Living in a small rural community somewhere along an outdated, coal burning power source, it is not uncommon for our power to flicker or go out during high winds, snowstorms, or the errant bird/cow/vehicle tweaking a power pole/line. Such was the case yesterday. Friday at 1:30 pm I'm on a work conference call. The call lasts until a half hour before I have to head for the bus stop. Motivation to rig up the computer power was low. I crippled through the rest of the work day on my cell phones and collected water in five-gallon buckets from the yard hydrant fed by a natural spring. When the water source is from a well, one quickly learns the advantage of daylight trekking through the yard to collect water for later use.

Shrimp and sausage had been defrosted in the fridge in preparation for dinner. The power company had texted with an estimate for 10 pm for the power to be back, but it's always best to take that info with a grain of salt. With a gas stove and no need for spoiled meat, the paella for dinner proved to be a perfect power outage one-dish meal.

While I was cooking dinner, hubby connected the inverter to our marine battery and voila! The house was lit with LED rope lights. The wireless and computer were connected and up and running too. After a candlelit dinner, we gathered by the masonry stove. The dude played video games. Hubby surfed the web. I made paper flowers for the school dance. We survived satiated, warm and happy in each other's company until our power came back on just before 8 pm last night.