In the middle of the night I was startled awake when our electricity went out. I can't explain why the absence of power startled me awake, but it did. The first thought that crossed my mind was, "How am I going to make my morning coffee?" We have an electric stove, so I can't even heat water up for instant coffee. Oh the humanity! The thought process of an admitted caffeine addict can be illogical. More practical thoughts quickly raced in.
Our water source is a private well. The pump for it is electric. No power, no water. I do have some drinking water stored up, (See my post from last fall about water storage), but how would we flush toilets? There's not enough water stored for that. Crap! Literally.
Then I lay there wondering how we'd keep warm. We have a gas fireplace, but it's not very efficient. It's more for looks than utility. Better than nothing, I suppose.
Next I tried to remember where we stored the battery-powered lanterns. I know where the candles and batteries are, but not the lanterns.
How would I call work to let them know I wouldn't be in to the office? Our land line phone doesn't have long distance and we have no cell phone signal at the house. Where did we put the propane camp stove? How many propane tanks do we have? Are they full? Without electricity to run the stock tank heater, it'll ice over. Gotta remember to break the ice so the horses have water.
With all of this turning over in my mind, there was no way I would fall asleep again. G.W. was sleeping peacefully through all of this. I envy his ability to sleep through anything and everything!
Then the power came back on!
Like a shot I was up and out of bed. I turned on the spigot in the bathtub to fill it with water for flushing toilets. I rummaged around in the garage and found one of our three lanterns. I also loaded up a box with candles, matches, and batteries and brought that up to the living room. Next was making coffee. Whew! At least I'd have my caffeine.
No sooner had I settled in with a cup of coffee when, to quote the Pat Travers' song, "Boom, boom, out go the lights." Again. But this time, I didn't experience that knot of apprehension in my stomach, since I was slightly more prepared. Less than an hour later, the electricity was restored and has been OK since.
But the experience got me thinking about some serious shortcomings in our plan for self sufficiency.
The snow's been coming down all day.
The iris and columbine were just beginning to come up in the garden. Now they're buried in snow.
Flocks of birds come to the corral to eat seeds from the hay.
Hard to believe that 24 hours ago it was almost 70 degrees.
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