A Night With No Power

If you're going to lose power, it's best to lose it at night.  Right?

I mean, you don't have to worry about how you are going to make meals, entertain children or yourself, nor about making sure people don't open the fridge too often letting all the cold air out.


We have a light in our room hooked up to a remote from which we can dim the lights or turn them off once we're already in bed so I can read for a bit before lights out.  Because we have that remote, the switch stays on.  The first time the power went out last night, that switch was still in the on position so when the power came back, the lights created a wake up call.  It only lasted a few minutes though before power went out again.

And then the beeping started.

Our computers (and the server we store pictures and music on) have battery back-ups in case the computers are on when we lose power to keep us from having fried computer paperweights.  When the power goes out, those battery back-ups beep.  Loudly.

There is a street lamp in front of our house and at night some of that light filters through the blinds into the living room; Leia sleeps on the couch in the living room and this light is like her night light, but last night . . .

My dog...is afraid...of the dark.

All of this was not helping The Chicken Dog who, when the power went out, had run into our room and wedged herself between me and Robert where she was shaking.  She is not a small dog.  With each beep from the server's battery back-up she would try to squirm closer to me. There was no closer for her to squirm to.

We clicked the switch into the off position, turned off the battery back-ups to stop the beeping, and I escorted the dog outside to potty for the first of three (THREE!) times last night.  It was cold and rainy, and during each trip the wind (we had gusts up to 45 mph) blew the rain into my face, no matter which direction I turned.  

Leia would curl up with us while the power was out and when it came back on she would wander back out to the living room, only to rush back in and put her cold nose in my face to get me up to take her out (nervous bladder) and then get back in bed with us again.  The last cycle of no power created more beeping - apparently the batteries in one of our smoke detectors is low.  And the alarm (I set a backup alarm on my phone in case our bedside alarm clock was out of commission) came all too soon.

Thankfully, the Nyquil I took before bed allowed me to sleep so deeply that even though I spent too much time awake last night I'm still able to function today.  Barely function, and with a LOT of coffee (two cups in and counting) but still. . . I can function.

353:366

Leia sleeping off her (read: our) sleepless night.  I'm so jealous....and tired. 

Weekend

351:366

We were surprised Saturday morning when it started snowing.  We didn't get any more than this dusting, and it quickly melted.  The news usually makes a HUGE deal when we are expecting any kind of storm, especially a snow storm, but not this time - or at least we missed it.  It's good that it didn't last though because I had friends over for a crafting day.  I worked on my mystery quilt and got half of the top put together.




362:366
My Christmas carolers (from Granny) and Christmas tree light reflections.


It looks like it might be my turn to get sick. I woke up with a sore throat, my head has been pounding all day and I'm so exhausted and cold. I don't have a fever (yet) and I hope it ends tonight with the Nyquil I'll be taking before bed.  And hopefully it ends with me and doesn't try to make the rounds again (or get Carus fully sick instead of just feeling a bit poorly).

We have a storm coming in tonight and into tomorrow.  In fact, it's already here.  Lots of rain and high wind expected. I've had to escort the dog out to go potty (freaking chicken dog) and I got quite wet, though I had an umbrella.  We've lost power once this evening already, just for a few minutes, and I was thankful it came back on because dinner was about 20 minutes (pork chops and scalloped potatoes and the raw pork needed that 20 minutes) away from being done.  As soon as it came back on, I turned the oven up another 50 degrees hoping that I could get it done before it went out again (if it goes out again).

I just took it out of the oven so as soon as our cell phones are all charged up (just in case) and the house is warmed up more (just in case), the power can go out again. I'm not sure if I want it to be back on in time for work tomorrow or not . . .