Powerless

With our first blustery storm came our first power outage of the season yesterday afternoon/evening.  It went out just as I was gathering ingredients to start dinner.  Thankfully, I was planning clam chowder, which only required the use of the gas rangetop, which I can use without electricity.

It was about 5 PM when it went out... Still light outside, but pretty dark inside.  We are always woefully low on working flashlights and battery-operated lanterns.  The one Princess Eager found for me didn't put out much light, and I was getting pretty desperate to see what I was cooking... or possibly burning.

That desperation helped me remember the battery-operated, LED under-cabinet lights I'd purchased at Costco months ago, but never even opened.  Because of their hangers, I was able to twist-tie one bar to the filter pulls on my hood vent, and Voila'!  There was light!  Additionally cool was that the lights have a movement-sensing, automatic setting, so the light would go off when no one was at the stove, and come on again when someone came near to serve themselves some dinner.

Our kids used to love power outages, when, in former houses, it meant gathering around a fireplace with games and books.  Now, without a fireplace, and with everyone more technology-addicted, power outages don't have the same appeal.  

The camera's flash makes this room look light...

But the kids created some fun during the darkness this time, thanks to a generous and timely purchase by Princess Sassy.  She came home earlier in the afternoon with enough pumpkins for a group carving party.  It's always so great to see them all enjoying time together, with all the talking and laughing.

...but it wasn't!

Prince Inventive had to stay in contact with
the outside world.

Whoa... Counting my Blessings and Praying for Others

It's hard to worry too much about kitchens, interesting food, and other comparative trivialities as people face the devastation and, at the least, total life disruption they have in Japan today, and will have to deal with for months to come.  It is heart-wrenching, as well as pretty scary for those of us who also live in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and always have the threat of potentially damaging and life-threatening quakes hanging over our heads.  
(Raw footage of the Japan earthquake and tsunami via Yahoo News)                                                                                                                                              
It's impossible to plan for something that could hit out of the blue like the earthquake did in the spring-like afternoon in Japan...Will we all be at home, or, my biggest fear, will we be spread far and wide with some of our kids home alone?                                                                      
I can lay in a supply of water and canned goods, but can't plan for every eventuality.  --Where do we even store such things where they can be guaranteed to survive an earthquake, or to situated so we'll be able to access them?  What will a cupboard full of food and water at home do for us if we're in the car somewhere?  Lots of questions, and lots of fear, to be honest, if I think about it very long.                                                                                                                                                                                           
I admit it...I am NOT prepared in any of the best ways possible.  I need to fix this immediately.  We have a little bit of bottled water, but not enough to sustain the family for days.  We have very little prepared food that can just be opened and eaten if we have no electricity or have to turn off the propane to the stove.  We don't have a set phone number out of the area, in which we're all ready to call as a check-in point, as the experts suggest.  Even our first aid kit is getting a little low on supplies.                                                                                                                         
Praying for the people of Japan and other areas affected by the tsunami, and urging us all to take this opportunity to make sure we have our emergency supplies and plans in order:
How To Prepare for an Emergency by Epicenter.com
Emergency Planning and Checklists - FEMA: Are You Ready?                                                                       
If you have a good system in place, please share.  Give us a link, or email me photos, and I will post them.                                                                                                                                                                                         
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging."      Psalm 46:1-3