Websurfing by candlelight

[fenchurch]

Still no power... and still no word on when we might get power.

We took the laptop for a drive this earlier, hooking it up to a power inverter to charge it up a bit, since we were going to be in the car anyway. There were trees, branches and debris EVERYWHERE. The major streets were mostly cleared, but still occasionally had a lane blocked by downed trees.

We'd decided to try a run to Safeway (since I'm supposed to be helping throw a baby shower for a friend tomorrow and I still needed to pick up a few things for it), but one of our neighbors mentioned that Fred Meyer was open and running on emergency backup power, so we headed there instead. I'm so glad we did! They had everything I still needed for the baby shower, plus we picked up a few more things for some dishes that are easy to prepare on the stovetop.

Oh, yeah... and I'm even more in love with my gas stove than I was when we had it installed in the kitchen!

This afternoon we gave into the inevitable and lit a fire in the fireplace (we'd picked up marshmallows at Fred Meyer, just in case, so we'll be doing some roasting later) and cleared out the fridge of perishable goods, putting some of the things we wanted to keep into coolers out on the back deck. Considering the weather folks all think we may even get some snow tonight, we figure everything should stay cold enough... and we pulled out the analogue fridge thermometer we bought for the garage fridge to put in the largest of the coolers, just to help keep track.

Hopefully we're well set for the next few days... and even more hopefully, we won't need to be.

Comments

[ukamikanasi.livejournal.com]

You took the laptop for a drive, that's awesome. :)

I'll have to remember that trick next time we lose power.

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

Quite an ordeal you and rackham are enduring. I like your cooler solution for the now disfunctional refrigerator. Hopefully, power will be back soon.

[corellian-sugar.livejournal.com]

Hang in there! :::hugs:::

[rahirah]

Gah!

Gas stoves are a lifesaver, though--when we first started looking for a house, my mom told me to look for one with a gas stove, for just that reason. (Ironically, she now lives in a place that's all-electric.)

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

We also have a gas water heater, so we can at least take nice hot showers... plus the fireplace has kept the temperature upstairs over 60. It's gonna get prety cold overnight, though, *extreme wishful thinking mode* unless the power comes back on! */extreme wishful thinking mode*

[allthatjazmyne.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sorry you don't have power yet! My mom has power back, but my cousin's is still out. They spent their entire afternoon trying to get propane so they could cook, because they have an electric stove. But, they had at least five different members of their ward check on them today, which I really appreciate.

I hope you get your power back, soon!

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

We called around to a few people to make sure they were okay, and stopped by a few others when they weren't answering the phone (generally because they only had cordless phones)... Rackham ended up putting a few temporary patches on the roof of a friend of ours (she's a single mom with a 14 year old son who didn't even think to mention, at first, that he'd found holes in the roof *headdesk*)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Brrr. We (S2C & I) are really too reliant on electricity these days - although there is still a working fireplace behind the electric fire in the living room, so we could huddle around it for warmth, and put a pot over it to boil water!

I love your priorities - no electricity, but still with internet access!