A severe storm came through. There were high winds, with several
tornadoes touched down,one within miles from my house which could
easily have hooked at hit us.
The power went out for several hours. The baby (7 months old) handled
the hunkering down period really well, but afterwards she felt the
effects of her routine being messed up, and maybe processed somewhere
that the situation had been mildly scary.
With power still out and no wifi, I was at least able to play some
lullaby music that I had saved on my laptop. Such is the power of
local backups [1]. Even then I give us a "D" for our preparedness.
For one, I didn't have the computer charged (I can only plead that I
was extremely blocked up due to allergies, so I wasn't in top shape
for clear thinking and efficient action). To keep playing the songs
for my daughter, I put the brightness down and played the songs
through command line, and it lasted as long as we needed.
The experience has convinced me to buy one of those deep battery
units that people use when they are camping, and to not treat such a
purchase as something "for the shop" and requiring me earn it with my
point system for chores and exercise. My wife agrees with the idea,
so it should happen sooner rather than later.
============
[1] My wife was still able to connect to the cell network, so I guess
she could have streamed some song, but she was using the phone to
text family and make sure everything was alright with them. So if
nothing else what I did provided us flexibility with how we could use
our technology.
--
This work is hereby in the public domain.
Do what you want with it.
