Storms

We lost power on Wednesday night. When the kids and I left church the storm was approaching. It was dark, windy and the thunder was rumbling. By the time we were 1/3 the way home it was a downpour. We all got drenched just getting out of the car and moving the five or so feet to the porch. We were met with a dark house. My husband said the power went out about 8:30 or so. The kids find power outages a mix of fearfullness and fun. They don't like the storm, dark or lack of bathroom facilities (We are on a electric well pump- no electricity, no water, no flushing toliet.) but they love the slumber party atmosphere where we all bunk down in Mom and Dad's bedroom and use flashlights, candles and oil lamps. Since it was pretty much bedtime when we got home, I read the kids a chapter of the book we are reading together using my husband's night time fishing head lamp (battery powered) and then we sweltered in the heat and humidity. Our power came on around 12:30am and oh sweet air conditioning.

Yesterday the weather report called for more severe evening storms and if you caught any national news you heard that Chicago (2 1/2 hours southwest of us) got nailed. I was prepared! The flashlights were ready, the candles on standby, the oil lamp filled. I made sure the load of just washed clothes made it to the drier so they wouldn't be left sitting in a wet lump in the heat, dinner was prepared before the storm was supposed to hit, dessert (root beer floats) was planned so that we could have something easy and cooling if the power was out. I even had water sitting by the toilet for flushing purposes if need be. Wouldn't you know it... the storm totally went around us. We got some rain and some wind but most of the Grand Rapids, MI area was spared. Unfortunately for Kalamazoo (I love that name) and Battle Creek to the south of us they got the brunt of the storm. None-the-less since we were so prepared for losing power, we all played board games together instead of having electrical entertainment on and I read more. It was good family time. More storms are possible for today.