It was more fun when my husband was alive as we would play cards by the oil lamp light with the wood stove snapping and popping! :)

I'm not fond of power outages......I can't stand the still air in the house with no fan to circulate it. We were without power for 9 days the last time we had a hurricane and some people were out much longer. I remember going to bed early and then having a hard time getting to sleep. Even with the windows open, if it is warm weather, you don't feel much of a breeze in the house.

I have oil lamps that are very handy when there are power outages. Much better than flashlights :o)

Now, you see, this is where forethought comes in. Next time, unplug the TV when it happens. If he catches you say it's so an electricity spike won't ruin it. If he says it's on a surge suppressor, ask when he last tested it. :)

I know that feeling of needing a flashlight to find a flashlight. After a big earthquake with total blackout, even though I knew "exactly" where mine was, it was actually about a foot away, and I didn't find it in the dark. I just stayed in bed until dawn. It's pretty easy to find the bed. :)

I've gotten kind of spoiled. Haven't been through a big power outage at home in quite a while. Last power outage was in Corpus Christi over Labor Day weekend. I felt bad for the hotel. They were under a boil water order already when we got there. Fortunately, I had brought a few bottles of water and they had ice we could use for cooling, but not drinking. Then we went to go see the aircraft carrier, Lexington. Came back and the power was out. They must have had some sort of backup generator because we still had air conditioning. I usually carry a couple of small flashlights plus a couple in the car. We walked the dog down by the beach and then went to bed early. Lights came on in the middle of the night.

I cry when there is a power outage. If it seems like it is going to last a while then I go get our gas powered generator and use it to keep appliances running.

If it is cold out, we light a fire in the fireplace.

I read on my Kindle. I have rechargeable little flashlight/emergency light plugged into outlets in several rooms. If the power c goes out they come on so I can easily find them and they also cast enough light to get around until I gather up a lantern or candle, whatever is needed.

The first thing I do is call the power company and report it! It amazes me how many times they didn't know about the outage until I reported it.

I never use candles, oil lamps or the like. Especially when I had pets around. Not that mine were likely to have problems with it but I seldom need the extra heat added and I don't like the smell and it's difficult to find pure paraffin candles, and I can't handle the stench. It's usually summertime when the power goes out unless there's a bad ice storm in the winter. In the winter, having many of the power cables buried, I don't have as many issues with outages as some enjoy.

I try to be proactive. If I know how long to expect it to be out, I deal with the issues. Sometimes just go to sleep, sometimes leave, sometimes go get supplies if I don't have them. I usually turn on a light or something to alert me when the power returns. And I make sure I've paid the bill.

I've been fortunate to have good neighbors. When we had power outage that lasted several hours, we, neighbors on the same street, all went outside to check and visit with one another. Once, we had a chance to meet with our new neighbors. It was beneficial for all of us.

Another time, it happened near dinner time, no power to cook nor to reheat dinner. I got a chance to treat my neighbor for dinner.

And another time, I ended up cleaning the house. LOL, that's one thing that didn't need power to do. I was getting ready to mop the floor when my neighbor came knocking at the door to check if I was okay.

I can deal with power outage fine. However, I find it hard to deal with water outage, hope it never happens.

Our power doesn't go out that often. But since I need power to run my machine I am attached to every night we have a small generator just for that. Now my sisters husband has purchased a large generator that runs their whole house. They always have lights, the refrigerator is running, the tv's too and the furnace. We live in different states. I do know where there are several small flashlights and candles. when we lived in Houston years ago we had a hurricane come through and I was ready for the power outages. We played games and cards. Cooked any food that might be spoiled on the grill. Had an ice chest for anything perishable.

--We are emergency-ready at our house, including 72-hours of emergency food that doesn't require heating or refrigeration. We've used it several times during ice storms when the utilities were out for a number of days.

--We have a bank of marine cell batteries we can recharge with solar panels as our back-up power. We can run our refrigerator for days on end. We also have a 5-in-One Portable Power Pack (available at Harbor Freight) that works well for auxiliary power to run a fan, sump pump, air up tires, jump-start a vehicle, etc... We can also recharge it with solar. We have an Igloo Chest that can be powered with battery back-up power to use to safely keep hot food hot, or you can switch it to the cold mode and use it like a small refrigerator.

--All kinds of alternative cooking options. Options which can be used indoors or out. Everyone needs a chaffing dish and sterno (you can find chaffing dishes for a couple bucks at thrift stores). You'd be surprised how much you can cook using this safe-to-use indoors method. One can of Sterno can be used for approximately 6 meals of light cooking/reheating. Charcoal is one of the least expensive storage fuels per BTU. Store it in 5-gallon buckets to keep it dry. A large (20#) bag will cook 1 meal a day for a month. Add a COBB Grill and it will use 8-10 briquettes for 3 hours at 450° for extra economy over a standard charcoal grill.

--Be sure to also have several good-quality Thermos bottles and/or thermal coffee urns/servers to safely store any HOT leftover food, or keep hot water hot. Once you've heated water, keeping it in a Thermos bottle means you can have instant soup, instant cocoa/coffee or other hot beverages, instant oatmeal, etc.). I also like to keep a few boxes Mini-Moo's - individual servings of 1/2 & 1/2 - that keep at room temperature. They can be used on cereal instead of milk, or in hot beverages.

