We had a power outage at our house this morning. So, my PC, laptop, TV, DVD, iPad & surround sound music system were all shut down. Then I discovered that my mobile phone battery was dead and, to top it off, it was raining outside - so I couldn't go fishing or play golf.

I went into the kitchen to make coffee and then remembered this also needs power, so I just sat and talked with my wife for a couple of hours.

She seems like a nice person.

In 97 we had a major ice storm. No biggy for yankees but severe for here. The power lines were down so no electricity (for me 4 days,for some up to 2 weeks.)Now this was a major problem for those living in all electric homes,also even if you have a gas fired furnace you still electricity to work the fan.Well I had a wood stove + 2 Consolidated Dutchwest porcalin gas fired heaters as well I cooked with gas + the tank was full.The only snag was that the well required electricity to provide water. I fixed that the next year when I installed a generator in the well house that I had converted to propane as a back up water supply (propane does not get old like gasoline).I had installed 2 propane lights;1 over the stove + one at the top of the stairs.Other than that there were no lights after sundown.You would think that the kids had died + gone to hell because they could not play their video games. Guess what;we sat in the dark + told stories. I enjoyed it myself.

The worst power outage (years ago) I've had in western Washington state was 8 hours long. I fired up the woodstove and made spaghetti. Since then I've obtained a 3500 watt generator; I run it twice a year to make sure it is working, never had a chance to use it to power the house.

Since we're comparing horror stories...On Feb 2, about 25 years ago, my wife and I were rudely awakened at 4 AM, by a loud explosion. I looked at the clock, and it was dead. We lived in an all-electric house, but did have a wood burning stove in the basement. So I ran down and put another log on, and opened the draft. The temp was 20 below. I spent the day stoking the fire and melting snow for us, the livestock, and the toilet. It seems a train was going over the Continental Divide and a couple of cars broke loose and rolled all the way back to Helena, hit another train, and exploded next to a sub-station. It wiped out the power for the whole town. It took over 24 hours for them to fix it.

People got so worked up about Hurricane Sandy, my power was out three times for a total of 53 seconds, not even long enough to be bothered to stop playing my computer game...

My computer is on it's own UPS and I can run for more than an hour....

My LED TV and cable box are also on their own Uninterruptable power supply.

My primary source of heat is a gravity fed coal stove.

My power has been out for as long as six days and in cold weather I spend a lot of time melting snow to flush the toilets

Had several power outages over the years here that lasted several days to a week.

Wood stoves, generator, kerosene lamps pond water for flushing toilet LP range.

Wife complained went and stayed with friends that had power.

I just went on living.

I talked to Wifezilla just a couple of years ago.

We'll be married 40 years next month. Murderers don't get that long.

I've been married so long that I don't even look both ways when I cross the street anymore.