Saturday, December 4, 2010

Saturday Encore ~ The great power failure of November '09

In a week when I chalked up one victory and one loss against modern technology, I was grateful to find this post from last November in the archives. It reminded me that simpler is always better.

Smooch and I left for our evening constitutional yesterday around 5:00. The sky was clear, the winds were calm, the air was crisp, and there was just enough daylight left to accomplish our mission.

The walk was uneventful...until we arrived home and discovered the power had gone out. We're pretty used to that, living out here in nowheresville. We even have a whole-house backup generator (thanks, dad!) to get us through these trying times. But said generator runs on propane, and being the frugal homesteader that I am, I try to minimize how long I leave it on.

So I got the evening organized: fire in the woodstove, candles, iPod, tripod... You knew there would be pictures involved, right?

This was a perfect opportunity to experiment with shooting in the dark. Smooch and Snapper settled down in their favorite spots, and when I told them to hold still for five seconds, they did. Ok, I got lucky.




Wave to the nice people.




I sat in front of the woodstove, all comfy and warm, feeling quite pioneer-like, there in my house with no electricity. (But in this version of the frontier, the pioneers have iPods and cameras.)

10 comments:

  1. Times like that can be fun, as long as it doesn't go on for days.

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  2. Ya, and hopefully the pioneers have charged all their batteries for those techie toys BEFORE the power goes out... LOL

    Just saying... LOL

    DI

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  3. Wow.. these pictures feel so "cozy"! I love them!!! I truly do!

    xo

    Luciane at HomeBunch.com

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  4. I used to think pioneer living would be fun...until I realized I'd have to use an outhouse! :)

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  5. I love when the electric goes out. As long as it isn't super cold out and it doesn't stay out for too long.

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  6. Yep! Ain't the simple life grand? And you didn't even have to go out to the well for water, or use the outhouse, or bring all the critters inside.....just sayin'!!

    Nancy in Iowa

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  7. When I was growing up in MO we had a wood stove, and so when the power went out in the winter, it was not really a big deal. We had heat, and we could cook on the woodstove. And it was nice and cozy and quiet. I miss that.
    Suzanne

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  8. How sweet are Smooch and Snapper! Relaxing by candle light is always nice. Sometimes we need that down time whether we realize it or not. It's where the old saying short-and-sweet comes into play ; )

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  9. Neat lighting in pictures. Last time we lost electricity was during the famous ice storm 3 or 4 years ago. Thank goodness we have a woodstove also. The electricity was out for seven days and I slept in front of the stove with my two dogs to stay warm. I hope to never repeat that winter again!

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  10. Wow, talk about turning lemons into lemonade!

    (When we used to lose power when I was growing up, the only thing that became a problem was no water from the well, so no flushing the toilets. Even now, on the rare occasions we lose power, I instantly have to pee!)

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