After midnight Monday storms knocked out power for ~150k people and as of now mines still out. Tried to sign in yesterday with what I thought was my password but it was rejected multiple times before I gave up. Why it works now is a mystery.
I’m sure food in fridge and freezer is spoiled by now. Keeping phone charged has been a challenge. Water in well reservoir has held up for minimal flushing. The silence in the night has been the worst challenge. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Power company has pushed restoration into future 5 times so far. Just got a text saying it is showing in their system as restored. It isnt.
waiting in candlelight
for dawn in an hour
hope asleep with birds
Update:
Typos corrected on above from my PC.
Power was restored at 7:30pm (about a half hour ago.) Between the first post and now, a steady text exchange with the power company, who found it hard to believe I was telling the truth when I said my power was still out and finally sent a live person to take a look late this morning. They crime-scene-taped along the road and left. A little later a crew showed up, put orange cones around their big trucks, talked back and forth for awhile , then left. They came back and left at least 2 more times.
Water in the reservoir was gone at first flush this morning. A sink of dirty dishes has been sitting since Monday night.
I had to go out first thing this morning and get 2 large cuppajoes and fill the gas tank in the car and buy some ice, then drove across to Rite-Aid, bought a cooler on sale and a case of water. During the errands the phone charge got up to 20%. Not enough, so I left the car running with the phone in it until early afternoon, which brought it to maybe 40%.
Younger son suggested I buy a battery-powered fan and/or a sound machine in case it was still out tonight. I already have an alarm clock/sound machine so went and looked to see if it can run on batteries. It can. Bonus: I had a package of AAA batteries to put in it. Yay! Wish I would have known that Tuesday and Weds nights…
Older son offered to let me sleep on his couch tonight if it was still out. I said maybe, but could I could come over when he got out of work to charge up my phone, which only takes an hour if plugged into the outlet. Which is what I did. Of course when I got over there the power company texted me and said the crew had completed the job and the power should be restored at 7:30 (it was 7:15 at that time.) I drove home and sure enough power was back on. I got a final text from power company to respond “OUT” if the power was still out. Thankfully I didn’t have to.
Big thanks to my sons for buying some “bubblers” and 12 D batteries (2 units, each using 2 batteries, will last for 24 hours or so) from a previous power outage, so my fish were never in danger. They’d be floating belly up if they hadn’t bought them way back when for my fishy friends.
The cats have been troopers through all of it.
Another big thanks to the weather for staying in reasonable range and getting nice and cool at night.
I got a lot of reading done, and a few poems written. Also experienced some messed up dreams!
I’m back in the blogging saddle again.
Tao Talk 
Oh no Lisa I am sorry your without power! I hope it is restored soon! Sending you hugs and love! Hope you were able to sleep a little!
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Thanks much, Carol Anne. It’s back now, and I’ve gotten 1-2 hour naps for the past so many days. I know now why sleep deprivation is a form of torture.
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Wow that is no good! It is awful to be without power, even for just a little while. Hope you have a battery radio. Hope the power gets back on soon. :)
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I don’t have battery radio but plan on getting one. Couldn’t use the phone except to get an ongoing stream of texts from power company. Finally came back on at around 7:30pm tonight. Thank goodness. We had a major storm that took out a lot of trees.
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Oh I’m sorry my friend. It’s a frustrating situation.
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Thanks, Sadje. Didn’t you say you and your husband recently had solar panels installed? If so, how are you liking them? Guessing you have a power wall or some kind of inverter and battery storage?
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We have solar panels installed and most of our electricity is free. The excess goes back into the grid and our bills are reduced accordingly. We have an inverter but no battery as that system costs extra. It’s a good investment and now we can run the air conditioners for longer periods.
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All good to know info, thanks, Sadje.
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My pleasure
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Omg that’s awful. I hope you have power back soon. Take care 🥰
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Bernie, thank you so much. It was awful! Longest one so far and I hope the last one ever.
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The worst and the heat has been so dreadful! I’m awfully sorry to read this, Lisa. It is the ultimate drag. Hope power is restored today!! Good luck and take care ♡
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Nancy, it’s actually been cooler this week, which ironically the storms made possible. A mixed blessing for sure. Thanks much <3
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a frustrating situation to be in… hope it’s sorted out soon, Lisa…🤍
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Thanks much, Destiny. Back on now, thank goodness.
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aaaw that’s great…and my pleasure, Lisa…🤍
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Yikes, I hope you get your power back soon! As for me, I like silent nights..
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Glad it is back! It must have been a long, frustrating day. Uhm, make that a long, frustrating week!
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Thanks, Trent. It was a living hell trying to keep the phone charged enough to get the ongoing texts from the power company. Plus as a blogging addict, the first day was pure torture. Day 2 was still horrible but not as. Today a sense of acceptance settled in and I read most of the day (Bono’s book.) That said, as soon as I got home I turned on the computer lol. At least I know how long withdrawal takes now.
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Thanks, Trent. It came back on at around 7:30pm. For some reason I don’t like complete silence or complete darkness. Son gave me suggestion about sound machine and had forgotten the one I have can use batteries. Would have used it tonight with batteries.
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Wow! We barely got sprinkles! It sounds like you took a direct hit! I hope you get power soon. Sending huge hugs to you, Lisa. 💜
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Colleen that’s amazing you all were spared. It went on and on here with full ongoing thunder and lightning. Didn’t realize it was out until I woke up Tues morning. Been hell ever since. Glad it was restored tonight at 7:30.
