The Gods Must Hate Me

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glsummer@neptunelink.com - 30 Jun 2005 22:11 GMT

At least this was a minor thing. At least.

Storms. I usually love storms. Except for when they knock out the
power.

Last night, they decided to.

I had been running errands for four hours in the 90-degree heat,
having trouble breathing, exhausted and overheated. I just wanted to
sit in The Cool Room (the only air-conditioned room), eat some
cookies, drink some cold pop and watch "Ellen".

KABOOM!

Dark. Quiet. No "Ellen", no air conditioning no lights.

Now, usually when this happens (every freakin' year), it will come
back on within a few minutes.

Not this time.

Well, crap, what are ya gonna do? Get out the flashlights, light up
the charcoal, and throw some burgers on the grill. And get a bag of
ice or two to put the pop in, just in case.

Our next-door-neighbor, Banjo, was also wondering what to do about the
dinner of stir-fry chicken and veggies he'd been dreaming of coming
home to. Hey! There's a grill with hot coals handy next door! So he
brings his little metal thingy over that fits over the grill, and
stir-frys his dinner, sharing some with us -- quite tasty. Then we
all roasted marshmallows, of course.

Well, that was kind of fun, but it was getting annoying. Several
hours, and the power still was not on. And I had cats to feed.

Ever try feeding cats in the dark? Seven of them? DH and I had two
flashlights, and somehow managed to get them fed without stepping on
anyone, which was a miracle.

It got later and later, and we were getting hotter and more frustrated
each hour.

My friend KK in Indiana was going to call me, and sure enough, she
did. So I sat and talked with her in the heat and the dark, and
somewhere around 11:00 pm, everything jumped back on. I'm sure she
could hear me whoop and holler not just over the phone, but over in
Indiana without one.

And the cats got to eat their second meal in the light.

Ginger-lyn
when it rains, it pours, floods, devours and destroys . . . .

Home Pages:
http://www.spiritrealm.com/summer/
http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats)
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~summer/index.htm (genealogy)
http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
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Magic Mood Jeep© - 30 Jun 2005 23:05 GMT

> At least this was a minor thing. At least.
>
[quoted text clipped - 43 lines]
> could hear me whoop and holler not just over the phone, but over in
> Indiana without one.

Heck - *I* heard it too ;)

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> And the cats got to eat their second meal in the light.
>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
> Animals in Movies Website)

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glsummer@neptunelink.com - 01 Jul 2005 18:59 GMT

>> My friend KK in Indiana was going to call me, and sure enough, she
>> did. So I sat and talked with her in the heat and the dark, and
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
>Heck - *I* heard it too ;)

LOL!

Ginger-lyn

Home Pages:
http://www.spiritrealm.com/summer/
http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats)
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~summer/index.htm (genealogy)
http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
Animals in Movies Website)

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Duke of URL - 02 Jul 2005 14:00 GMT

>>> My friend KK in Indiana was going to call me, and sure enough, she
>>> did. So I sat and talked with her in the heat and the dark, and
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>>Heck - *I* heard it too ;)
> LOL!

And here we thought it was because you had a really *close* friend over...

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jmcquown - 01 Jul 2005 00:38 GMT

> KABOOM!
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> the charcoal, and throw some burgers on the grill. And get a bag of
> ice or two to put the pop in, just in case.

Yup.

> Our next-door-neighbor, Banjo, was also wondering what to do about the
> dinner of stir-fry chicken and veggies he'd been dreaming of coming
> home to. Hey! There's a grill with hot coals handy next door! So he
> brings his little metal thingy over that fits over the grill, and
> stir-frys his dinner, sharing some with us -- quite tasty. Then we
> all roasted marshmallows, of course.

Of course! When it gets dark you can all start telling ghost stories :)

> Well, that was kind of fun, but it was getting annoying. Several
> hours, and the power still was not on.

Try it for 5 days running. Work was knocked out too. So I grilled bacon,
poured off the bacon grease to use in cornbread (had to use the eggs);
scrambled eggs in a little drippings. I cooked a pot of rice and made
jambalaya and also prepared steak and potatoes. Using up what was thawing
out, don'tcha know :)

And I had cats to feed.

Granted, I don't have 7 cats to feed but using up what is in your freezer
and fridge on a Weber Kettle can amount to sending you back to the Frontier.
I was lucky to have a source of ice.

> Ever try feeding cats in the dark? Seven of them? DH and I had two
> flashlights, and somehow managed to get them fed without stepping on
> anyone, which was a miracle.

I have oil lamps as well as flashlights. They light up rooms surprisingly
well! I have a large table lamp and two smaller oil lamps with the
finger-hook things so you can carry them around. The problem is when I'm
carrying them around I always feel as if I should be wearing a long white
gauzy fluffy gown with a mirror at the end of the hallway and some dark
figure lurking behind me! Hmmm ;)

> It got later and later, and we were getting hotter and more frustrated
> each hour.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> could hear me whoop and holler not just over the phone, but over in
> Indiana without one.

LOL! Yes, I felt that way when my power came back on after a week, too!

