I was sitting in the reading room, and realized I had neglected y'all a bit with a somewhat valuable lesson that I had learned.
Do y'all have a battery powered radio?
Most, I assume, will say that they do not.
In this age of electronic crapola, most of us (again, I am assuming this), don't have an actual AM/FM radio. Ipod? Sure. MP3? Sure. Radio? Nope.
We lost power for five days, and it was an important source of information. It was also soothing...
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It was summertime about five years ago. Jen and I were looking for something to do, so we hopped in the car and drove up 89 to the VT/NH border to see what was there. We found an LL Bean store. I had to go in. They had a little windup radio with a cheezy light, AM/FM radio and the weatherband. This was back when I had extra money, so I just HAD to have one. You know, just in case. Jen rolled her eyes and went along with my paranoia...I brought it home, stuck four batteries in the case (NOT in the radio, lest they bleed and fry the radio) and stuck it on the kitchen counter in the corner. Where it sat.
And sat.
And sat.
Last fall I setup my man cave, and migrated it down there.
Where it sat.
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Well, a couple of weeks back we had that ice storm. You need to remember that Jen had TWO radial rears replaced Wednesday in Boston, and we got home around 10:30 at night. The surgery was scheduled for 2 1/2 to three hours, and it took over four. She has another screw in her arm, and they had to remove and reroute her bicep. I was up at 4:00AM the next morning (Thursday) to drive to Manchester to the only 24hour pharmacy in the area.
That night, we went to bed at 10, and I was woken up at 12:30AM to no power. Woken up? No, actually I was suffocated at 12:30. I have sleep apnea. When the power goes, so does your air. NOT a happy feeling, trust me.
We knew were were getting a storm, but in all of the prep with Jen, we never really paid attention to what we were getting.
We tossed and turned until 4AM Friday morning, then got up. No heat. NO FREAKING COFFEE EITHER. Oh wait. I have that camping coffee thing.
Phew. Coffee.
So, how bad is it?
No idea.
How long are we projected to be out?
No idea.
Jen, you have to understand, NEEDS background noise. The TV is ALWAYS on when she is home. She is not watching it, but needs the noise.
The silence was bothering her. Her shoulder was bothering her. The cold was bothering her.
Then, I remembered the radio.
I laughed, retreived it, put the batteries in, and had news, but more importantly, had a voice from the outside.
It was soothing to her. It gave us the info we needed as far as severity and current situation. It took her mind off of her shoulder.
Ah, yes, my paranoia paid off.....and she even admitted it!!!
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A couple of side notes:
1. I normally know EXACTLY where my flashlights are. My Daughter had "stolen" them all when we made a fort the weekend prior. I was completely lost in the dark. Stupid move on my part. Remember where at least one light is.
2. The radio that I bought is:
http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=55377&storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&from=SR&feat=srI dont work for LL Bean, nor am I affiliated with them. It was a good product, and earned it's keep that morning.