Friday, February 15, 2008

Lights Out!

That's what happened Wednesday night shortly after 9 pm :o( Can you guess how many hours our power was out????

A storm moved in on Wednesday morning, starting with snow. Around lunch time, the ice pellets started coming down and then by supper time it was pouring rain. As evening drew near, the colder it became and therefore the freezing rain started :o( I didn't think much of it and even when we looked out the windows, there wasn't any heavy ice forming on the trees or power lines.

Shortly before 9 pm, the power started going on and off, about four times. On the fifth time, it stayed off. Luckily I have a laptop so my battery automatically kicked in :o) DH yelled from the bedroom that I shouldn't use up all my battery power just in case this was a long lasting power outage. Good thing I listened to him ;o)

During the night, I kept rolling over and looking at the clock to see if the power had come back on but there was just blackness looking back at me. Around 4 am, Brie came tip toeing down the hall to our bedroom so we put her in the bed with us. Needless to say, DH and I didn't get much sleep from that point on. LOL!

Yesterday morning, we hit the twelve hour mark at 9 am and still no power. No phone either! I was dressed in layers of two so I could keep warm ;o) The only source of heat that we have in the house is electric so we were starting to worry that if this went on for another twelve hours, we might have to drain the pipes, pack up the furry kids and head somewhere warm. Having candles everywhere can only do so much ;o)

It's amazing how much we do rely on power and how we think of it as a normal every day thing. I can't tell you how many times I went into a room and automatically went for the light switch ;o) You're pretty limited with things you can do as well. Since I had no television, radio, stove, microwave, or water, I decided to use the time to be creative! I dug out my beading supplies and this is what I came up with -

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This is my first attempt at a fob and I'm really happy with it. It's actually going to be a gift for someone. A long overdue thank you :oS

When the phone rang I nearly jumped out of my skin but at least I knew the phone lines were back up! LOL! At 10 am, I finally gave in and called the power company. They said their estimated time for our area would be around noon time. I watched power truck after power truck going by. The word was there were around 10,000 customers without power.

Around 12:10 pm, the furnace kicked on so I knew our power was back up and running. Woohoo! So in total, it was fifteen hours. We consider ourselves lucky though because there were some that weren't going to get it back until midnight! Yikes! Needless to say, I was never so happy to flush a toilet. LOL!

I will leave you with a picture I took last week of some ice coming out of the down spout from the eaves trough -

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12 comments:

Stitchabilities said...

Oh no poor you!! glad you got your power back on,That is a pretty fob! Well done!!

Lori said...

oh, I though of you all quite a few times during this. Glad it wasn't longer that you were without.

Good job on the fob. I have beading stuff too, and every fob I've made from wire, has eventually broken down and sprayed beads everywhere,lol. Maybe you have a better touch ;)

I just remembered... I'm suposed to snail mail you!! Hopefully I can mail next Friday. Need to gather some things. Don't stalk the mailman now! ;) lol.

Karen said...

great fob well done, I like the ice photo

Carolyn said...

Cathey,
I am glad you got your power back on..it was out for quite a while. You must have been freezing...

My neighbors across the road and down the street are still without power as of this morning. I don't think we need anymore of this weather.....we have had enough:)

Your fob is so pretty..I love it:)

Christine S said...

I'm glad to hear you have your power back! The fob turned out really well.

Tammy said...

You've had yourself quite an adventure over the last couple days. Glad to hear your power has been restored and you've been able to flush.

Your scissor fob is darling.

Marita said...

EEK! I can't imagine being anywhere that cold and without power for so long. Glad you made it through okay.

Love the fob it is really pretty.

Cindy said...

Your fob looks awesome!

15 hours is an awfully long time to go without power.

Irene said...

Sorry to hear about the power outage. It's amazing how much we depend on electricity and don't realize it till we are without.
LOVE the fob, great job !!

Leeland said...

Oh my... This is scary... We've had to live without power for just seven hours two years ago and what an awful time... I think that's why I want a chimney now... Lol!
Your fob is soooooo beautiful! I love it!!!!
Thanks for being there.
Take care, Cathey,
Lili

Sue said...

Great fob, I am definitely going to make one some day ;)

stitcherw said...

Beautiful fob, but what rotten luck that you had to do it with the power out. Although at least you had something to keep you busy.
I'm glad your power came back on before you had problems with your pipes and things. Hopefully you won't have any more trouble this winter.
Sue