How to (sort of) Enjoy a Power Outage

Last week, I was finally getting back to work in my home office and just working away. Then the power went out. There was ice accumulated on the power lines, and apparently it took some of them down. We had no electricity for 16 hours, which also left us with no home phone since we have cable telephone service. To compound things, my cell phone battery was low, so I had to stick it in the car to charge for a while.

Fortunately, our gas fireplace works even if we don't have electricity. Yea! We were able to heat the entire living area, and then sleep warmly under a down comforter in the cold bedroom that night. Even though our gas fireplace turns on with an electric switch, it works because it has a thermal coupler. (Interpretation from Dear Hubby: A thermal coupler creates a small amount of electrical current when heated. So it's sitting there being heated by the pilot light, and has enough power to start the fire.)

Since you never know when one of these incidents will strike, it's good to be prepared. We've had this trusty yellow lantern my daddy gave us (shown on the right) for many years. It has a flourescent bulb that gives a good amount of light, as well as a spotlight on the other side. However, a battery had corroded in the case and it wouldn't come on! Dear Hubby went to the store for batteries (he can't sit still anyway), and came back with a really nice red Coleman Lantern that is rechargeable. It has a flourescent bulb, and will charge in a car or on household current. It runs up to 9 hours, makes good light, and takes no fuel. We will get a lot of use out of it. He got it at Academy for around $35.

Another thing that was a help is our radio (shown in front) that is solar-powered, but also has a hand-crank on the side. Just a few cranks, and we were able to listen to the radio as long as we wanted.

So, there we sat, reading by lantern-light near the warm fire. I kept thinking, this is how Abraham Lincoln had to do all of his studying. Then I got tired of that and rearranged the living room furniture by firelight.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.....I LOVE electricity.