The Little Luxuries of Life...

...like electricity.  Friday night we were in the basement watching "Tin Tin" and we were at the part where there is a terrible storm when suddenly our lights and TV started to flicker off and on.  Finally the power went out completely and we looked outside and saw that the sky was dark, the wind was blowing every which way, but it was hot and dry.  As we watched across the river in the city of Radford, we saw electical transistors blowing and lighting up the sky, it was a little scary.  So, we scrambled around the house to find candles and flashlights and as it was already 10pm, went to bed with candles for night lights.

In the morning our power was still out, so we made due by washing the dishes from the night before by hand.  The girls thought this was great fun and Krystal said, "Mommy, that was a great idea to fill one sink with soapy water and another with rinse water."  I had to laugh, they just have no idea that this is how people washed dishes for years before dishwashers.

The first time we lost power while we lived in this house, (yes, it happens quite often) it was 20 degrees outside, but Chris cooked pancakes on the grill.  Now whenever we lose power and it's breakfast time, Chris cooks pancakes on the grill.  They are the best and it gives us something to look forward to. 

There was a load of laundry in the washer when the power went out, so we had to hang it out to dry.

Clarissa and Chris spent the morning picking up branches that had blown down during the storm at our house and our neighbor's houses while Jared mowed the lawn.  After a hot morning of housework and yardwork in almost 100 degree weather and humidity and with no air conditioning, we decided to cool off at the river.

 Don't jump, Jared!

 Seth's first time in the river.  He thought it was too cold.

 It's crazy to think that only a month ago we were here at this same spot hours before Seth was born.

  We found this little spot that we like to call Mattson Cove.  We brought the clippers and cleared out the area of brush so we could have a path and a place to sit, then threw all the dead branches out of the river on the way to the waterfall. 

After a long, hot day, and still with no electricity or fans, we decided to sleep downstairs in the basement where it was cooler.  We continued to have no electricity all day on Sunday as well and ended up borrowing a generator from a friend to save all of our food in the freezer and refrigerator.  Finally, after many adaptations (like taking cold showers by candlelight) and 48 hours later, our power came back on Sunday night.

Some thoughts on life without electricity: I really enjoyed sitting outside in the evening just talking by candlelight.  I was surprised that nobody had a problem with not having access to our electronics, although we did keep trying turning on the light switches inadvertently.  Food cooked on a grill always tastes better than food cooked inside, and it's a good thing that we had plenty of food stored up because all the stores were without power as well.  I like scented candles, but not all night long (I remembered that we had emergency candles when all was said and done).  I am so glad that for 5 years we have been saving water in 2-liter bottles; because we have a well and water has to be pumped in, we don't have water either without electricity unless our neighbor who shares the well with us happens to be running his generator.  Speaking of generators, the first thing we did once we had our power back on was research buying a generator.  Finally, the two things I missed the most were fans and ice.  I can handle not having A/C as I usually keep it set around 78 or 80 anyway, but it's the lack of moving air that made things so hot and miserable.  Also, when I was hot, I just wanted a drink of COLD water, but with no ice, the water was all warm.