I’m a little late posting this. We got our power back around 5:30 pm Monday, almost exactly four and a half days after we lost it. We were among the last to get power restored, not only in our area, but in the entire state.

We used about three gallons of purified water from the grocery store and probably three five-gallon buckets of less pure water every day that the power was out. We lost almost everything we had in our freezer. Since I couldn’t connect the refrigerator to our generator, it didn’t occur to me right away that I could connect the freezer.

I suppose it’s good that we don’t keep much in the freezer.

Just a note: ice cream is not good after it has been thawed for a few days and then refrozen.

It was quite a relief when the power came on. It was nice to have lights actually come on when I flipped a light switch. It was especially nice to have water come out of the faucet when I turned the handle. I was happy to take a hot shower that night.

This has made it clear that we need to be better prepared for the next power outage. The biggest problem was, of course, no water, since we’re on a well. My plan is to have an electrician wire a circuit breaker lockout and a fixture where we can plug in a generator. Without a big generator we will be able to power only part of the house, but that will be OK. If we can power the refrigerator and freezer, a few light circuits, and some outlets in the living room, we will be fine. Oh, and, of course, the well pump.