Our Power is Back

There are still about 400,000 utility customers still without electric power in Western Washington, but ours is back on. We were without power for 36 hours. The overnight low was 28 F, so the inside temperature of the house got down to 51 F this morning. I started a fire in the fireplace, but it has just enough heat output to hold the temperature constant. At 11:30 this morning, I borrowed a neighbor's generator and used it to run the gas water heater, the freezer, the refrigerator, and charge the cell phones. The freezer was up to 28 F and the frig up to 50 F. After an hour, the water was hot, the freezer was down to 8 F (set point is zero F), and the frig was down to 42 F (set point is 38 F). Then the power came back on. The big gas furnace in our house brings the inside temperature up at a rate of 6 F per hour, so it will need to run at full force for about 3 hours to bring the house back up to normal temperature (68 F).

Electricity is WONDERFUL!!!

Breakfast during a power outage: Boiling water for oatmeal and cocoa in a tea kettle on a backpacking stove


Refrigeration during a power outage: Camping cooler sitting on the back deck (works best when it is below 40 F outside) (a latching lid is necessary to keep the critters out of it)