Power Outage

After the ice came the power outage. We were without power for 5 days! It was a good learning experience as we all worked together and had a good time.

We had a wood stove to keep us warm and to cook on. We also had a generator that kept the food in our refrigerator and freezer from spoiling. We had several 5 gallon containers of water stored which was a life saver since our well pump was out of commission at first. We were able to share water with neighbors in need. We heated water on the wood stove and used it in a camp shower that we hung in our regular shower.

You will notice the omnipresent headlamps (like the one Mat is wearing) which were extremely useful.

Everyone took turns cooking or stirring. This is Anne stirring our tomato soup to go with the grilled cheese sandwiches cooked by Bill.

















Bill is famous for the grilled cheese sandwiches he makes up in the hills when he hunts. We decided we would like some of those!
Eating by candlelight











Playing cards by one lamp light plugged into the generator
Cooking french toast by lantern light with the grill plugged into the generator











Making wraps (and eating them!)
Our trailer came in handy because of the gas stove. Bill hooked the generator to the trailer and Andy had lights, heat and the TV while he made us some of the best clam chowder you could ever eat!















This is looking out at the bottom of our driveway.
Sometimes we hopped in the car and drove to Kristin's apartment in town so several of us could get quick showers. Eventually we learned how to use our generator more efficiently so we could actually connect our hot water tank and then disconnect it from the generator to run the well pump and get a shower.

















Jesse did great throughout the whole ordeal!
This is downtown Salem.