Not so fun

So, after that last post, I decided, "Hey, maybe I do put the furnace on for a bit, just warm it up a degree or two, it will also dry the place out a bit" (my house has smelled a bit musty, given that no AC has been running and it's all shut up and it's damp here and it's an old house)

So I changed the filter (a good idea to do monthly anyway for me: the air intake is a bit on the small side) and fired the thing up.

It came on, the fan started up, I got that burnt-dust smell, warm air started to come out. Great, I thought, now I can settle in and watch Ponies.

Halfway through the first of the two part season finale.....everything shut off.

At first, alarmed, I thought, "Could the furnace have somehow had a fault in it?" (Gas furnace, but the starter and blower are electric). Then I wondered - does everyone on my street have power out?

I went out and looked. Couldn't see any lights and the one or two people who tend to leave their porch lights on 24/7, the lights were off. Also it's a dark day and the streetlight was out.

Okay, I thought, so I call it in.

I did, but either because my phone (a landline but a fancy phone that has electrical features) or OG and E's system was glitching, it wasn't at all clear if it was recorded.

And I decided to check on a friend's power. (I tried calling the church; sometimes the secretary works down there on Saturday mornings but she wasn't in). Called my friend Jane who is on the other side of town but I was reasonably sure she'd be home.

Got her, but "Oh, sorry honey, we're on the Southeastern Electric Co-op." Yeah, I had forgotten. I tried her daughter (the local DA) but had the wrong number for her and had to call Jane back....

in the middle of all that, someone knocked on my door. It turned out to be the guy working on the house next door to me, he wanted me to call the owners to give my official permission for him to paint the shared side of my garage. I told him I would but apologetically noted my power was out.

"Oh," he said. "That explains why there's no electric over there today."

Anyway. I got Emily's number and called her - she's about six blocks west. She had power, so I guess it was just my little area.

Well, dang. Turned on all my battery powered camp lights and also some of the electric tealights I have. The only thing I could easily do was practice piano, so I had this setup:



I could see the music, kind of. Mainly practiced the Bach piece, which I have chunks of memorized at this point.

 Later, I got out the "chamber lantern" I had bought from Lehman's but forgot about - it runs on cooking oil; they recommend olive oil as it burns cleanest (Makes sense: in Biblical times much of the light was burning olive oil). So I set that up and I have to admit it works very well, and I will always have olive oil on hand (it's my main cooking oil, and I even dip bread in the extra-virgin kind) so that means I have the fuel I need. (They say other organic oils will work as well - even rendered down pigfat or melted butter - but not to use mineral oil because it gunks up the wicks and creates more indoor pollution). It works pretty well so I will have to keep that somewhere handy in case of future outages. (You do have to periodically trim the wick as it burns, an old skill I am not that good at. I wound up having to relight it and the stupid "green" matches - green as in environmentally friendly - only seem to light about 1/3 of the time, which is bad from a safety perspective. Maybe I get a lighter or even a flint and steel in case of emergencies in the future. Or I look for "less green" matches if they can still be had)

Lunchtime rolled around. So much for a nice bowl of hot and sour soup and a cup of tea - I wound up eating fruit and a cottage cheese instead. And it was getting colder in my house.

(Emily had made the offer "if you need anything" but I figured I'd only use that if the power was still out tomorrow morning and I needed a ride to church - I can't get my garage door up without power. (I should invest in a new motor unit with a battery back-up. I know they make such things. My garage is configured such that it's not possible for me to get into it a "back way" and just uncouple the door and raise it manually)

In all of this, the mail came. I ran out to get it from the guy (he had a box) so he wouldn't have to walk up to the door in the by-now heavy rain (probably that didn't make a lot of sense for me - get colder even though I'm already cold but whatever).

I wound up reading my issue of "The Week" sitting on the piano bench because that was the only place there was enough light to read by. 

And the box was Toothless:

Toothless is GREAT and now I am glad I ordered him. He almost has the feel of "black cat with yellowish eyes except dragon" and he's nice and big and cuddly.

Interestingly, his wings will take off:

They're attached to a little ribbon halter that you can slip off. It's been a while since I saw his "source movie," but I don't think his wings took off in the movie. I'm guessing it's because they're that kind of stiff foamy stuff (like the wings on the Aurora stuffed My Little Ponies) and it might be kind of rough and not-cuddly for a child sleeping with Toothless in their arms (or an adult...). Or maybe, since he's handwashable, you take those off for washing (I guess you can actually dunk him in water to wash if need be - they do say "surface was only if contains mechanism" like one of the sound things.

(I did look at those when I bought him - I didn't want one that roared, not if I had him on my bed, if I rolled over funny and bumped him I'd scare myself. And there was also a heartbeat but that was actually kinda creepy, so....I went with no sound, which was also cheaper.

And when you order online, you have the option to click on a button and "insert a wish" for free and you can bet I did that.

No, I'm not going to tell you what it was, then it won't come true. It did have an unselfish component to it, though, it wasn't just "I wish my hair were less messy" or "I wish I won an award at work" or something like that)

And also: though I claim 100% I am not vain, I really kind of am. Because I was staying home today I had not put makeup on but when I was going to take a "selfie" (Is it still a selfie if it's using your webcam?) of me with Toothless, I decided "better put make up on"

It's not that obvious that I wear it, but (a) my skin tone is less even without it and (b) I'm kinda pale without blush, so....

But oh man am I glad the power is back on. Gonna do the rest of my piano practice and then maybe make that cup of tea I was wanting. And I think I WILL make cheesy grits for dinner. (I am presuming the power is staying on now: we're not having storms or anything and I figure maybe it was just an unlikely event)