# Turn on the damn power! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 9, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-on-the-damn-power/528295 "2010-02-09T17:38:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-on-the-damn-power/528295/1 "2010-02-09T17:38:07Z")
Power went out at 4AM Saturday during a snow/wind/sleet storm. Still no power. Stumbling around in the dark by candlelight or flashlight. No power = no water for me. At least I filled up a bathtub with water so I can flush occasionally. I had jugs of water in my fridge. I’m buring a kerosene heater at night to keep the house warm. It actually works fairly well, it was 59 degrees upstairs this morning in spite of overnight lows of 20 degrees or so. There are trees down all over the county, and plenty more weighed down with the heavy snow/ice. They just plowed my road last night, which actually made it worse because now I have a 2-foot hump of snow to drive over. Good thing I have a 4WD. I actually went and hung out at McDonalds last night to get a hot meal and WiFi. That’s what it’s come down to. And 3 to 6 more inches more snow and wind is forecast today and tomorrow. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-on-the-damn-power/528295/2 "2010-02-09T17:41:49Z")
I have to confirm what you were thinking. Sucks to be you.😉 ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-on-the-damn-power/528295/3 "2010-02-09T17:44:44Z")
At least it gives me more motivation to come to work! I can charge my iTouch and cell phone, listen to music, get on the Internet. Flush the toilet. Pretty sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-on-the-damn-power/528295/4 "2010-02-09T17:49:18Z")
Yeah, that does suck. One night last week my power was out between 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. I’ve survived much longer power outages, but only in the presence of other people. Alone, I was bored as hell! No TV, no internet, no music, I couldn’t even play my piano because it’s electronic. I ended up getting out my flute and playing a bunch of songs from memory, and when that got boring I started sorting my sheet music by flashlight. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turn-on-the-damn-power/528295/5 "2010-02-09T18:57:08Z")
During the ice storm of '98, we were without power for three weeks. No phone for four weeks. At first it was sort of fun, like we were pioneers. By the end of the third week we were sort of like zombies. We had a wood stove that we could cook on and we had pancakes and soup every single day for three weeks. > **[January 1998 North American ice storm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_ice_storm_of_1998)** > > The North American Ice Storm of 1998 (also known as the Great Ice Storm of 1998 or the January Ice Storm) was a massive combination of five smaller successive ice storms in January 1998 that struck a relatively narrow swath of land from eastern Ontario to southern Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada, and bordering areas from northern New York to central Maine in the United States. It caused massive damage to trees and electrical infrastructure throughout the area, leading to widespr...