Power-less

Beep, beeeep, beeeeeep! Something was disturbing my sleep….

BEEP, beeeeep, beeeeeep! Huh? What is it?

BEEP, BEEEEEEP, BEEEEEEP! What is that? “It’s the computer.”The Boss’ voice came out of the darkness.

Huh? I didn’t realize I had spoken my thought aloud. As I started to get up, it seemed I must not have opened my eyes.

It was DARK! No, my eyes were definitely opened. What happened to the alarm clock? Oh no, we have no power!

“The power’s out.”

”Yeah, I know”, he said, “That’s why the computer is beeping.” Oh…duh! He found a flashlight, crawled under the desk and ended the obnoxious sound. What a relief! I was getting a headache.

Okay, it is four-fifteen…the power’s out…and we’re suddenly wide awake.

Now, what? We never think about how dependent we are on the electricity until it goes out. Then we (I) begin to worry big time. The vast bank of freezers full of meat and vegetables immediately spring to mind. Just how long until things start to thaw? We also have week old chicks in the brooder, without the warmth of the heat lamp; they will go the way of the deceased chicks of last week. Hmmm…

Sipping sweet tea by candlelight, wishing the outage had happened AFTER the coffee had brewed, we contemplated our next move. The generator could be fired up, but it’s a hassle to get running and it’s loud, the gas supply was questionable. If the outage was a short one, it would be a waste of time and energy. A call to the power company indicated it shouldn’t be too long.

Still groaning about the lack of coffee, we headed out for chores. Once it was light enough to see the animals, we could feed them all with little difficulty. The overnight rain precluded watering them. Chores were actually kind of easy.
Another check on the power indicated that the outage would be longer. We needed extra gas for the generator, so we headed out for our weekly feed/town trip earlier than normal, hoping to find a cup of coffee somewhere. We hurried through our errands, praying the power was back on when we returned.

Yay! It was back on, the freezers were still frozen,
the chicks were not chilled and all was right with the farm once more.

This morning proved something to us. We are far too dependent on our morning routine of coffee and weather page updates and emails. Candlelight is not romantic when one is worried and caffeine-deprived. …and flashlights...
you can NEVER have too many flashlights!