Where I live in West Texas, it’s rare to get much snow. We had our second largest snow on record back in January, but February refused to be outdone. On Valentine’s Day, Sunday, we received 14.3 inches of snow. That smashed the single day snowfall record for our town of Abilene, TX. The previous record had been a whopping 9.6 inches.
The snow is beautiful. Such a rare sight is a treat to enjoy around here. Yet what came after was less enjoyable. Texas is not used to such a demand for energy. So at 2:00 am on Monday morning, we lost power. Even though the day outside was calm and beautiful, we were stuck inside with no electricity. We had about two hours of power in the morning and about 45 minutes in the afternoon, but that was all. So it was time for creativity.
Taking advantage of the sunlight in the kitchen, I actually worked on my taxes for about an hour, since all I needed was paper, pencil, calculator, and my giant manila envelope of writing-related receipts. No Internet required for this organizational step.
After lunch, I had enough life left in my Kindle to finish reading my e-book. I did this after pulling out an old aerobics step that I placed in the middle of the living room floor. Kindle in hand, I stepped on and off that step for about 45 minutes in an effort to get exercise while I read. It did keep me warm, which was nice, since the house had no heat.
In the evening, we lit candles and played card games in front of the fireplace where we manage to scrounge up just enough wood to keep burning for a couple hours. Who knew that the day after Valentine’s would be when I’d share a candlelit evening with my husband?
I must say that I’m thankful for thick blankets and fuzzy socks. And for a warm husband to snuggle with under the covers.
We ended up with no power or heat until Wednesday. Waking up in the wee hours of Wednesday morning to hear the heater kick on was the best sound ever! We’ve had no water since Monday either, but that should be restored soon, even though we’ll have to boil everything for a while. Losing necessities creates a vivid reminder of how much we have to be thankful for. And while I love romanticizing about life in the 1800’s, I am incredibly thankful not to be emulating that lifestyle any longer. Whew!
What creative things do you do when the power is out?
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Our two sons live in the Dallas area and have experienced similar things, Karen. Pools frozen over, broken pipes and flooding for our youngest, no water or power. They are making do and as of last night each had the power back for a few hours to warm their homes. Crazy, but oh, it makes for great stories to tell down through the years and as we older people now know, experiences like this are character-building. 🙂
I pray your kiddos have full power back soon, Deb. But, yes, we have made some fun memories. Part of me likes the challenge of getting creative in food prep and entertainment. We actually cooked soup on the grill. Such a thing never would have even occurred to me before this. 🙂
One of the best things we ever did was convert our wood burning fireplace to gas. Now, if we lose power in the winter, we do have heat.
Praying for you and your family to be restored to normal as soon as possible. Stay safe!
So smart, Betty. The only gas we have is for our water heater, which doesn’t help much when we have no water, either. I was missing the gas stove I grew up with. 🙂
Oh, Karen! I’m glad your power returned. This storm has been difficult for so many!
How have you fared, Becky? I hope you’ve been blessed with power, water, and heat. It’s amazing how much we take these things for granted. Makes me extra thankful when they are restored.
Hi, Karen, thank the Lord that we can survive without our conveniences for a while! Up in the northwest corner of Washington (about 5 miles south of Canada), we lose power for a couple of days at least once a year. We don’t have a fireplace or wood stove, but we have a 1-burner Coleman propane stove plus a generator and space heaters, and some good battery-operated camping-type lanterns. Also a “cord” telephone since the cordless ones don’t work without “juice” and my cell phone is NOT smart and barely works in the best of times. My brother and sis-in-law live next door and have a wood stove, so we have the option of visiting them once in a while. I take care of my 99-year old Dad; it’s paramount that he stay warm. Wool socks and sweaters. He crawls into bed when he gets too cold. He did that in WW II in Holland when there wasn’t any food or heat. It’s his way of riding out the storm. And most important for me, I have my Kindle! When I think about it, it almost makes me mad that I’ve let myself get so dependent on electricity. Another trick I found with keeping my Dad warm was to warm up my car and have him sit in it until he’s too warm, then get him back in the house and hope the space heaters kept a tolerable temperature. It’s cold at times! In the teens. Anyway, glad you’ve gotten through okay. May the Lord protect His children from the harshness of this present world!
Amen, Hilda. Where would we be without God’s provision? It sounds like between you and your brother next door, that you are prepared for crazy times. We actually used the car trick once. We ran one of the vehicles for about 15-20 minutes with the heat on to warm up a bit and to charge our phones. We tried to save our phone batteries as much as possible so we could keep in touch with our kids and other family as well as check the community news for updates.
So glad y’all are okay! This has been a crazy weather week in Texas!
Thanks, D’Ann. Have you been affected where you are? My editor said that with all the once in a generation/lifetime events we’ve experienced lately he wouldn’t be surprised if Godzilla or aliens hit next. Ha!
Up here in IL, we went for a week without power one summer when a massive derecho hit the area. This, of course, included snapping, broken power lines at the end of our street. Life certainly slows down when you do not have power! I was fortunate in that I could use my gas stove for simple meals (no way to store leftovers), but many refrigerated items went into the break room fridge at my husband’s workplace 20 minutes away. We took leisurely evening walks through the neighborhood like everyone else, greeting people we didn’t know. We lit candles to shower in our windowless bathroom. We watched the baseball All-Star game from Red Robin, where we kept ordering bottomless fries until the end of the game. And instead of freezing, we sweated through the nights, and cheered when that lovely a/c finally kicked on! Yes, this too will pass. You will certainly enjoy that shower when the opportunity arises, and stay safe.
I love the picture you paint of neighbors greeting each other while out for their walks, Janice. There is something to be said for being forced to slow down every now and then. Although I’d prefer it to be temperate when it happens. Ha!
I suppose you could boil the snow for water? lol. Glad you got through it.
I love the photo of the tree. That’s pretty awesome!
We have a pretty large wood pile and a wood stove, even though it really doesn’t get that cold here. I wish I could give my wood to people in Texas but CA is kinda far LOL
Playing board games and card games and hide and seek are always fun without power 🙂
We have been blessed this time with only one hour without electricity (so far). We have went without electricity for about 30 hrs one time a few years back. Not fun for sure. I love reading historical fiction books but I sure don’t want to live it. I’m in northeast Mississippi and some of the people are having it fairly bad but some of us have been praying for Texas.
I’m so glad that you’re coming back into the 21sr century! I’ve been so worried about our Texas friends managing without heat, power, and water. We lost power once (for 3 days) a very short 2 weeks before our wedding. My hubby was out saying farewell to his bachelorhood, so naturally Mother Nature decided to send in a blizzard. No power equaled no heat, so my girls and I snuggled up in the biggest bed we could find and watched Ella Enchanted on the portable car DVD player until the battery died. The following day we had to descend upon my FIL and SIL to stay with them for a few days, but we’ll never forget the drama that fell before the wedding!
I remember twice having gone without power for a week at a time. The first was on Christmas Day when I was little. We opened presents by flashlight, picked our favorite toy, and headed to Gramma’s…and stayed the week. My parents would haul out some new toy each day when they went home to check on things, but we only made it back home the day before we had to go back to school. I was in second grade.
The second time, I was in 8th grade. We would go out and play in the snow, then come in and get warm by the kerosene heater. We put a blanket across the hallway to keep in the heat, and the neighbor lady stayed with us. We’d heat soup on the Kero-Sun, play Scrabble and Boggle, and do crafts until it got dark. We listened to the news on the transistor radio, and even listened to an episode of “The A-Team” one night.
Definitely not something I would want to repeat! But definitely times I can say I’m not sorry I had the chance to experience!