Blackout

It's been nearly two weeks since the remnants of Hurricane Ike crashed through Cincinnati, leaving 90% of the city without electricity. There are still piles of branches in front of houses waiting to be picked up and mulched by the city. I tried to go hiking in both of my nearby city parks today, but the trails in Caldwell Nature Preserve and French Park are still closed due to storm damage.

Tree down in Norwood, picture by Sonnet via Flickr.

I got off pretty light by anyone's standards. As soon as the power went off that Sunday, I realized it wasn't going to be coming back that day at any rate, so I jumped in my car and drove to Bigg's, where I purchased two 25 pound bags of ice. I brought them home and put one in my freezer and one in my fridge, so I didn't lose much food and was able to have cold drinks throughout the three days my house was without power. Also, my building has gas for cooking and for the water heater, so I was able to cook and have hot showers unlike many of my fellow Cincinnatians. We were quite fortunate in that the weather following the wind storm was quite mild with no rain and neither too hot nor too cold, plus there was a full moon so there was a bit of light at night.

Now that the power is back on I've been re-assessing my emergency supplies. I had plenty of candles, flashlights, food and such, but I lacked a good lantern to read by at night and my weather radio ate 9V batteries like they were cookies. I purchased an LED lantern that will run for 60 hours on 4 AA batteries; it can also be charged through a cigarette lighter adapter or a hand crank. I also bought a Grundig emergency radio that can be powered via AA batteries, the on-board rechargeable NiMh batteries or a hand crank. That leaves me trying to decide on a non-electric space heater - being without power in my building in the winter would mean being very cold indeed. I think I'm leaning towards a propane heater since the fuel is easy to store.

Edited to add a link to this story about the cost of Hurricane Ike in Ohio. When the lights came back on and I was able to catch up on the news, I was a bit surprised that the national news hadn't made note of the damage Ike had done to the Midwest. Of course, it was nothing compared to Texas and there was a lot going on in the news (such as a major banking crisis), but I as far as I could find we only got one tiny mention, an afterthought really, on CNN's website.

The Evil Virus, how to construct a lodge and making homemade cheese

Since late Sunday night I've been battling an odd virus. My head feels like it's packed with cotton wool, I'm tired, listless, weak and my muscles ache. On the plus side, this particular virus doesn't come with sneezing, sore throat or coughing, but it leaves me with no symptoms that might elicit sympathy either. It has been a most trying week at work to boot and I've spent my evenings on the couch under a comforter, remote in hand.

I was flipping through the channels tonight when I came across a naturalist talking about how beaver lodges are constructed. I had always assumed that during construction the beavers left a hollow space within the pile of branches and mud that comprises the building material of the lodge. As it turns out they first build the dense mound of material, then working from below, use their claws and teeth to dig and chew the underwater entrance and the burrow.


I also came across instructions on how to make mozzarella cheese at home, which I may try once I'm healthy again. It looks like a good choice for a home cheese making experiment since it doesn't have to be aged. Although perhaps starting with something simpler might not be a bad plan - home made cottage cheese is supposed to be very good.