And the wind blew...

I'm pretty sure that if I had a Mary Poppins type umbrella I could have flown the last couple of days.  We've had Windstorm 2011 here in Northern California.  Well, actually I hear Southern California has had their fair share as well.  In my neck of the woods that means trees falling.  A lot of trees falling.  Which also means that power lines tend to go down as well.  In my household we had power until noon yesterday and then it went out.  G.G. has been without power since Wednesday night.  There is also a tree blocking her road in one direction.  I'm pretty sure that has something to do with the power being out.

Yesterday I was reminded that when the power goes out and stoplights go out, people forget that they have to STOP their cars at the lights.  EACH light.  Not just the one's they are forced to because everyone else is stopping.  I was also reminded that walking in the dark--like no street lights, no building lights, no nothing dark, it is a good idea to use a FLASHLIGHT, or so I would tell the man who was walking four dogs in the pitch black with dark clothes on.  Not smart.

It was interesting, though, to see the town just kind of shut down as soon as people got home.  Seeing as how we had no power and in the interest of trying to keep as much cold air in the fridge as possible, we went out to eat last night in a neighboring town that had lots of power.  We headed home about 7pm.  I took my normal route home in which I would pass car after car after car...not last night.  I'm pretty sure I passed 20 cars total.  It was a good night to stay home...which I did.  Yo Momma, Papa Bear and I sat by the fire and talked until nearly 10pm.  I heated up some water on the wood burning stove and enjoyed hot chocolate by candlelight.  I can handle this every so often.  I'm just grateful that the power is on at Starbucks and that the wind has stopped for the time being. 

Now, here's hoping the power comes back on at my house soon.  I have a Lego Ninjago cake to bake!  Creative Guy is having a birthday party tomorrow!  It might be time to find a friend with a kitchen and power.