We were on our way out the door to see Gravity around 11 am yesterday and Wolf went to open the garage door. Nothing. It had been a gusty morning, with acorns and pine cones plonking on the roof and leaves blowing out of the trees, but it was otherwise uneventful. Then, literally the moment we went to leave, the power went out. With my car trapped in the garage.
Having the power out on a not-a-work-day Saturday should have been a liberating experience. No power means no doing laundry, no puttering around all day on the Internet, no TV. It also means, for the most part, no cooking. No access to my car also meant not going anywhere. It meant sitting around and reading. It should have been a good thing, right?
Seattle is not known for wild weather, a lot of rain maybe, but nothing truly wild. Yesterday’s windstorm was a doozy. The 520 bridge was closed for awhile as it was swaying back and forth by 4 to 5 feet. There were 40-50 mph gusts, even higher in some places. Even still, it’s not like we’ve never had power outages. When we bought our house, we asked whether it was a problem. “Not really,” we were told. “You’re right by a grocery store, so that usually makes it a priority.” And for the most part it’s been true. The outages we’ve had have only lasted a few hours.
I spent some quality time reading Allegiant,
At the height of the storm, something like 100,000 homes and businesses were without power. After about four hours I was starting to get antsy and a little annoyed, underscoring just how reliant on electricity we are. Then, as the wind died down and day turned into evening, there was still no power. The kitchen was going to be too dark to make even a one-pan dish, so dinner turned out to be Wheat Thins, cheddar cheese and apple by candlelight.We listened to the Sounders/Timbers match for awhile and then it was time for bed. The novelty and romance were wearing thin.
I fully expected the power to come back on overnight. I was wrong. When we woke up, it was 57F in the house. I had a new appreciation for what people in real disasters had gone through. This was just a windstorm, the house was intact and perfectly safe, so there’s no comparing the magnitude. I’ll just say, when all the updates cover every area but yours, you quickly feel your problem must be at the bottom of the priority list.
Our saving grace was that Wolf’s car was in the garage at his office. We just had to get to it. Wolf was about to hop on his bike when he realized the tire pump was locked on our garage.
We live in the burbs so on a Sunday morning there isn’t a fleet of cars just milling around waiting for a pickup. We did manage to snag an Uber. I didn’t even consider calling a cab. As we hopped into the car, you could hear our neighbor’s generator humming. It was actually a beautiful, sunny morning. We pulled out onto the street. The next signal, not even a quarter-mile up the road was on and working normally. I kid you not.
What did we learn?
1. You need (at least) two emergency kits. An emergency kit, no matter how well stocked does you no good if it’s locked in the garage. Put two together – keep one in the garage and one in the house. If you commute any real distance, consider one for your car. Coming from California, this was a given for us (and probably the one we neglected the most).
2. Forget the candles, they’re a fire-hazard. You don’t want to burn the place down. Get a hand-crank powered lantern and radio (thanks, Auntie – it came in handy!).
3. Add a phone charger to your list. Chances are you first put together your emergency kit a few years ago and probably didn’t think that a phone charger would be a necessity. If you already check your phone over 100x times a day, you’ll be doing that at least 2x that in an emergency.
4. Consider a generator. No matter how densely populated your area, a generator might be a good idea for you. Without a fireplace or pellet stove in our house, and a refrigerator that’s almost always full, it looks like it might be a good idea for us. We’ll be evaluating the various approaches and more than likely getting one.
Kettle Corn in a Whirley Pop
Ingredients
- 3 T. canola oil
- 1/2 c. popcorn kernels
- 1/2 c. granulated sugar
- 1-2 t. table salt (to taste)
Instructions
Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
Put the oil and 3 popcorn kernels into the Whirley Pop over medium low heat. Once the kernels begin to pop add the popcorn and sugar to the pan and begin turning the crank to stir everything together.
Continue cranking as the popcorn begins to pop. Once it gets going, turn off the heat and continue cranking. When the pops are 1-2 seconds apart, the popcorn is done.
Turn the popped corn out onto the baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
