Power Out House

 You are welcome to read this title however you see fit.

Jon eagerly gave our home that moniker this winter when we found ourselves in the middle of a multi-day power outage as the result of an ice storm. He'd intended it to be more descriptive, as in a "house with no power." However, when he said it out loud, it sounded an awful lot like an, ahem, "mighty bathroom," which resulted in plenty of giggles.

That was not the first time we'd giggled during that time, which may seem a bit odd. But in all honesty, the power outage was actually a lot of fun, and that is primarily due to Jon's preparation and general expertise. He's pretty much a cross between a Boy Scout and MacGyver, and I am infinitely grateful for that combination.

In early February, everyone knew that an ice storm was imminent. In fact, "out of an abundance of caution" (we have come to loathe that phrase, but that's another story altogether), school had already been cancelled. The storm itself wasn't so bad, but it did leave behind an impressive coating of ice.

Pretty tough to do the monkey bars in these conditions

With everyone home and Jon trying to work upstairs, the kids were engrossed in an extravagant game of "family," while I hustled to get housework done. I was so industrious, in fact, that I was on my second load of laundry when the power unsurprisingly went out. Not a big deal...except that we have a front-loading washing machine that locks when running--which we knew--and also when there is no power connected--which we didn't know.

The laundry was low on the list of priorities, as we were more focused on retaining some heat. Jon's moment to shine had arrived. Many years ago, he/we justified the investment of a gas-powered stove in the middle of our house for just this purpose (that it looks cool and provides a cozy ambience had nothing to do with it, of course).

We immediately set to work cordoning off the area around the stove with blankets hanging from the doorways and on the floor. Indoor camping at its finest, this strategy kept our 2 1/2 room area at a balmy 70 degrees (which is actually warmer than we set the heat on a normal day). This stove also put out enough heat to cook dinner. We decided to eat in our kitchen in the "cold lands," which let us know very quickly how thankful we were to have that warm room because even bundled up, it was still a chilly meal. Kind of surreal to see your breath while washing dishes.

But we had water and lantern light to read by, so it was a very cozy evening. There was enough heat for Elsa to sleep in her own bed next door while Lena opted to camp in front of the fire. The boys and I spent the night in the downstairs guest room.

Indoor campout

The power was still out the next morning, so after a rustic breakfast on the stove, we loaded up and headed down to Jon's office, which did have electricity. We also took a basket of electronics and cords on this outing so we could charge devices. While waiting for everything to charge, we hopped over to the nearby Bass Pro Shop for lunch and bowling (yes, there is a bowling alley in the Bass Pro Shop that also happens to be inside a giant pyramid). A great way to pass the time.

Nice shoes, boys!

Still no power when we got home, so another candlelight dinner and headlamp reading session. The next day was a Saturday, and I had a writing retreat scheduled with the Memphis Mom Collective. The bookstore that was hosting the retreat had power, so I took the basket of electronics with me and spent a delightful morning writing and talking about writing (and having lunch, of course). Jon and the kids went to the children's museum and had a blast.

We reconvened in the afternoon and went straight out for tacos. Apparently only residential areas were without power because there were so many fun options of places to go. The key to this vacation mentality, however, is that we were right at the beginning of our "Covid honeymoon," all of us having just recovered from the virus a few weeks prior. There were no worries about being indoors at public places or being around other people. Amazing. The things we took for granted two years ago...

During all of this gallivanting around, we stopped at home briefly to check out the power, which was still out. But we didn't mind; in fact, Elsa said she was kind of glad that we didn't have power because we were having so much fun. And we were! We took a scenic drive around the neighborhood and marveled at how beautiful the ice looked in the trees.

Ice-covered trees

Since we'd gone out for afternoon tacos, we had popcorn for dinner and settled into what had by now turned into a routine of bundling up and reading before the fire. And because I'd charged up everything at my retreat, I was also able to participate in a virtual book club with friends out-of-state.

On Sunday morning--still without power--we went to church...and, you guessed it, out to eat again. There is a coffee shop/restaurant called the Memphis Chess Club with chessboards on the tables and game pieces to rent--the perfect spot to hang out all afternoon.

Checkmate!

By this time, we had started to hear from neighbors that houses all around us were regaining power. We'd seen lights on across the back alley the night before, so when we still didn't have electricity, we finally started getting nervous. We'd put most of the contents of our refrigerator in a cooler on the back deck days prior and just hadn't opened the chest freezer out there. We felt really confident that nothing had spoiled, but we also knew that it wouldn't last much longer, so Jon used an inverter to run the refrigerator off the battery in our hybrid car. Real-life MacGyver.

Within half an hour of setting this up, the lights finally came back on. And when they did, we weren't quite sure what to do. For a moment we all just stared blankly at one another. But then the girls started to do a happy dance, and I finally had a chance to check on the laundry (spoiler alert: everything was fine! I couldn't believe it). I guess the key to getting power back was that we had decided to implement the plan to keep our food cold...so I guess Jon should have hooked up the inverter days earlier.

What could have been a horrible experience was actually a pretty great one. We recognize that not everyone fared so well--spending days in hotels/freezing homes, experiencing expensive storm damage, throwing away food--and we are grateful that all turned out okay for our family. We were able to try out our Jon's emergency preparedness plans, and we learned A LOT. We want to be ready for the next time...and there will be a next time.