A sudden storm blew through Tuesday night and spurned four or five tornados. They seemed to be all around us. We escaped with a few “down” branches, lots of blown debris and no power.
Ah yes, no power. We went 2 & 1/2 days without power. The good news is that weather since the storm has sunny and temps in the 70’s. We did have water supply.
The bad news is that all the things we take for granted when we have power were missing. Going to the bathroom in the dark sucks. Candles and flashlight are the order of the day. Phones don’t work. Cell phones can’t be recharged. Electric garage door openers lock in the closed position. I was proud of your Mom. She pulled the manual release cords and was able to lift the doors open manually. She did it. She trundled on down the road in our used Toyota.
But there are other things. The gas stove is ignited with an electric spark so we couldn’t use it. The microwave which gets used for pre-packaged snacks was inoperable. There was no coffee. Hot water needs electricity even with gas because it needs ignition to heat the water. Showers were definitely out. Things like blow dryers for hair were useless.
Some of things I repeated over and over were really stupid. I would walk into a dark bathroom and out of habit, turn on the light switch to no avail. I kept telling myself that was the last time I would commit that stupid act. Sure enough, the next time I would do it again. Dah. It is kind of a conditioned reflex
During the loss of power, Grasshopper No.3 checked on Mom and Dad several times to be sure we okay. He is my favorite. Mom and I even joined No.3 and Spouse for supper one night. Last night we got to attend a movie followed by a Panera Bread salad. Quality situations. Quality time.
So we survived. Our comfy life was disturbed a little bit but some positive things also occurred. The biggest “needful thing” I missed was my HDTV. The PGA major golf tournament is going on this weekend and I missed one day of action for sure. Go ahead and say it. Ohhhh you poor guy.
In the final analyis we were really fortunate not to incur heavy damage (maybe life threatening) and we got to revisit how things were before all the modern conviences were available.
Packers game tonight and I have my public antenna. It is also on two Spanish stations (you have to mute the sound and add the radio for audio).
Love,
Dad