That's what we called living for seven days without electricity due to Hurricane Ike. From Sunday, September 14th, when the 75mph winds whipped through this entire state for eight incredible hours (at one time our son in SW Ohio, us and my inlaws in NE Ohio were all out at the same time -- go figure!!?!) to Sunday the 21st when crews from Tennessee and Virginia brought our grid back up we were sharing the lifestyle of young Abe (you know....those stories we read about him studying by the burning logs in his cabin fireplace ...similar to walking home 18 miles for lunch...ok, ok maybe that was overkill...).
I was being my usual Pollyanna-self, stressing the blessings of water (yes, plenty of that, even abundantly hot) AND cool temperatures (opened the windows at night for refreshing breezes to float through the bedroom), and I got to burn the candles I had collected over the years and never had used!! I learned to run my errands after 7:45pm when the house got too dark. The stores are open until 9p or 10p, my gym until 11p, and of course, restaurants as well. So I nudged my husband into learning to flip the schedule a bit. (We just followed that famous movie line from Poltergeist, "Go toward the light.....")
About Thursday my other half had had just about enough of my cheery attitude....all he wanted was the darned ability to flick the switches on again!! And once the lines were repaired we found ourselves only turning on those lights we really needed. Hey! We lived a week with zilch and I guess you could say we adapted pretty darned well without that new-fangled invention by Mr. Edison. I do believe Mr. Lincoln would have been very proud.
HINT: I found some great 6-volt battery flashlights ($3.97) so I bought 2 and a Coleman lantern with fluorescent bulb/battery run ($19.97 + cells) at Lowe's and they helped illuminate our dinners and our pathways around the house. Go grab one/some now. You just never know when those little goodies will come in handy.....
