We were very fortunate indeed.

Back on-line after 46.5 not-entirely-unpleasant hours without electricity, almost like a mini-vacation.

What happened was no more than a pleasant shake-down of preparations made; the weather was warm but not hot, and once the rain quit we were quite comfortable with the windows open. During the second day some of the neighbors were getting a little testy about the situation, but there was no indication that we were going to have to deal with looting or other dramatically antisocial behavior anytime soon... the closest we came this time was at disabled stoplights, where a little more courtesy at what are supposed to be 4-way stops would have been welcome. The power outage was spotty, which meant that there were long lines everywhere, especially Starbucks (a man has to have priorities)... but there were restaurants and hardware stores open, and one drug store even had "D" cells. We never even completely ran out of hot water- it was still a little warm. Survival was not much of an issue for us, this time.

Some lessons learned anyway:

I should have remembered from camping trips that the lady of my life is more attached to hairdryers than any other electrical convenience. Still not sure what to do about that.

There are more generators around than one might suspect. During the night when the one nearby noisily ran out of fuel, I could still hear others running in the distance. Folks at work are reporting perhaps 1 out of 6 houses having one, and more as the blackouts go on. Could be that some people have less faith in the infrastructure than they used to.

There really are people silly enough, ignorant enough, to buy a
gasoline generator and run it inside their homes. The radio reported several hospitalized, and at least two dead. How sad- but our society does such a good job of preventing people from having to deal with anything, having to learn anything, that I suppose this sort of thing is inevitable. One wonders how long these people would have lived a century or two ago.

The Aladdin kerosene lamps, while a bit expensive, are a wonder and well worth it. Steady, silent, white light at about the same power as a 60-watt bulb, they made reading comfortable and had some neighbors wondering if we had power. They look enough like "normal" lamps that visitors to our house never guess they aren't electric. I even loaned two to a church for Sunday morning service, and they excited a lot of interest from both genders. There are also conversion kits to use them as electric lamps... of course, that increases the amount of time needed to use them when the power goes out. The lanterns are also useful- the delicate mantles of the Aladdin lamps don't like being knocked around, and the lanterns save using batteries for trips to dark areas of the house (bathrooms).

We need a transitional stage between the electricity and the kerosene cooking stove, just some way to heat water for coffee and tea in the morning, short of unpacking and filling the stove and getting the wick saturated. Once it's ready to go the kerosene stove works fine for the duration (once I got the "hang" of it.. the directions were terrible) but if you don't know how long the blackout is going to last, you don't know if it's worth the effort or not. The first morning, we ended up using a coffee-can "hobo" stove, ventilated by a "church key" can opener, with Sterno inside. It worked, but it took a long time (Sterno is really for keeping food warm, not cooking... low heat output). I already have an order in for Esbit fuel tablets for next time, and I have an Esbit stove... somewhere. Once I locate it, it will live in a kitchen drawer, with tablets, ready to go.

Ma-and-Pa stores without power do appreciate cash.

Reflexively turning light switches on all over the house when the power's off is relatively harmless. Reflexively dumping food into the disposal might not be.

I should have more mantles for the Aladdins stored. They're awfully fragile in use. I had two spares for three lamps- I'll at least double that.

Shaving by kerosene lamp is an interesting challenge. I used to have an old-fashioned shaving mug, with compartments for the soap and brush, that you could fill with hot water from the kettle. I'll have to find another.

There is no obvious way to chill wine with kerosene. Thankfully, some of the ice held out in a cooler. A man has to have priorities.

I've probably got too much kerosene stored. In two days, I doubt if we used a quart. Might have been different in winter, though.

All in all, no big challenges this time, just a little experience gained. Biggest loss is the frozen food, some of which we salvaged by cooking. In fact, the power coming on Saturday night was a little bit of a letdown.. but it's awfully nice to have a hot shower.