Some time around midnight we lost power. The house was cooling down, of course. Additionally, there was zero water pressure. Nothing we could do about any of it. We have several lap top computers which could be pressed into service because of their batteries and could get to the internet through the personal hotspots on our phone. That would only be if we really needed something. Our three battery backup systems were in low states. The one for the router and modem was flat. Although it makes an alarm beep, we certainly didn't hear it all the way downstairs. The same for the other two systems. There was enough juice to recharge our phones but that was it. I had a plan B ready with a little 200W AC inverter that is designed to be plugged into a cigar lighter in the cars. Unfortunately, both cars require the ignition to be on in order to power the lighters. So I manually raised the garage door and pulled the van outside just in case.

Ginny put up a card table near the French doors in the kitchen and set about working jigsaw puzzles. She is planning to sell them on eBay but wanted to make sure all the pieces were there. When finished she takes a photo for proof.

So what about food. It was a good idea not to open the refrigerator so that everything stayed as cold as possible. We rummaged around the pantry (which is well stocked at our house) and decided on pasta with a garlic sauce. Today is Ash Wednesday, so we don't eat meat. I cooked on the grill side burner. Made hot water for tea and coffee and cooked the pasta. It proved to be a nice filling meal for lunch. We have a gas stove top, but it has electric controls so I figured we were out of luck. I went to the instructions and did some reading and found out that the three burners which don't have an "Extra Low" control work just fine. You use a lighter to get them going. I learn something every day. We also learned that our toilets require a minimum of about 20 psi water pressure to operate the inlet valve. So we pour water in the tank.

When the sun went down Ginny had to stop her puzzles. She had spent the day texting with friends in addition to the puzzles. It was decided that a game of cribbage was certainly in order. We lit a bunch of candles and started playing. Near the end of the game, the power came on and our camp-out was over. An interesting day, just not anxious to do it again.