When the power output goes to zero

As in electrical power. We woke up at a little after 5:00 am this morning when the power went out. The carbon monoxide detector lets out a beep when the power goes out or back on. At that point there wasn't much to do but get back under the covers and try to sleep.

We got up a little later to go to church, hoping the power would be restored by the time we got home but no luck. I brought in our kerosene heater and fired it up. It puts out a lot of heat and the living room stayed relatively warm. Thankfully the temps were in the low 30's so it was not as difficult to keep things warm.

The record for the longest time without power since we moved here was 12 hours but as we approached that milestone Sandy and I went out to dinner. After we got back and still did not have power it was dark so I dragged out the generator and fired it up to provide some lights in the house. We also plugged in the upstairs refrigerator since it had been off so long it was starting to warm up inside.

With the fireplace blazing and the generator and heater going, it was quite cozy. I decided to plug in the cable modem and router so I could access the Internet via the laptop. We did not want to risk damaging the computer or TV by plugging them into the generator since it doesn't provide clean power. I felt bad for my son who picked up a Wii Fit overnight and hasn't ahs a chance to use it.

So here I sit, with the power out for almost 17 hours. They say it may be a few days before everyone has power restored. But with the fireplace, heater, a plate of cheese and crackers and a beer, plus Internet access, it doesn't get much better during a power failure.