Losing power in the summer is just an "inconvenience" most times. But losing it in winter whe you actually have WINTER... sure hope power comes back on soon for ya!

I'm SO sorry! Not easy keeping warm. I suggest getting in bed with a couple of thick down comforters, gloves and a hat and muffler.

I sprang for a whole house generator (fueled by natural gas) about 6 years ago. I love the security it gives me. And where I live, a summer outage is more than an "inconvenience" - the heat and humidity are unbearable. We had a 10 day outage in May 1990, the weekend DD graduated from HS. I had 16 people coming for dinner that night and no way to keep the food chilled (I have a gas stove). We suddenly realized that DD would have no way to blow her hair dry, either. Called around until we found a shop with electricity and she looked lovely. On the other hand, I look like a wet rag in the pictures - no time for a hairdresser for me. My DFIL saved the day and took everyone to dinner at a restaurant with power. Having just made the first deposit on college, there was no way we could have afforded to do that!

I hate to lose electrical power at any time. My daughter emailed me today to say hers has been out since Wed, and is still off. She lives in MI. They borrowed a generator and played musical chairs with what was being plugged in. Another big plus is she has a working fireplace.

I'm glad yours has come back on, and hopefully, it won't go out again.

Ouch! I'm glad you at least have power back now

I hope others without heat won't wait long for power, that's cold, but it sounds like quite a bit of work to restore all. My house would be cold after 7 hours I'm sure.

We haven't had a power outage of consequence in 9 years now, but that last one still a clear memory. I'd rather not do it again, it was 3 days and we were among the first to have power back, being on the same grid as our hospital.

I'm so glad you don't have any damage. If its still blowing, quick, what can you do that requires power just in case it goes out again. Had you thought about warming your rooms to a little warmer than your typical evening temperature?

We had 50-60 mph gusts but I guess not sustained enough to do damage. I hope all those that suffered damage are safe and warm, and that power can be restored soon.

I've had power out in winter due to ice storms 3 times that I recall, but none for more than a day & a half, fortunately. One memorable one was Christmas (day or eve, can't recall) -- while I was out chipping the ice off the car and driveway so I could go to work at 0630am, there was what I thought at first was lightening/thunder flashing all around -- but realized that it was the transformers up on the poles exploding. It was quite surreal.

I was without electric for 8 days when Hurricane Ike blew through. It was September though so still warm, and I am one who can tolerate heat. I have a gas stove so I was able to cook, and the hospital where I work had power so I was able to fetch bags of ice to stuff the freezer and fridge so I didn't lose any food. There was no dry ice to be had -- all the outlets were sold out. After a few days the folks across the street had power and were kind enough to string extension cords so that I could power the fridge (I plugged in just long enough to chill, then unplugged again so as not to run up their bill much). The local Target didn't have emergency power for some reason and had to throw out all their refrigerated and frozen stock.

Casey-there is a really cold,cold snap coming your way,most likely by Tues/Wed. or so.

Bitter, bitter cold came in following the wind,which we had Wed/Thurs.

Oh my goodness that's horrible. Like a sustained tornado. I hope you remain safe and well.

That sounds terrifying. I've always wondered what people with birds or aquariums do in a situation like that. Seems like it would be difficult to not lose them. I had an African Grey parrot for 26 years and I always wondered about that with him. Living in Arizona, it wasn't an issue.

We lost power Thursday just after finishing dinner, it was out about 4 hours than when I woke up Friday morning it went out right before I made it to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, thankfully it was only out an hour. I need to buy a stovetop perculator as I have fuel for cooking. I keep forgetting to buy one. I think walmart has cheapos for under ten bucks.

We have been without power for up to a month before. Due to hurricanes and ice storms. We are all electric, so no water either. Got a whole house generator, it ran for three days on propane, needed to be filled, wouldn't start again after that. Took a month to get a repair crew. I hate being without electricity, I hope that's it for you. It's like when your car won't start or your phone doesn't work, you really miss it!

Oh, my, your area really got hit! Glad your home wasn't damaged and you made it through safely.

Casey, I have been seeing some footage on TV of your high winds and it looks really scary. How fortunate that you have no property damage and that your power finally came back on. Hopefully your electricity won't go out again.

I missed that, we weren't home during the news tonight. You guys have had a rough winter, stay safe.

Be safe, I'm glad that your power is back on and that your property wasn't damaged.

Glad you're safe, no damage and the misery is over. A number of years ago I bought DH a generator. It's enough to keep the furnace/airconditioner, freezer, refrigerator and a T.V.going.

