power outage

If you follow my tweets, you may have noticed that I announced a power outage at our house last Wednesday.  Power outages here in the country are big news – they mean no electricity (obviously), as well as no water or heat!  As in, can only flush the toilet once after the power goes out.  And I remembered this important detail immediately after I used my one flush early on in the day.  Sigh.

When Jason woke up to no power (at 6am, when it was still dark), he changed by flashlight, took the dogs out, grabbed what he’d need to shower at work (thank goodness for work locker rooms, right?), and kissed me goodbye.  I laid comfortably in my warm bed.

A few minutes later, Jason came back in and reported that he needed some help.  I got up, threw on some dirty jeans and a sweatshirt, and came outside, where I saw this:

Yeah… we were not going to be able to move that.  Even if it was only one branch from a large tree, and not the entire tree, as I had originally thought.

So we hung out until the sun came up.

Since we didn’t have a chainsaw or a way to drive off our little compound, I had to go to the neighbor’s house for help.  Our neighbor came over with his chainsaw, but, unfortunately, it hadn’t been used for a while and didn’t work.

On to plan B: the neighbor offered to lend us his spare car, which was nicer than either of the cars we drive.  We were amazed by his generosity, said thank you about a million times, and hopped into the newish Highlander Hybrid and headed to Lowes to buy our very own chainsaw.

When we returned home, we began cutting and hauling wood, only to discover that the chainsaw that we bought was kind of a piece of crap.  As in, it would make two cuts and shut down.  Fortunately, another neighbor saw our tree struggle and came over with his chainsaw, which worked beautifully, and within an hour or so, they had the driveway cleared.

We learned a few things last week:

1. It’s really dark out here when there’s no electricity and the sun goes down.

2. It’s crucial to know where the flashlights/batteries/candles are.

3. We could use a few more flashlights/battery-powered lanterns. (Ahem, Santa?  Are you listening?)  I suppose a generator would come in handy, too…

4. Not being able to use the sink/flush the toilet for an entire day is yucky.  Must keep hand sanitizer on hand.

5. We are lucky to have the nicest, most generous neighbors!

6. We’re going to need a good chainsaw.  Anyone have suggestions on brands/models that reliably work?

By dinner time, I had hauled out every candle I could find in order to provide a little light.  The power finally came on around 10pm, and we celebrated by watching Toddlers in Tiaras (please tell me I’m not the only one addicted to this crap) and taking much-needed showers.