No electricity from Saturday until noon Monday. The ice storm brought down pine tree limbs in our yard that caught electric wires and disturbed the meter attached to the house. We had to wait for ComEd and an electrician to get us back in operation. In the meantime, a generator kept necessary things going such as the furnace, frig, 2 TVs, and a couple lamps. The rest of the community had power. A good thing. Ken disconnected the electric garage door opener and lifted the door manually to drive the car to fill a gasoline can at the service station and feed the generator.
I don’t stop to think how much our household depends on electricity. We still sleep in a waterbed with an electric heater. I bunked on the davenport and Ken extended his time in his recliner. Sunday, I did the crossword puzzle in the newspaper with a dull pencil. My sharpener is electric. Some things Ken plugged in and then unplugged when finished. We buy whole bean coffee–the grinder and the coffee maker depend on electricity.
The generator couldn’t handle our electric stove so no cooking. We couldn’t eat out because Ken wanted to keep an eye on the generator that had never run so long continuously before. Our son made an extra-large batch of chili and shared a hot meal with us.
Our water heater is electric so we had only cold water. Ken heated small amounts of water in the microwave to wash dirty dishes and us. A long time since I’ve taken a sponge bath–showers are so much better.
When I was growing up, we visited relatives who didn’t have electricity. They used an ice box, kerosene lamps and a battery radio.
How do you prepare for a power outage?