Glad you're safe and with little to no damage, Casey.

I've said for years that it makes sense for several families to buy a generator together, so they can shift it house to house during an extended outage (when several aren't going to work).

Some years ago I borrowed a generator to take down to an area that had been powerless for several days, hooked up freezers. People wanted me to hook up furnace, but most are on direct line from power box, so I was worried about maybe the switch getting put back on so power would be pushed back out on the feeder line that was believed to be dead, possibly injuring/killing? a lineperson.

It seems to me a good idea to have a place where one can break the line between the power box and the furnace, for such an eventuality.

A number of people asked about the charge, I said that I was a clergyperson who was on salary and there to help ... and some made a contribution, so I shared the money with the guy who'd lent me the generator. He said to give it to his church, and I said that he went there more than I did, it being of a different denomination, so he should take it, himself ... and I gave my share to my congregation.

Remember the wall picture frame/sign that says, "Plan ahead" ... with there not being enough room ... so the final "d" has to be written in below?

ole joyfuelled ... who doesn't have a generator available ...

... what's that about the doc/pharmacist that doesn't take his/her own medicine?

Generators aren't all that expensive. For people who live in areas where power outages are common, it's just another cost of home ownership.. Your sharing agreement idea sounds inconvenient and probably not necessary for most people.

If someone can afford one on one's own (and has a place to store it) (and a safe place to store the gas can) ... go for it!

How high does it rate on many people's priority scale as a worthwhile place to invest those scarce dollars?

o j

Scarce dollars? That doesn't apply to everyone.

Renters and apartment dwellers don't have the opportunity to have or use generators when the power goes out. Homeowners need to have a money reserve for added "frills" and other things they want and to pay for all the unexpected things that come up. You're right, it's about priorities.

I like be in Michigan and our power was out for 4 days. Everything in frig ruined. They said it was the worst power outage here EvE R

joyful it rates VERY high on my priority scale for scarce dollars! But then I have a chronic respiratory condition that requires me to use my percussion vest and nebulizer twice daily, all the time. Yes, I can load them in the car and go to a hospital and sit in the lobby and do my treatment, but the percussion vest is not light, and takes several minutes to set up and take down. Of course, if there is snow and ice, I most likely wouldn't be able to get out of my driveway anyway!

I also go away each summer for a month. And yes, I have had a power outage while I was gone! Luckily, my pregnant daughter didn't go that summer as her baby was just a few weeks away. So she was able to go to my house and throw out everything in both refrigerators, and take all the ironing in the basement refrigerator/freezer, and hang it on the basement lines to dry so it didn't mildew. Remembering what was in my refrigerator was a treat, later! We all keep condiments that we just take for granted being there.

A whole house, natural gas powered generator was very costly (think it cost about $8000 at the time), but the piece of mind it gives me is worth every penny.

$8000 for the average family compared to how often the power goes out is extremely expensive and the bills for the gas can be quite high as well. A work aquaintance just told me last week that when their power went out last year, they had a bill for 800.00! Granted they had a sick family member on hospice so all the use for her medical equipment probably didn't help but still!

After loosing power for 4 days in the summer heat a few years ago (and we have well water so no water either) we got a quote for a generac and it was 5-6,000. No thank you! Regardless of how rich or poor we are, when one considers how often a power outage happens, installing one just didn't make good sense to us, so I started researching other options.

Our generator cost us 600.00 @ Costco and with the exception of the a/c it can power our entire house. The panel we had an electrician install cost us 500.00 including labor. So we were set for those emergencies for $1100.00. We store our gas in the shed with the mower. In the 3 years we've had it, we've never emptied a the tank so I couldn't tell you how long it would last, my husband's best guess is 8-10 hours and I was able to get it started the other day w/in minutes of getting home from work.

For anyone who's interested, this is the switch we had installed next to our panel.

Power outages in my area are getting less frequent (seemingly because of more tree trimming?), are rarely larger than neighborhood-size, and rarely last more than 24 hours. An exception was after the 1989 earthquake when i recall the outage lasted 4 days or more because of damage at the local power plant and the distribution yards. I think caflowerlvr lives not far from me and she reported having been out many days during one of the rainstorms of the past few months.

I have several neighbors with generators but that's not a route I want to go because the need is so infrequent and I'd need to get a large/expensive generator for my large house. If the power is out and evening comes, I'll call local hotels (that take dogs) and go to the nearest one I find with an available room. It's easier.