I've Never Felt So Powerless!

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Andy M.

Certified Pretend Chef
Joined
Sep 1, 2004
Messages
51,261
Location
Massachusetts
No electricity since 3:23 AM on Sunday. Not sure when it will be back on but today looks like a good possibility. I'm at my sister's right now catching up and charging up various items.

It's been cold so we are really appreciating our fireplace. The fridge and freezer have been holding up pretty well as we haven't been opening them much. Power outages are so widespread all the hotels are booked for miles around. We've been sleeping bundled up and that hasn't been a problem. Gas hot water means we can shower if we don't mind stepping out of the shower into a cold bathroom.

Halloween was canceled and I don't know when it's scheduled for. I hope our little Batman can get out and collect some goodies. Not to mention the bag of 150 mini candy bars we bought for the occasion.

You can make coffee in an electric coffee maker without electricity.
 
Screwing off for a couple days, huh?
:LOL:

Glad to see you pop in and update.
I hope the refrigerated goods hold out and they get your power back on soon. :)
 
We have a gas stove and hot water. We have ben able to use the stovetop and there's plenty of hot water.

The freezer on the fridge still has ice cubes with no meltage. The big freezer in the basement hasn't been opened so that's held up well too.
 
Andy--I feel for you. At 3:12 a.m. on January 06, 1998, the power went out. With five dogs (one that was a foster), I quickly realized how much water dogs drink (and when you are on a well that requires electricity to pump the water--needless to say, not fun). A generator was supplied by the insurance company--thankfully. That was the only way we could stay in the house--but we had to rotate it between the furnace, the sump pump, the well, and the small appliances. We had the generator until January 18th when the power came back. Friends came and stayed because they had two dogs and all the hotels were booked. It was nice to have extra people there to help rotate the generator and to keep our spirits up. It is awful to be without power--sponge bathing in cold water is not fun. Use the BBQ to cook. Thermos work great for keeping coffee warm. This too shall pass, but it does leave you with an appreciation for hot and cold running water...and we re-installed the woodstove after the Ice Storm and bought generators for each property (oh that was the other thing, we had to rotate the generator between the other properties and driving on those roads was downright scary). Keep warm, power will be back, and don't be too proud not to go to the places set up re: showers and a hot meal. A hot shower does a lot for feeling more human when you feel as if you've been morphed back to 1850 and were not prepared. Ever since that experience, whenever icy rain is forecast, I fill buckets, pails, and jugs with water--that was the worse part, having animals that needed water and not having water. They didn't understand that the bathroom tap no longer worked (their favorite source of water). We did melt snow for them.
 
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Most of DH's kin are out east too. Sounds like a huge mess! Glad you're hanging in there, Andy, all the best to you!
 
Forced 'camping' is no fun, right Andy?

I camped so much in the army that it no longer phases me in the slightest!

I just make sure to have the basics and keep the fridge and freezers to temp with the generator!

I have it set up now where I can even watch 4 hours of TV each evening! DVD's only, but that's ok.

Good luck man! I hope you get your power back soon!

Good camping!!!!;)
 
Sorry to hear about all that, Andy!!

I hope that the early season storm is not an indication of what is in store for the rest of the winter!
 
Sorry to hear about your electricity woes.

How the heck do you make coffee in an electric coffee maker without power?

I know a number of ways to make coffee without electricity, but none of them use an electric coffee maker.
 
Sorry to hear about your electricity woes.

How the heck do you make coffee in an electric coffee maker without power?

I know a number of ways to make coffee without electricity, but none of them use an electric coffee maker.

Manually pour hot water through the grounds, just using the machine as a ground holder I imagine, lol.
 
Manually pour hot water through the grounds, just using the machine as a ground holder I imagine, lol.

That would never have occurred to me. I have Melitta cones for that. I did once use the basket of a coffee maker to make coffee in a restaurant that had gas stoves.
 
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149 mini candy bars... 148 mini candy bars... 147 mini candy bars...

;)

i hope you get your power back soon so the kids get some candy, andy.
 
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Sorry to hear about your power woes Andy. I have extended family in Maine who were also out for several days. This really stinks! I hope things are back to normal soon.
 
Power goes out around here often enough that I have learned to live with it. I have two gas fireplaces, gas cookstove and a gas grill, and a gas fired hot water heater with a piezo pilot. Some in the neighborhood have a gas HW heater with an electric pilot, not a good idea. I french press coffee, but grind my own, so that can be a problem. Once ground coffee in a mortar and pestle. Slow, but then again, not much else to do.
 
andy, i'm sorry to hear that you had to suffer a piece of that treacherous storm fallout. you seem to be coping well under the circumstances, though--even managing a lame "powerless" joke--what a guy!:) hope your power is (already) restored, and everything is back and running again. that was one nasty halloween trick....
 
We got our power back around noon today. I'm airing out the house before I turn on the heat. Lots of odors from candles and lamp oil.

I tossed all the contents of my kitchen freezer and some stuff from the fridge. The freezer in the basement held out amazingly well. It stayed cold and the food was all still frozen! Kudos to Sears for great insulation.
 
We got our power back around noon today. I'm airing out the house before I turn on the heat. Lots of odors from candles and lamp oil.

I tossed all the contents of my kitchen freezer and some stuff from the fridge. The freezer in the basement held out amazingly well. It stayed cold and the food was all still frozen! Kudos to Sears for great insulation.

Congrats on the return of your power, Andy! Isn't it a wonderful feeling when you see the lights come back on?

Good luck with the outage cleanup!
 
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