Back Home Again

Just in time for a big thunderstorm and losing electricity for 21 hours. I think lightning struck a tree on our block, which in turn knocked a couple of branches from another tree onto the the power lines. So we walked around the house reflexively and uselessly turning on lights when we entered the room, and when it finally got too dark we went out to eat and to a movie.

Fortunately/unfortunately, there were only a dozen or so houses with no power. For the common benefit I know that's a good thing, but for us it meant that we were pretty low on the priority scale.

In the aftermath, you do what people always do in situations like this. We plan for the disaster that just happened. Even though I've looked into getting generators in the past, I decided we really don't lose power often enough and the consequences are not sufficiently dire to go to the trouble and expense. I'm still not interested in a generator, but I'm all psyched to go to Target and buy a couple of camping lanterns. Candles really don't make enough light and flashlights are a pain to hold for a long time.

Maybe I'll get a whole disaster preparedness kit. Bottled water? Hah! I'm going for the water purification kit. I got a whole pool full of water. Maybe I'll pick up some freeze dried rations while I'm at it. I've seen that stuff at REI. Dried meat loaf and ice cream and that kind of stuff. Looks yummy inside that silver vacuum pouch. First aid? I can be efficient and skip the rubbing alcohol and just get some extra vodka. You can disinfect with it, drink it, or use it for fuel.