Chat and talk about family history. My kids now that they are adults love to hear about previous generations, how I met their father, etc. Card games are good too. I light a candle or two or three and knit something simple. I also like to cook soups in cold weather.

It has been cold (to us) here, so I made two different kinds of hearty soup to tide us over for the next week or so. The nice thing about soup is that I can heat it easily when the power is out.

When I first moved into this house, our power was out every other month. The infrastructure was finally updated, but we still lose power three or four times per year. I wish the seller had disclosed the power issues when we purchased the house.

Sorry for laughing, but your comment of nothing to do reminded me of why your area will have a baby boom in 40 weeks.

I feel for you. We've been through three major ice storms with power loss. It wasn't fun. Hope you get your power back soon.

I will never again be without a battery operated lantern with additional batteries. Learned that in 2007 ;0) And a battery operated transistor radio, just like I had when I was a kid. I think that Dec '07 storm was the last time without power, maybe we paid our dues. We've had cable go out for a couple of hours, not electricity.

We got together with neighbors that storm and shared. Wood stove, lanterns, radio, thawing food. And generators. Who knew the girl next door could make the best boiled coffee. And she really surprised us in the morning with omelets made over a charcoal hibachi.

The mudslides are concerning, I wish you well...

I used to have one of those Jeep battery-powered tv/radio/light contraptions. Loved it when the power went out and I could still watch tv.

It no longer works over our airwaves.

Playing games and watching movies on a tablet or Kindle is fun. We have backup batteries for charging our devices and would be good for a day or so.

Stay warm!

Maybe four or five families sharing a generator? When there's a widespread power outage, many people aren't going to work, so could haul it house to house, so that four families could have almost 6 hours' power in 24. Preferably choose one family with place to store it in between usings.

How about a radio that you crank up to recharge the battery, to buy a little more listening time (don't know whether available for TVs - doubt it).

Or ... how about putting generator on your exercise bike, like we used to have on our road bikes to light our way at night?

ole joyful

2007, yep, was a doozy of an ice storm! Our neighbors across the street had power, and let us put stuff in to the garage freezer. Our back porch was our fridge. The tree missed my daughters car by 24 inches ( moved it again, after I wasn't happy how far she had moved it).

Our stove was gas! Yeah! Washing dishes and cooking were the warmest activities.

We played board games, card games, and told remember when stories. For showering I ended up going to the Salvation Army shelter. I just could not bare to shower in a cold room.

It was truly a memorable ice storm!

Moni (who lived in Tulsa at the time)

I live in the country and have a small independant electric company, we lose power a lot. Mostly for only a few hours but there have been times like in the dead of last winter (Pennsylvania) it was out 15 hours with wind chills of -20. No fire place. I had no choice but to turn the gas range on to at least heat the kitchen/ breakfast nook area. The boys found it great fun when we took paps 3 inch memory mattress pad off the bed, rolled it out on the kitchen floor, covered it with a sheet and everyone wrapped up in comforters. after the room was toasty warm I shut the oven off and was finially able to lay down myself..but there were 5 of us on the queen bed. Lol.

Knocking on my wooden forehead when I say, power outages are infrequent here and usually during summer storms. When Super Storm Sandy ripped up the Jersey shore before heading north to do more damage, power was out in my area for about 36 hours. That was late October, so not terribly cold... heat not needed yet. Had flash lights and batteries at the ready. Have a little camp-style TV that's pretty much not good for anything picture-wise. BUT it also has an AM/FM radio. When it got dark, wasn't ready to go to sleep... couldn't help but worry about the weather, even though 50 miles from coast (as crow flies) and minimal damage in the area. Had food and didn't really worry about stuff in fridge/freezer. My freezer is always packed to capacity, so nothing was remotely thawed about 36 hours. Have gas stove, so could manually light burners to heat stuff up... had to jerry-rig strainer and coffee filters to make coffee. But survived!

I bought a hand held solar powered battery pack for a back up for my I pad and I phone. It really comes in handy. I keep it on a window ledge all the time, just in case the electric goes out.

I've lived in my old house since 1978 and power outages were a given thing at least twice a winter (varying from an hour to nine days), and often during the summer during storms. I also have an old gas stove in the kitchen which was great for cooking and heating the kitchen where I'd move in a cot and a chair, small oil lamps, a battery-operated radio and all four dogs. Put a blanket over the archway from kitchen to the livingroom to help keep the heat in.

