We have had our share of electric outages, but who hasn’t?
The most current outage happened before a storm came through, three evenings ago.
We were watching television, relaxing, and noticed that a fan had shut off by itself. No lights or clocks were blinking. Minutes later the power went out and it did not return for 36 hours.
We waited until the following morning to drag out the generator. In the meantime, my cell phone went dead because I could not find the charger for my truck, and I could not remember if I had bought one for my newest phone. You believe me, right? I thought so.
So, thanks to our ever-trusting generator, 12 hours later we had one fan, a refrigerator, a hot plate, and a television. And I had enough power to charge up my phone and my laptop. We had heavy-duty extension cords running through the windows, across the floors.
It was crude and rude, and then I said, “We are camping out!”
I could not believe how quiet the first night was, before we decided we had to beat the 95 degree heat with a fan. We experienced complete darkness, and not a sound. Not a bird, not an insect. It was amazing. Nearly awesome. We tend to forget how loud the hum of a refrigerator is, or even a motor on a laptop.
Late Saturday evening, we were startled by a honk in front of our house. Our neighbor was driving door to door, Paul Revere style – less the horse, announcing that he just got off the phone with the water company. We were not going to have county water much longer. Apparently the pump stations had lost power too.
So, it was 95 degrees, we had no power, and we were soon not going to have water.
I filled my large soaking tub with water, thinking I could at least dip water out for a few days if necessary for general bathing and other purposes. I filled all of the water containers (empty water jugs, troughs and buckets for the goats). I kept thinking, “If everyone is doing this, we will soon drain what is left.” But, then I thought, “First come, first serve.” Was that bad? Perhaps.
The animals were my concern. How were we going to keep them from dehydration in the oppressive heat? Could they survive for the predicted 3-5 days without a drop of water? I decided then to take it day by day, moment by moment. I figured we were not the only farmer facing the water issue, and we would somehow co-op if conditions became dire.
I learned later that evening that a large generator was being wired into the water plant, and the water, which was already down to a trickle, would be restored by morning. What a blessing!
The following morning we had full water pressure. But it was still muggy, and the power company was reporting an additional 3-5 days of outages. Bleh!
Lo and behold, the bedroom clock began flashing. I said to my husband, “We have power!” His words, “I don’t believe it, turn on the light.” Funny, huh? Yes, we had power.
As I began reclaiming the house…which was accomplished by turning on the central air conditioning (getting the humidity out), shutting the windows, rolling up the heavy extension cords, guess what I found? My cell phone charger, in plain view. Right where I left it.
What did I learn? Be prepared. Know where your phone charger is, and keep it fully charged, especially when you know storms are approaching. Know where your shoes are, better yet, put them on. Have candles on hand, or some type of lantern. Keep your generator in an accessible area (if you own one). Remember batteries for your flash light, or even for a radio if you have one. I am not sure who has battery operated radios these days. I could be wrong on that count! I get all of my news from the computer, not from the dramatics on television.
We lost very little milk during the outage. Our kitchen freezer was full and never thawed out at all. The freezer in Annie’s Red Barn studio was not so full. All of the milk stored in it had to be discarded. I knew to not open the freezers until power had been restored, and it worked for the most part. Tips: the more full the freezer, the less thawing occurs, and refrain from opening the door as much as possible.
We are still battling with some issues, like poor cell phone signal, and a very poor internet signal, along with missed email here and there. But we are working our way back into full business at hand!
What else did I learn? Camping out, that term helped my spirits. Taking it moment by moment, know there is always a solution. Keep the faith.
Thank goodness for good health, and thank goodness for our safety. What more could a person need? Some were not so fortunate.
I went a bit over with my word count here…yawn. Are you still with me?
Annies Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps 
We weren’t without power for that long during that last storm! We always have lanterns, candles and matches here at all times though, we’re always prepared here actually! Our generator is always available since it’s not a portable kind of generator. We have crank flashlights or shake up kind that don’t require batteries and we also have a crank up radio that doesn’t require batteries either, we can’t get a cell phone signal where we live so we don’t have to worry about charging up our phones.
I have a Kindle Fire now but it needs an internet connection to get weather reports, etc. though. We have a truck camper now though so we could camp out in our driveway which we have done with power though. We always have jugs of water filled at all times too!
Amy
I need to have you guest-write, how to set up for an emergency power outage. Good job, Amy!
Thanks since we have a lot of power outages in our area, we’re usually always prepared! A town near us was without power for 8 days one time and we had to take some lamp oil to a lady that went to our old church and we were only out for 3 days and one year we had my brother and his family staying with us in one of our apartments and the baby was under 6 mos. old (she’s almost 8 years old now, she’ll be 8 in August).
Amy
I have been wondering how my blog friends in the storm-affected areas of the U.S. and those losing power have been doing. With dairy goats the availability of drinking water is crucial and could so easily be a very bad thing financially for you all. I am always so appreciative of your good attitude and kindness Mary when you write about your philosophy regarding your business , your community, your values, and your goats.
We also have a lot of power outages and yes indeed, the quiet that comes with them is truly awe-inspiring. Then of course the practical surfaces. We live in an age where it is very difficult to maintain a home & business without power. Any way possible to be prepared for such occurrences is our best way to help our families, our businesses, and our community not only survive, but maintain good quality of life & livelihood. I suspect our dependence on modern means of power and all that entails will make us so vulnerable to disaster if we are not all willing to do at least the minimum for our own household, and even better, be prepared to help our neighbors even if that means we are sharing our valuable resources with them with no guarantee of any return, excepting the knowledge it is the right thing to do.Great post, and thought provoking.
BTW, how did the goats fare and how do you maintain their water source during power outages?
Kathy, we no longer have well water, so the power outage did not affect us until the final evening. I filled every water container I could get my hands on to prepare for the worst. The worst never came, thankfully.
In the middle of the outage I was thinking similar thoughts as you. We are so unprepared, and not just concerning emergency materials. The communication could go away during one of these disasters, making us that much less prepared. I found myself, during the outage, looking for news on my phone, watching the weather, and checking the power companies website for updates. What if the cell towers did not work? What if we were on the farm without water, without power, and had no idea what was happening? I think we all need to be more prepared, especially when we are in a rural setting.
We have well water here but as I said in a previous comment we’re usually always prepared even on vacations! We can’t get a cell phone signal where we’re at in our valley though, we listen to our crank up radio, etc.
Amy