Sunday the area got hit with the winds from Hurrican Ike. No rain, just 75MPH winds ripping up trees and downing power lines. It was kinda scary.
We get tornados but they are usually pretty contained and don't last for hours. This thing blew over several counties for a couple of hours.
My power went out on Sunday right as my washer filled with water. I kept thinking the electric would come back on and by 6pm I realized I should probably get those clothes out and dry before they started to mold. So I had to hang them in the bathroom because they would have blown away outside.
I guess camping has sort of made me think of not having electric as "no big deal" but others seemed to be in a right panic about it.
One lady downstairs kept broadcasting to the building from the parking lot what stores had ice and gas and food (she was receiving reports on her cell phone from her kids who had fanned out across town). I just laughed. People freaking act like it's the end of the world if there's no power for a few hours. What's the big deal? At least there's clean running water and it's not freezing ass cold or burning up hot.
So Monday I get up when I get up (about 7am) and wash off a bit in the sink and go in to work. The streets are DESERTED (which was really odd) except for a bunch of debris and some downed trees and power lines.
Then I get to a White Castle - OMG!!! People were lined out the door and down the STREET to get in that place. WTF??? And the gas station across the street had lines for gas that must have been an hour long!! I just shook my head and kept driving.
Sure, I was hungry since I wanted a hot breakfast and didn't think I had time to make one (I had the camp stove all set up and ready but since I couldn't tell what time it was I just left and figured I'd get something out of a vending machine or the cafeteria when I got to work).
I get into work and there are hardly any cars here. Nobody is on my floor at ALL. I was alone on my floor for about 2 hours. It was very odd. People started calling and asking if the building had electric and "where is everybody?" Yeah, it does and the hell if I know.
Other people started drifting in but only a handful.
I went to my violin lesson after work and that was ok. Then I figured I'd stop by a local mini-mart and pick up some ice. Well, there was NO ICE ANYWHERE I stopped on the way home. NONE. And no cold Diet Coke. But that's ok. Because we still have clean running water.
I need to wash my hair and do the dishes (I had loaded up the dishwasher on Sunday figuring I'd run that after the laundry had washed but then the electric went off before I got the chance. Dishes be NASTY!) so I fired up the campstove and my sterno and started boiling the water.
After about 2 hours, I had the dishes done, the hair washed, the legs shaved and the supper cooked. I light up some oil lamps and sat down to read a book. Then a strange thing happened. I began to hear people - my neighbors - outside talking. They were just sitting out there, talking like we do when we're camping. They were laughing and carrying on - it was nice to hear them out there. Apparently this happened all over town. With no TVs or video games, kids were playing outside and neighbors were visiting with each other! Imagine that!
So I sat there listening to them talk and I played my drum a bit (hoping that maybe someone somewhere would answer but they did not) and it was quite nice.
Tuesday the electric still wasn't on but I went into work figuring it would be on by the time I got home. Well, on the way into work I was listening to the radio and it said "some areas will be without power until this weekend."
Oh, hell to the NO on that! Not because I miss TV or anything (I don't watch it except on the weekends when I'm around) but I didn't want all the meat I had bought to go bad. The milk was doomed (but that's ok because we'll make cheese out of it tonight or tomorrow) and most everything else would be ok except for the meat in the freezer.
So I worked about 1/2 day and called the liquor store I frequent in The Mother Land and asked them if they had ice. Yep. Plenty. HA! I figured if I could load up on ice, booze and fags (for mom), I could sit this out for a great long while (at least two weeks) without much annoyance.
I got my ice, my booze (Murphy's Irish Stout - making bread to go with that cheese and cook some of the meat in) and mom's fags.
Then, just as I get home, the electric comes on! I throw the still wet clothes back in the washer and start pulling everything out of the freezer. If it was cold but thawed, it got cooked. The chicken was still frozen pretty good so I threw it in the cooler with some other stuff that was still ok.
I cooked like a fiend and just as I got done with the last dish and the washer ended it's final spin, the electric went off again.
HA!! It didn't matter. The food was saved, the beer was cold and the water was hot! Smug as a disgraced CEO with a golden parachute, I laid down and took a nap.
Then I met my BFF for dinner. When I got home about 9pm, the electric was back on. Of course, I don't trust it to STAY on until everyone else gets power but as long as I have clean running water I'll cope.
Now this guy at work was completely TRAUMATIZED by the whole event. No, nobody at his house got hurt or any damage to house, car or anything but he couldn't STAND not having a TV and his kids whined and complained the entire time (since there was no school he was stuck with them).
I'm like "this is the worst thing you've experienced? WTF?? Are you serious, Mary?" He just couldn't abide by not having a TV or charge his cell phone or have a video game to keep his kids busy. I'm like "that's when you get out the buckets and tubs and put their asses to WORK washing their clothes!"
He was miserable that he couldn't have hot coffee (I'm like - did you ever hear of a GRILL??? You know you can make coffee on the grill!) and there is a ton of laundry and dishes and rotten food. Pathetic, I tell you. Really.
I asked him why he didn't cook or make coffee on the grill and he said it was too much trouble!!! WTF??? It's TOO MUCH TROUBLE to FEED yourself? I can't believe it. People like that gonna starve when the shit REALLY hits the fan (which will be shortly, I imagine).
Seriously, people, you can't take the "trouble" to feed yourself so just what in the hell do you think is going to happen to you when the party's over? I ain't gonna feed yo' sorry ass unless you're offering something in return that I NEED. Like clean water or Diet Coke or "protection". Don't have none o' that? Then you're outta luck!
The Rogue Goddess saw shadows dancing at 3:35 PM
1 Comments:
Wow. The power goes off where I live at random (it doesn't take a hurricane in my house...) - and we manage quite well.
I cannot imagine how people can react like it's the end of the world when the power goes out. Like, hello, man-kind lived for millions of years without electricity and all the fan-tabulous things that make our lives easier - so I'm pretty damn sure we can survive a week or two without electricity.
Anyways....good job on surviving :D You're alive, you had shelter and clean water. What more could you ask for? ^_^
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