POWER UP!

[Kat]

Hi friends! Stef and I give you Greetings!

Whew! After 5 long dark days, my power was restored about 8 p.m. tonight.

I kissed the hand of the man from Oklamhoma who came and turned my power on. And then I cried. And then I cleaned out my fridge and freezer and took a hot shower!

Whew! I have a new idea of what it must have been like to live in the late 1800's.

--But right now, with lights blazing and the AC blasting and food in my tummy and the fan on and my hair smells so clean it's hard to describe the darkness.

[Kat]

I've turned the lights off to write this.

The night of the storm was scary. It was power out at 5 of 9 p.m. I switched to flashlights. I also had a battery operated latern to read by which broke 2 days ago when I was changing the batteries. It probably was not unlike a lantern at the Borden house except it didn't smell like kerosene.
I can't read by candlelight. This time I didn't try.
They are dangerous too and were the cause of most of the house fires these last few days.

So I had my books and a lantern and a battery-powered TV which I used for the news.

When the news wasn't up-to-date or I needed different news I went out to the corner and talked to the neighbors. I'd think that in the Borden's day they might have had a chat at the corner as well. Neighbors who needed somethinbg asked and if someone could do something for another, they gave it or did it. It wasn't a reliance, rather more a cooperation.
Since Crowe's yard neighbor was an Ice House, you can imagine my experience with ice was similar to Victorian America.
Everyone needed ice all the time. It's August, for Gosh Sakes!
We were in search of ice and when someone got extra they brought it over. It was to keep the scant amount of food cool day to day. I would suppose if I had a corner market or one in my immediate neighborhood, I would have been buying fresh food daily as the Second Street neighbors did, as well as Mrs. Emery.
We went by car and had to search. We could have taken the horse if we had one.

Now as to that horse- I can't imagine the smell of one after days of heat, humidity, and stress. Otherwise, the experience, I think, was similar. I quickly lost the habit of hitting the light switch every time I entered or left a room; although last night I did catch myself reaching for the switch to turn off a light which wasn't on.
So I read by flashlight and did little movement. The less I moved around, the more comfortable I could keep my body temperature. I kept my windows closed the whole 5 days because the humidity was outrageous and I had a cooler house overall, I think, than my neighbors.
I found that I had to keep the shades closed until about 5 p.m. and then I could open them and get the last of the sunlight in the day in order to read or write.
If the shades were open the room heated up by 5 degrees or more!
I learned to always return whatever I was using back to its exact place so I could find it again easily later. That took some training. I had room sectors in which I would always leave a flashlite and thus could enter a sector, put one down and pick up the next. Everything I needed I tended to keep out for easy access, and I had good recall of which bottle of water in the cooler had been in there the longest and thus was the coldest!

t was always very dark in the house, day or night with the bad weather and the shades and curtains closed. One neighbor kid actually, at my door, asked to look in to see how dark it was in my house. He asked me "How dark is your house?"

And I had no appetite. When I ate it made me hot- I suppose that was my metabolism kicking in. If I went outside to walk around I did so slowly- I did everything slowly to conserve my energy!
When I came inside I would have to take a quick shower in cold water which I don't think was much different than Lizzie or Alice bathing in their room. I dribbled the water on me and it was cold. I smelled fine but my clothing eventually didn't!
That was odd. I didn't think my clothes were *dirty*, but they began to smell just the same. That part was odd: because I would take 3 of these quick baths a day and ran out of fresh-smelling clothing very fast! If I was clean I wanted to smell clean- but that didn't happen.
I always wear light clothes in the summer, so that wasn't a problem- but I can't imagine what the women did back then!

Everbody was in the same boat- but some had more stress than others due to damage to their homes.
Some people were, as in their everyday lives, stoic and accepting- and others, again as in their everyday lives, were freaked out and scared.
It certainly brought neighbors closer- tho we have a good community here.

We had 90 degree days and thunderstorms every afternoon- heat index at 100.
When they say "It's not the heat- it's the humidity"- Believe it!

[Harry]

What an interesting post Kat. It must have been like being thrown back in time and having to adapt to another way of looking at things.

I've lost power several times but never for more than 1 to 2 days. That's a lot easier to handle than a prolonged outage.

I think you handled the situation extremely well.

[theebmonique]

Kat...what a great personal perspective you provide ! Thank you for sharing your experience. As you described your activities, I felt as if I were right there sweating and surviving with you. It's so amazing how resiliant the human spirit is.

I can relate to the power outage part. Last winter, on Christmas Day, it began to snow...and snow...and snow..and snow..and then it snowed some more. My power was out from early morning on the 26th until the evening on the 30th. No power = no heat. Having three giant dogs to sleep on my bed really helped me at night...LOL. I can truly say I know the meaning of a three dog night !


Tracy...

[Susan]

Wow, thanks for that, Kat. Sounds like you were prepared and made the best of a bad situation. Makes me feel incredibly lucky even just to have a fan out here to try to cool myself with!!!

[Tina-Kate]

Great post Kat. I love the fact you had an **ice box** There must have been some stores that had power or perhaps a back-up generator? One thing about Victorian houses in the summer, they do stay cooler than modern ones, esp if surrounded by trees. Of course, the trees would have been smaller back then & less helpful. But the trick is in keeping the shutters & windows closed during the day, & making sure the windows are open @ night...closing them up again in the morning. I've had the most comfortable summer I've had in a long time since living here. One thing tho, it does nothing to combat the humidity. Hot days with high humidity are still uncomfortable, yet much better inside than out. Attics are something else altogether tho -- I did the "Bridget" lifestyle for 8 years & can't imagine how she did without even electric fans!

[Kat]

I've really been wondering about that barn loft- which your attic reference reminded me.
My garage was very hot and was terrible to linger in.

I doubt I would hang around a barn loft eating anything after ironing. Recall Lizzie was messing with the fire in the stove as well: hot work also!
I just can't picture it!

[Susan]

I found out something interesting from my mom today, apparently my younger brother and his family were down in Orlando when Charley hit, they stayed in their hotel room the whole time. I believe it was the day after that they called my mom from the ferry going across to Disneyworld, it was open for business. Does Disney have its own generators for electricity or something, I would think they would be out with the rest of the area?

[Tina-Kate]

I bet you anything you like Disney has their own generators -- a world unto themselves. Re the barn loft -- I believe everyone who testified about going up there agreed it was "stifling", "very close", "most uncomfortable" etc etc. I tend to believe Medley when he said he made the impression of his hand in the floor dust & there were no other marks. I don't think Lizzie was anywhere near that loft on Aug .

[Tina-Kate]

That should read: "August 4th"...my main (4) key isn't working.