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OMG!! That’s horrible that you had to wait so long. The electric is underground here in our HOA. That makes such a difference. Be safe, Lisa. 💗
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Good choice for your HOA. Thanks, Colleen <3
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You’re welcome, Lisa. 💜
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p.s. sorry for asking again about your power lines.
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No worries! I figured you meant that for someone else. 💜
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I hate it, I know there are places in the world where it is daily but ….
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I have a feeling we’re headed in that direction. As the weather becomes more extreme, more trees are getting blown over and most places around here have above-ground power lines. Finally came back on tonight at around 7:30pm.
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That is a long wait time, but at least it’s on I guess.
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We rarely have that happen here. Good luck!
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Where are you at again? You’re blessed. It’s been a few years since we had one but this one is by far the longest.
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Power to all our friends
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Glyn, do you all in the UK ever get power outages? Just curious.
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We do get power cuts (as we call them) but mainly if we have extreme weather. It’s rare if if we get cuts any other way.
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Gosh. How difficult for you. I hope the power is on soon.
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Suzanne, thank you very much. They finally fixed it at around 7:30 tonight.
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What a relief to have power again. We sometimes forget how reliant we are on often fragile systems until they fail. Luckily this isn’t our a regular part of our existence in the west.
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Well said, Steve. I put that solar-powered light bulb I got for the yard lighthouse to use. It worked great.
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Thank goodness this didn’t happen in the dark of winter with freezing temps or in the worse of the heatwaves. Counting blessings and all that.
In a case like this, will your insurance help out for the lost food in the freezer? When we had the 3-week power outage during the ice storm of ’98, we were covered. (Thankfully, as we had just bought a half a pig and 1/4 cow!!!
Glad you are back to full power.
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Dale, you’re right it could have been much worse. I don’t know how you managed a 3 week power outage!!? How did you?! Imagining throwing away spoiled pig and cow carcasses….
There wasn’t enough food in the freezer (the kind attached to the fridge) to make it worth the hassle to turn in to insurance. I probably have a high deductible that it wouldn’t pay anyway. Def want to be better prepared if another one happens, which does seem to be inevitable, especially as the weather gets more extreme and they are so non-proactive with the power lines.
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We stayed with my sister who only lost power for 36 hours. We were both pregnan, too. And the funny thing is, we lost nothing as Mick packed the meat in the snow and let’s just say we and our sons did not lack for iron. My BiL told us we were welcome any time there was a natural disaster as we supplied all the meat!
When you buy quantities like this, you have the butcher cut up and packaged however you like: roasts, steaks, ground, etc.
Now that chest freezer surely feels bereft! 😂
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Dale, as I read through this it sounded familiar and I remember reading about it when you posted it before. What a blessing to keep it good in the snow. I did some research on solar powered refrigerators, but one person said cost prohibitive if you don’t have a lot of outages (which we haven’t the past couple of years, :::fingers crossed:::.) Am seriously thinking about investing in solar panels with storage and possibly wind generator.
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I thought I might have shared this before. It’s definitely something to think about. Do the whole pro-con thing.
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Hallelujah! Even one night without power is too long! Sorry about all the food spoilage and clean up you’ll have to deal with. The important thing is you’re safe and up and running. And you’ve collected some new material for stories! Happy for you, Lisa! Stay safe! ♡ 🥳
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<3
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Welcome back! What a fiasco! I’m just glad everything turned out for you, Lisa.
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So far so good. Another storm is brewing. I emailed you a map of just the immediate vicinity to show you what we’ve been dealing with.
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I got it. I worry about you, Lisa. It’s scary stuff. 💖
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Colleen, summer power outages are easy compared to the winter ones. Don’t worry, please. It sounds like I’m in the middle of nowhere but “civilization” is just a few miles away. <3
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That’s good at least. And, you have kids close by. 💖
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Goodness. That sounds like a nightmare.
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It was! Still decompressing from it.
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Nightmare is the right word. I’ve lived through a few longish power outages and they are no fun. I was just thinking the other day that I still have my candle supply (and matches) and a battery powered radio. But what would I do about charging my phone? That is a modern dilemma. Especially since they got rid of all the land lines. Glad you are back (and safe). (K)
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Kerfe, I plan on buying a battery powered radio, and some unscented candles. The one big candle I have has an overpowering fragrance to it that got old real fast. I was able to use the solar-powered lightbulb. I thought about it too late, but the library is where I should have gone to charge the phone and maybe gotten on the computer. Having the bubblers for the fish tank was a real blessing. The cats were unfazed which was kind of surprising. Thanks for the well-wishing.
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Cats are adaptable. And they see well in the dark.
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These storms we get are so worrying now…I dread summer storms here they are so ferocious. It’s good to be prepared. I hope you get a reprieve from the tumultuous weather.
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I never used to fear storms but now I do. Hope they avoid your area, Di. We’ve gotten a reprieve for about a week now, thanks.
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I understand we had some doozies last summer with huge hail. Enjoy the calm and I hope you miss any other storms on the horizon.
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It did storm today while I was over in GR with my weekly visit with fam to Frederik Meijer Gardens. I got a text from Consumers Energy on the drive back that my power was out again!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it. Thankfully when I got home the power was on and no flashing clocks so it must have been glitch in their system. I was thinking hell naw not again!
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I’m happy for you that it was on and hoping you don’t have anymore issues. :)
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