Where There's Smoke
After almost 29 hours, the power came back on. I’m glad we don’t have to go through another night powerless.
I should have known to fill the bathtubs when the wind was blowing so hard. Everybody in rural America knows to do that. Not only will you have a supply of water to take to the livestock if needed, but you can have water to FLUSH! One of the downsides of rural life is that when the power goes off, so does the pump. Luckily we’d watered dogs and horses, so they were OK. We, however, had to ration a bit.
Since we have a propane fireplace and a propane stove downstairs, we could keep warm and cook.
Upstairs was just too cold. We had a battery for the little TV so we could keep in touch with the world—and learn that many were worse off than we were. We still had a phone line and we had the laptop. We had bottled water to drink. We made do and we got through.
I'd fed the dogs and horses a little after four so I could get back in time to cook supper while it was still light. By five-thirty, the house was engulfed in smoke, and it wasn’t from my cooking. The smoke was outside. Everywhere outside. The Smith Mountain fire, which had been burning all day, must have crossed over to our side of the mountain.
The smoke had a strong smell and the haze had spread all around. The haze covered the pasture:
Melody and Cupcake, munching from their round bale, didn't seem to mind the smoke, though.
There are so many fires in the region. Rain is predicted for Wednesday. We need it.
I should have known to fill the bathtubs when the wind was blowing so hard. Everybody in rural America knows to do that. Not only will you have a supply of water to take to the livestock if needed, but you can have water to FLUSH! One of the downsides of rural life is that when the power goes off, so does the pump. Luckily we’d watered dogs and horses, so they were OK. We, however, had to ration a bit.
Since we have a propane fireplace and a propane stove downstairs, we could keep warm and cook.
Upstairs was just too cold. We had a battery for the little TV so we could keep in touch with the world—and learn that many were worse off than we were. We still had a phone line and we had the laptop. We had bottled water to drink. We made do and we got through.
I'd fed the dogs and horses a little after four so I could get back in time to cook supper while it was still light. By five-thirty, the house was engulfed in smoke, and it wasn’t from my cooking. The smoke was outside. Everywhere outside. The Smith Mountain fire, which had been burning all day, must have crossed over to our side of the mountain.
The smoke had a strong smell and the haze had spread all around. The haze covered the pasture:
Melody and Cupcake, munching from their round bale, didn't seem to mind the smoke, though.
There are so many fires in the region. Rain is predicted for Wednesday. We need it.
Labels: rural life
posted by Becky Mushko | 7:26 PM
2 Comments:
You might want to invest in a small generator. We have one big enough to run the well pump from time to time (and alternatively, run the freezer for an hour or so to keep the food from spoiling, just not both at the same time). We learned our lesson in the early 1990s, when we were without power for 10 days.
Hollins was just awful yesterday. I park on the east side of campus and both of my classes are on the west side. By the time I walked across the quad, my hair was full of ashes!!! It burned my eyes too. Needless to say, I was glad to get home. I'm glad you got your power back!
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