48 hours (and counting) without power truly sucks

Too weak for the pit: a rant.

It is now 7 pm, plus a bit, pacific standard time. My humble abode has been without power for 47 hours.

My peaceful little chunk of Oregon suffered a relatively mild windstorm Sunday night. Apparently, mother nature’s blow job caused approximately half the county to go dark. Not sure what happened, the power company says a tree fell on the lines somewhere. My guess? A big gust of wind caused someone somewhere to startle and spill his beer on some piece of delicate electronic equipment, throwing a good chunk of the state into the dark.

The first night it was fine - the kids were just going to bed, so the only difference really is I didn’t have my cpap machine. My wife went to work early, where she used the shower at work. Good for her, but I’m stuck here fixing tree damaqge to my yard.

Last night it snowed, first freeze of the season. Still no power.

Today, still no power, and now no water. I’m on a well and have made damn sure not to turn on a faucet or flush the toilet. I set up the Coleman stove on the counter (I call it Urban Camping), went to fill a pot with water so we can make some soup and tea, and… no water. Fuck. Where in god’s name did the water go? Please, please don’t let there be a frozen pipe somewhere.

Got home from picking up my boys from school, it was 36 fucking degrees In. The. House.

Power company calls, likely won’t get “the lines” fixed until tomorrow. Yesterday, they were putting updates every few hours on their website. Today, nothing. Assholes. More snow is predicted for tonight. Great. Now begins our third night in the cold. I can’t afford a hotel room to keep my children warm.

Right now I’m sitting in my bedroom, buried in blankets, shivering. I’m looking across the river, where the power lines come from. They have power - I can see two yard lights, the ones I see every night. WTF? WHY IS MY POWER NOT ON YET?!

The stuff in my freezer has thawed. How is that possible?! It’s actually colder inside my fucking house than it normally is in my refrigerator.

I have been sleeping without my cpap, so my brain simply is not functioning right. I’m cold and my phone is dying.

I don’t think I’ll be giving my power company a Christmas card this year.

I was about to say yeah, it sucks, been there done that (5-6 days), but it’s not the end of the world. But no water? And 36 degrees? You have my sincere sympathies.

Is your house completely uninsulated?

I’m sorry about your troubles. Try keeping everyone in one small room as much as possible - if you have a tent, set it up indoors and sleep in it to keep warm (spare blankets/tarps can go over it to keep more heat in). I suppose if a hotel is out of the question, an indoors-OK kerosene heater (like a Mr. Heater Buddy) with a carbon monoxide sensor on it probably is too? ($80 on Amazon so probably around that cost at a big box hardware store.)

Forgot to add - whether you’re using the Coleman stove or even an indoors-intended kerosene heater with a CO sensor and shutoff, please be very careful about using a burning fuel source in your home, and make sure to get some fresh air in your house now and then! CO poisoning can be hard to detect and can cause confusion, headache, or flu-like symptoms.

In 2008, I went eleven days with no power, which in my case means no water and no heat also (electric pump in the well, and furnace needs electricity). Plus it dropped down to zero, and the pipes froze; when the power and water came on, the house flooded. Finally got a plumber on Christmas Eve.

So, it could be worse.

Sorry for your troubles, it is teh sucks.

Try three months without power, in August, September, and October in Louisiana. No AC. Even if you are female, cut your hair into a high-and-tight because it’s so hot and humid. No water from the well because no power. Get together with neighbors for chainsaw parties to clear the roads. Can everything in your freezer because thank goodness you have a propane tank. Wash your work clothes in a bucket on the porch and hang on the clothesline. Get water from work in jugs to take home (they had a generator).

Learn to do basic plumbing and electric.

It is difficult, but survive you will. Good Luck, and hope you are not at the end of a power line.

Out here in the boonies east of Seattle, power failures are common enough that I got a generator and had a transfer box wired into my house. The last long-term failure (10 days), I sent the wife and kids off to a hotel in town. I slept at the house, downstairs next to the fireplace.

Every morning I’d stoke up the fireplace, then leave for work (which thankfully has a locker room to shower in). After work, I’d meet the family for dinner, then go home, stoke up the fire, run the generator for a while to keep the freezer cold and have light/watch TV, then stoke up the fire again and sleep in a sleeping bag on the couch.

It was a pain, but kinda fun, in a “complete break from your normal rut” way.

I spent a week without power, the water stopped running only a day or two in and cell and internet service failed soon after(I was told because the generators and battery backup died).

I was this close to going to a hotel or motel, but everyone said they were all fully booked for hundreds of miles around. At least I didn’t have to go to work because they were without power and water too.

Are you my childhood?

Brrrrrrr.

I can still feel the apprehension of my ankles as I would brace myself to cross that stoney flagstone floor - I used to call it The Sea of Ice.