> And the cats got to eat their second meal in the light.
>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> (genealogy) http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence
> Against Animals in Movies Website)

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glsummer@neptunelink.com - 01 Jul 2005 19:02 GMT

>Try it for 5 days running. Work was knocked out too. So I grilled bacon,
>poured off the bacon grease to use in cornbread (had to use the eggs);
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>and fridge on a Weber Kettle can amount to sending you back to the Frontier.
>I was lucky to have a source of ice.

Oh, man, I can't even imagine 5 days. I went one time without water
for three days (water pipes froze during a bad winter, and bad
landlord preferred getting drunk to fixing it), and I boiled snow to
get water. It really *did* feel like Frontier days.

>> Ever try feeding cats in the dark? Seven of them? DH and I had two
>> flashlights, and somehow managed to get them fed without stepping on
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>gauzy fluffy gown with a mirror at the end of the hallway and some dark
>figure lurking behind me! Hmmm ;)

Lol! Oil lamps -- gotta look into that.

>> It got later and later, and we were getting hotter and more frustrated
>> each hour.
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>>
>LOL! Yes, I felt that way when my power came back on after a week, too!

I bet!

Ginger-lyn

Home Pages:
http://www.spiritrealm.com/summer/
http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats)
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~summer/index.htm (genealogy)
http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
Animals in Movies Website)

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Shiral - 01 Jul 2005 00:51 GMT

Last night, they decided to.

I had been running errands for four hours in the 90-degree heat,
having trouble breathing, exhausted and overheated. I just wanted to
sit in The Cool Room (the only air-conditioned room), eat some
cookies, drink some cold pop and watch "Ellen".

KABOOM!

Dark. Quiet. No "Ellen", no air conditioning no lights.

Oh, I know those feelings of total frustration, Ginger-lyn. "But all I
wanted was to just sit and watch/listen to my favorite program! A
simple ordinary thing, and it gets loused up!!"

I realized during the last power failure that almost everything I love
to do involves electricity, if only for purposes of illumination. I
would NOT do well in countries that only get electricity for four or
five hours a day. =o)

Melissa

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glsummer@neptunelink.com - 01 Jul 2005 19:03 GMT

>Oh, I know those feelings of total frustration, Ginger-lyn. "But all I
>wanted was to just sit and watch/listen to my favorite program! A
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
>Melissa

I'm the same way. Isn't that terrible? We are such slaves to
electricity in the US, I swear.

Ginger-lyn

Home Pages:
http://www.spiritrealm.com/summer/
http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats)
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~summer/index.htm (genealogy)
http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
Animals in Movies Website)

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Christina Websell - 01 Jul 2005 19:44 GMT

>>Oh, I know those feelings of total frustration, Ginger-lyn. "But all I
>>wanted was to just sit and watch/listen to my favorite program! A
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> I'm the same way. Isn't that terrible? We are such slaves to
> electricity in the US, I swear.

A long time ago, when we had strikes here in the UK by electricity workers I
realised how dependent on electricity I was. I now have a gas "top of the
stove" for saucepans, an electric oven and a woodburner.
If the electricity went off, I could cook something on the gas top.. Okay,
mainly boiling things and heating tinned food. I would lose everything I
had in the freezer and fridge, though :-( so I have a store cupboard of
tinned food.
If the gas went off, I would have no heat in my kitchen as there is a gas
fire in there. Neither could I cook anything in a saucepan, I would have to
use my electric oven to bake things to eat, or the microwave. That would be
no problem.
In my main living room I have a woodburning stove. That heats my living
room (but not the kitchen) and the upstairs and if the worst came to the
worst and both gas and electric went AWOL I think myself and the cats are
covered for an emergency ;-)
Oh, btw, we also have a calor gas heater.
Belt and braces girl here <g>

Tweed

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Tish Silberbauer - 02 Jul 2005 13:03 GMT

When we moved into this house (two years ago now, where has the time
gone!), I noticed that *everything* was electric - cooktop, oven, hot
water, water pump (we are on tank water, so need something to get the
water from the big concrete tank up to the house) ... everything.

It now strikes me as a bit silly of the folks that designed and built
this place because we have power outages several times a year -
usually storms playing tree-tennis with the power lines as the net.
This means that in the last two years we have developed a good routine
for dealing with power outages which involves emergency containers of
water, easily accessible candles, charged torches and extensive use of
the trusty bottled-gas-powered BBQ. Most times the power is back the
next day, but often enough it takes a couple of days to get back to
normal.

Once you've got a psychological feeling of being prepared, it's all
quite fun and exciting - BBQ food and meals by candlelight. Instead
of the ubiquitous TV and radio, we sit quietly and chat (and go to bed
early if the weather is cold). It's really very pleasant for a day or
two. If the outage happens during the week, DH and I do our daily
showers at work so that the pong is not too obnoxious!

Mind you, in this part of the world (Sydney, Australia), it never gets
cold enough in winter for it to be dangerous to be without heating; it
very rarely drops below 0C (um, +30F, I think) and usually has a
winter minimum of around 6-10C.

Tish

>> I'm the same way. Isn't that terrible? We are such slaves to
>> electricity in the US, I swear.

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Kreisleriana - 01 Jul 2005 00:59 GMT

>At least this was a minor thing. At least.
>
[quoted text clipped - 48 lines]
>Ginger-lyn
>when it rains, it pours, floods, devours and destroys . . . .

(((((Oh Ginger))))) "They come not single spies, but in battalions."

Theresa
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My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

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