Caroline S

We are going on our 5th day without power. No power means no water since we are on a well. No power means no heat because we have a pellet stove and it is the only source of heat for us. I am cooking on my 3 burner camp stove and boiling clean snow to wash dishes. Thank goodness the dogs have a big stock tank to swim in and it is full. I am hauling water in from the doggy swimming pool to flush the toilets. For an unknown reason everyone around us has power but the power company can give me no idea as to when they can come out and troubleshoot the problem.

My husband's son brought us a BIG generator last night that is big enough to power the necessary items like the pellet stove, fridge, lamps, TV (for DH) and the computer and sewing machine (for me). There are big extension cords running all over the place but things are working well enough to make me an almost happy camper. And I absolutely HATE camping.

Early on I brought out my old but still functional oil lamps for lighting. They work so so, but not like the oil lamps that light up whole rooms in the movies! Sure hope this ends soon.

AuntieD

We were without power for many days last summer due to Hurricane Irene. Luckily we got a generator from my brother and were able to power the refrigerator and freezer and a couple of fans. Also tv when the cable was restored. I hope you get your power back soon.

DogHouseMom

Ugh! I hate being without power! We were without for a week or so the summer of ... (95?) when the midwest was hit with incredible heat wave. I had puppies on the ground at the time and as fellow breeders can attest we usually work hard to keep puppies warm - in my case I had ice packs in the whelping box!!

I hope you get your power back soon. You guys had an awful storm!

EllieGirl

I'm very experienced with this. In 04 we lost power for seven days in the summer. In 08 we lost power for eight days because of Hurricane Ike, and we live in Kentucky, go figure. That was September. In January 09 we lost power for eight days in January!!! That was horrible! We did have water, and have a gas stove so could cook some. We ate out every night just so we could get warm because there were places with power. We bought a standby generator after that. Now we'll never be without power because it's connected to the gas line. We've had to use it once. The power went out and within 10 seconds the generator came on.

Good luck, and this will pass soon.

Lois-nounoe

When we first moved into our Double wide on our new acreage we had a winter storm that put us out for 10 days! Since we are ALL electric we had no heat, water, and couldn't cook etc. Since we had a parrot and a fish tank leaving to stay with someone else wasn't an option. Having a small fireplace we shut all the doors and moved the sofa closer to the fireplace with a cot in front of that. Whoever woke up during the night had to stoke the fireplace. I have always had an oil lamp at the ready cause even in the old row house we did have outages with no light. For water we went to relatives to fill big barrels for the animals and flushing the toilets. Hot meals were eaten out and a radio was used for music, news, or just plain sounds of any kind. We survived it all and I could do it again but hope it isn't in God's plans! LOL

ptquilts

Please be careful with the extension cords!! they have been known to cause fires.

I feel for you, when we lose power we are without water as well. We do have a wood cookstove so heat and hot food are still available. If we know a storm is coming we fill up buckets with water and store them.

And yes, I have quilted by candle-light, and I'm glad I don't have to do it regularly!!

carreen

We got ours back (in Auburn) last night after 56 hours. The people up on the next road just got theirs a few minutes ago and they went out a day before us. We have a 10,000 KW generator so we had everything we needed but I don't like camping either! Hope you get yours soon. (My name is also Caroline but have always gone by Carreen).

Stitchnripper

My son and his family live in Puyallup and were without power for about 36 hours. A small amount of time compared to you, but, they were cold! They do have a gas stove for cooking. We lost power several times here for long periods because of hurricanes. At least it was warm. Would hate it worse in the cold.

quiltinggirl

I will be praying that your power is restored very soon!

Caroline S

We are all electric here also, no gas is available. We lost a lot of trees but after the big silver freeze 16 years ago we had all of the big fir trees around the house removed. We kept a green belt between the road and our house but it has been too dangerous to do an inspection due to the wind we had. My stepson came out today and cut trees that had fallen across the fences so the dogs would stay in the yard but we have not walked all of the fence lines for damage. I don't have horses anymore so it is not a urgent issue. I have two freezers in the garage that I have hooked a small generator up to so I don't lose the contents in them. All of my extension cords are heavy duty and fairly new.

Some years ago I purchased a wind up radio with a light. It is one of the best investments I ever made. Without it we would not have known what was going on weatherwise. I do have another radio that will switch to battery power when it looses electricity but I had not changed the batteries recently and that one did not work.

I am making a list of the things I will need in the future if another weather emergency happens. This whole event was a BIG reminder that we have to be prepared always. And I was not totally prepared.