Jim Carson

Yesterday we had a big honking wind storm rip through the county knocking down trees and knocking out power.

48°F Light Rain Feels like: 43°F Wind: SE 12mph Humidity: 93% Visibility: 7mi Sunrise: 7:41 a.m. Sunset: 4:18 p.m.

Typical December forecast

As my wife leaving a neighbor's house, one of their trees fell, blocking the street. Without electricity for the chain saws, we were relegated to pruning saws and loppers. Several people drove by and gawked, some stopped to offer their condolences (it was a cool tree), but only a handful pitched in, either offering to move branches or use of their yard waste recycling bins.

By 4pm, it was getting dark (sunset at 4:18!) and raining, but I had cleared the three trunks off the street and removed most of the branches while my neighbor cut them into recyclable-sized pieces. The remaining work would have to be done with a chainsaw, probably this evening when her husband comes home.

KIRO 710 was quoting Puget Sound Energy telling us to not expect electricity until Friday at the earliest, so my wife lit tea candles out to provide lighting indoors. (The funny thing about these was I purchased a bag of 100 of them on Halloween. I only needed 10, but the bag of 100 was cheaper.)

As the evening progressed, the kids were slowly grokking what it meant to be without electricity. No lights. No heater. No TV. No microwave. No refrigerator. No dishwasher. No computer games (I had a battery backup, but not for games, if you know what I mean). No Christmas tree lights. No stove. We treated it like a camping trip, only with working plumbing and a really big tent. Everyone was in bed by 8pm, fully dressed because the house was 62°F. (It was 54°F when we got up this morning .. brrrrr.)

The power just came on and the kids will be up soon.