Freezing

Our power was restored at about 8pm last night, just as I had lit the propane lantern and gotten the kids into the bathtub. I was in my bedroom looking for something with the flashlight when the power surged back on with a loud 'pop'. Several minutes later, two fire engines and the SUV belonging to the fire chief raced to where the Duke Energy trucks were on our street, but after several tense minutes the fire trucks entered our apartment complex, did a circuit past all the buildings, and left. There was never an ambulance, and no more sirens, so we're assuming it was all precaution and nobody was actually hurt when our power was restored.

Those of you who asked about the food in my freezer--thankfully my next door neighbor had borrowed a generator from his father, and when I mentioned to him that I was worried about my food storage, he offered to let me plug in my freezer for several hours to 're-freeze' everything. My efforts to seal the freezer when the power first flicked off on Sunday were not in vain, because when I finally ventured into the freezer to check the contents right around the time my neighbor lent me his power, everything was still pretty frozen. My food would definitely not have lasted until morning, but with the help of my neighbor it is all fine. He was just getting ready to remove the extension cord from my kitchen when the power came back on, so it was provident timing yet again. How blessed we have been during this power outage. All in all, I'm probably only out about $100-$200. Considering the several million dollars worth of damage and food waste that has occurred in my area in the last three days, I count myself extremely lucky.