report on our no electricity experiment

We decided we didn't need to go a full 24 hours without electricity as the whole purpose was to have a learning experience, and we felt that sitting around a few more hours wouldn't lead to any new insights. Besides, most the kids weren't here or conscious so that they could "enjoy" the experience:

Hannah was at track until midnight last night and I drove her back this morning for the 6 am meeting time--Ryan went back to bed after he got up and ate breakfast and he slept until 11 am since he was bored...he leaves for his swim meet at 12:30--Alex played at cousins until bedtime last night and is now on a cub scout field trip--this morning Eric and Glen are outside doing yard work.

Last night, Glen, Eric, Ryan, and I were the only ones home and we played games until the sun faded...then, after Alex came home and we read scriptures by flashlight, all the boys (Glen included) went to bed at around 8:40 since they were bored. I played puzzle games on my DS until 9:45, myself.

What we learned (or already knew, but experienced again):

Eric and I do not communicate very well when we're partners.

I knew where most of the things we needed were (like the paper products, drinking water vs cleaning up water, matches, candles, flashlights) ...but Glen didn't (and the kids still don't--need to have a little lesson there).

We need more matches and to keep the candle holders with the candles (I used large canning lids to keep wax from dripping onto anything).

Being stuck a foot or two from the wall when I was on the land line phone is really annoying after being used to the freedom of roaming around with the cordless phone.

I learned the right amount of water and how fast to pour it into the toilet bowl to make the toilet flush well (without wasting a lot of water).

With no heater running it takes the house a long time to warm up (of course I heard on the radio this morning that we are 15º below normal temperature today for this time of year). The house got down to 58º at 6 am and now, at 11, it's only up to 59º. My hands are cold...I went around with gloves on this morning.

And the big lesson for me:
When the electricity is out, but you know it's coming back on soon enough so you don't have to empty your freezer and save what you can by bottling it, everyone just sits around waiting for the electricity to come back on. "Randy lay there like a slug" from the movie "A Christmas Story" kept coming to mind. It was kind of like a holiday.

Now, in the case of a real emergency, stress would be involved and hence the holiday feeling wouldn't have been present. I wonder if the kids felt like it was a holiday or just a short prison sentence.

Oh, Hannah did shower at 5 this morning...the boys were all in bed asleep and were clueless. And I later decided if the electricity had been out that long the barn would have started its generator, so we would've had water at that point anyway.

So, maybe next time we'll try no propane and see how we feed ourselves.

if you've ever doubted my sanity...

...now you will have proof that I am not sane.

Our church ward is having a Preparedness Fair on Friday May 13th. I have been asked to man the "dehydration station" this time around (I did vacuum sealers last time). As we were discussing it in a planning meeting, it came up that it might be a good idea to have a self-imposed emergency as an experiment to put into practice some of the things learned during the fair...like go without electricity for a bit. We're going to jump the gun.

Glen and I have decided to give it a try. At 4 today we will "lose" our electricity for about 24 hours. In a way I feel like we are cheating because we chose a convenient time. Since our stove is propane, cooking will still be easy, though the oven won't work. I thought perhaps we should go without propane, too, but it's a thought I quickly let fly out of my head. Going without water (we have a well that runs on electricity) will be enough of a challenge for me for now. And we might be missing our heat as it's supposed to get a bit cold tonight.

Living in Fallon we've certainly had our times of no electricity...but usually it's only out for a few hours at most. I don't know that I've ever gone more than 7 hours without.

A friend of mine lives in Alabama and this is from her email a day or two ago about what is happening there this week due to the tornados:

Well I look at this as a challenge...to really implement our Emergency Preparedness...to work out the kinks to when we have a REAL emergency.  Yeah....we are out of power...the power lines went down and the TVA had to shut down reactors or something...so will be without for 3-5 days.  So far the water situation is still running.  We have over 500 gallons in storage and fixing to fill bathtubs up.  Checked up on neighbors (one homebound and the other newborn twins), some neighbors are going to extended families (Nashville, New Orleans, etc).  I think the hardest hit are the boys....electronics and computers and tv....they are going through serious withdrawals.  Ha!  The Mayor has implemented a curfew.  School will be out until Tuesday.  Our family doctor just dropped by with his daughter on their bikes to borrow batteries. He said they will probably loose all their refrigerated vaccines.

So....all in fun!  :)  (thank goodness for smart phones and car phone chargers!!)

Her email opened up a few thoughts that will help us be better prepared in the future--like making sure we can charge our cell phones using our car batteries. We used to have an adapter...I wonder if Glen knows where it is. Our phones aren't smart, however. Checking in on those around us is another new thought. And of course, having enough water stored.

The main problem I see right now is for Hannah. She'll get in later tonight from one track meet and has to be at the school before 6 am for her next one. She's gonna wanna shower. The kids who'll share the bus with her in the morning are going to want her to shower, too.

Since we canceled our satellite TV subscription on the 9th, we've already had a few weeks to get used to cutting back on our TV viewing (though the kids have been watching things through Netflix). I charged up my DS and cell phone, but other than that I haven't made any special preparations.

I look forward to an evening of playing games.