It’s Wednesday afternoon and I’m sitting in the dark. I’ve decided to write a post for tomorrow, while my laptop still has juice. I’m using my iphone as a hotspot so I’ll be able to post this.
You never know what tomorrow will bring, so I decided to jump on this while I have the chance.
My daughter asked me to come up and take care of her. She’s in quarantine with COVID and there’s nobody to help her with daily things like laundry, groceries, going to Target, etc. I booked a ticket for tomorrow and she found me an airbnb down the street from her. My son, who lives close by, isn’t cleared to drive and isn’t walking post foot surgery.
She said she’s not going to infect me. She’ll ask me to run an errand and I’ll leave it on her doorstep. I can do her laundry at my son’s house or a laundromat (she doesn’t have a washer and dryer.) And I can walk Waffles.
I wanted my daughter to stay with our friends in Santa Barbara for another day to make sure both she and Waffles were up for the drive. I’m glad she ignored my advice and left on Tuesday because by Wednesday a winter storm hit closing roads and freeways. She could have been stuck.
So off I went to my PO Box and to the store to pick up a few last minute things for my trip. I opened the garage door and discovered it was snowing. It started snowing harder and coming at me sideways. I wasn’t sure I wanted to drive to the Post Office or store. But then I thought, you never know what tomorrow will bring. I better do it now. I’ll be leaving town tomorrow.
While at the store, my husband called and said the power went out at our house. I told him I’d check with the power company when I got home. As I drove down the street to our neighborhood, I wondered if the clicker to the gate would work?
Fortunately, someone manually opened the gates to our neighborhood and I drove on through and parked the car in our driveway. It stopped snowing and raining altogether thankfully as I brought in my groceries and mail.
Now I’ll use my iphone as a light in my closet to pack for tomorrow’s adventure. I’m learning to not procrastinate or find excuses.
Are you prepared if the power goes out? Are you prepared to handle the unexpected like a freak snow or a last minute trip to help your child?
I hope you have a safe flight and stay healthy when you’re with your daughter. Over here we’re always prepared for a power outage. We have small UPS installed in our home.
Thank you. We are thinking about a UPS also.
It’s super convenient. It automatically goes into action. We have our Wi-Fi device on it and one light and fan in every room.
That sounds perfect.
It is.
The problem with living in a city is that I never really prep because I can’t imagine things shutting down. If I’m running low on something I might buy an extra…and I have a lot of flashlights, but no…not too much prep.
You’re so close to everything you can run and get it.
Yeah. A blessing and a curse
We’re big earthquake preppers here so I do have emergency stuff tucked away and I can walk to a store if necessary. I like to plan and organize though, so it’s always stressful to me if something pops up unexpectedly. I think parents just react and deal with things because they have to if a child is involved. My best to you and the daughter.
We were big on earthquake preparedness in Palm Springs. Thanks for your well wishes for my daughter.
I try to be a, just in case person, since it does relieve stress and helps others too even though they may not appreciate it. Some would say, you are worrying about nothing. But I no longer think like that, I call it being cautious, not worrying.
Good perspective.
We have been talking lately about putting together an emergency supply kit. We do have a small generator now for prolonged electric outages. Safe travels and hopefully your daughter will recover quickly.
A small generator makes sense. Especially for the fridge and freezer. Thanks!
Gosh it’s a mom’s life, there’s always something isn’t there. Have a safe trip and hopefully it all works out and your daughter is well again. Not sure I could live without electricity for long, but you’re certainly being resourceful. 👏👏👏
The mom’s life never stops! Fortunately, the power wasn’t out too long, but we may look into a small generator. It’s a wake up call.
Honestly, unexpected things stress me out. Seems like you handled everything like a pro. I hope your daughter gets well soon. Over here, we only get power 9 hours a day out of 24 so we r used to it, but at least we know what time it goes on and off. Wifi disconnections frazzle me though.
That’s amazing you only get power for nine hours.
Yeah because the government militias in Lebanon smuggle the fuel to surrounding countries and we only get electricity from them 2 hours a day. We have to rely on private generators and these generators can’t be turned on all the time or we will run out of fuel and the generator won’t last long. Some buildings have generators and some don’t. Those that don’t have to rely on a neighborhood generator that provides to several buildings. I may be from California but I currently reside in Lebanon with my Lebanese husband and son
That would be impossible with our heat. How hot does it get there?
Well we are in winter now. The temps go down to 8°C the most (these days it fluctuates between 11 and 19). During summer it goes up to 39°C in August