Tuesday, September 16, 2008

48 hours off the grid and counting.

Hurricane Ike hit Cincinnati two days ago and shut us down. That's right, a hurricane hit Ohio. Hurricane force winds anyway - gusts over 80 mph. We haven't had power since 2:00 pm on Sunday and some estimates say it could be another five days depending on your neighborhood. Today I found a rogue coffee shop about six miles from my house with power and free internet - a double blessing.

So what happens when you don't have power for 48 hours?

1. The kids don't go to school.
2. The grown ups don't go to the office.
3. The food spoils.
4. No TV, video games, lights, dishwasher, garbage disposal, garage door opener, AC, electric fans, alarm clocks, cell phones after the batteries die, etc.
5. Neighbors talk to each other. It's the weirdest thing.
6. You teach your kids about pioneers and contentment and sharing and Benjamin Franklin.
7. Lots of Stratego, Monopoly, Yatzee and Black Jack. (Yes, we teach our kids to gamble. We are still Las Vegans at heart.)
8. Open flames in every room of the house after 8:00 pm.
9. You ponder the power of simplicity.
10. You embrace the gas grill on the back deck as the only source of heat - we've made potatoes, garlic bread, pancakes and chai tea on our grill so far.
11. Everyone at the one open grocery store in town is surprisingly talkative, including introverted teaching pastors.
12. You grow strangely thrilled by it all - you find yourself not entirely sure if you want the power to come back today or not.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

i really can't see a downside to any of this, except the food spoiling. it's been a wonderful adventure in community and simplicity! glad you all are enjoying it as well! (i only wish ours had stayed off longer. that, and that it would have affected my place of work. boo! thumbs down for work!)

Dean said...

As I was out with the kids at the library, my wife called to let me know the power was back on, about 48 hours after it went out. I'm a bit bummed, I was enjoying it.

IlonaGarden said...

That about sums it- except for the last thought. Our electric came back on today and while I like the idea of a little vacation from modern life... we were without running water, too. Perhaps that made a difference for me; we are not equipped for "the simple life".

Helen Ann said...

It is kind of sad that it takes a violent storm to pull people out of their own worlds and live in true community. I'm not one who believes that God sends these storms to bring people to repentance but He sure does use them to His advantage!

Sherry said...

I want the grilled chi recipe!

:0)

cdwalker247 said...

Our power came back on Monday night. We still stayed outside and relaxed by the fire pit for rest of the evening. Now if we could just get our Internet back, I wouldn't have to pay bills at work.

Sue Humphrey said...

Our power was out from 2 pm Sunday until 7 pm Tuesday. I loved every minute of it. We've got two boys too and made the most of all those school's-out, screen-free hours. We ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and spent many hours cleaning up the backyard. At night, we read our books by candlelight. Sweet times! The only downside for us was that we lost two big blue spruce trees. A bummer for sure! Still, I will remember the whole experience very fondly.

Christopher Day said...

Wait! The power was out??? I just thought everybody liked each other all of a sudden.

Daniel said...

#5 Ridiculous what it takes for this to happen.