Today was a very typical January day for this part of the mountain - windy as all get out. Last January, a heavy wind on a warm day lifted a section of our roofing and peeled it back like it was a banana! Our roof is a low pitch, rolled roof, and with quickness of movement and thought, use of some boards and decking screws, and the roof was stopped. A large pail of roofing glue in a high wind is NOT fun - my boots still bear the tarry marks, not to mention the clothes we were wearing. But a roof rapidly fixed is one saved.
Trees coming down in this type of wind is also rather common; we lost a couple last year, and our power outage was due to a tree down on the line. And it was this late afternoon outage that made me realize that while i had the lamps from my grandfather's house, the wicks were who knows how old, and I'd put the last of the oil in our first lamp the last time the power went out. (That time it was due to a squirrel who decided that transformers were just the thing for lunch - one loud bang and the smell of burnt fur was convincing to the other squirrels in the area to leave transformers alone.)
So an unloading of my car (I'll explain that in another post), loading of all the wood boxes, and a trip to the hardware store. Of course, when we returned, the power was back on, but now three of the four oil lamps are ready - a trimming of the wick for one, new wicks and a fill for the next two. Only one remains unready, but it needs a special mantle to work.
Another step towards preparedness made.
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