The Night the Lights Went Out In River

As I was typing the last post about helping Larry put up the hay, things started to change outside my window past this computer. Everything began getting darker and the leaves of the the ash leaf maple and sweet gum trees that I see while computing began to sway and dance as some wind began to kick up. It wasn't even 7:00 yet, but it began to feel like it was 9:00!

I left the computer and went outside. I was met with black clouds coming up fast and a cool wind in my face. (At least it was cool in comparison to the dead 100 degree plus air of just an hour ago!) I decided that I had better get back down to that field and see about those other 60 bales of hay. Surely Larry would need all the help he could get if he was going to pick up that hay before this sudden summer storm!

Larry had not gotten down there yet and I was all alone in that big field with a blackening sky, lightening flashes in the distance, and a cool wind kicking all around. My adrenaline was rushing as I walked through the field gathering bales of hay into stacks of 3 and 4. I figured that when Larry did arrive with a wagon it would be quicker to get them loaded with this prep work. Just as I was finishing with that, a truck pulling a wagon raced onto the scene and we began throwing the hay up onto the wagon in a frenzy.

I know this sounds corny, but I had the most fun doing this! It reminded me of those times with the Gibsons when I was a teenager and we raced against the clouds to get the hay in for their dairy farm. Exciting times then, and now!

As the last bales of hay were thrown onto the wagon we could feel the first drops of rain. Larry thanked me as they streaked out of the field onto the road toward his house. I hope they got to the barn before the cloud burst hit! Thankfully he has a place that he can park his wagons in the dry and unload them later.

I got back to my homestead and onto the porch just seconds before that storm hit in full force! During the initial onslaught of wind and rain the entire porch was coated with a spray of water. After washing off my arms of the scratchy hay in the bathroom and getting something to drink, I sat out on that porch, watching the down pour and the lightening flash on top of other lightning! I always have enjoyed sitting on the porch watching a storm! One blast of lightning across the river was so bright and close that I could feel the energy when it struck, accompanied by an instantaneous thunderclap!

It wasn't fully dark yet when our power went out, and I didn't even notice until someone came out onto the porch. I guess it was a little after 8:00, and soon the blackness of night caught up with the darkness of the storm. We seldom loose our electricity here, so it is always an exciting event when it happens! Perhaps someday we will be mostly off the grid and won't even know when the local RECC is disrupted, but right now everything changes when the grid goes out!

I was excited to have a chance to use my oil lamps! I think Simon was just as excited as I allowed him to light the lamps and he had fun rounding up some candles. The fans were no longer moving in the living room so everyone came out to the cooler porch. The porch thermometer now read 80 degrees, so the temps had dropped considerably since that afternoon's heat advisory!

Lisa brought some song books to the porch and we began to sing a bit. Both Lisa and I were suffering from some headaches at that time, though, and we didn't sing much. We just sat and listened to the rain as the children read their books by lamp light.






Simon got an idea to use the sparklers that Grandma had just brought over Saturday. This seemed like a great time to fire them up!






Next came out the marshmellows. They roast very nicely over the flame of a candle!




Christina took up the camera and used the moment to take some rather artisic shots.








I think we all rather enjoyed the change of pace and the expression on Simon's face in this shot that Christina took speaks for all of us:



We pumped water from our hand cranked well pump for everyone to get ready for bed, and we all had a novel time changing and brushing teeth with only the light of the oil lamps or flashlights.

All in all it was a blessed experience!

But at the same time, I was thankful to see the power back on this morning!

God bless everyone!