When the power goes off

The woods behind the house

We live in New England, a  locale subject to hurricanes and snowstorms and alas, power outages when nature gets mad.  Our first experience was  not long after we moved here.  I actually drove downtown to work the day of the hurricane, to find the office closed and the doorman telling me to go home.  We survived the storm, although a huge paper wasp nest was dislodged from the maple in front (we didn't even know it was there.).  After the storm the neighbors came out and walked around and a little boy came by and (as little boys will) kicked the nest.  Ouch!  The worst was that the power went off and stayed for four days.  My neighbor had just filled her freezer with hors d'oeuvres.  We had a camp stove and a Weber kettle and  as stuff in the freezer defrosted, we ate it.   We had some really weird meals, but nothing spoiled and we were fed.

When we moved further out into the 'burbs, we bought a place with a gas stove, gas hot water heater, and it had, like our earlier house a wood-burning fireplace.  We've had two major power outages here and life has not been too bad.  The first was Hurricane Irene (3 days w/o power).  We can cook on the stove top if we light to pilot light, bypassing the electronic ignition.  And  we still have our Weber kettle, so as usual, we cook and eat the food as it thaws.  Showering is done in one bathroom, because the other has no windows, and gee, it does get dark.

In the big storm a year ago October, with a foot of snow before the leaves fell, the branches broke and hit the power line.  That was  4 days with no power.  It got dark early and it was cold.  We had the fire place going almost 24/7 and it heated the living room.  We could cook (Weber kettle was buried in snow) on the gas stove top and shower.  We always have candles, battery powered lanterns, kerosene lanterns, (ancient) and flashlights.  I have a special little light for my Kindle.  Our sons left us with two down sleeping bags.  It never was so cold that we couldn't wear heavy pjs to bed and nestle under the down duvet, but had it been, the sleeping bags in front of the fire would have been toasty.

During the blizzard of 2013, we didn't lose power, nor did we during Sandy.  Truth be told, it's a pain in the ass, and it takes all one's wits to cope, but you can cope.  We always have a few days worth of food in the house, winter and summer.  If a big storm is forecast, for heaven's sake make sure you have staples and things which will help you see in the dark.  Don't forget pet food. 

We visited libraries of various towns that did have power to read email, and there was always Starbucks or Panera.  Neighbors help neighbors.  And you'll have some good stories.   Be prepared.  

Post-Irene Food

We were whomped by Hurricane Irene.  Had made the usual prep of cooking up a couple ahead-of-time meals, and checking all the flashlights and lanterns for working batteries.  Got out the old hurricane lantern (aptly named) and filled it with lamp oil, checked the wick (new).  Put out bird food and forgot to bring in the Hummingbird feeder.

Sunday, the wind began rising at 6:30 a.m.  I got up and made a batch of pesto Geneovese (using blender) using basil picked from garden the day before.  Ran the dishwasher.  Laundry all done on Saturday.  Hunkering down.  We were watching CNN at 10:30 when the lights went out.  They came back on Wednesday evening.  In the meantime, everything in the freezers (2 fridges) had defrosted.  We ate the prepared meal by candle light on Sunday, and Monday we grilled the thawed steak as shish kebabs.  Delicous.  Ate them twice.   I cooked A LOT of defrosted chicken breasts and we had chicken pesto and also chicken parm without sauce.   The only foods ruined were a pizza that melting ice had leaked into (el disgusto) and some leftovers that I was just as happy to pitch.  Fed the once-frozen bananas, saved for banana bread, to the cows.

We have a gas stove that can be lit with a match with the electric ignition  doesn't work and a gas water heater, so we were among the lucky ones.  Those with their own wells or an all-electric (or oil) house took cold showers and went for takeout.  In 1985, during Gloria, we were among those, and cooked on a one-burner camp stove and the Weber Kettle.   One can actually do with less, dontchaknow?

A huge oak fell across the wild flower garden (boo hoo) and I won't know how bad the damage is until it is removed.  Hoping the removal doesn't do more damage than the tree falling.

During the storm, the hummingbirds swooped and flew and appeared to be having a high old time.  They drained their feeder which had no damage.   The other birds found their old feeders about four feet nearer the ground and of course some enterprising creature dragged the suet feeder off.  We have another one, which the raccoons raid often, but we have large families of flickers, downy and hairy woodpeckers, all with babies, so we try to keep the suet coming.

It is nice to have a clean fridge, and the Highland Scottish cattle received some of the contents of the freezer such as old bread and a huge package of flour tortillas (ick!) that someone left here.

I made some peach ice cream a few days ago.  Lots and lots of peaches.  We ate the  remainder of the ice cream for lunch as soon as the lights went out.   So our losses were minimal.

Now we are eating up last fall's winter stores:  Spam, tuna fish and corned beef hash.  I'll replace them in a couple of months.  The Low Salt Spam was totally delicious.  We ate it with baked beans gussied up with onion, tomato, and bacon last night.

So yours truly is feeling pretty frugal and with the power out went to the discount Tuesday movie, The Help, and the first run non-discounted movie, The Debt, both pretty good.  Only missed one Red Sox game.   We had a battery powered radio.  You are ready for a big storm, aren't you?  Having light, batteries, radio, food and emergency supplies can make all the difference.

Oddly enough, the cats were kind of freaked out by the experience, and did not spend any time in the dark basement home office but came upstairs to bask in the lamplight.  I washed the dishes as we used them, and drained them on a towel on the counter.  Worked fine.  First thing I did when the power came back on was run the dishwasher.  Yay!

We are eating a lot of cucumber salad, as the garden has an abundance of cukes.  Cukes and basil are the current harvest.  Ate all the lettuce.  Also have a huge supply of oregano, which I will dry and sage, which hangs around until the coldest part of the winter.

Onward, onward.  After the lights came back on, we had a day of respite and then the Internet crapped out for 4 days.  8 of 9 days with poor or no Internet.  We did get wi-fi at the neighboring  library and Starbucks when the power was out in our town.   So:  the tree didn't hit the house, we coped pretty well and consider ourselves lucky.

The Cheeseparer