Appalachian Electric Power's website reported Friday that they had 128,000 customers out of power, 81,508 of whom were in Virginia.  Estimated restoration time for Scott County is supposed to be Monday night, but we know we're on the tail end of the list and figure we'll be lucky if we're plugged back into the grid by Wednesday.

While sobering, knowing the power will be out for an extended period is much less scary now than it was three years ago.  Then, heat consisted of blasting the exterior wood furnace and hoping a bit of warm air would trickle in through the ductwork without a fan.  Cooking was a complicated, outdoors affair, involving shoveling coals out of the wood stove (which had an insulative sleeve around it, so we couldn't cook on top), then refreshing the coals several times to get things cooked through.  We didn't really have enough blankets to keep warm at night, and it was awfully dark with just a couple of little flashlights to read by.

Fast forward ahead, and while we're not as well prepared as we would like, everything is at least 75% easier.  We have two little wood stoves that keep our living area toasty, it's easy to cook on the burner, and our light situation is an order of magnitude better.  In fact, I feel very lucky because I suspect most of our neighbors are experiencing a lot more deprivation than we are.

What's the same is that we're running the generator an hour or so per evening to top off the fridge and freezer, to refill our drinking water reservoir, and to get online.  The cats are terrified of the roar, and I'm not terribly keen either (which is why I'm actually writing this in the quiet earlier in the day, to be uploaded to the internet when the generator keeps thought to a minimum).  Mostly, though, we miss having low-power treats during the course of the day, like internet-on-demand and laptop-charging.  Clearly, that's where we need to focus our post-outage efforts, before the experience recedes from our memories and we forget how useful it is to be prepared.