Candlelit Observations from the South Jersey Power Outage

My family became a statistic over the weekend, when we joined tens of thousands others in South Jersey who lost their power.  As of noon Monday, it is still out, making us official members of the "59-hour & counting club".

This surprise storm... with the 70 mph winds and  a bad attitude was certainly one we'll remember.  I'll remember sleeping through it, only waking when I started to get a little uncomfortable because the air conditioner had gone off.  Little did I know at the time how uncomfortable the bedroom would be over the next couple of nights without any A/C, when it felt like I had rented a small, windowless room on the ground floor of HELL!!!

During the weekend spent waiting for the lights to come on, I had some extra time to take notice of the effect this storm had on South Jersey and my life without electricity. Here are my candlelit observations from the power outage....

- How did people make it through thousands of years without air-conditioning, fans and other devises capable of providing heat relief?

- You really begin to notice the usually hidden smells lingering in your home when the air conditioning goes out, the breeze dies completely down and the temperature reaches 120 inside!  I couldn't be sure if the unpleasant aroma was emanating from some pet odors in the carpeting or from the mix of ten different varieties of Yankee Candles we were using for light.  I'm reasonably certain you should never mix the burning of "Splash of Rain", "Fig and Cedar"and "Cranberry Chutney" flavors  in your home at once.

- The first day of a power outage is a little bit of an adventure.  The adventure is gone by day two.

- The decision of how long after losing power you can still safely eat the food in your slowly warming refrigerator is an inexact and,quite possibly, dangerous science.

- Apparently, the day of a power outage will also be the day you and everyone else in the community has  about three breaths of gas left in the gas tank.

- Isn't it amazing that some of the huge trees that blew over in the storm were ever able to remain standing before it?  Many of them were found to be a mass of roots in about four inches of dirt underneath a sidewalk.

- How is it that a house with a huge oak tree on top of it still has power, while my house, with no tree attached, has no power?

- There is nothing quite so cruel as sweating your way through the power outage in your home while listening to your neighbor's central air system humming along a mere 15 yards away!

- Situations like this always seem to bring out the best in people and this weekend was no exception.  Many  neighbors and friends offered help, freezer space, and we even had a wonderful, home-cooked meal with a family I met for the first time as they welcomed my family in to their beautiful home.  Special thanks to Billy and Jen- hope we can return the favor sometime!