All right, I’m still uneasy about weather and lack of generators, but the power is up at the time I type this, which is Monday night, actually. However, for the first time in a … very long time … decades, probably about thirty years, there aren’t any dogs in my home. I sent them off to the vet to board because it wasn’t at all clear when the power would come back on.
They were saying maybe midnight for most people, but we’re low priority (not a lot of people up here, after all). Also, on Sunday they said they should have the power on by four pm and it was actually seven hours longer. Which is actually not terrible, at least they’re working on it or expect to be soon. Today, my house was losing 2.5 degrees F per hour, so a little back-of-the-envelope calculation suggested the temp in my house could be maybe 43 F by sundown, well below freezing by midnight, and WAY below freezing before dawn. I mean, I don’t know if the rate of decrease would be constant, but it’s supposed to be really cold tonight, 10 F or less, so it seemed very possible the temp would keep dropping that fast.
Thus, I said to my neighbor, the competent guy who clears trees and plows driveways and has a big truck with four-wheel drive, “Hey, Tony, would you please take my dogs to the vet quick before they close and they can stay there overnight.” And there they went, and then the power came on after all, so here we are. Alas, the dogs are undoubtedly not very contented with their night, but on the other hand, they’re warm. And Tony can go get them for me tomorrow too, because highway B is terrible, evidently. Not just steepish, curvy, and covered with ice, but also you have to go around trees that are down on the highway. Evidently more keep falling, so that’s fun. Though now there is much less wind, so maybe that will be less of an issue tomorrow.
And now, since they have been boarded, all my dogs will have been vaccinated for bordatella and the canine flu, so I guess maybe I should enter Morgan and Joy in some rally competition in, say, March, since what the heck, they’re vaccinated, might as well take advantage of that to show them. (Spoiler: I keep not actually training them even though they would be good at it, so this isn’t that likely.) (But it would be a reasonable thing to do and they would really enjoy it, so we’ll see.) (Not Haydee; she would not enjoy that kind of thing.) (Have I ever mentioned that Ish has his Rally Excellent title, which is not that easy to earn and I’m proud of him. He is eleven this month, by the way, and no, he has never, ever been boarded, but at least he is the sort of dog who takes life as it comes.)
ANYWAY, the power has been on for a whopping four and a half hours as I type this, so if it’s still on Tuesday morning when this post goes live, that’ll be a really good sign.
Also, a neighbor told me there’s such a thing as a solar-powered charger for your cellphone and I sure wish I’d known that before, because wow, that would have made a BIG difference in how insecure I was feeling, since while the power was off, my cellphone was the sole contact I had with anybody and not only is the signal here sucky, but also I was watching the charge tick down … and down …. and down … and I’m definitely going to get a solar-powered cellphone charger immediately. Or as soon as Amazon can ship me one, anyway. This one looks pretty good. Has anybody got something like this? What do you think of it?
***
Writing update:
Last week was okay, I suppose, but I sort of puttered with this and that rather than leaping ahead with anything. The things I’ve been puttering with include “Midwinter,” still not finished, but close; and Tano’s next book, which I was rereading and then began to make some progress on … until the power went out.
So, yes, thus far this week has been absolutely pathetic. I compartmentalize well, but not perfectly, and it turns out I was much too worried about the temperature and the dogs to do anything, so Sunday and Monday were a complete loss in terms of writing. However, I did finish reading the book I’ve been beta reading, and once the power came back on, I drafted my first-impressions notes, which I will think about again as I re-read bits of the book and think about it. I also read three other books, which I expect I’ll post about later this week, at least briefly; and started a fourth, which I could not get into, and I think I know why and I might post about that too.
I generally set posts to go live around six in the morning, so I still won’t have any dogs at home when this post goes live. And I don’t feel I can say, “Hey, Tony, would you please go get my dogs at the crack of dawn, I’m sure you don’t have anything else to do in the morning.” However, by noon today, Tuesday, I sure hope my (warm!) home will once again be cluttered with spaniels!
In the meantime, the cats voted vehemently not to go to the vet for boarding and therefore they’re here, so that’s something. As a side note, I really do not know how I’m going to get Maximilian to the vet for vaccinations next year, because wow, vehement is a weak term for his opinion on the matter. I sure am glad the power came back on, because I was trying to decide what else to do to protect them from the cold.
Maybe I had better get some other kind of carrier that is somewhat easier to force a cat into. I’ve never actually had a cat I couldn’t get into a carrier. Not sure what options exist. Hmm. If you type “easy load cat carrier” at Amazon, you get things like this. This top-loading design would probably be easier. I suppose I should read reviews.
Today, provided the power stays on, I’m going to pick something and make real progress on it. That’s the plan!
