Day Without Electricity
Saturday was Groundhog Day. We didn't notice, though, because we were celebrating our first monthly Day Without Electricity. The last big storm that came through knocked out power in the San Lorenzo Valley for three days (for some people, I think we were only out for two). Power outages are a fact of life up here in the woods. We decided to practice, just so that we're all comfortable and ready when it happens again.
We are already pretty well set. We have a generator that runs on propane, can power the whole house, and comes on automatically. (I am mystified by the people I talk to up here who have dinky generators that they have to pull start - what in the world are they powering, and what's so critical about the one appliance? Maybe it's grampa's iron lung.) We have many candles and we have a kerosene lamp. We have a camp stove, we have a wood-burning stove for heat (and it does a dandy job of heating up water, too). So really it was about staying in practice and figuring out any rough edges.
At sundown on Friday we switched off all the breakers to the house. We lit a few candles and the lamp (which is a prodigious heat source as well as being really bright). The fire had been going all afternoon already, so we just sat around. Peaches worked on a new quilt, Aoibheall worked on some notes for work, and I went out drinking with some friends. Not, perhaps, quite exactly the spirit of DWE, but it'd been scheduled already.
Saturday morning, Aoibheall and I drove down into town to get coffee and tea. We have the tools and materials to make it at home without electricity, but we also had a lot planned for the day and didn't want to take the time. Hot drinks and pastries consumed, Peaches got to work cleaning the inside of the house and Aoibheall and I got to work outside. I cut and fastened plywood across the end of the chicken house at the large chicken yard. I moved the waterer and the anti-freeze base (uses electricity, oh well) over to the big yard. Aoibheall, meanwhile, loaded up all our piled up cardboard into the back of the pickup.
I was starting to feel pretty unsteady, but we just had to take the cardboard down to the dump. Did that, came home, and I collapsed into bed. I had developed a fever and was feeling so weak I couldn't even shift a 7 pound cat. Aoibheall and Peaches went out grocery shopping and I stayed home. At sundown I turned the power back on. When everybody was home, we celebrated our productivity by nibbling on vegetables and hummus and watching the Coen brothers' remake of The Ladykillers. While it was entertaining, I must confess I liked Alec Guinness better than Tom Hanks.
Still to do on the large chicken yard: run electric fence around the yard. Move the outside feeder and the shade/rain shelter. We also need to put up something to keep the chickens from launching themselves from the top of the waterer (or the shelter) over the fence. Some sort of golf fencing, perhaps.
We're getting 25 new chicks in a month, so we have to prep.
Things we learned from our first Day Without Electricity: When we turn off the power, we should dump out the ice cubes from the box in the freezer. They don't melt completely, but melt enough that when power is restored they're just a single mass.
My fever finally broke last night. So now I'm just weak and tired, but on the mend.
We are already pretty well set. We have a generator that runs on propane, can power the whole house, and comes on automatically. (I am mystified by the people I talk to up here who have dinky generators that they have to pull start - what in the world are they powering, and what's so critical about the one appliance? Maybe it's grampa's iron lung.) We have many candles and we have a kerosene lamp. We have a camp stove, we have a wood-burning stove for heat (and it does a dandy job of heating up water, too). So really it was about staying in practice and figuring out any rough edges.
At sundown on Friday we switched off all the breakers to the house. We lit a few candles and the lamp (which is a prodigious heat source as well as being really bright). The fire had been going all afternoon already, so we just sat around. Peaches worked on a new quilt, Aoibheall worked on some notes for work, and I went out drinking with some friends. Not, perhaps, quite exactly the spirit of DWE, but it'd been scheduled already.
Saturday morning, Aoibheall and I drove down into town to get coffee and tea. We have the tools and materials to make it at home without electricity, but we also had a lot planned for the day and didn't want to take the time. Hot drinks and pastries consumed, Peaches got to work cleaning the inside of the house and Aoibheall and I got to work outside. I cut and fastened plywood across the end of the chicken house at the large chicken yard. I moved the waterer and the anti-freeze base (uses electricity, oh well) over to the big yard. Aoibheall, meanwhile, loaded up all our piled up cardboard into the back of the pickup.
I was starting to feel pretty unsteady, but we just had to take the cardboard down to the dump. Did that, came home, and I collapsed into bed. I had developed a fever and was feeling so weak I couldn't even shift a 7 pound cat. Aoibheall and Peaches went out grocery shopping and I stayed home. At sundown I turned the power back on. When everybody was home, we celebrated our productivity by nibbling on vegetables and hummus and watching the Coen brothers' remake of The Ladykillers. While it was entertaining, I must confess I liked Alec Guinness better than Tom Hanks.
Still to do on the large chicken yard: run electric fence around the yard. Move the outside feeder and the shade/rain shelter. We also need to put up something to keep the chickens from launching themselves from the top of the waterer (or the shelter) over the fence. Some sort of golf fencing, perhaps.
We're getting 25 new chicks in a month, so we have to prep.
Things we learned from our first Day Without Electricity: When we turn off the power, we should dump out the ice cubes from the box in the freezer. They don't melt completely, but melt enough that when power is restored they're just a single mass.
My fever finally broke last night. So now I'm just weak and tired, but on the mend.
Labels: power chickens illness
posted by PirateGuillermo | 9:51 AM
2 Comments:
This is the coolest idea ever. I hesitate over the fridge, but it would encourage me to get in there and use up the marginal stuff.
Fewer clocks, no screen time, more sleep.
Hi this Alex down in So. Cal, and wishing you a nice Sunday. They just had one of these in Australia (maybe some other places, 2) and soon (like in a week) I will be over a cold and back in the school again. Still attempting grad'n. before 30-ation.
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