September 9, 2011

The sky is falling Chicken! The sky is falling!!




Epic 2011 Blackout!
Yesterday was a real adventure! lol

So for the last few years we never lost our power in the San Fran area. But we come back to the San Diego area and hey we lose our power immediately. go figure. For some reason San Diegans lose power a lot.

When we moved Papa Bear didn't want to move her oil lamps that she had purchased last time she lived in San Diego because the power was out all the time. Well I really could have used those last night. lol

So the power went out around 3 p.m. and didn't come back on again until 2 a.m..
When the power went out Baby Bear and I were hanging in the living room. Baby Bear had just woken from a nap and was a tad cranky. I had just calmed him when the power went out and the Baby Einstein we were watching went out. BLAST!! I was cleaning and tried to continue until baby bear couldn't take it any more. lol poor little guy. So we went outside to swing for a bit while mama bear read her book. It seems when the power went out our cell phones stopped working as well. AWESOME! So we hung out on the back porch overlooking the golf course with our neighbor who lives in the guest house. We talked and Baby Bear swung for about an hour. The neighbor went around in the neighborhood and found out that everyone had lost power. We tried to call Papa Bear and finally got through. As it turned out Camp Pendleton had lost power as well. Hmmmmmmm......This seemed to be bigger than we had thought.

Papa Bear said the word passed at work was that the blackout was most of California, some of Arizona, and others as well....They also said it might be a terrorist attack. And seeing as how it is so close to 9/11 I don't doubt them thinking that as well.


So the power did not seem to be coming on any time soon. The neighbor and I talked while I let Baby Bear swim in his pool. We talked and hung out. Baby Bear had a great time flirting it up with D (our neighbor) He played and splashed until I think he was a little cold. I took him out even though he still wanted to play.

Papa Bear was on his way home and thank goodness he had his bike or it would have taken him hours to get anywhere. All traffic lights were out so traffic was backed up everywhere. It was insane. He got home safely. Once he got home, I kicked it into gear finding all of our emergency gear out as we had found a battery powered radio and the San Onofre Nuclear plant had shut down as well because of the power outage. So this was a big deal. All of San Diego, and up into Los Angeles were without power. We also heard some of Sacramento was hit. (not sure on that) So Papa Bear found our emergency backpack and we pulled out our candles, and flashlight that charges when you shake it.

I made candles by pouring water and cooking oil into a mason jar and then lighting a small wick on a plastic floater. I grew up with those and they are awesome!! They are safe to burn all night long! ;0) I made three mason jar candles, and spread them around. I also served up some left over dinner for Papa Bear and I. We filled the bath tub half way, and I filled the sink with soapy water so I could wash bottles if I needed to.

I was really worried about our freezer as I have been double pumping for months to give Baby Bear enough milk, but also so that I can provide enough milk for a friends baby in Utah who was born a preemie at 24 weeks. I just couldn't let anything happen to that milk. Normally if we have a power outage I don't care...I just hang out at home and don't think anything of it. But this time I felt I had to protect that milk. So all three Bears loaded ourselves up in the car as we had heard from several people that a town not to far from us had full power. So we headed on out to Temecula. What normally is a 15 minute trip out to Temecula took us over an hour because traffic was so backed up due to no traffic lights. On the way into town there were so many people broken down on the freeway who had run out of gas. It was crazy. Then we got into the first part of town and it was pure chaos!! Stores were selling out of stuff, gas stations were packed and people were waiting in long lines just to fill up. We drove around to 3 different stores looking for dry ice. Everyone was sold out. It was a mad house. Finally we just got back on the freeway and drove even further away to the next town looking for dry ice. Our first store we stopped at had sold it all to one person. Ughhhh But they directed us to some other places. to try. finally on the 5th stop we found some, and just in time as well. Right when I walked in the phone rang and it was another store asking how much they had and wanted to buy it. Luckily I got 11 lbs. worth before they sold out. I got a few grocery items and then we got gas and headed back home.


We got in the door, lit the candles again and then moved some of the meat out of the big freezer into the little one so the dry ice could fit in the freezer and protect the milk. I packed it full, threw a blanket on top and almost got it closed. It stuck up a little, so we sat one of those huge water jugs on top so it would keep it closed. I heated up a bottle for baby bear over a candle and Papa bear fed and put baby bear to bed. I went into the yukon to pump as it had been 15 hours and I was hurting. I got all set up and started pumping while I ate some cold left over chow. I started reading from my book and then 14 minutes later the car battery died! ughhhhhh So I moved everything over to the Avalanche. I started pumping again and 28 ounces later I was done! phew. I felt so much better. I shut off the truck, came in the house and made up Baby bears bottles for the night. I went to bed only to have Baby Bear wake up an hour later. Luckily I had fallen asleep with one of his bottles tucked in close to me so it would stay warm. I fed him and got him back to sleep.

So overall it wasn't that big of a deal, but people sure were acting like the sky was falling. I mean it's not that bad. We have a grill, that we could boil water, cook eggs, meat, just about anything on. lol So we were fine. I just wanted to protect the milk so that is why we ventured into the chaos. But listening to the radio there were reports of price gouging on gas......it went from $3.39 to $4.99 in a little over an hour at one station that happened to still have power in San Diego. shady!!! Also reports of people looting. Some woman was running around in one of the parks lighting fires because she didn't think she would get caught. People are crazy!!!

I am thankful though that my family was safe and we could just relax as we new that we were all right. Word has it that the power outage is because of one guy in Arizona. lol I am pretty sure he is going to be on the unemployment list real soon. Poor guy. Hopefully he didn't do it on purpose.




This morning when I checked on everything the milk was just fine! phew it's all safe and still frozen. lol And thank goodness....because I got a call today from one of the parents wanting to see if they can make it down to pick some more up. lol The world works in funny ways. ;0)

Well that is all of our adventures for now.

XoXo-Andrea Carla

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