CrossRoads Farm

Lights Out

06 November, 2004 - 2:16 pm

Yesterday around 1:30 we lost the electricity. It had been snowing off and on all day and the wind was whipping against the side of the house. Apparently it took down a tree about a half mile from here and thus….no lights. Oh, and no water, because the pump from the well is electric, and no heat because the furnace has an electric ignition. We keep bottled water on hand for just such an occasion.

Luckily it wasn’t terribly cold yesterday. Just barely cold enough to snow. And the snow itself was different. It was little tiny snowballs. It looked like Styrofoam beads that are used in some stuffed animals. It made a wild sound as it hit the metal roofs of the barns.

So H and I toughed it out most of the afternoon. I couldn’t do laundry or dishes so I made things as neat as possible and H and I played more than usual.

as the afternoon wore on I began to get nervous. My stove is propane so cooking wasn’t going to be too difficult as long as I could cook it on the stove top. The burners have electric igniters as well but I just light them with a match. The main problem was going to be clean pans to cook in. What concerned me more was the freezer, and the heat. It was getting pretty chilly in the house. So at around four I built a fire in the woodstove and started considering my options for dinner.

D called and said he would be late. So I decided to make hot dogs and mac and cheese for the kids. I was just serving them their dinner in the family room, by the woodstove when D drove into the yard, at almost that exact moment the lights came on.

Excellent timing.

At least this time I didn’t cut off any fingers.

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