Having no power for over 36 hours really, really isn’t fun!
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, then you probably already know that it’s been a really rough week-end for me. The entire province of Québec was hit by a major storm with crazy strong winds and rain so intense, I’d never seen anything quite like it.
You might not be able to tell from the picture below, but take a close look at the flowers and tree in the background. They are taking a serious beating!
Seriously, the winds were so strong, my precious outdoor grill came this close to getting blown away! Thank goodness, my daughter caught a glimpse of what was happening and heroically flew to its rescue, at the peril of her own life! Alright, I’m exaggerating a bit, but still; as she was standing out there, trying the grab the grill to bring in inside, in the safety of the house, I could see that she was really struggling as the wind and rain were pushing her real hard. She thought for sure that she too, would end up being blown away and land somewhere in the middle of the backyard. Or perhaps even on the rooftop!
But at last, the BBQ was saved and Tasha was able to come back in a hero!
I might be trying to lighten up the situation a little bit here, but really, I’m not sure I should. For the situation really isn’t funny. All in all, I was really lucky, as I didn’t suffer any material losses, no trees fell on my house or car and no members of my family got injured. All were not so lucky, trust me. That crazy storm even took a life and injured several.
Sad. Very sad.
At the time of writing these lines, there are still 134 000 of us without power. In the picture above, which you might not be able to see too clearly, there is this huge tree that fell right on the electrical lines a few blocks away from my house. So long as this doesn’t get removed, the power won’t come back on. 820 people are eagerly waiting for this to happen.
For in our neighborhood, no electricity also means no running water for most. I mean, to go without power is one thing. But no water? Now THAT will make your life miserable. Can’t flush the toilet, can’t wash your hands… can’t even shower. Needless to say there hasn’t been any workouts for me this weekend!!!
Still, electricity is something we tend to take for granted. To be without it for so long is simply mind numbing. I fell as though life has been put on hold or something.
It almost feels as though I am living under emergency conditions. Thank goodness, at least I happen to have a gas range as well as an outdoor grill (which I came this close to losing for good!) to do my cooking. So up until now, food hasn’t been all that bad for me.
I wasn’t even forced to put a dent in my Whole30®.
My biggest concern though is all the meat that I have in the freezer… I really hope that it won’t have to go to waste. I would really hate for the poor animals to have died in vain.
It’s already been 36 hours now… I don’t think that it can hold much longer without the power.
Would you believe that I somehow managed to work on a recipe for the blog? No fancy lighting for this one, though… I had to rely on candle lights!
Still, it turned out pretty amazing and will have quite the story behind it, too! I think that this one will end up being the most memorable meal I will have ever made. Keep an eye out for it!
So anyway, at the time of writing these lines, I am still without power, as I’m sitting at my local Tim Hortons to take advantage of their free wi-fi AND electricity, enjoying a nice cup of warm coffee, black of course!
I really pray that, by the time you get to read these same lines, the power will have returned and my meat will get back to being all nice and frozen solid.
Cross your fingers for me… oh, and please, forgive me for not sharing a recipe with you tonight.
For the first time ever, I didn’t really feel like doing that.
And to be honest, well, I didn’t have one that was “quite” ready to go, and without power, I don’t have access to my other computer, which I need for photo editing and stuff…
Real sorry about that.
Still, I hope you enjoyed reading this little slice of my life. It sure did me a lot of good to talk about it!
*UPDATE: I guess my prayers made it all the way to the sky or you guys must’ve crossed your fingers real hard, because by the time I got back home after posting this and running a few errands, the power had returned! WOW! WHAT A RELIEF! That means my precious meat is safe. I went and checked on it and it hadn’t even begun to thaw. Even the coconut ice cream that I have in there was still in its lovely ice cream form! All is well that ends well! 🙂
19 Comments on “Having no power for over 36 hours really, really isn’t fun!”
Wow that was some storm! Glad you are OK though. I was really lucky with the flooding in Calgary – the only way I was affected was that I work downtown, which was evacuated, and as a result I couldn’t work.
Haha! That’s almost a good thing. That’s the kind of consequence that I would live with very easily! 🙂
The only problem is that I don’t get paid unless I am working (I am a massage therapist and work as a contractor).
So the fact that the clinic was closed for a week meant I lost about $650.
Yikes, that changes everything, then! I take back what I said! 😉
Oh no! That sounds absolutely terrible. Thank goodness you had a place you could go that did have electricity, water, and wifi. I really enjoy your recipes, by the way! Good luck getting everything back to normal where you are.
