We watched dark skies roll over all day Friday (Aug. 31) with intermittent gusts of wind and only a few drops of rain – until suppertime. Then the storm broke. We have never seen the windmill turn so fast! Initially, the dust coming off the newly-harvested fields was a nightmare and we rushed to close windows. The lightning didn’t seem close but evidently hit a transformer. At 7:42, just as we were sitting down to supper, the electricity went off. We ate supper by the light of an old kerosene lamp. The flame only seemed to cast shadows in the room.
As the minutes ticked by, we began to consider how we would cope if the outage continued overnight. What about the refrigerator? Will the computer be messed up? We wanted to clean up after the days’ activities, but of course not only the hot water heater but the pressure tank from the well would be affected. We took quick showers, Mike boasting that he didn’t use more than a pint of water. I quoted from an old alphabet book: “Hector waits for hotter water.”
During a lull in the storm, we sat on the front porch for awhile enjoying the beauty of golden light from the setting sun silhouetting the barn and the fields against the dark gray sky in the west. A chilly breeze sent us back into the house -- and darkness. Don’t we have an old camp lantern someplace? – No … well, maybe … yes! There it is! So we pumped it up, lit it, and read by its light until 8:56 when the electricity came back on. Thankfully, our creature comforts are okay.
1 comment:
You need a battery backup surge protector on your computer so you don't fry your hard drive. We learned that the hard way!
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