Lights Out

The past few days have provided tremendous thunderstorms like I have never seen before. The lightning, rain, thunder... all of it. And, until about 5pm Sunday evening, I absolutely loved it. You see, it was at about 5pm Sunday evening that the tornado siren went off and we lost power. Now, what's the first response to a tornado siren? Go to the bathroom and throw your pillow in the basement, naturally. Why throw the pillow in the basement? Well, because I might need it later that night. Why throw it? Well, because with such great storm clouds rolling in I'm certainly not going downstairs to miss it all! Mom, Tim, and Kirstin quickly scurried downstairs. Dad and I ran back and forth between the front and back door to get different views.

Well, power remained off, along with telephone service. Yesterday we called the phone company- earliest repair date was Thursday. Mom, Kirstin, and I went out to try to find a summer job for Kirstin. We also stopped by Panera so that I could get online to update the transcript file on my applications.

Tim came home from school (somehow they still had power even though none of the students or teachers did) and said the projected restoration for power was also Thursday. Tim, Kirstin, and I then spent the afternoon in the library because 1) it's air-conditioned 2) they have outlets for our computers and phones and 3) they have free wi-fi! It was great for Tim to study for finals, Kirstin to fill out online applications and me to... well... continue on my applications, of course.

This morning brought the relief of cooler weather. Seventy degrees feels cold compared to the ninety degrees we've had recently. It brought a nice breeze and my room cooled down from 83 last night to 78 this morning. Progress! This morning also brought phone service and an update on power restoration- tonight by midnight! Woo hoo! It's rather exciting, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much.

Highlights of the past few days:

• hooking up the generator
• locking the garage doors by hand
• flipping on light switches and remembering we don't have power
• hooking up the computer to the generator so Tim could access school assignments
• doing crossword puzzles with Dad and Kirstin last night under the one light we were running in the house
• taking ice cold showers
• "rapid extraction" of items from the fridge (thanks Tim!)
• scrambling to find batteries and flashlights
• Tim providing everyone with an LED flashlight
• Having the home phone wake me up this morning and not realizing we had recovered service until I missed the call :P