Monday, February 2, 2015

You Never Know...

You never know how dark it really gets until you lose power.

It was close to 8pm on Friday when our lights went out. It had only lasted a moment or two when they came back on. It was enough to wake my husband, who was napping in the chair beside me. He wanted to know what happened.

Really? He could hear the lights come back on? Or maybe it was the beeps from the battery backups we have (we have a LOT of those).

Anyway, I told him the lights had gone out. He didn’t believe me. Now why would I lie about a thing like that? When they went out again, he stood up to investigate and they came back on.

But that only lasted a moment. They went out again and stayed out.

Seemed there was some power station-transformer-thingie that blew up or something. Over 9000 people lost power. Not the houses behind us, though. Of course not!

The last time the lights went out like that, I had candles in the house. And a lighter. Well, I still have candles—somewhere—but nothing to light them with.

Man, it was dark. No light from our neon Steelers sign. No light from the numerous electronic doodads we have that feature the time of day. The three-quarter moon lit up the snow pretty nicely outside, but did nothing for the inside of the house.

Another thing I realized. You lose power during the winter, the house starts to get…COLD.

Now, we got lucky. We only lost power for about an hour. Back during the power outage from the remnants of Hurricane Ike, it was considerably warmer out, so losing power for nearly two days wasn’t uncomfortable. Losing the food in the fridge and freezer was, though. I’m sure if the power was still out by the time we had to go to bed on Friday, I could have pulled everything out and left it outside, where it would have been kept frozen. Maybe. Temperatures have been wonky lately and sometimes it’s been warmer during the night than it had been during the day. When the sun was out! Hmmm…

At least my laptop still worked (my new laptop’s battery lasts way longer than my old one). Got a little bit of writing done (at least the scene I was working on), until trying to find the delete and arrow keys got on my nerves (still trying to get used to where those suckers are!). So I found a flashlight and used it to read until the power came back on.

That’s when I looked at the laptop and the book and chose the book. Bad me, I know.

Hey, did you watch the Puppy Bowl last night? While at Buffalo Wild Wings, attending the VIP Super Bowl party (free food!), one of the televisions broadcasted Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl. Now, THAT should have been the half time show. Hahahaha! J

And boo to the Patriots. You didn’t win that game. Seattle flubbed it with a bone-headed play. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Hmmm… Maybe Pete Carroll will lose his job. I can only hope.

So… did you get any snow last night? We were FIRST forecasted to get 5-8”. Now it’s under an inch. It just rained yesterday. Of course, we’re supposed to get frigid temps today. We’ll see. I’m not believing the forecasters too much lately. They’ve really been OFF.

Enjoy your Monday (if you can). J

Stacy

13 comments:

The Happy Whisk said...

I am soon to head outside and see how much snow, we got. Power off in winter, yes, burr. Funny about not believing you. Silly hubby.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Ivy - Watch out for the colder temps. I hear it's supposed to drop all day long. At least the snow was practically non-existent here. But it's windy out there now. Good thing I don't have to go outside. :)

B.E. Sanderson said...

Ack. We lost power for about 90 minutes last month. Lucky for me, it was during the day so I could read without a flashlight. I'm so glad you didn't get the massive snow they were predicting. I need to call my mom up in Michigan this morning to see how she fared.

I join you in hoping Pete Carroll loses his job. I never liked that dude. With my luck, though, he'll get fired and end up at a team I like. :shudder:

JeffO said...

We have a 110-year-old house with horrible insulation. When power goes out, we do lose heat fast! Glad your power wasn't out for long. I just shoveled 6" off the driveway, they're calling for 6 more throughout the day.

Hmm, a coach transforms a team into winners, gets them to two Super Bowls in back-to-back years and gets fired for one play? That would surprise me. It's a gutsy move if it works (like not settling for the sure points at the end of the first half) and a bone-headed one if it doesn't.

Stacy McKitrick said...

B.E. - I think Michigan got way more snow than I did. No offense, but I hope it stays up there! :)

Jeff - Teams have done stupider stuff. But I've disliked Pete Carroll ever since he screwed over USC. Not too fond of Seattle for hiring him, either, but it's a business, I know. Doesn't mean I gotta like it.

Erin Fanning said...

It's always hard not to choose "the book." I'm the queen of procrastination. Happy writing!

The Happy Whisk said...

Wasn't bad earlier, no winds yet. And I think, I see the sun trying to poke out.

Stay warm.

Jennette Marie Powell said...

Power outages=yuck! We still have firewood from trees my husband cut up for people after Hurricane Ike. Came in very handy the following Feb. when our power went out after an ice storm for 6 hours. I was really glad to have a woodburning fireplace that day! Glad yours wasn't out long. And hey, I would've chosen the book even before the power came back on (my laptop's battery's not so good, and kerosene lamp!).

Maria Zannini said...

Power outages are common out here in the boonies. I keep flashlights in very specific spots all over the house.

We were up to 80 last week and last night it plunged into a hard freeze for a few hours. Crazy.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Erin - I don't see how you can be the queen, when I most definitely am! Haha! :)

Ivy - The sun poked out here, too, but it wasn't warm by any means. Boo.

Jennette - Yeah, we probably should invest in some kind of portable lamp, huh? I'm sure that won't be the last time we lose power.

Maria - Actually, we don't get many power outages and when we do, the whole street loses it (and then some). Our lines are underground at the beginning of our street. As for 80 degrees...it's been awhile since I've felt that warm here.

The Happy Whisk said...

Not warm here today, either. Lots of sun today (Tuesday), which made my chores fly by faster.

Happy Almost Hump Day :-)

Stephen Tremp said...

It's been too warm here. I'm from Michigan and miss the snow and howling winds. Guess I'll have to settle for temps in the 80s.

And thanks for stopping by during the Blitz and saying hello.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Stephen - Settle for warm? I don't think I want to hear about warm. Unless I was there! Haha!