The delights of living in the country

[valis2]

Well, the edge of the country.

Yesterday, while I was on the phone with subrosax, the power went out. I was right in the middle of prepping items for eBay and Etsy, so that kind of sucked.

Good thing is, Husband's grandmother had a generator system installed a couple years ago. And this thing is like a generator fairy tale--it automatically turns on when power is interrupted, and it runs on natural gas from a permanent feed. Incredible. So after about a half minute it came back on. We didn't have to do a thing. In my mind generators are messy and smelly and dangerous and necessitate going outside in the snow and kick starting them, and are more hassle than they're worth, but it turns out that my thoughts are pretty damned outdated and that the next generation of generators are pretty damned awesome.

Only drawback is that Husband's grandmother picked which circuits would run while the generator was on, and apparently she felt that the guest bedroom was important but the microwave/stove was not. Given that I've been in situations where we've lost power for three days or more, I'm not happy about not having a microwave or stove in the event that we do lose it for multiple days, though Husband assures me that because it is a gas stove (I've never used a gas stove before and know nothing about them) it is still usable with matches. So if we do lose power for a few days, we can at least use the stove. I shouldn't be whining at all, considering how awesome it is that we don't have to huddle around the fireplace like I did in my youth, but still, there's a teensy bit of worry there.

Hell, I should be absolutely ecstatic, considering that we have well water here, and that without a generator you can't flush the toilets. My parents' house routinely went without electricity for two or three days, and we had well water, and let's just say it wasn't pleasant.

I've found that there's one major advantage to having made the master bedroom the office, and made our bedroom in one of the smaller bedrooms; the generator is right below the window of the office, and the noise is pretty loud. So huzzah for that. I mean, it's still noisy, but at least it was within the realm of possibly being able to sleep instead of being within the realm of no sleep possible.

The power came back on about ten hours later, thank goodness. So now I'm going to get caught up on Etsy and eBay listings.

Comments

[artystone.livejournal.com]

LOL. Time to redecorate the guest room into a "break room" with a microwave and coffee machine!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

ahaha! Good idea! *giggles some more*

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

Of course if the power's out for *days* you could just move the microwave into the guest room. :D

(And yeah, you should be able to use the gas stove-top in a power outage even if it has an electric sparker. Just be super careful with the matches. The oven you may or may not be able to use--depends on how it's made.)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Well, the microwave's a built-in, not certain if I want to disassemble it just so I can heat up some water quickly, heh.

I'll have to find out more about the oven from Husband and whether he thinks we'll be able to use it. Just being able to use the range in a power outage situation is pretty damned amazing, though. I remember when we were growing up that it was pretty crazy--there was one point where we were without power for 12 days. Anyway, I don't foresee that level of outage, but still, it will be so nice to be able to cook something on the stove.

Y'know, I didn't think to look at the fridge and see if it was on. I really hope that it isn't on the same circuit with the stove/microwave, because then I'd have to look into getting the circuits changed--I would hate to lose everything in my fridge because of that.

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

Nooo, a built in microwave's not so portable. So you'll have to go with the previous suggestion of turning the guest room into a break room with a little microwave of its own and maybe a hot-plate just in case. :D

(And yeah, good thinking about the *fridge*. ::wince::)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

haha! I'll have a mini-bunker in my bunker. lol.

I really am freaking about the fridge now. Though I don't want the power to go out again so I can find out...

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

Don't stress--remember, if you don't go into the fridge much it'll hold temperature for a day or so. So you have time to react if the fridge doesn't have power in an outage. (And depending on where you are, it's possible that if the power goes out to the fridge you could just move most of the stuff outside. That would work for me here, it's plenty cold outside to preserve even the frozen foods. :D)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I've had to deal with that sort of situation before. It's just a pain, lol. ;)

Weirdest was when we lost power for three days as part of that big Midwest blackout, and it wasn't cold out, so we did end up losing a big portion of what we had in the fridge and freezer both...

[artystone.livejournal.com]

It's unlikely that that the fridge would be on the same circuit. Now whether g'ma thought the fridge circuit important enough to hook up to the generator is a whole nother thing entirely.

Maybe you need to get one of those dorm sized fridges for the break room.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Now whether g'ma thought the fridge circuit important enough to hook up to the generator is a whole nother thing entirely.

Yes, because clearly it didn't occur to her that one might need to, y'know, cook food during a power outage. Who knows if she thought food would need to be kept cold? I guess I'll find out next time, lol.

Or I'll have to keep the break room stocked, as you say. *snorts*

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

I've never been in the situation where I had a generator.

We just sat around and froze cause we didn't even have a fireplace.

You sound happier each day about your new house. :)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've never been in that situation, either. My parents' house had two fireplaces, which came in handy when we didn't have power for nearly two weeks once; meant the pipes didn't freeze, thank goodness.

I'm getting happier about it, happier and happier, and this generator thing is just the icing on the cake, really. I can't believe how awesome it is to have the power come back on, even if it's noisy. It's wonderful.

[cactus-wren.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you're so lucky to have a generator! We've talked about getting one every time the power goes out here and we never have. Ours wouldn't be on a permanent feed, though - it would just power the vital things (fridge, freezer, and my fish tanks!)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

It's really something we never would have been able to afford, and it's just awesome! We're really so lucky, my sadness about the microwave notwithstanding.

I just can't believe we have it. I remember being at my parents' house, or even at the house we rented for a year, and hearing generators running at other houses, and just feeling so jealous, lol.

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

A gas stove is easy to use. At first, it feels a bit like camping, but after you get used to it, it's just like any electric stove.

The only thing you have to take care of is that you don't burn away the pot holders. *g*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

hee! Only thing is--I don't think I've ever been camping.

It's really scary, actually, for someone who has only ever used electric. I keep freaking out because, y'know, open flame and all.

[(Anonymous)]

Gas is infinitely better than electric as far as cooking goes, fyi. The heat is quicker and steadier, you don't burn out the bottom of your pans and once you've had steak cooked fast and hot over gas, you'll never want one cooked over electric.

[tapedeck.livejournal.com]

That was me, by the way.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Ooh...now I'm totally craving steak! Mmmm.

Then again, I don't do any of the cooking, so I suppose none of this really matters...

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

I was that way when we moved here--I had never used a gas stove before and was sure that I was going to blow up the house. But now I would never voluntarily go back to an electric stove. For one thing, I can tell when the heat is on because of the flame. With the electric, I used to destroy dishes by setting them on burners which were still hot. (But normal, coordinated people might not do things like that.)
Your generator sounds awesome! I am most envious.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I've always had an electric stove, always, and this gas thing--*shivers*. Seriously.

I really hope that I get to the point you are. Because one shouldn't be afraid to use one's stove, y'know? hee!

[tapedeck.livejournal.com]

"without a generator you can't flush the toilets."

Wait, what? Is the generator needed to pump water to the cistern, or do you have some insane newfangled electric toilet?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

My parents' house had a well. In order to get new water from the well, it had to be pumped in, I believe. So you could flush the toilet--once. But no new water would come in because it couldn't be drawn from the well. At least that's how I remember it. Not certain anymore, to tell the truth, except I remember being unable to flush the toilets.

[authoress-susan.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a grim way to start the new year. But then, it could be cozy... ;D

Happy 2009!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

hee! Well, it was very nice to still have heat, that's for certain. I enjoyed that a lot.

Happy 2009 to you as well! *giant hugs*