--BTW - It takes a lot of fuel/energy to heat water, so once you have it heated -- store it. We also have a number of hot water bottles that we'll fill to warm the bed, or just sitting around in a cold room with a blanket over you. The next morning you can use the still-warm water in the bottles for washing/shaving. We also keep a large box of "Hothands" or "Grabber" (there are different name brands) hand warmers (packets that provide heat for around 7-8 hours). With 3 solar ovens, I can heat water in those - hot enough to pasteurize it.

--We also store emergency water in the basement in 5-gallon and 3-gallon jugs (100-gallons total), and have a 1,000-gallon capacity outdoors in our rain barrels. If we get an alert there is an ice storm, we'll fill our tubs with water and add some liquid bleach for purifying it, to use for flushing. We have several methods for purifying water without electricity.

--Emergency propane heaters (which can be safely used indoors) and our gas fireplace we can use during a power outage. We've used all of these many times during power outages.

--I keep a small flashlight tucked into the corner of the sofa. It seems like the electricity often goes out while we are watching TV, so the flashlight is easy to find. We also have ASCELLA LED light bulbs placed strategically around the house (bathrooms and lamps). While the power is on, the bulb charges itself. These bulbs stay lit for an average of 3-hours when the power goes out. You can unscrew it from the socket and use it as a flashlight, but they are especially handy in bathrooms when the power is out, and function well in lamps. They only draw 5 watts of electricity and have a brightness of 150 lumens, and 20,000 hours of life.

--I have other solar-powered lights, battery-powered lamps, crank-style flashlights and radios, and I, too, tend to avoid open flames for emergency lighting - especially around curious pets and children. Any open flames are used on top of my kitchen stove. After friends used candles and oil lamps for lighting during a long power outage, their young children developed breathing problems and they had to repaint their home, all from the soot and toxins from candles and oil lamps.

-Grainlady

Luckily, this episode didn't last very long, not even a full hour. Such events are very rare in my neighborhood and never last very long. The exception would be during a bad tornado hit, such as the one in my area in 2011. We were without power for about a week.

That event was made much easier, even enjoyable, by the camaraderie of neighbors. We all sure did eat well, sharing resources over our grills.

The woman across the street had just had a baby a mere two days before, and boy, did we all rally around to help.

I like our battery operated lanterns and keep them in a reasonably convenient location. Not convenient enough, obviously!

Grainlady, you ARE well prepared! We do have a generator for the severe emergencies and have only used it once....the tornado.

We keep candles in the coat closet and flashlights in various spots. We usually sit in the back yard and drink beer until we either get sleepy or the power comes back on :-)

I go outside if it's nice. Read. Tidy up. Heat food on the wood stove if it's winter. I don't like to use the generator unless we know the power will be off a long while, so noisy. I don't open the fridges or freezers unless I have to. If it's cold out, I might move food outside. Candles, flashlights and one oil lamp suits us.

I live in a temperate climate, so mostly I use my laptop and iPad for entertainment until the power is restored, usually in eight hours or so. I do have one rechargeable battery that I can use to run a small fan if the outage occurs during a particularly hot summer day.

We lost power for over a month after our last hurricane, we are all electric and have a well. So, no power, no lights, no water. We have a whole house generator that runs on propane, it broke after three days. I was traveling every week between Texas and Tennessee, my poor husband was left here to deal with about a hundred downed trees and no power or water.

That long list of items almost seems like a checklist for a survivalist. That's not for me, it's too much unnecessary effort. Plus, I don't expect a zombie apocalypse anytime soon.

For contingencies, I think the best plan is to be sure at least one car always has no less than a half a tank of gas. When an emergency comes, early evacuation is my preferred approach.

I have a corded landline that I plug into a jack. Then I call the power company.

In winter, I mostly heat with wood, so that's not a problem. And I cook with propane.

Like FlamingO, I don't bother with the generator (more accurately, bother my son to go set up the generator) most of the time, but it sure came in handy the week our power was out with Hurricane Sandy.

Every room has a flashlight, and my rechargeable fluorescent lantern comes in handy too. I don't need light to play the piano. Or go to bed. :-)

I finally broke down and bought a lantern type flashlight to use for reading as when we move to the house used to live in the power always went out and so would read until bedtime. The worst was when it was icy cold, my place would turn into an icebox in winter, really bad that was. You leave flashlights in same places all the time and in every room so you can grab where ever you are when power goes off. Buy food that you can eat during those power outages. Don't go crazy things to cause death as so many would or ever for heat. We had that for too many years and too hard on us but finally I said to dad we need generator for us all to use to survive, I can't go without good food and need heat anymore I told dad. He finally broke down best thing he ever did and bought a huge generator and two huge propane tanks to run them and they were all done by electricians, and good thing as found out bad old wiring and they finally got that done and fixed. And they also found out as dad didn't tell anyone that there is a ful place downstairs with appliances,etc. and so they shut off when power went off my parents living room but they had doors they could go into those other rooms and sit but wouldn't, stubborn but that was their problem. I loved that could get warm food and drinks in us and not freeze. And lights too and I could use the bathroom, really not supposed to flush but I did when did big one. I could have water to wash hands, but not shower but that was okay for that short time. I loved that I could watch tv and be on the computer too and lights on. And heat to be nice and warm. Got spoiled and said we should have had this done long ago, makes living way up high and isolated worth it when power goes off.

Yes, call the power people to let them know as they don't know unless contacted. I could never get through but my dad could and he let them know.

Our two tanks could provide us up to six days but you still have to watch your power useage so that means not tons of computers or tvs,etc. running as you will drain it faster and have less time.

Then moved here in this place and no generator and the power goes off right away and cold and dark and not happy over that as enjoyed the spoils of having generator working.

kathy