Later in the day, it looked like this:
Church services in the area had been cancelled that morning, we just stayed in and ate. Hubby had made ham-and-beans, and I got some cornbread made to go with them.
Then, it happened. Around 3:00, the power went out. That's a dreadful feeling, let me tell you, but it can't be helped. So we went into "powerless" mode. Thankfully, we have a gas heater, so we were able to stay warm. Without their technology-dependent games, the boys got bored, so they and I played Scrabble for awhile (plus some Uno after that).
Towards the end of the game, I didn't have very good choices of letter tiles!
While we were playing, the power came back on for .... maybe 3 or 4 minutes. Then off again, this time for good.
As the sun went down pretty early, that made for a long, dark evening. Out came the oil lamps, plus we had flashlights and a little-bitty LED "lantern" we could also carry around for quick, easy light. I don't know how many times I went in the bathroom, or started to go up the stairs, and still turned the light switch on. Even with the little lantern right in my hand, surrounded by darkness! Old habits die hard.
The wind howled all night and all into the next day. Power still out, and I didn't go in to work (they were out over there, too), but Older Son did. So we were up early, and I saw him off to work, 25 miles away. I had some peanut butter on Ritz crackers for breakfast, Younger Son also had some later.
An encouraging message with our magnetic letters.
I got out and salted the walk heavily, to combat the packed, slick sleet that accumulated everywhere.
The clouds started to break up and move out in the afternoon.
At one point somewhere, I cleaned and organized a few shelves on our back porch. That felt better, plus it was nice to accomplish something despite the circumstances.
One of our Older Son's friends came over, he was bored, so he and Younger Son and I played Uno. The dog tried to take part, but we wouldn't let her play.
I did some coloring while there was daylight to see good.
A little knitting by lamplight.
This was appropriate .... looking at a Lehman's Catalog by lamplight. They specialize in what they used to call "non-electric" items, catering to the Amish and other folks who live the old-fashioned way.
Lights still off all through Monday, and we were hearing it might be Thursday morning before power could be restored. There were a lot of towns affected by no power, including the bigger town nearby. That town, as well as our little town, had "warming stations" where folks could go and keep warm and eat and stay (with the help of generators).
I decided to do the dishes the old-fashioned pioneer way, which I've done before here for varying reasons. This time I used the camp stove that Hubby had set up on the regular stove. It actually did a very quick job of heating a lot of water for me.
Got the dishes sparkling clean! That felt better, too.
Coat and gloves and stuff drying on the back of the couch.
When I cleaned shelves, I found some mugs I had wondered where they went. These two are from when I was a kid, and my family and I vacationed in the summer out at the mountains in Colorado. These mugs came from Van Briggle Pottery in Colorado Springs, one with Mom's name and one with mine. Treasures! I heated some more water for some cocoa, I was tired of cold stuff!
Got the urge to pull out a couple of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder - LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. Sure makes you appreciate how they lived back then, as well as the modern conveniences we have now. Rather thought provoking to be reading about pioneer living by lamplight.
Hubby put our dog through her tricks. She can sit like this for quite awhile.
I got caught up on the recent news from my hometown in Kansas.
More knitting with good daylight.
Another magnetic letter message on the fridge, this one venting some frustration.
Now I have to say that these pictures above may be a little out of order, from how they were loaded on the phone, plus the fact that even if it was only 2 or 3 days of power out, they started to run together and seem the same. Another of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, THE LONG WINTER, kept coming to mind, and how they almost got in a stupor as the winter wore on. They had to shake themselves and keep busy to keep from just languishing. I get it now, even though this wasn't near as bad. Monday and Tuesday seem kind of mixed up in my memory!
More Scrabble Tuesday evening with the boys after Older Son got home from work.
Reading in the LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS book, the chapter is appropriately titled "Winter Days and Winter Nights."
We moiled through our third dark evening, but hoping for a new report of power expecting to be back that night. Sure enough, at 10:15, KABLING, on came the lights and everything else that happened to be on. YAY!!! We were thankful. Thankful for power, and thankful for the linemen who were out in the nasty weather fixing the problems. That had to be miserable.
The next morning I was finally back to work as well, so Older Son and I were both up early as usual. These pictures show the slick, hard-packed sheet of sleet everywhere, but also ... lights! It was so good to see street lights and neighbors' lights again. That was rather eerie to have everything outside DARK.
Our little gas heater was a workhorse, and kept us reasonably warm, though we sure piled on the covers at night.
Back to normal! Civilization again!
I learned a lot from this little ordeal. You don't need as much to eat as you think you do. You can take "spit baths" in the cold. (Thankfully we had water!) You may be addicted to technology, and find it hard to "wind down" and do common, old-fashioned things, like reading a REAL BOOK. Being bored is no way to live. Thankfully, I have a lot of interests, but will say that the computer had been eating up a lot of my time for quite awhile. These "powerless" days put me back into some real living, and I liked it, and had missed it. Our family actually interacted and talked and played games here and there, instead of being glued to computer games or tv. That was a good thing that came out of these dark, dull days until the power came back on ..... I miss my guys sometimes, even though we're all in the same house. Food for thought. And I hope the wind doesn't blast like that for a long time, that was wild! It literally made the house shake. Glad we were prepared enough that it didn't go too badly, and thankful that the power came back on sooner than they first thought. Lots of lessons learned, and I "took notes" on what I might do differently if it happens again. Hopefully it won't, but this is the great plains with wild weather, and winter's just getting started. But our pantry and our oil lamps will be at the ready. And, praise God for protection and safety, not just for us, but for everyone affected. We're slowly getting back to normal!
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