Preparedness

You make all the preparations you can and still, when the inevitable happens, there are always one or two things you find that weren't done well enough - when the rubber meets the road.

Early last night, before heading to the market to grab some essentials, I asked K to gather up all candles and oil lamps into one spot. It would be dark before long and our light sources needed to be amassed and ready. I was going to the store for cat food and toilet paper anyway (don't draw any conclusions from that combo), but the storm made it necessary to pick up dinner as well, so it was good timing(?).

On the western horizon you could see the back edge of the clouds approaching, and behind that you could see the remaining clear sky left in its wake.  It was bright and hopeful, but I knew that by the time the oppressive clouds finally moved past us, the sun will have set and the powerless night would be our major obstacle. We would have no rosey sunset this evening.

Not knowing how long the power would be out this time, I grabbed sandwich fixings, a small portion of deli potato salad, some grapes, cranberry juice and milk to tide us over (even though we had plenty of milk in the fridge I wasn't going to open).

By the time I returned, darkness had descended (most of the cloud mass was still overhead) and more generators could be heard running throughout the neighborhood.

From my quick trip to the store I could see the range of the power outage only extended as far east as 3/4 of a mile from our neighborhood.  I didn't take the time to drive through town to our west, or south through the rest of the subdivision, to see how widespread it may have been.  All that mattered was getting ready for what could have been a long night in our house.

We filled a small cooler from the garage with the ice, milk and food provisions just bought, and hunkered in. 

Power was restored by ten-thirty - or thereabouts - and candles and oil lamps were extinguished promptly thereafter.

For now I'm off to rearrange the freezer contents (and then sew!).  Perhaps I can still save most of the ice and use it in some smoothies (I hate the idea of simply tossing it out).  The rest of the day, I am prepared to make full use of - hopefully with the aide of electricity.