We lost power again Sunday eve at about6pm and got it back today at 2pm.
There were branches and trees down the length of our lane. We headed out to clear it off with a bow saw and a truck and chain. One tree was a little too big for the bow saw, so we left the truck and walked to the end of our lane where we met a neighbor who happened to be in his 16 ton loader. He did in 5 minutes, what would have taken us 5 hours. We still have a lot of trees and branches to clean off the side of the lane, pile up, and burn this spring.
We spent the first five days mostly in our basement TV room where the propane fireplace kept us warm. The propane stovetop allowed us to eat quite well and my sunroom became our walk-in refrigerator. It got down to mid 30's upstairs during the night, but low 50's during the day because we would open up the door from the TV room downstairs. The kids ate MRE's one day (just for fun) but became pretty bored. I (Mrsnad) didn't really want them playing outside for fear of falling branches...it was amazing how we could just hear them falling...every five seconds at one point.
The kids are the happiest to have power because now they can read at night. :-) It was better though when G'nad got the generator last Friday. We were told the power could be out another week and decided enough was enough. G'nad got a 5Kw generator and made a dual male 220 plug (aka...suicide plug...not something for Corin to try) and ran 220 from the generator to a 220 outlet in the workshop downstairs. He opened (I want to say shut) the main breaker so that the power stayed in the house. That way we could use the breaker box to controll where we wanted power. Since all the major appliances are propane, it took very little power to run the furnace, water heater, well pump, and the chest freezer at the same time. I even got to use my garbage disposal, do laundry, and run my vacume at one point! It was so cool the way he could just flip a breaker and direct the power to where we wanted it!...He da man.
We were doing so well, g'nad and I had a few cocktails Saturday night... we didn't have any ice cubes, so I went out a picked icecicles to put in his bourbon... looked very stylish!...
oh... and Gunner seemed to be enjoying himself thru out this evolution...
g'nad here... I'm so proud of my wife and kids... I never heard a word of complaint... we were never in any danger, because we were prepared and had the right mindset... I had decided long ago to get a generator... but I put it off till now... we learned a few lessons, and also had a lot of our plans and habits confirmed as solid...
like the man said, "That which does not kill you, makes you stronger..." that said, it's good to be back...