I live in North Carolina and it just so happened my part of the state was in the path of the storm Ian. Although it was hard for them to predict just how strong the storm would be by the time it got here, they thought it would be pretty bad. They have a habit of exaggerating to make news, so honestly, you never know if it will be anywhere near as bad as they say ..... or not, but you try to prepare a bit just in case.
One of my sisters that doesn't live far from me messaged me yesterday while I was still working and said her power was out and asked if mine was still on. At the time, it had rained off and on all day, the wind had been gusty, sometimes pretty strongly, but my power was still on. The trees thought it was a party and they danced and danced... sometimes wildly. I think they were enjoying it.
It was about an hour before my work would be done for the day, so I told God to at least let my power stay on till I was done with work at 5. I managed to finish work, clock out and about 8 minutes later, the power disappeared for about a minute, came back on for about 2 minutes and then disappear for good. Maybe I should have asked for a little more time ! ha ha... but I was so happy it had not cut my work time off early. That may sound funny, but I didn't want to make it up nor use my paid vacation time for it, so thankfully it worked out perfectly.
There was still a few hours of low daylight left though, so I could still see to get around in the house and do nearly whatever I wanted as long as it didn't need power. The only issue at that time was, that I am on a well, so no power, no water. Fortunately, Friday morning, after my shower, I had run my bathtub half full of water in case that very thing happened so I could still flush ! You never know what a luxury flushing is... until you can't !
Before it got dark I gathered my flashlights, extra batteries and big jar candles to a central counter. For a while after dark I read by flashlight then I lit a candle or two around for general lighting. They are in these big jars, so I put them on a hot pot holder wherever I sit them and I feel they are very safe since I am the only one here.
The storm became worse after dark. It poured rain, the wind blew and occasionally there were huge strong gusts that seemed to swirl around the house and sounded at times like it was ripping the siding right off. I was curious how it would end. By midnight it had calmed some and I think by about two it had mostly moved on.
A while after dark, I had become bored. I still had my phone charged for communication, but since I had no way to recharge, I communicated around a while, but wanted to make sure I didn't run it all the way down. About 9 pm I thought about going to bed, but I wasn't sleepy at all !
I thought of painting something with my limited light. I thought it sounded neat to paint with no power, but I really had nothing in mind. I pictured some fantastic abstract that would exude the stormy weather, the powerless state and painting by candle light. But alas.... nothing fantastic was in my brain.
This was the one really good light I had. My sister Vicky gave me this rechargeable combo fan/light this summer, more for the fan than the light, in case I lost power in the summer heat and had no A/C, I would still have a fan. Wasn't that the nicest thing?? I thought so. It charges through your usb port though, instead of plugging into your electrical outlet. That still means you can't recharge it if your power is off, but it is still neat. Amazingly I had it charged up before the power was gone and it turned out to be a very good source of bright light as you can see above and in photos below this one.
I decided I should have a little toddy too. It seemed so appropriate with the storm raging outside. I thought it might help me get sleepy, but in the end I think I only took three little sips of it. It is still in there sitting on my art table. 😄
I had my water there too and so I was ready to go. Behind it is a piece I am currently working on, so not finished yet. I'll show you later when it is done, unless it goes sideways and disappears... 😂
Since no good idea came to mind for an amazing "during storm" abstract, I just went with the season on a little canvas.
It made it a little more fun trying to do anything by candle and fan/light glow.
The bad thing.. .well... not bad... but challenging thing was that with the low level, one direction light, my hand kept getting between my brush and the light, so sometimes I would have to stop and reposition the painting or the light in order to see where my brush tip was hitting. This is where I stopped as by now I was getting sleepy and it was late enough I thought I could drift off to sleep if I went to bed.
The house was really dark after I turned off the fan light and snuggled into bed. I normally have a nightlight in my bathroom that puts a very low light glow on the floor of my hall, keeping me from having to turn on lights when I get up in the night. I also have an alarm clock beside my bed that normally shines the time on the ceiling which also causes a soft glow in part of the room. Without those it was pitch black ! No outside lights shining in the window.... no moon. Of course after I closed my eyes, it was all the same as usual....LOL !
Yesterday morning, I slept in a long time. I woke up several times, thought about how many times when I had to work and the alarm had gone off, I wished I could snuggle in just a little bit longer. Now here I was, with the opportunity to do just that, so I smiled to myself and DID snuggle back in. I think I caught up on all the sleep I ever lost....LOL
Later I went out to see what, if any, damage had been done with all those sounds of stuff banging and scraping and whirling around. Amazingly, only the roll-up shade in my first photo had been partially ripped off it's hooks and torn apart and my little pink piggy solar light my younger sister gave me about 3 years ago had fallen and some of it's pink body panel had been broken. It is plastic and probably a bit dry rotted by now since it sat outside steadily since I got it. I would say for the fierceness of the wind, I pretty much came out with less than minimal damage. I really expected much more damage, but was pleasantly surprised there was practically nothing at all !
While I was out there, I saw this beautiful fall leaf plastered to the deck. I don't have any trees that have leaves like this in my yard, but I'm thinking it may have flown over from the pasture across the street. I guess the way the wind was swirling and swirling, there is no true telling of where it began. I liked it's fall message though, delivered to my porch.
It is still cloudy today and dampish and may rain again this afternoon.
My sister Vicky that lives close to me and I were the only ones in our family that lost power, so I thought that was amazingly good. It also meant if the outage had turned out to be longer and we needed somewhere to go, we had options. Options are always good... right ? Yesterday while my power was still out, I decided to go visit my Mom instead of waiting till today. Since she had power, I could visit where it was warm, charge my phone and my fan light. We had a nice visit and by the time I got back home, my power was back on... YAY !
This is a damp photo from my back porch with my dogwood tree that is beginning to change into it's fall clothes in the background.
There's my weekend story.... or so far I should say as it is just mid morning and there is the entire day for more adventures to happen.
I don't have great plans for my day. After my post I will sit here and pay my monthly bills online, which will take nearly no time at all and then maybe I will do a little straightening around the house and maybe some more painting. We'll see !
Hope you are all doing well and are safe and happy.
