Power Outage

   I was trying to doze through the thunderstorm outside when C woke up. He said, "The power's off". I woke up and noticed that the ceiling fan was not working. I have a small clock by my side of the bed that displays the time if you tap it. I tapped it and it said 4:26. OK, I don't have to get up for another hour. I'll just get back to sleep.
  Then it hit me. If the power is off, then C's cpap machine will not work. This means that C will snore if he falls back to sleep and I won't get any rest what so ever. I tried to doze a little, but the storm was pretty loud. The house shook from a couple of lightning strikes that sounded close.
  We use C's phone as an alarm clock and the chiming alarm began to sound. I lay there for awhile trying to decide if I wanted to get up yet. If it was still storming out I would not be able to run and since the power was out I would not be able to use the elliptical. Then I heard the banging of the pocket door that separates the bedrooms from the rest of the house. The cats knew what time it was and they wanted me to come out.
  The banging door tends to wake C, so I got up. Colby and Scamp were waiting for me and Scamp was winding around my legs. He wanted some attention. While Colby was making his usual check of the hallway and bathroom, I sat down on the couch so that Scamp could sit in my lap. While I petted and scratched him I tried to decide what to do next. Normally I feed the cats at 6 when I'm done running.
   I had no clocks in the living room. Normally I depend on the clock on the VCR (yes, we have a VCR). It wasn't working because the power was out. It was pretty dark yet from the storm clouds but I could see well enough to get into the kitchen. I found food dishes, canned and dry food. I divided the can of food as evenly as I could between the dishes. It's not easy when you can't see. I put the dishes down and the cats began to eat. I put a cup of dry food in each dish and put the dry food away.
  While the cats eat I like to sit on the kitchen floor and read the Bible. I know this is weird. I have to do this so that Colby doesn't shoulder Scamp away from his food dish. There was no way I would be able to do that without light.
  I remembered that I had some emergency candles in the closet. When I checked I couldn't find them, but found a large pillar candle. I lit it and tried to walk into the living room with it. The flame went out. This was not going to work. I remembered that my parents had a couple of oil lamps they used when the power went out. I wished I had one of them now. I went back to the closet to find a different candle. I found a small battery powered light.
  C had bought them a few months ago. I wasn't happy about it. I couldn't see any use for them and they just seemed like more junk to store. I pressed the button in the middle and it worked. I now had enough light to read by.
   The cats were done eating so I read in the living room by the window. I wondered why I was reading when I should be doing other things, like writing this column. Then I remembered, the power is out. I finished writing a letter and wrote another one. I wrote out a couple of checks to pay the last two bills of the month. I decided to go into the kitchen to get a cup of tea.
   Then I stopped. The power is out. The microwave won't work. We do have a gas stove. I wasn't sure if the sparker thing that lights the flame was electric. I was a bit scared to use it. I know that natural gas has a compound in it to make it smell so you can tell if it is leaking. The problem is that I can't smell it. I damaged the nerves in my nose while I was in college. Some of them have healed, but my sense of smell is a bit impaired. I went back to the living room.
   I read a bit and played and petted the cats. It was fun and I was having a good time, but I knew it was getting late and I was getting hungry.  I decided that I could take a shower. The water would work and our water heater is natural gas. I had my little light so I could see what I was doing.
   C was up by then and also getting cleaned up. He thought we should go to our usual breakfast spot. While I cleaned up, he called to make sure it was open. They were.
  As we drove we could see the storm was pretty severe. There were branches everywhere and a few large trees that fell over. We felt lucky that we only had a few branches down.
  The restaurant was busy. I assumed the power outage had driven more than the usual number of people out for breakfast. Once we were done we drove home. C had to get to work. I wasn't sure how I was going to fill the time until my shift started. Most of what I wanted to do involved using the computer.
  C dropped me off and I went into the kitchen. The cats' drinking fountains could use a cleaning. I would not need electricity for that. I could practice too. The harps and dulcimer don't need power either.
  C called to tell me that the major roads were all right. Just as he hung up the power came back on. Yay! I logged onto the computer, and warmed up some tea. Whew, now I could get on with my day.
  If I see an old oil lamp I might buy it, just in case......