We made it through!

Last night there was a HUGE power outtage. It spread all over the county. At 4:20 yesterday, I was heading into the kitchen to start preparing dinner when there was a click and everything turned off. We have had a power glitch a couple of times but they never have lasted for more than a minute. So I stood in the kitchen and waited. At 4:45 I started to get worried that something bigger could be wrong. Josh called me from work and told me that his office was hit too but they had a generator to keep all of the equipment safe. The street lights were out. The air conditioners were off. It was a HOT day!

I had been ambitious and had all of the laundry finished (yeah!) but had also started making bread and it was rising in the kitchen. Josh was able to take the back way home and avoid all of the mess on the major streets. We were lucky to be relatively prepared for something like this to happen. Although when it does happen, you start thinking about all of the things to have for next time. We had Mac n Cheese for dinner thanks to the propane camping stove and sat by the radio listening for any details. People were calling in at first saying they were going to Mesquite because they bought rooms for $50.00. People were calling in to see if there were gas stations pumping gas. Towards the end of the night, people were calling in saying that rooms in Mesquite were now $350.00 a night. And lines for gas went for miles. Accidents were happening on roads all over the city. Home Depot was selling generators that usually go for $300.00 for $900.00. I was shocked at how much prices can go up when they know that desperate people will pay the money.

We sat in our hot house, grateful that we were all safe, fed and okay. Four and a half hours later, we finally had power again. I was relieved because the only thing I really worried about was our fridge and freezer and our freezer in the garage. We didn't have to loose any of it. And I am so grateful. I am so much more appreciative of what I have. It is amazing how much you miss something when it isn't there. I was so glad we had gas, we had food, we had a safe place to go. People would call into the radio station and talk about the pioneers and how they did this on a daily basis. They dealt with the heat and no electricity every summer. How the people in Iraq loose power every day and it is hot there, if not hotter. It made me realize how lucky we are to have what we have. And to realize just how much we depend on electricity. We learned so much from this experience. And we are now going to look into a generator. We were just lucky it didn't last longer than it did.