Freezing in the Dark
A few days ago, as usual, my husband cleaned the ashes out of our woodstove and then built a fresh fire. He commented that the stove wasn’t drawing too well, but he thought that once he got the stovepipe hot enough, it would draw better. So he built a massive fire in the stove. It was then that we discovered that the spark arrester must be clogged because smoke started filling the house. I threw open all the windows and turned on the ceiling fans to blow the smoke out. Of course the indoor temperature dropped down to the mid 3o’s. Finally, I decided to pull the burning logs out of the woodstove and throw them out the window into a snow bank. That went well, except for the additional soot from the burning logs that coated all the surfaces of our living room.
Fortunately we have electric baseboard heaters. So after airing out, I turned on the electric heat. I started vacuuming and washing soot off of everything. Well wouldn’t you know it, about two hours into the intensive cleaning process, the power went out! Since we don’t have a backup generator yet, we had no heat and no water pressure. So I couldn’t finish the cleaning. I made a early cold dinner of tuna salad sandwiches and canned peaches. Of course the house got progressively colder and darker as the afternoon wore on. We spent the evening bundled up playing board games in the candle light until about 8pm, when even the kids decided they would just as well go to bed!
I was so happy to be woken up in the middle of the night when power came back on! Kudos to the power company’s repair crew!
Yes, I realize how woefully unprepared we are for a long term power failure! This time of year I don't have to worry about my frozen food spoiling, but I do have to worry about my pipes freezing! The other thing I worry about is water for my livestock. But, in an extended outage, I could haul water from the river.
Fortunately we have electric baseboard heaters. So after airing out, I turned on the electric heat. I started vacuuming and washing soot off of everything. Well wouldn’t you know it, about two hours into the intensive cleaning process, the power went out! Since we don’t have a backup generator yet, we had no heat and no water pressure. So I couldn’t finish the cleaning. I made a early cold dinner of tuna salad sandwiches and canned peaches. Of course the house got progressively colder and darker as the afternoon wore on. We spent the evening bundled up playing board games in the candle light until about 8pm, when even the kids decided they would just as well go to bed!
I was so happy to be woken up in the middle of the night when power came back on! Kudos to the power company’s repair crew!
Yes, I realize how woefully unprepared we are for a long term power failure! This time of year I don't have to worry about my frozen food spoiling, but I do have to worry about my pipes freezing! The other thing I worry about is water for my livestock. But, in an extended outage, I could haul water from the river.
