12 September 2016

Blustery Night & Power Outage

AccuHunch has been telling us for days that it would be windy yesterday and last night. They called for 70 to 90 mph gusts, with sustained winds in the 50 to 60 mph range.

We got 'em.

We watch the very large birch and spruce trees in the front yard swaying alarmingly, and wondered how many would survive the night. Fortunately, they all seem to have survived.

What didn't make it was the electrical power. We had a brief outage yesterday afternoon, just long enough to make all the electronics reboot themselves. The lights flickered all evening.

At midnight, give or take, off it went. We all staggered out of bed around 0300 hrs, with groaning and bemoaning of the lack of coffee. "Just a moment," I said.

Oh, them of little faith. I grabbed a flashlight, trotted down to the garage, grabbed the percolator, and returned to the kitchen. "But Dad, you can't light the range. It needs electricity to make a spark."

I lit the gas range with a match, just like back in the old days. Some grounds, some water, and application of high heat produced perfectly good coffee, just like back in the old days. (And the recent days of camping trips, too. Apparently she thought it only worked on a campfire.)

So I got two cups of coffee poured, for my wife and me, just as the lights came back on. I hit the power button on the electric pot, and sank back into the couch with satisfaction. "That's how your grandparents did it, kiddo."

"But there are some grounds in the coffee."

"That's how your grandparents did it, kiddo. You wanted coffee, didn't you?"

:)

7 comments:

Rob said...

Another great "Back in my day story." Now go find a rotary phone, and watch the look on the face then...........

Rev. Paul said...

Heh.

OldAFSarge said...

Rockin' it old school!

Rev. Paul said...

It was hardly shoeing a horse, but yes, 'twas quite satisfying to produce the Elixir of Life without live wires. :)

JayNola said...

Pour Over
With the recent demise of my senseo machine and an unwillingness to spend $150 to replace it, I've gone to one of these. I use an electric kettle but my gas stove would work just as well. You can get bigger ones to make more coffee at a go and the cost is outstanding.

Guffaw in AZ said...

Roughing it?

I guess that is at least part of Alaska!

I remember a camping/fishing trip with my Dad (in the sedan) wherein he made pancakes and sausage over the fire!
And, being outdoors in the cold, I stuffed myself silly.

He forgot the syrup, though...

I didn't care (much).

gfa

Rev. Paul said...

Guffaw, our daughters went tent camping to attend the State Fair, a couple weekends ago. They made pancakes & sausage, along with fresh coffee, both mornings. Didn't forget the syrup, either.

There's nothing finer than food well-cooked food over a campfire. :)