We woke up just before dawn. I got my flashlight and went into the prep room to get the old camping coffeepot. The way my husband drinks coffee, making it a cup at a time from instant would keep me busy all morning. I added water to the pot, filled the basket with dark, rich looking grounds, and put it on the stove. Turned on the gas and lit it with a match. I then put on the tea kettle to make myself a cup a tea. When the coffee was done, I poured a cup and called my husband to the kitchen. I then poured the rest of the pot into his big Stanley thermos to stay warm.
I decided to open all the curtains to let the sunlight in so we could conserve our lamp oil. Just as I got the last curtain opened I heard a knock on the door. It was our neighbor. He came to see if we were alright. He knows we're both disabled and that my husband is on oxygen. I assured him we were alright and invited him in for coffee. He said he would love some since he couldn't find a place open to get any.
As we sat in the kitchen he told us that before the sun was up, he'd driven 50 miles north and 50 miles south and there was no power in either direction. Never had there been such a widespread outage in our area that wasn't caused by a very bad storm. My husband and I exchanged nervous glances. I knew it wasn't an EMP strike because our battery operated watches still worked and so did the neighbor's new truck. I keep my hearing aids in a small Faraday cage at night so they were alright. I briefly wondered if another squirrel had gotten into the substation and shorted it out. It had happened once before and I felt a surge of relief at the thought but then I remembered that the power outage was not so widespread that time. No, it has to be something else.
We ate day old banana muffins as we sipped our drinks and talked. Then Bryan (our neighbor) said he'd better go check on his business. He and his wife own a plant company where they grow and ship live plants across the nation. Since it was Saturday morning no one would be working there and he was concerned about the property and plants. I can't say that I blame him at all.
John's (my husband) last battery on his portable oxygen machine was starting to run low and since he'd already gone through the other two during the night, I figured it was time to start up the generator so he could use his big oxygen machine while I recharged the batteries for the portable. I also wanted to power up the refrigerator and freezer for a couple of hours to keep them cold.
Bryan came back in the afternoon. He said he'd driven as far west as he could and 50 miles east and there was no power in either direction so he thought we would be without power for awhile. He brought us some cans of gas. I told him we had gas but he said to keep what he'd brought, just in case we need it. He doesn't know we have 150 gallons stored in the garage. He then told me that he was going to drive to his brother's house to see if he had his ham radio up and running and was going to check on his elderly parents and would let us know later what, if anything, he learned. After he was gone, I took the cans to the garage, silently saying thanks for such a good neighbor.
Since we figured with a power outage that widespread we would be without power for at least a couple of days, I spent the morning pulling out candles, matches, and oil lamps and placing them throughout the house. Then I pulled a package of meat out of the freezer to thaw for dinner. I needed to make bread since I was almost out but since I couldn't use the the oven I decided to use the rocket stove I'd made the previous summer. I'd cooked bread on it just once using my cast iron dutch oven and the bread was actually pretty good so I knew I could do it again.
I got out the ingredients and made the dough then put it in a bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and a towel, and sat it on the picnic table for its first rise. Once it doubled in size I brought it back into the house, punched the dough down, and kneaded it a little bit. I whistled as I shaped it in to a round loaf, lovingly patting the dough. I put it in the greased dutch oven, put the lid back on, and took it to the picnic table for another rise. When it was just about ready to bake, I fired up the rocket stove. I turned the lid upside down on the dutch oven since it was a rounded lid that would not hold hot coals, then placed the pot on the rocket stove and shoveled some hot coals from the fire on top of the lid. I kept adding hot coals to the lid as the previous ones were dying out. After a half hour I lifted the lid and checked the bread. It was done. I carried it into the house and turned the bread out onto a cooling rack. As I looked at my slightly misshaped masterpiece I was grateful that we'd at least have fresh bread today.
I'm not sure how long I'll need to use the rocket stove so I scoured the yard for more small branches to add to my stockpile hidden in the shed. While it was still daylight I decided to get out the rest of the ingredients for dinner. Since it's Autumn now I knew it would be getting dark early and I didn't want to use the flashlight any more than necessary. I keep my storage room fairly dark but it still gets enough light from the other room during the day so I can see to get the things I want.
