Six power outages in one month, Nov. 15 to Dec. 17, are enough for anybody.
I knew thered be a problem when we bought this house, which is about as far north as you can go in Kitsap County without falling off, because dwellers at the ends of roads and in cul de sacs are always the last to be restored to power after blackouts.
In fact, after the original owners were without power for two weeks during which the wife huddled next to a glass-doored fireplace trying to keep warm, the lights no sooner came on than they moved to Bainbridge Island and put this house on the market.
After we averaged a dozen outages per winter, due to the road lined with firs and alders that kept plopping over into the power lines, we bought a Goldilocks wood stove as an adjunct in the kitchen for emergencies. Itll heat the whole house and you can cook on it.
Three days of hauling wood, however, can get a little old, and thats what this latest windstorm generated at my house. I spent from a Thursday night at 8 oclock to Sunday night at 9:25 p.m. hauling wood, playing solitaire and eating peanut brittle Id received for Christmas. Actually, the power came back on Saturday at 5:35 a.m. for two minutes before going out again, and Sunday from 4:30 to 6:15 p.m. Just time to bake a potato.
For light I had beeswax candles (to avoid smoking up the drapes) in holders with glass chimneys. You can see to play cards but thats about all. Its no mystery to me why Abraham Lincoln looked like he did. He got that way from reading by kerosene lamp.
At one point, I suddenly heard a yowling from the kitchen that sounded like a cat whod left her tail in the door. The base unit for my Life Alert alarm which I wear around my neck, was doing it. I unplugged it but it wouldnt quit. I finally called 9-1-1 and was directed to call the Life Alert people who said turn off the switch on the side. There is no switch on the side, I said. I eventually found a tiny switch in the receptacle where the wires are inserted. That was just before I was going to jump up and down on it.
Anyway, some hints for future blackouts, when snow or windstorms are forecast, go fill your car with gasoline before it hits. If you have at least a half load in your dishwasher, do the wash. Same goes for clothes. Charge the battery on your cell phone. Make sure flashlights and matches are where you can find them in sudden darkness.
Same for eyeglasses. Once the power went, I unplugged from the wall my computer, printer, fax machine and television sets.
My biggest concern was my freezers. I have three chest freezers full to the top and just didnt open them. I think the contents will be OK. My kitchen refrigerator-freezer is only a few feet from the wood stove but it must be pretty well insulated because on Sunday it still had ice cubes in the icemaker. I stashed some in the freezer so Id have them for use at night when a little MacNaughton and water can be a comfort in such times. I have gravity flow water so I could do dishes and shower the first two days while it was hot.
Were told the food in the refer wont keep more than a few hours but I dont believe that. I put a jug of milk on my back porch on the cold floor and it was good.
I played my battery-powered radio nonstop even during the night, and got tired of being told going through this ordeal would make a better person of me. Not true. It just made me mean. Especially when I heard that power crews were coming in to help from as far away as Kansas and theyd be here Monday or Tuesday. Why werent they on their way on Friday, damn it? Oh well, its over. I can tell from the wonderful sound of another batch of fresh ice cubes dumping into the container.

Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, WA 98340.