Hurricane Irene

The hurricane is gone and everything is drying out.  We’ve been without power since 10:00 am on Sunday morning and they’re saying one or two more days before it’s on (I’m writing this from work.) 

The preparations were simple:

1)      Fill the tub with water.  This allows us to have water for flushing toilets, washing dishes and eliminating bed-head.

2)      Take down the swings.  You don’t want any metal chains flying around in 60 mph winds.

3)      Flip the picnic table over (that’s where it’s going to end up anyway.)

4)      Take down all the little things like the flag, the hanging plants on the front porch, the hummingbird feeder and bring in the garden gnome.

5)      Do the dishes and laundry.  We have a private well and when the power goes out we have no water.  I hate starting a power outage while I’m already “in the red” so to speak.

6)      Candle and flashlight check.

7)      Get the Coleman stove ready to go.

8)  And of course, get some shelf-stable food and fill a few jugs of drinking water.

9)  Relax and watch the family panic.

It wasn't until late afternoon that I had to make the hardest decision of all: what foods to put in the cooler (on ice) and what foods to let go bad.  I just bought the strawberries and blueberries so those go in the cooler.  The milk is half gone and the jug is huge, let it die.  I did this until the cooler was full.  Goodbye Ah-So sauce.  I always say that losing power in the winter is better than losing it in the summer.  For starters, the windows are already shut and the house doesn’t turn into a stuffy oven when you close them all.  Second, the wood stove heats the house.  Third, I just throw all our food out onto the back deck and pack it in snow.  I’ve never lost any food during a blizzard.  These summer outages just suck!

The kids enjoyed watching the storm.  The trees whipping back and forth, rain coming down in sheets and branches falling from the sky.  My daughter didn't quite get the no electricity thing.  I told her she couldn't watch a DVD on the living room TV because the TV & DVD player won't work without electricity.  She said, "That's OK, I'll just watch it on the other TV."   OK, you go for it.  Let me know how that works out.

The poor dog suffered more than anyone though.  He came downstairs at one point dressed in a pink bathrobe and his head was covered in hair clips.  My daughter really shouldn’t be left alone with animals.  She killed a parrot when she was four.

After the storm was over my cat was very upset about all the branches in the yard and I think he wanted me to go out and pick them up right away.  He looked very stressed and spent an excessive amount of time seeking affection.  I think he needed a kitty Xanax, so I administered a healthy dose of catnip and he was off in another world for most of the afternoon.

By 8:30 pm the kids were tucked into the pull-out bed and my wife was right next to them on the couch.  I headed upstairs and crashed by 9:00.  The rain had stopped, the air was dry and the wind was still blowing at about 20 or 30 mph.  I opened all the windows and it felt like October.  I loved it!  I had the best nights sleep I've had in a very long time.

This morning I had the option to go to work or use a vacation day and stay home.  I believe another day in that house with my wife and kids would have put me in the nut house.  So here I sit eating microwave popcorn and surrounded by the glow of electricity.  Unfortunately I have to leave in a couple hours and return to my primitive shack full of restless natives.  Maybe I'll bring home a wild animal and we'll cook it over a fire in the back yard.