It was about 12:20 p.m. I was in a deep REM sleep dreaming about something, and suddenly, I could not breathe easily. I quickly realized that my sleep apnea machine CPAP was not working. Also, my battery backup flashlight was lighting up my bedroom; this could mean only one thing: POWER OUTAGE!
When I was younger, a power outage was no big deal. I did not have sleep apnea; we had city water so we could flush the toilets, we did not have a freezer, so just the refrigerator was at risk. We had a fireplace to keep us warm, so we usually just waited for the power to come back on in the city that meant a day or two at the most.
By contrast, I live rurally, we are on a well, septic, and sometimes the power can go out for more extended periods.
A few years back, the power went out on Christmas eve and stayed out until Jan, 2. Living where we do, it’s a 36-mile round trip to town, so we have two freezers and two refrigerators. I understand freezers can last up to 3 days if unopened, but the food in the fridge is bad after 24 hours; that may not be correct, but I heard that somewhere.
One of our freezers is for store-bought foods, and the other is for farm beef and hog bought locally. A friend knew that we had freezers and was kind enough to loan us a generator to run the freezers twice a day and the refrigerator more often. It was a blessing.
That outage led to me doing research on whole house generators. I fell in love with the ones that automatically turn on when the power goes out, and you may not even know you had a power outage.
When I looked at the budget, I quickly concluded that it was not in my financial ability just yet. I settled for the other option, a portable generator of 7,900 watts and a professionally installed outlet to plug it into outside the house. I can run everything but the air conditioning and the hot tub! Seriously, when the power went out at 12:20 a.m., the lightning was so ferocious that I just waited until daylight.
I turned off the power and put on the safety for my main and went out to start up the generator. I forgot what to do, so I read the instructions, said a prayer, and pushed the auto start button.
The last time I tried it, nothing happened, but this time due to my prayer and the fact that I replaced the battery, it started right up. It runs 12 hours on fill so I can sleep all night with my CPAP. All our farm meat stayed frozen, and the refrigerators worked fine.
I could not watch my streaming devices as the internet was out, but I have an old hook-up to my antenna and could watch the local news and shows.
I went out one evening and walked a bit; what struck me was the steady drone of the generators that seemed to be everywhere. It was like a concert of machines pulsing and roaring all at different times. It was quite loud.
I made several trips to the gas station for fuel over the three days, feeling thankful that we could shower, flush the toilet, and turn the fans on as needed.
Most importantly, I could raise my comfy chair for my feet and take a great nap. I want to thank all the Consumers workers for working so hard to get our power back. We all appreciated what you do!
“Remember, every day is a gift! Some are just a little more fun to open than others. – © Joel M. Vernier 08/23/2021 Author of: “The Guinea Pig In The Freezer.” joelmvernier@aol.com
