White Out/Black Out

The wind blew hard during the night and, before daylight, the snow started coming in sideways. It was one of those blizzards where you can't see across the street. I was up, in the dusky dawn, starting the fire and the coffee. I had a couple of lights on, but they soon flickered and went dark. It was the start of a three hour black out. The good thing, however, about living like 19th century homesteaders is that our routine pre-electric lifestyle is not really impacted by, well, a lack of electricity. I put on a headlamp (Aha, battery powered devices were not available in the 19th century.), gathered a few candles, and moved the coffee pot to the top of the woodstove. Done. Let it snow. We cooked breakfast on the woodstove (OK, the final touches were done on a propane camp stove.), ate by candle-light, and sat in the living room looking at old Sears Roebuck catalogues. Maybe we'll send away in the mail for one of those new hand-crank washing machines.