Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Things To Do Without Electricity

Last night our electricity went out at 6:15 PM. And stayed out. And stayed out. And stayed out! Only to come back on at 3:30AM Yep, that's 9 hours without electricity.

You never realize how much you take something for granted until it's gone. All night, we kept saying things like, my CD player doesn't work, or I'm hot, I think I'll turn on the fan. This morning, I am much more appreciative of having electric.

Here's some of what we did during our 9 hour stint...
1. Checked our flashlights to find that only 2 have batteries. (I'll be working on that this week.)
2. Ate all the Popsicles we could before they melted. (this was one of the kids favorites)
3. Played Skip-Bo by candlelight. (boy that's a long game!)
4. Got baths by candlelight. (this wasn't high up on the kids favorite things to do without electricity list, but they were filthy after the park yesterday).
5. Lit as many candles as we could find. (this entertained the kids for quite awhile)
6. We put the kids to bed early (around 9PM but that is early for us).
7. My personal favorite, my DSH and I sat on our porch and eavesdropped on our neighbor's conversation. They were complaining about the neighborhood kids, the street (more on that one later), and life in general.


When the electricity finally came back on at 3:30 AM, I was woken up by some of our lights being on. I looked outside my window and noticed that almost every house in the neighborhood had lots of lights on. My street was very well-lit this morning.

What do you do when the electricity is out at your house? I am looking to expand my idea list.

7 comments:

Beautiful Grace said...

I heard that the west shore got hit with storms. Wasn't too bad here.

The boys always LOVED when the electricity would go out. We would read books by candle light, snuggle in bed together, and if there was lightning involved, we would look out the windows (at a safe distance, of course) in order to see the magnificent bolts.

Just the other week the boys caught on the digital camera a cool lightning bolt.

We had some lots of rain last night. After the thunder and lightening passed, the rain continued...Fire and Teddy Bear (our neighbor) went out in the rain in their swim suits and acted like a couple of nuts. :) I remeber doing the same thing when I was a kid...last millennium!! :)

Love you!!!

Krazy Klingers said...

When I was little and lights would go out we would make forts or tents in the house and the whole family would get in with their flashlights. We would tell stories or reminisce of past vacations and family funny stories. WOW I miss doing that!

Natalie said...

We also lost our power but only for about an hour. There were lots of trees down in the neighborhood.

And yes, we realized how dependent we were on elec. after we lost it. Luckily, I had just put dinner on the table so we ate by candlelight.

Say Anything said...

When we were kids my mom would light all the candles and put them on top of the piano - she would play and we would all sing.

I'd use that idea except I only remember how to play Fur Elise (which has NO words) and Dixie (which everyone is sick of listening to)!

We ate by candlelight as well!

Anonymous said...

Being without electricity is fun!! You can talk to one another without interruption. I love playing board games with the grandkids.
If you think being without electricity is bad trying going without water. That has happened to us several times. It is not a pretty site!
All of us have become to dependent on the comforts of life. It is so good to get a reality check every once in a while.

WeZaMuntKeE said...

got a laptop and guitar , so i could sing n play songs chords "in the dark".

got usb 3g modem and bout 58% laptop battery to go so i can net a bit . its 843pm ..

luckily made a curry stew thing this afternoon just b4 the electricity went , so i had a hot dinner , but i know im gona need snax soon .. ooh ! i bought chips today .. so i think im gona b lucky on that .. wen this batterys gone , then i duno ..

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