Cooking by lantern (242/365)

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August 30, 2015 – Never let it be said that a 30+ hour storm induced power outage will stop me from dealing with 30lbs of tomatoes that I intended to turn into several different tomato sauces. So far a batch of Herb & Garlic Pasta Sauce, Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce, and a Red Pepper and tomato Pizza Sauce. Only 6lbs left to go 🙂 A camp lantern or two, a flashlight, and a couple of candles provided light, and the stove can be lit with a lighter. So I was in business and only slightly affected.

Yesterdays windstorm was wild. The last time we had a storm close to this bad was December 2006, that one took down large swaths of mature hemlock and cedar trees in Stanley Park and dropped trees on power lines and homes all over the Lower Mainland. I remember waking up and watching the transformers explode everywhere in big blue flashes. In that storm, we were without power for three days and the power outages affected over 250,000 homes and businesses.

This storm knocked out power to 400,000 homes and businesses and 39 hours later there are still around 150,000 homes without power. Ours just came back on about an hour ago.

When the worst of it hit we were driving out to Langley to buy those 30lbs of tomatoes I planned on canning, and some other produce, and Kirk found himself at the wheel dodging flying tree parts…some of them significant in size. It was amazing the amount of debris that littered the freeway and every other road and it will be some time before it’s cleaned up.

I do have to question the stupidity of people though. It is a power outage, not a disaster. It’s mind blowing that people, lots of people, were calling 911 to inform that their power was out and asking when the power would come on. And I am baffled that people can understand and obey a four way stop intersection, but when the traffic lights go out, it’s a free for all. How can people fail to understand that an intersection controlled by a traffic light reverts to a four way stop when it’s lost power!? There have been a few accidents today that have resulted from a failure to stop, and we saw our fair share of drivers sail right on through. Safer to stop and wait until all others stop rather than rely on logic from other drivers.

Last night after dark I saw some flashing amber lights outside and thought it was BC Hydro in the neighbourhood to fix our power lines. But then we saw red and blue flashing lights light up the unusually black night and went outside to see what was going on. On the pitch black street were two fire trucks and four police cars. We could see a haze in the air and could smell something burning. Our neighbours came running down the street, their teenage some terrified he’d left something on when they went out to find dinner somewhere with power. We assured them that their home was fine but had no idea where the fire was.

The firemen went into and out of several yards, flashlights casting about looking for anything on fire. Our other neighbours arrived to see what was going on. The police came to let us know everything was fine – someone had lit their fireplace and someone had seen the flickering of lights on the trees and put two and two together to get to five and thought there was a fire.

No fire.

It was a wonderfully quiet and completely black night If only it had been clear and not cloudy and we would have seen a beautiful starry night.

It was a bit surprising to wake to the power still out, and with another day without the ability to run power tools, Kirk again couldn’t do the building he wanted to do. We went out for a drive to get a coffee, but the shops in the Village were all without power too so we had to go farther afield to find a place to feed the caffeine monster. Although we can boil water and make coffee in a french press, we didn’t have any ground coffee.

After brunch we went on a quest to find a new pot for the poor arbutus tree that took a tumble from the second story to the driveway below. On the upside, all the driving gave us both an opportunity to recharge our phones off the truck’s power.

Back home, a few hours later, we were disappointed to find that the power was STILL out. I had already done a mental check in my head and had written off certain items in the fridge, but it was the freezer I was concerned about. We had just done a major shopping trip and filled the freezer with fresh pork, chicken, salmon, and a few steaks. I’d put some baked goods in, as well as some uncooked dough for pizzas and flatbreads, and a pretty good supply of blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. The fact that it is completely full will probably save the contents since it will have stayed frozen longer by virtue of sheer volume of frozen material.

But even though we can light the gas stove and have a BBQ outside, since we didn’t want to open either the fridge or freezer at any cost, we didn’t have anything to cook for dinner. Kirk went out to pick up some Greek food and when he came back told me to come for a short walk to see our neighbour’s home. A large dead cedar lay across their courtyard and second floor roof. The home is a rental and speaks to lack of attention on the part of the property owner. The tree had been dead for some time and clearly needed to be removed. Now the poor tenants have to deal with the aftermath. It made us take a good hard look at the trees that tower over our own property but, except for one cedar that we know should come out, they all seem secure after the battering they just survived.

So at last we finally have power again, and we can finally watch the news and see the damage the storm wrought around the Lower Mainland. So many deciduous trees down. Usually they withstand the winds, but then again, these types of winds are usually int he middle of winter when those trees have no leaves and the winds can pass through them like a sieve.

It is pretty clear that Mother Nature was in a very bad mood yesterday!