How do I occupy my time when there’s a power outage? Funny you should ask – this has been the summer of the thunderstorm here. We’re trying to remember how many days we’ve had without any rain at all – maybe three in July? Not that there haven’t been beautiful hot sunny days because there have been lots of those. The thunderstorms just roll on in, boom away, pour the rain down in buckets, and then roll on out again. Daily. Sometimes twice a day. It’s getting so old, trying to remember where you put that umbrella from eight hours ago. Haven’t had to wash my car at ALL – nature’s been doing all these great power washes, so that’s a big plus. But I digress. Back to the point, because I’m sure there’s one in here somewhere.
When the lights go out I’ve found it’s a good idea to have the following things handy:
1. A fully charged lap top.
2. Lots of candles. Although I’ve noticed they’re not all that useful if you’ve forgotten where you put the matches.
3. A good book and a good flashlight.
4. A big window and a comfy chair. Watching lightning can be a breathtaking experience.
5. A non-electric can opener. You can prop up a wire rack and put a pan on top of it and a candle underneath to warm something up – but you gotta get that something out of the can first.
6. A list of all the clocks in your house, and some kind of mathematical plan on how to run around resetting them so that they’re all the same. And when you get that figured out could you please share it with me, because every clock in my house says something different.
7. And MOST IMPORTANT: somebody to freak out with when it’s all over. OMG, we were without power for almost 45 minutes!! It was just so unbelievably AWFUL, you have no IDEA!!! They’re going to try to up your story, so make it a good one.
Breathing Space 