Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Darkness at the edge of town....5 hours to be exact!

Yesterday It was a very windy afternoon gusting upwards to 90 kph...and we lost our power...for the first time in a few years which lasted for 5 hours forcing us to be resourceful and creative.


I had tea lights and tapers and fortunately some kitchen matches.


Mr. HB is handy with an axe...


and he can build a great fire!
I was wearing my Eddie Bauer down jacket for a few hours...and wooly socks too!


I have the vintage phone that is good when the power fails...and good because...we ordered in..


A pizza for dinner


and while we waited we had a cocktail!
We played Trivial Pursuit on Mr. HB's IPhone (he won!)


We had a flashlight that we could crank, a radio too, but it only had a few stations and not the ones we like to tune in to.
IT'S A SIGN!
we need to get ourselves disaster ready!

I have cornered the market on candles
we have a Honda generator
a propane BBQ
bottled water
several flashlights
a medical kit

and we live in an active earthquake zone so we should be able to be self sufficient for a minimum of 3 days...

Are you prepared?

I think that we are so much better prepared when we are on the boat, we need to be as our lives depend on it...so why do I think we can be less prepared when we are in our Bungalow in the city?

This might just be a wake up call!



8 comments:

mette said...

When something like that happens, when the electricity goes off ( a few years back the whole village here was without electricity for 1-2 whole days in Nov./Dec.), and the north wind blew extra hard, it was really a striking experience. We do have 5-6 stoves here, but all the time went to the warming up. No, we definitely are not prepared for anything unexpected. My possessions are scattered all around this place, am referring to firstly the loved ones, animals and secondly the material goods. I try to keep the latter as simple as possible and as close to reach as possible, to be snatched along in case we have to leave the house as quick as possible. I find writing about this making me somewhat anxious. Maybe, I´ll have to check that everything really is in condition ; )now.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

Metscan-we had only 5 hours...1-2 days sounds daunting...and we have 1 cat...you have horses...and it is not too cold here.
I have immense respect for your survival skills...5-6 stoves are really a great idea! You could be wearing an evening gown...without a fur and feel very cozy!
I apologize if I have made you feel any anxiety...not at all on my agenda, please forgive me.

Suburban Princess said...

This is the second time in a week I have seen a post about making a disaster kit...I am putting it in my book as a part of my to-do list! Thanks for the reminder!

the gardener's cottage said...

Hi Leslie,


I lost count of how many times I lost power this past winter. I got pretty good at making do. It does get really cold though and we don't have a fireplace. So it's bundled up and under covers if needed. I bought an itty bitty book light to read by and candles. Food was easy b/c we have a gas range. But I agree, you can never be too prepared.

~janet

materfamilias said...

We lose power at least once a year, often for several hours at a time, occasionally for longer -- I would hate to be without the woodstove and I always have kindling and candles at the ready. Ordering in would be a luxury! (can't happen as we're a boat ride from town and power outages usually happen in storms) -- with the wood stove I can usually simmer up a stew or, at the very least, a grilled cheese sandwich (and, of course, there's always the BBQ just outside.
The big concern is always the sewage as we maintain our own pump to get to the city system -- and the pump works on electricity. I love being able to take sewage for granted and greatly dislike having that threatened . . .

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

By your comments it sounds like we share a knack of being prepared...if we needed to cook we also have a BBQ...it was just so cold and blustery that I didn't have the heart to suggest that Mr. HB go out and cook on it...he's the King of the BBQ here.
and materfamilias...oh my...a generator might be handy!

mette said...

No harm done, Hostess. I have calmed down already. It was warm, if you sat just beside the stove, but we have a largish house, and the warmth just disappeared. Our old house has a natural air-conditioning system.

Duchesse said...

I love storms and wild weather. Days without power is a challenge, but a night, warm and dry with a woodstove and candlelight, is a charming interval.