Hurricane Ike Update

Well, my electricity came back on sometime Monday night. I received and put into practice some of the best hurricane advice ever dealing with the power going out. I was advised that since my refrigerator lost power for such a long time, it would be better to leave everything in it and wait until it cooled again before opening it to remove all of the spoiled food. I did just that, and it made a huge difference. My kitchen started smelling slightly on Monday from the spoiled food. However, I waited until Tuesday to open it for the first time so that it had a chance to cool down overnight. Nothing that I pulled out of the refrigerator smelled. Nothing. No leaks, no rotted meat smell, no spoiled milk smell. I am sure it smelled by the time that the trash men picked it up on Wednesday, but at least it did not smell from the refrigerator to the garbage can. The lack of smell did not stop me from completely disinfecting my refrigerator though. Just because it did not smell at that time does not mean that germs of all sorts are not present. I am sure that this method does not work if you have been without power for several weeks, but if you are without power for just a few days, I highly recommend that you allow everything to recool and refreeze before cleaning out the fridge!

I guess that means that the lessons I have learned from Hurricane Ike can be summed up as follows:

1. I have learned how to clean out a refrigerator that has been without power for several days. I have also learned that restocking the refrigerator costs as much if not more than the savings that you have on your electric bill as a result of being without power.
2. I need a generator.
3. Pine trees, especially sick or dead ones, snap in the trunk and fall. It is a good idea to survey the condition of your trees prior to the storm and make sure that nothing valuable is in the way of the trees. It looked like my pine tree was going to fall, so I made sure I was not home when it did. That decision probably saved me from having damage to my car as well as my carport.