After Irene

So Hurricane Irene came and went with lots of wind, a bit of rain, and enough damage to cause power outages all over the east coast. I spent the storm at my parents house since my dad was out of town and my mom was alone on a very wooded lot. Exciting and frightening to watch the trees in those gusts. Mom and I were good caretakers though and did not lose a single whole tree on their lot. D and the boys were also safe and while no trees went down on our lot there was a very large oak that went down across the creek and took 4 other good size trees out on the way down.
The day after the storm is when the clean up and real fun started. Both houses were without power or cable and D could not get cell service at our house. Once we got in touch he gathered frozen food worth saving and brought it to my parents where Mom and I (with a little help) got the generator started. Thanks Mom and Dad for loaning space in your deep freezer to save a bit of food!
Daily life became a bit different without power and I took a few pics to help you remember how lucky you are to have electricity.
Here is our family lighting center. Happy that it doesn't get dark until 8 so soon after dark the kids are asleep anyway. Must get a battery operated camping lantern--- a winter power outage would have been harder with darkness setting in around 5pm.

Next steps show dish washing in its old fashioned form. We do have a gas stove so once we lit it with a match we could heat water (or food). Boil water; add part to sink and make one pot the rinsing station. Washes dishes and air dry--- if you towel dry then you have to deal with wet towels that cannot be easily washed and dried for the next day's dish washing.

Here is our fridge airing out so it doesn't get musty. It was a nice chance to give it a good cleaning.

Our smaller temporary fridge. It made life a bit simpler since there weren't really lots of choices for the kids to make. We did eat breakfast and dinners at home using the grill or the stove to cook things.

Here are the boys. They look like they are suffering. I think they liked the power outage. They don't play their video games all that much and made up lots of games with their baseball cards or did art projects or read or played outside with kids that have been hooked to their electronics all summer. They did miss TV. Luckily it was cool enough outside that having windows open was pleasant and to sleep at night they loved all of us piling in the basement together. D and I didn't like sleeping all the in the same room and it reaffirmed our belief that co-sleeping is not for us.

Here is the one item that was going to be a problem if the electricity was out much longer. Laundry. Not too shabby for 4 days. We completely caught up before the storm since we knew this would be the one piece of the aftermath that would be hard to work out if power was out.

I will wrap up with my Thankful Thursday reflections: I am very thankful that family and friends made it through the storm safely. I am also thankful that the boys had the chance to live without electricity for a few days so they could see that life can continue and you can learn to make due with what you have. Also very thankful that my boys are getting old enough to recognize that a little bump in the road like no power is just that --a little temporary bump-- and they are flexible enough to take it on as an adventure.

love and hugs and have a great weekend! B