* ~ * ~ Black Out ~ * ~ *

It's been storming all day off and on here. The storm drain for our entire row of trailers is in our front and side yard, along the road. I've been watching all day to be aware if the water backed up. (With as fast as the water was rushing in the colvert, if the water backed up, we'd be stranded up in the trailer pretty quick.) So I packed a change of clothes for the kids and kept an eye on the drainage. Nothing ever went array with the flowing water. Our backyard does look like a mud pit and the front yard looks like a swamp though.
About 9:15 tonight our power flickered off, then on, then off, then on for about 60 seconds. Then it stayed off. Jim called the power company to report it. But when we looked outside we realized the street lights were off and all the trailers around us had no lights. On a Friday night, we expected to see SOME lights on around 9pm. The kids were already in bed watching a movie, and were scared when everything went dark.
I turned on the flashlight that is on my cellphone (thanks Hope & Scott!), and turned on the key guard, so the kids couldn't dial the phone. Allan and Elaine took turns carrying my cellphone, and occasionally they let me use to while I hunted for candles. I put tea lights and votive candles inside reflective (clean coffee cans and metal tins) and glass containers. This got the most bang from each candle. I filled a pitcher with water, because I wanted water on hand with all the open flames. I scattered coffee cans with candles around the living room, so we could see clearly in that one room. The kids calmed down, so I started adding to the diaper bag. When it had been an hour in the dark, at 10:30pm, we blew out the flames and left the trailer. It was humid and just gross to be inside with no fans on. Jim drove us to the walmart. (Not too much else was still open at almost 11pm). We played in the toy aisle, I window shopped around the fabrics, and Jim looked at the technology stuff. The A/C was a nice break from the trailer. Allan got tired of riding in the shopping cart, so he made me ditch the cart and carry him around the store. It was over an hour past his bedtime.
We headed home, but when we got to our neighborhood, all the street lamps were still unlit. We rushed the kids back inside and decided to try and get the kids to sleep, even with the humidity. While we were out, the water stopped working too. We figure the pump that adds new water into the neighborhood's well has electrical components. We were grateful for the pitcher of water from earlier.
Jim drug a spare mattress into the living room and made a tent with sheets over the mattress. The kids laid on the bed while I read them story books. They are use to falling asleep while watching Disney tapes. Yes, I know it's not a good habit. But it is the current circumstance. I read to them for an hour straight hoping the story would help them doze off. Allan kept moving around the room, trying to get comfortable unsuccessfully. Elaine was mad that she couldn't see the story's illustrations in the candle light. After the hour of reading, the lights came back on all at once. Elaine ran to tell Jim, who had dozed off while I was reading. She crawled back on the mattress to ham it up for my camera, before we took down the tent. We all blew out the candles and moved the kid's blankets back to their room.