go to the farm in Idaho. I remember having this feeling of uneasiness after Hurricane Katrina. I called my dad and told him I was worried that I didn't have an emergency plan. His response was, "sure you do; just come to the farm."

I'm glad I have that option as long as I could get there, but I probably shouldn't just leave it at that. Living without electricity for a day has made me realize how much I rely on it. I'm going to have to think about a plan B.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The power was out for 3 hours! It was not that bad...A little stretch of the story maybe!

Olivia said...

You are lucky yours came on that quickly. Ours was out for more than 15 hours. It gets pretty cold over night!

Anonymous said...

OK Anonymous! I don't know where you got your information--but some of SunCrest was out of power for 15-16 hours! Obviously, you weren't so unlucky.

Butterfield Family said...

I can't believe you didn't let me know this was going on. This kind of thing is right up my alley.

-Butter

DeLaina said...

Wendy-you coulda come over, you know. We got ours back at about 1am, but everyone north of us and on the east side of SunCrest Dr. had to wait 15-18 hours for it to come back on. Brrrr!

Dana said...

I am so glad that I missed that. I can't imagine no power with two kids in the house. BTW I thought you had a gas stove. So couldn't you cook? Also, in the winter your food won't spoil, just stick it in the garage. Lastly, don't you have a gas fireplace?