We still don't know why the power is out. I've asked a few others in our neighborhood if they know anything but they don't. Hopefully when Bryan comes home he'll be able to tell us what's going on. Until we know for sure what's happened, I'm going into survival mode. I'll try to ration our preps to make them last as long as possible. I have a feeling that whatever has happened is really bad. Not just for our area but for the whole nation. I just hope I'm wrong.
I decided to open all the curtains to let the sunlight in so we could conserve our lamp oil. Just as I got the last curtain opened I heard a knock on the door. It was our neighbor. He came to see if we were alright. He knows we're both disabled and that my husband is on oxygen. I assured him we were alright and invited him in for coffee. He said he would love some since he couldn't find a place open to get any.
As we sat in the kitchen he told us that before the sun was up, he'd driven 50 miles north and 50 miles south and there was no power in either direction. Never had there been such a widespread outage in our area that wasn't caused by a very bad storm. My husband and I exchanged nervous glances. I knew it wasn't an EMP strike because our battery operated watches still worked and so did the neighbor's new truck. I keep my hearing aids in a small Faraday cage at night so they were alright. I briefly wondered if another squirrel had gotten into the substation and shorted it out. It had happened once before and I felt a surge of relief at the thought but then I remembered that the power outage was not so widespread that time. No, it has to be something else.
We ate day old banana muffins as we sipped our drinks and talked. Then Bryan (our neighbor) said he'd better go check on his business. He and his wife own a plant company where they grow and ship live plants across the nation. Since it was Saturday morning no one would be working there and he was concerned about the property and plants. I can't say that I blame him at all.
John's (my husband) last battery on his portable oxygen machine was starting to run low and since he'd already gone through the other two during the night, I figured it was time to start up the generator so he could use his big oxygen machine while I recharged the batteries for the portable. I also wanted to power up the refrigerator and freezer for a couple of hours to keep them cold.
Bryan came back in the afternoon. He said he'd driven as far west as he could and 50 miles east and there was no power in either direction so he thought we would be without power for awhile. He brought us some cans of gas. I told him we had gas but he said to keep what he'd brought, just in case we need it. He doesn't know we have 150 gallons stored in the garage. He then told me that he was going to drive to his brother's house to see if he had his ham radio up and running and was going to check on his elderly parents and would let us know later what, if anything, he learned. After he was gone, I took the cans to the garage, silently saying thanks for such a good neighbor.
Since we figured with a power outage that widespread we would be without power for at least a couple of days, I spent the morning pulling out candles, matches, and oil lamps and placing them throughout the house. Then I pulled a package of meat out of the freezer to thaw for dinner. I needed to make bread since I was almost out but since I couldn't use the the oven I decided to use the rocket stove I'd made the previous summer. I'd cooked bread on it just once using my cast iron dutch oven and the bread was actually pretty good so I knew I could do it again.
I got out the ingredients and made the dough then put it in a bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and a towel, and sat it on the picnic table for its first rise. Once it doubled in size I brought it back into the house, punched the dough down, and kneaded it a little bit. I whistled as I shaped it in to a round loaf, lovingly patting the dough. I put it in the greased dutch oven, put the lid back on, and took it to the picnic table for another rise. When it was just about ready to bake, I fired up the rocket stove. I turned the lid upside down on the dutch oven since it was a rounded lid that would not hold hot coals, then placed the pot on the rocket stove and shoveled some hot coals from the fire on top of the lid. I kept adding hot coals to the lid as the previous ones were dying out. After a half hour I lifted the lid and checked the bread. It was done. I carried it into the house and turned the bread out onto a cooling rack. As I looked at my slightly misshaped masterpiece I was grateful that we'd at least have fresh bread today.
I'm not sure how long I'll need to use the rocket stove so I scoured the yard for more small branches to add to my stockpile hidden in the shed. While it was still daylight I decided to get out the rest of the ingredients for dinner. Since it's Autumn now I knew it would be getting dark early and I didn't want to use the flashlight any more than necessary. I keep my storage room fairly dark but it still gets enough light from the other room during the day so I can see to get the things I want.
We still don't know why the power is out. I've asked a few others in our neighborhood if they know anything but they don't. Hopefully when Bryan comes home he'll be able to tell us what's going on. Until we know for sure what's happened, I'm going into survival mode. I'll try to ration our preps to make them last as long as possible. I have a feeling that whatever has happened is really bad. Not just for our area but for the whole nation. I just hope I'm wrong.