THE POWER WENT OUT!!! THE POWER WENT OUT!!!

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btuser

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Jan 15, 2009
2,069
Principality of Pontinha
So I wake up the sound of carbon monoxide detectors beepin their little beep. The house is dark. Really dark. Why's the house this dark? Flip. Flip. OH BOY!!!!!!!!!

I tip toe to the stairs, edge down to the kitchen, and drift like a sleep walker searching for a dormant heartbeat. I find the stove in the pitch black and rub the cool, smooth metal for a spiral handle. It unlocks like a safe, then a puff of wind pushes back against my face with the scent and flavor of wood ash. My mind flashes to the compost pile, to the wood pile, to the forest. Paper and kindling can be found 6' to the left, and so I crawl through the blue-black on my knees. The paper yeilds to pressure, giving up the stink of formaldehyde and ink. I grab 4 small, dry sticks with a total weight of 4 lbs, taken from a tree that grew 800' North West of this place for 90 years. It grew before there was a stove, before there was a house, before myself, my father, grandfather, or even before the road. The oak died a violent death, but it was not the end. The wood has a tale that remains to be told. My hand pulls red matches hidden in a drawer, from a commode I saved from a dumpster 20 years ago (the lone surviving remnant of my bachelorhood). Streaks of light rip the dark and I see my hands, my arms, my legs. I am real. I'm alive. The living room is still here, the world reborn through flame. The single match is overpowering, hot white light cradled in my hands as I turn for the paper. I'm close. I can almost touch it.

Then the lights come on. DAMN IT!!!!!
 
Sounds like the beginning of a great novel - except, why were the carbon monoxide detectors going off?

Shari
 
<> why were the carbon monoxide detectors going off?<>

No power to the detectors, maybe the batteries for the back-up
power source are weak...
 
well said. I would have used at least a 1/2 dozen swear words fumbling in the dark like that! You certainly are more more eloquent than I am!

Thanks for sharing. And, um, sorry that the power came on?!?

pen
 
I dunno... sparking up the stove in the dark? First thing I would do is to light a candle. Just don't leave the candle in the hearth room when you're done cuz it'll melt.
 
why not go and trip your main breaker - then you can be without power as much as you want :p
 
cmonSTART said:
btuser, where in NH? It was crazy windy today!! We didn't have any outages here though. too bad.

Auburn NH. Crazy windy today. The kids filled a trash barrel full of pine cones.

We were only out for an hour or so, I was ready to gear up for another 6 days without power.
 
We lost it for 10 seconds a few times. I started a fire last night to drive the damp out. Light it anyways.
 
They don't have flashlights in New Hampshire? What's up with that? Rick
 
If I posted every time we lose power here, I'd probably get stoned off the forum. Sounds like NH is blessed with a better power infrastructure.
 
Man, you gotta quit eating Polish Sausage and warm beer after those Chick Flick Vampire movies.

Also, you gotta check your stove seals if you are getting CO build up without power, or admit your burning a pellet stove.

And finally, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOUR FLASH LIGHTS???????????????
 
fossil said:
They don't have flashlights in New Hampshire? What's up with that? Rick

Flashlights are like cordless phones at my house. Never where they're supposed to be, but when you find them they're hiding together in a heap. Candles are stuffed in a box in a drawer somewhere. Who needs candles when you have flashlights?

The power goes out once a year. It brings back the memories of gas lights and board games when I was kid, 1/2 way through monopoly the lights would come back on and ruin everything.
 
Every year once Labor Day is over, we then stock up on new batteries and change batteries in all flashlights. We also have places for flashlights that we can depend on. One flashlight is always on the head of the bed and just in case it is gone, it is a short few steps to the bathroom where there is another right next to the light switch. There is also one on the kitchen table and before going to bed at night this flashlight is placed right near the edge where it can be found at the same spot always. Finally, there is another light near the wood stove. We do try to be prepared, so we even put fresh batteries in the flashlight that is in the car.
 
We are up to 22 outages this year.
Coming close to record of 26 two years ago.
Longest outage this year was eight hours with temps -5C and close sixty cm of fresh snow.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Every year once Labor Day is over, we then stock up on new batteries and change batteries in all flashlights. We also have places for flashlights that we can depend on. One flashlight is always on the head of the bed and just in case it is gone, it is a short few steps to the bathroom where there is another right next to the light switch. There is also one on the kitchen table and before going to bed at night this flashlight is placed right near the edge where it can be found at the same spot always. Finally, there is another light near the wood stove. We do try to be prepared, so we even put fresh batteries in the flashlight that is in the car.

I'll shy away from the old change all the batteries theme. My flashlights always dim before they go out and certainly have plenty of time left for me to get batteries in them once they dim. Changing them all the time is considered a waste in my house.

That said - having all of those flashlights available is the right answer.
 
The problem with having a specific place to put flashlights is that once the family knows where they are, they use them, and somehow, they never get returned. So I have a few secret locations for flashlights. They all use AA batteries, so I make sure I have plnety on hand.

We lost power briefly in that windstorm, and I was sorry to see it come back 10 minutes later.
 
We were in Southern VT Saturday and that wind was insane. I got a few wiffs of smoke after some really strong gusts. I didn't like that feeling much! Luckily, the wind often doesn't blow that hard around those parts.
 
No problems here . . .

1) Flashlight is always beside the bed

2) Woodstove is pretty much going now 24/7 . . . although I let the fire die down some at night and during the day
 
@btuser
Very cool, you should write a novel.
We lost power for 6 days during the '98 ice storm. We were very happy to be heating with wood.
 
SteveBing said:
@btuser
Very cool, you should write a novel.
We lost power for 6 days during the '98 ice storm. We were very happy to be heating with wood.

14 days here in Maine . . . but I cheated . . . I was able to buy a generator after the 4th or 5th day . . . and then I left my poor wife behind as I went to Emmitsburg, MD for a FEMA/National Fire Academy Class for a week.
 
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