Making the best in a bad situation

Our good Canadian neighbors North of Washington State sent us an Artic Blast for a few days on Monday night right after the snow we received on Sunday and throughout Monday. Unfortunately, the lights and power went out right before halftime in the Monday Night Football game between the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos.

No cable, radio, computer, internet or stove. So what do you do in these middle age conditions?  Just set a fire in the living room , grab candles, lanterns and play Monolopy. Lucky for us we still had hot water and a downstairs fireplace that is on a natural gas line, so we could still take hot showers and heat one room of the house, which kept us from turning into human popsicles.

Cooking, not a problem, earlier that afternoon, I cooked a hearty homemade tomato, barley, and chicken soup, with carrots. All I had to do was run down to the basement and pull out the camp stove, hook up a can of gas and warm up the soup and boil water for hot coco on the snow covered deck in 25 degree weather.  It was sort of like camping out, but in the comfort of your home.

Because of vast amount of icy covered trees that were blown down on power lines up and down the Kitsap Peninsula, we had heard that some folks might not get their power on till Friday.  While hoping we weren’t one of them I was planning on cooking the Thanksgiving meal on the camp stove. The turkey could be cooked in the smoker, but I was wondering how to cook a pumpkin pie, Maybe on the grill, with the gas turned low and hope it would be ready by Thanksgiving Day.

During the board game, I ran down stairs, grabbed the camera and took a few pictures of the competition. After the game and while everyone was settling in for the evening, the power company managed to restore power at 7:15, only 11 hours after it went out. We are truly one of the lucky ones. I, for one, am truly happy that I won’t be bundled up, standing in the 25 degree weather and wind to cook the meal. Happy Thanksgiving to all and be thankful for what we have and not for what we wish we had.