Summer heat is kicking in around our area, triple digits. It’s slightly unusual for the temps to be so high so early in the summer months. However, “unusual” seems to be the “usual” any more.  An unseasonably warm June or an unseasonably cool May, makes for an unpredictable wardrobe (hairy sweater or linen shorts.) The same goes for public utilities, lights on or off? Dinner in or out?

Power outages used to be rare. In the old days, our power might go out for a few hours in the middle of the day if temperatures soared and thus, AC ran full blast across the Bay. But last week, our power went out three days in row, around the same time, pretty much the same sliver of town, not everywhere. On Monday, our power was out for about thirty minutes, no big deal. But the next two days, the power was out for eight or more hours!

The first long day without power, the temperature was close to 100 degrees. Hubby and I drove into Oakland, closer to the water and significantly cooler by 20 degrees. We ate Burmese food at Tinen, enjoying tea leaf salad and green curry chicken. When our text messages from the utilities company said no power until at least 10 pm, we headed to our favorite beer garden, Drakes, to kill time. We sat at the bar and tried a couple of artisan beers, finally heading back home at 10:30. It was like having a Friday night on a Tuesday.

The next day, again the power went out at 3 pm but cooler weather was on its way so we could stay home for the evening. I bought $80 worth of candles from Pier 1 since we were going to hang out at home. Hubby had suggested getting a bunch of candles anyway to make our home more inviting. What the heck? We need the candles now, if the power wasn’t coming on until late we needed to see what we were eating, whatever that was going to be without an oven. We had leftover pizza dough in the fridge and tossed it on to the grill with pizza sauce and toppings. We dined by glowing candlelight and chatted awhile before turning in.

Worth Every Penny

We learned to make lemons from lemonade, but we also learned what to have on hand and what not to not take for granted during a power outage. We might have a few holes in the list, but you get the idea.

1. Oodles of candles. Not only is the light abundant, but the ambiance calming and lovely.
2. Spare pizza makings for the grill. (that’s what was in the fridge and a quick grab.)
3. Don’t open the refrigerator, except for pizza dough, if you can help it. The food stays pretty cold and will survive 8 hours without power. (Except maybe raw meat. Your call.)
4. Power bricks for cell phones. If needed, drive around in the car to cool off and charge your phone.
5. Camping lanterns with fresh batteries and easily accessible, like not in the rafters of the garage with other camping equipment.
6. Books, since you need to spare your phone battery for emergencies and power updates.
7. Lots of wine. Lots.
8. Check flashlights have fresh batteries and fresh bulbs. Batteries corrode and can seal the tops on forever. With smart phones, who uses flashlights anymore? Better yet, store the batteries next to the flashlight until needed.
9. Do your dishes! Yes, there’s water to wash by hand like the pioneers, but chances are your sink has a disposer and you can’t run it. The sink stops up with icky water for hours and hours. (Unless you remember to scrape your plates into the trash or compost like a pioneer thinking, “no lights, no problem.” Yeah, no disposer either.)
10. Most Importantly, check your DVR when the power is restored. The receiver has to sync up again and you might miss Game 6 of the NBA playoffs if you bought tickets to Queer Eye’s Tan France four months prior and forgot to check the recording because normal was a house with power, until now.

P.S. We learned later, our slice of town happened to be on a faulty substation that seems to be working now. The heat exposed the problem.