No toilet...the worse. Yes I could pour water down the toilet for flushing but also no power, no water pump, no water. Had to melt snow on the stove or have neighbors bring me water or use a bucket as a toilet. ugh.

Three years ago I finally bought a standby generator. Powers the whole house during power outages, except the washer and dryer. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes, to me, esp since I am getting older. Number of power outages since? Two. lol

My family did not get electricity until 1947. My early years were spent without electric lighting, refrigeration, and vacuum cleaners, and yet we survived just fine, I spent many hours reading by the light of a kerosene lamp. In winter, we kept warm by firing two stoves. One in the living room and the other in the kitchen. The house did get cold over night unless someone loaded more wood in the main heating stove during the night. We did not stay up late watching TV because there was none such. We were in bed by 10 pm. The first one up the next day would revive the fires in the stoves and prime the pitcher pump in the kitchen. (During the coldest times of winter, the kitchen pump was un-primed and its supply pipe allowed to drain before retiring to bed. This was necessary to prevent a freeze up during the night. The pump would not be primed until the kitchen was warmed again. In the meantime, water was available via a bucket with dipper.)

I hope that your power comes back on soon caflowerlover. I am a junkie for the internet and warm showers and hate when we lose power. Ours is goes out during spring and summer storms, the longest was 30 hours or so.

Around here you better be well prepared for long periods of outages especially during hurricane season. We have a generator, lots of old antique oil lamps, lots of battery power lanterns, headlamps, lots of batteries. It's a way of life. I can't imagine it's a fun thing any place any time. Luckily our vehicles can charge phones and tablets and can use laptop there. The heat is usually the killer here.

Good luck!

Totally agree about hating when the power goes out. My daughter lost hers for days one winter a few years ago. I forget why. Last week we lost ours because of a house fire in a near by street. I was almost home from a walk in the dark with the dog and boom, it really got black. All the street lights and 750 houses went dark. We left and ate out and my daughter has an app to tell outages and we were back three hours later. We have gas and a woodstove, but still.

We bought a generator last year as power outages are my kryptonite. During the last outage I went outside and brought in some of the solar powered lights I have for the path and deck and used them as nightlights in the house.

We survived! We have had power outages here every winter for the last 30 years. We have 4 LED lanterns, much better and safer than the candles we use to use, and have a head lamp for each of us.

DS gets bored because he is typical of other 32 years old. He is use to be entertained with electronic gagets. I grew up in 1950's in a farm house built in 1880's with bad wiring, we were alway losing power. But also grew up knowing how to keep myself entertained. Last night I was fine listening to my MP3 player and reading a book by a warm fire.

I thought it was a nice change instead of watching all the junk on TV like usual. DH did get Netflix on his laptop so we all crowded around the 15" screen to watch a TV show. It made DS happy. Right afterwards the power came back on. That really made DS happy. It was out only 6 hours. After the 1989 earthquake we lost power and water for almost a week.

They wanted to go out for dinner, but I hate being out in the very strong winds and heavy rain like it was last night. Also too many roads flooded, lots of trees down and mud/rock slides up here in the mountains. Not to mention lots of accidents. Made spaghetti and meatballs, used the top of the stove to heat up the sauce and frozen meatballs instead of the microwave. It came out better with no hot and cold spots. I missed the garlic toast, but it was in the freezer and no way to thraw it out.

DH has talked about getting a generator for the last 30 years, but they are so expensive for one to run a whole house. One of our neighbors has one. It is so strange to see their house lit up and the rest of the area pitch black. Also it is really loud and it is quite a distance from us. I can't magine what it sounds like next to the house. We will have to do a walk around to see if there is any damage. We had some really strong gusts yesterday.

Here in Mid-TN power outages are fairly common but fortunately not long lasting. Most are caused by summer storms and errant vehicles. We do get ice storms, but heavy ones that cause loss of power are not common, at least in my immediate area. The Cumberland Plateau is another matter though.

I keep flashlights in strategic locations and have several kerosene lamps for general illumination. I've got a gas stove so I can cook, but the gas furnace won't work without electricity so I'm out of luck for heat. I've used the gas stove in a pinch but don't like to. I have a well, so no potable water in an outage, but I have a creek so I can at least flush toilets etc if I have to.

If the outage happens after dark I usually sit around in the half-light of the lamps and contemplate what life must have been like without electricity. If it is summer I'll go for a walk and marvel at the darkness with no light pollution, especially from the industrial type security lights some of the neighbors have.

