We did our annual cold-weather power out test over my holiday break. This is a simple test. I turn off the power, fire up the generator and we try to go about our lives for a day. Our generator is "critical systems only" - it won't run the whole house. Every year I learn a little something new.

The Good Stuff
1. CFL's + Generator = Lots More Light For Your Watts.
We've replaced 80% of the lights in our house with CFL's. While I hate how they look, how they sound and how they perform in cold weather, I love that I can basically turn on any/all the lights in the house with no meaningful increase on load on the generator.

2. Wood Stove + Cast Iron = Dinner As Usual (for the most part)
Our wood stove has a nice flat surface that's optimal for cooking. Boiling water, simmering - all of it worked fine for a simple meal. No baking solution was apparent, didn't seem to matter.

3. Less Beeping, Pinging and Glowing Stuff.
When we go to "critical systems only", the kitchen is (mostly) shut down, as is the laundry room, most of the living room and all but a few lights. The water well pump and septic pump remain on. Except for the distant rumble of the generator (it's way out in the shed, connected to the transfer switch via underground feed to the house), it's amazing how many things in the how glow (our dishwasher has this blue "Ready" light that's like a freaking aircraft landing zone light), hum (the water softener and water neutralizer run at various odd times, there's some sort of a fan that runs on any number of gizmos in my home office) and the random beeping (the washing machine emits an "all done" 9.546 Khz warble tone that's so loud the mice in the basement explode if nearby, the Dryer emits an 8.344 Khz tone for the same purposes at about jet-engine volume). Add to this various other electronic gizmos that seem almost sentient in their random mono-voiced beep language and you have a house that's never quite quiet. Unless you kill most of the power.

The Bad Stuff
1. Don't forget your livestock. When I cut the power and turned on the generator, I simply hit our transfer switch panel and various loads and a few outlets in the house went on generator power. Note that I said "in the house" - I didn't think about the water heater in the henhouse, and the water froze right up. The solution was simple - a shovel full of coals in a pan and then plopped the waterer over that - but I didn't notice until I went to pick up eggs and saw a frozen waterer.

2. Fuel is a Giant Pain In the Buttocks and Gasoline Generators Suck.

So, there I am with 10 gallons of gas, and I need to deal with keeping the generator filled 5 gallons at a time, I have to drive to the gas station and haul a dangerous flammable liquid that stinks in my car...and I have a 400 gallon tank of perfectly useful diesel home heating oil...and they bring it to me when I need it, and it's more stable than gas...and...in an emergency, I can get to larger quantities of fuel oil in any number of places....and..I could, maybe, make my own diesel from stuff I can scrounge...and..what the heck am I doing with a Gas generator anyway?