Quiet in the night

[greenstorm]

Last night the power went out, after I'd eaten dinner, while I was watching a show with Tucker via laptop. It's very rare for the power to go out here, unplanned, for more than a minute at a time. This time it didn't come right back on and the power company's website showed that they wouldn't arrive on-site until a couple hours later.

I went and got my work laptop to plug my phone into, since my phone was only at 12% battery, and lit a couple candles. Despite the power never really going out, I have strategic candles and, normally, matches in every room of the house, set up so that if I need to use them for a day they're in safe and useful places. I'd been poaching my matches over last winter for the woodstove, I guess they never really made it onto my consumables list in my head and thus I hadn't replaced them, but I did still have one full box left.

My pressure tank gives me some leeway with water, so I was able to brush my teeth and do a boat shower (water on to get wet, turn it off, soap and scrub with the water off, turn it back on to rinse for a total of maybe 30 seconds of running water). I changed the sheets on my bed, which I'd been planning to do, had a chat with Tucker, and went to sleep.

I quite like the feeling of the power being out like that. The house is so beautifully quiet.

I also realize that there are candle instincts I just don't have. Changing sheets in a small room is a very different thing when I can't snap the sheets across the bed -- that would blow out the candles -- and doing it once was okay but I'm glad for electric lights normally.

The weather has turned cold and rainy, probably it won't get warm again until next July, but it's not freezing yet and the house has some retained heat so it was warm enough even without starting a fire.

And now, I will order some matches.

Comments

[squirrelitude]

One of the things that's different from when I was a kid is that I now have a sort of flashlight in my pocket, in a pinch. And so does just about everyone else. It's been a long time since I had to fumble my way through a totally dark house.

[greenstorm]

Oh, you mean a phone? I'm kind of opposed to the idea of using the battery on my communication device to get myself to an obscure cupboard and rummage around for candles and then clear off a space for them, or something like that. So I use my phone to find the matches set next to the candles which are already out, and it's all good.

I do have a tiny flashlight on my keychain for getting the key into the lock of the house or the car, or getting between the two, in wintertime. There aren't streetlights out here so it's very helpful.

[squirrelitude]

Yeah, I just mean using the light of the display for like 15 seconds to navigate the house and find the better light source, not as a minute-to-hours solution.

For me, that would be getting to the kitchen or living room and grabbing the solar flashlight that's on the windowsill. :-)

[greenstorm]

Heh, I grew up in the pacific northwest, solar flashlights seem ridiculous (long days in summer to charge them, but it's never dark to use them; always too overcast in winter during short days, so they're never charged when they're needed). Though maybe they're better now.

[squirrelitude]

What I have is more like a handheld solar panel with a flashlight attached, and its main use is to be a USB power supply. (Waka brand.) It's amazing how it stays topped up on just a little bit of light each day. But... it really only needs topping up. We really don't use it on a daily basis.

The other one is an emergency radio, which has a tiny solar panel but also a hand crank.

[greenstorm]

Indoor light, or outdoor light?

[squirrelitude]

Outdoor -- afternoon sunlight comes in through those windows.

[yarrowkat]

ah, it sounds beautiful. it's been hot and sweaty again here and the idea of a cool rainy night is just lovely.