Blackout

I had just finished serving dinner and was ready to put bread in the oven when the electricity went out.

No apparent reason, there weren't storms or anything.

Come to find out a great part of the town and neighboring towns were also without electricity.

Cue the music.......

Jordan suggested an EMP, lol, but our cell phones were still working (whew!).

So, what to do?

Practice our emergency skills, of course.

What did I find?

I don't have enough things ready to use. For example, if I had kept the box oven I made two years ago, I could of lit the charcoal and finished my bread. As it was, I have the ingredients to make another one, but I didn't want to do it in the dark and cold. :-( I wrapped the bread tight and put it in the freezer only to discover this morning it had popped its wrappings.

I had dough started for english muffins. Phil came and started up the small portable (quiet) generator and I had a lamp and could use my griddle to cook the muffins. So at least we have some bread for breakfast this morning.

We need to make sure we always have gas in the containers. Generators won't work without gas.

We need adapter plugs for the oven/stove to plug into the generator. (I could of finished my bread if I had had one.)

Thank goodness we have gas water heaters. Ethan enjoyed a warm bath and after plugging in the dishwasher to the generator I was able to wash all of the dishes I had in there.

One good thing- We knew exactly where all of the flashlight and candles were, and the flashlights had batteries that were still working. Yah!

We went to bed early since it was so dark. I know I was sleepy. We piled extra blankets on the boys since it was so cold. Their part of the house is the only place we keep the heat on at night, so Phil and I were used to "roughing" it in the cold.

After having the generator for 10 years and never needing to use it, it was fun to see how it would work. Better safe than sorry.

Still don't know why it went off, but after hearing about Japan's massive earthquake I feel like I need to be prepared for anything.

I awoke this morning to power and access to my computer. Life is good again.