Monday, August 29, 2011

10 Things I Learned from a Day Without Electricity

Hurricane Irene spent some time in Pennsylvania this past weekend.   We are 60 miles West of Philadelphia and the estimated rainfall was 3 inches.  We lost power on Sunday at 2:00 am until 7:00 pm.  The power returned as I was loading coolers full of food to transport to my parents freezer 20 miles away.

10 Things I Learned from a Day Without Electricity

1.  It takes 2 gallons of water to flush a toilet. 
2.  Even though I knew the electricity was off...I kept automatically trying to turn lights and faucets on.
3.  The first floor of the house is much darker than the second floor.
4.  It is important to have a land line phone in addition to portable phones.
5.  I missed the instant access to news and information from the TV and Internet.
6.  However, I got a lot of work done around the house without the distraction of the TV and Internet.
7.  I need to purchase a battery operated radio.
8.  Peanut Butter sandwiches are yummy.
9.  Kids can occupy themselves for several hours without being "plugged in".  My daughter worked on a few crafts, completed her summer reading project and math worksheets.
10. It is easy to take things for granted.  I am very thankful the electricity is back on!

Sending well wishes to all those who were in Hurricane Irene's path...

7 comments:

Sue C said...

Hi Michele, glad you're all safe following the hurricane. We really do take electricity for granted don't we! It's an interesting list you've produced - I've never heard of electricity powered taps (faucets) before - that one's new on me!

Michele said...

Hi Sue, Thanks for commenting! We have an electic pump for our well. I did not even think to mention it. Something else that is easy to take for granted! :)

John Vesia said...

I'm on Long Island and my development lost power for 26 hours. Trees down everywhere -- one narrowly missed my car!

I feel lucky as most of my co-workers are still without electricity. Our LI power supplier says of the half million or so still in the dark 95 percent should be back to normal on Friday - 4 days from now.

The widespread damage this thing brought is unbelievable. Glad to hear you got your power back in relatively short time.

Michele said...

Hi John, Glad to hear you are ok! I do feel lucky and thankful that our power returned quickly. The initial reports were for several days of power outages.

Good news the tree missed your car. My husband has the worst luck with cars...a horse ran free from it's owner and hit his car, an unattended car drifted off a parking lot and hit his car and a tree fell on his car. The insurance company would not pay for the repair due to the tree because it was an Act of God.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the people who are dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

Mr. Martial Arts said...

Glad you're all safe! Glad to hear you got your power back in relatively short time.

Felicia said...

Glad you guys are ok as well. We only lost power for about four hours - in the middle of the night - but I empathize! Each time we have lost power, I kept flipping on the light switches out of habit. We don't have electric pumps for our water, but when I heard about Irene, I filled up the bathtubs in each bathroom (for easier transfer of water to the toilets) just in case (yep, I was a Girl Scout!).

Irene did some serious damage, it seems. Lots of flooding further north and even in our little hamlet. One street had a sink hole open up and swallow half a house! Their back yard fell into the river and the house next to it was condemned because it was so close to the new cliff! Scary stuff...

gaurav said...

Thanks for commenting! We have an electic pump for our well. I did not even think to mention it. Treadmills India