Ice, ice, baby…

• one generator – $699.00
• value of David’s time to purchase, build and install said generator – $150.00
• having the power come back on one minute later – priceless

We lost power at 8 a.m. this morning. The fireplace kept the house above 60 degrees although it was sure to continue to drop. We boiled water on the burner of our propane grill outdoors so we were able to have coffee and tea this morning. David also managed to prepare toast on the grill. All in all, we were doing okay. But we were about to the point of needing to put items from the refrigerator into ice chests outdoors. We didn’t expect anyone to have any generators for sale but Tractor Supply got in a shipment of 70 generators and bless their hearts, didn’t jack up the price. David braved the icy conditions and drove to town to buy one. A couple of hours later he fired it up and began turning on a couple of breakers. Just as the lights went on a neighbor called to ask if our power was back, too. We had to send Chris to the guest house to check but sure enough, the power was back. Wow. That is one powerful generator. All told, the electricity was out about 7.5 hours. We are expecting more ice and there is always the chance that the power will go out again. In the meantime we have cranked up the heater to get the house warm again. I took another shower and washed my hair. We ate dinner, cleaned the kitchen and did the animal chores. The guys are watching football and I think I will go crawl under the covers and read. Church has been cancelled for tomorrow so it looks like we have another day to just hibernate at home.