My late wife was born and raised here, she grew up without electricity, so outages didn't bother her. This area wasn't electrified til after World War II. When she was in her late teens she moved to rural New Brunswick, Canada. She was amazed at how much more modern things were there compared to where she grew up.

Yes the Generac generators are loud when running, but not as bad as the gasoline powered ones I think. The neighbors had one of those one winter before they bought their Generac. I could hardly sleep at night and their house is down beyond the field a ways (still close enough to be neighbors). Then they bought a Generac some years ago. I've only had mine three years this March. It also kicks on every Monday morning to charge it's battery. It's getting so now that I don't notice the sound as much as in the beginning.

caflowerluver, I paid close to $4,000; but it depends upon how big of a unit you choose and consequently what you want it to power in your home. i.e. water pump, furnace, outlets, etc. Mine is run off natural gas. Luckily the generator company took care of all the permits and the gas company business but included in the cost of install is a plumber to connect the gas lines. I think. Now I'm not sure if I had to hire a plumber (whom they routinely do installs with) or not.

I LOVE my Generac generator. It was expensive, but the piece of mind makes it worth it.

The Tues after New Years, at around 7AM, the power went out. It was 10° outside. I heard my generator come on instantly. I called the power company - there was power to the house, but a circuit breaker wouldn't stay on - it's one that has never popped before. I called handyman who installed my generator with his HVAC company brother. He didn't call me back until 5PM, but in the meantime, I was warm and toasty with my generator running. He reset the circuit and switched a couple of things around - we really have no idea why it popped off but handyman said it could have been a power surge from the power company that caused it.

Without that generator, I would have spend a freezing cold, miserable day.

We would have to get a propane one which I think is more expensive than a natural gas one. Propane gas prices have gone through the roof here.

I hate when the power goes out. That means no water for us because we have a well and electric water pump. Have a wood burner in the basement with back up oil forced hot air. We have learned our lessons over the years. We have a stockpile of candles, flashlights, oil lamps, solar chargers etc.

Best of all, we now have a small fully contained motorhome, a Rialta, and 2 Honda generators. The Honda's are so much more quiet than the generac we had. I highly recommend them. Shop around for sale prices. We got ours at an auction.

When our kids were young and we lost power we all huddled in the LR with pillows and blankets and played board games. They loved it.

Glad your power is back!

There have been widespread power outages in coastal Nor California over the past 5 days because of the heavy rains. We didn't lose our power but lots of people did. Sorry that you were one of those many.

I dislike the inconvenience of outages too. As caflower knows, around here they tend to be localized sometimes even just house by house or at most part of a neighborhood at a time and not widespread. At least not since the quake in 1989 that damaged the nearest power plant and transmission lines.

We're not in to camping and we don't have any such equipment. After it's been a few hours and inconvenience (like darkness or mealtime) starts to set in, I'm happy to jump in the car, eat at a restaurant and if it's evening, go find a hotel room.

Lost it again! It went out a little after midnight. My CPAP stopped working and computer/TV backup batteries (UPS) started beeping. We don't know what caused it this time. There are no strong gusts of wind and no rain. Last time it was a pole that fell into a ravine from the side of the road collapsing. We keeping calling, but nothing to report.

Have had the fire going since 6AM, it went down to 63 inside and 34 outside. Made coffee using DH's one cup cone that fits over the top of a mug. And made instant hot cereal. At least it is bright and sunny so can do things inside and out. And can always drive to the mall and go shopping, if I can get the garage door to open.

Haven't had big outage for years but in 07 and 08 lost power for 6 then 10 days. What a difference weather made! First time was so hot and no fans. Finally accustomed to it but thankful when power restored. Following year power out for 10 days temps cool with breezy sunny days in Oct--- it was lovely! Neighbors outside sharing, talking, helping. Skies so dark we could see milky way. Ran generator 3x/ day and used propane grill. There was a neighborhood hunt for gas after the 3rd day. It was a small advebture. We felt fortunate to be able to prepare for hurricanes in advance the boys enjoyed season end when they could eat hurricane pop tarts!

Recall 3 days without power in mid Atlantic winter and we bundled up, had wood stove to keep 1 room warm, lucky to have gas cook top. Made visit to fil, 2 hours away, and relished the hot showers!

So glad to have LEDs now, much safer than candles. Changed to charcoal grill so must have extra bags instead of tanks. Seriously considered whole house generator but since we're not in gas line we'd have to rely on tank and getting it filled after hurricane might be tough as we're not priority. Have crank radio and several lanterns. Fill washing machine with water.

Hope everyone has power soon. Stay safe during bad winter storms