Like most of Hocking County, we lost power on Wednesday, January 28. While others came back on line day by day, our power was not restored until Monday, February 2 (by which time the damn groundhog had seen his shadow). We were pretty well able to deal with the loss of electric heat with our various woodburning appliances, a dependable kerosene heater, and propane gas stoves, but the lack of water – you need electricity to run the well pump – was the most difficult to handle. Especially when you’re trying to keep horses and goats watered. By Sunday, I was scooping water out of our creek, and trying NOT to worry about what our neighbors upstream were putting in.

So we survived, and kept very busy. In addition to all the fire-stoking and water carrying, we worked a puzzle, read a lot more than usual, and went out to breakfast and dinner every day but one. Fortunately, Laurelville had power so everything was open, except one day the library was closed. We’re grateful to the Ridge Inn for its excellent free wireless network (and we discovered their fabulous croissant french toast) and to the Village Cafe for filling our water carriers and for their tasty home fries.

But we’ve decided we are going to get a generator!