Whenever the power goes out, the FIRST THING I think about is the food in the freezer!! And then I flip out because I wonder how long the power might be out for… And if I will be able to use the computer, turn on the lights, use the elliptical trainer, etc later! I DO NOT TAKE MY ELECTRICITY for granted AT ALL! EVER! If I could, I would hug my electricity and say THANK YOU so much for being there for me! I don’t know what I would do without you! HA HA! I am such a loser!!
I am glad to hear that your power is back! Hopefully all power can be restored soon! I have had some terrible power-outage experiences too! 🙁
Thanks for your kind words, Gigi! Trust me, I would’ve gladly hugged my electricity when I walked in the house and noticed that it was back on. And I think I’ll now make it a habit to thank it every morning and night for being there for me. 🙂
O noooo! So sorry to hear that Sonia… Glad to know that it’s back up and your meat is saved! I don’t think our freezer would have lasted 36 hrs… That’s a pretty long time. Isn’t it scary sometimes how much our lives are centered around electricity….?
You said it, Simone! I don’t know how we would manage without our precious power. As for my freezer, I think that what saved it is the fact that it freezes really really cold (I forget what temp it goes down to, but it’s way below zero) and it’s packed FULL of frozen solid meat. Seriously, the meat hadn’t even begun to thaw. I was really surprised. It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t open it either. At least, now I know I don’t have to worry all that much if it happens again, although hopefully it wouldn’t be with that same batch of meat! I mean, how unlucky can one get? 😉
Gosh, Sonia, that sounds so traumatic! I totally feel for you, one of my first thoughts too would be for the freezer – I’m always so paranoid about my power going out while I’m away or something, and returning home to find all my beautiful frozen hoard of things gone! So glad to hear all is back on now!
Hi Sonia, First off, glad you and yours are safe (except for the power issue!). Second, where we live (very tree-lined, no underground electricity/utility lines), we lose utilities about 2, 3 times a year. Early June, 3 1/2 days. No, it’s no “fun” but there are ways to “survive” and survive quite well. One is living a healthy lifestyle: it’s amazing not only how easy it is to survive without cooking but eating with fingers is also a blast! And, regarding freezer stuff: always on the mind as well (grass-fed beef, chicken, etc.). What we do when things are starting to thaw, beyond the point of no return, is donate everything to places that serve meals regularly to those less fortunate. Often (at least where we live) some of these wonderful people & resources aren’t affected by utility outages. Makes sense on a lot of levels. Be well.
What a great idea to donate everything, Matt! If that ever happens again, I will surely keep that option in mind. Hopefully, I won’t have to, though! 😉
As for surviving without the power, I think that if it hadn’t been for my being worried sick about losing a thousand dollars worth of meat, I would’ve done just fine! The worst part was the no running water… but hey, I guess I could’ve done without it for a couple more days. Had this happened in the wintertime, it might have been a different story, however!
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/poweroutage/needtoknow.asp
Advice for what to do when the power goes down unexpectedly, or even expectedly ?is there such a word …
Here in the UK we had an outage for 4 days but had a relatively new freezer at the time which had an outside temperature guage – the internal temperature only got up to -10 degrees F even after 4 days, but WITHOUT opening the door at all. I took the precaution of throwing away all the fish, but even the frozen veggies were not welded together in one lump, a sure sign of defrosting. These things always happen of course when one has just stocked the freezer with expensive stuff … sods law. Glad you and your family made it though unscathed.
Thanks Francesness! I really appreciate your kind words! 🙂
And you’ve given me the best idea ever!!! I’ll get a thermometer for my freezer (mine is fairly old so it’s not equipped with one) That sure will take a load off my shoulders in the event that the power goes out again. Had I known for a fact that it was still below zero in there, I wouldn’t have worried at all! Thanks so much for giving me this great idea! 🙂
i’m glad everyone is well and there was no property damage. do you have access to dry ice? a pound or five would help your meat-thaw situation. just my first thought when reading your post. stay safe.
That’s exactly what I was going to do had the power not returned when I got back home, Melinda: go out on a quest to get me some ice (needless to say there was none to be found for miles and miles and miles!)
Thanks for your kind words! 🙂
I thought about you my friend and happy that you’re safe and sounds. To be honest I had no doubt about it, takes more than a “louzy” storm to knock TheHealthyFoodie down. You’re one toughie my friend!
Awwww, aren’t you a sweetheart! Thank you so much, Mike. You’re the best! 😀