Please Feel Free to Share:
I’m far from an expert, but I think you’d want something with more surface area of solar cells than those have (especially dealing with winter, clouds, etc.), which can either plug directly into your phone or into a portable charger from a reputable brand.
Wirecutter has a couple of recommendations for solar panels here. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-portable-solar-battery-pack/ For portable chargers I’ve had good experience with Anker.
(I have one of their recommendations from a few years back, but I haven’t had occasion to give it a test in emergency conditions. It worked to charge my phone when I tried it shortly after getting it, for what it’s worth.)
Also, while it’s obviously not ideal given that you don’t want to run down your gas tank or car battery in a winter emergency, charging in the car is another option if you urgently need to top up your phone. With a good USB-C car outlet charger you shouldn’t need to run it for too long.
Top loading carriers are easier to get the cat into, but also harder to keep the cat in while and after you fasten them, in my experience.
We have a camp stove that charges a phone – Biolite makes it. But, looks like the solar ones are cheaper. (But, camp stove heats you, so dual purpose – first heard about them because they’re a nyc based company and they were charging phones for folks on the sidewalk after hurricane sandy)
Came to say what the first commenter said. I use a lot of solar stuff (live off-grid in a summer country climate), and the compact item you linked is fine if you are likely not going to be using it too much. I would advise that if you get that, you charge it up on a regular power source when you know there’s a chance you’re going to have an outage, as it could take a whole day or more to charge up under the sun if it’s fully depleted.
If you want to have standby solar power, there are also such things as foldable solar panels (which I recommend). I got mine on Amazon, and you can use that to charge a phone directly OR charge a powerbank. The advantage of these is that 1) it gives you more power right away 2) you can put your powerbank or phone in the *shade* while leaving the panels out in the sun. (which is better for any kind of battery, not to be baking in the sun! That tends to degrade/weaken the battery). 3) the panels will last a long time, longer than a battery, if not used (unused batteries/power banks will degrade over time, whereas panels won’t).
I got a smaller (60W) version of this some time ago and it works well (I’ve used it to charge a massive powerbank when my main system had issues):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RFCVR62?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
For standby power, it’s good to have a powerbank. You can charge it on regular power or on solar power, and it holds the charge for a long time. I would recommend a minimum of 10,000 mAh, for phone charging. You can use it when you travel or go camping and such also.
(p.s. just to clarify, I live off-grid not as a lifestyle choice but because there isn’t a grid where I am, it’s a rural area).
Hooray that you have power back, at least for now! My area got whacked pretty hard by Hurricane Helene last year and was out of power for ages (fortunately our generator worked, though had to be rationed), and I tell you, the FIRST thing I did when the internet came back was order a solar-powered charger for our cell phones. Huge relief just to have it.
There are also hand-cranked chargers you can use in real emergencies – it’s an option in case you’re stuck and there isn’t much light!
I currently have 2 large cats so I have a cat carrier that is big enough for small dogs. I leave the carrier out in the house all the time and sometimes I put a bit of catnip in it. The cats often use it as a nice place to sleep. They still freak out a bit when I put them in the carrier because they know it’s vet time, but at least they don’t try to claw their way out.
Power stations are also a thing. They are basically even larger power banks and many of them can be charged off portable solar panels. Just fyi.
It looks like I can no longer comment from my ancient i-pad mini (unless there’s a comment lurking in moderation, in which case I apologize for the double).
In re: cats. Ask your vet for a prescription for gabapentin, probably in 100 mg capsules for a 10-12 lb cat. We sprinkle the powder over food (Fancy Feast or baby food if necessary), wait 1-2 hours, and voila! A sleepy, cooperative cat who can be easily handled by both you and the vet.
I have a front loading cat carrier that I tip on its end with the door open, and then I lower the cat into it and quickly close the door. She is not happy about this, but it works.
My house is run entirely on solar, and our water’s heated with solar as well, though I know very little about it – my dad’s the one who spearheaded that retrofit. But we have multiple small foldable solar panels and other options because my parents have been on a summer church mission at a local campground, living in a trailer, and my mom loves her little compact charger (much like the one you found on Amazon). The one she’s got can be charged with solar or plugged in, and it charges her phone or Ipad within a half-hour or so. As long as you don’t need too much juice, it works great!
Dame Eleanor, thanks for the suggestion! I have a ton of gabapentin left over from a different critter, I believe. I’m sure sleepy and cooperative would be better all the way around!
Thank you, everyone, for you suggestions. I didn’t think of trying to load the front-loading carrier by tipping it up first. Not sure that would work, but it’s something to try. I appreciate all the suggestions about both the cat carrier and the solar charger for my phone. Yes, I would charge it from the car if necessary, but I would greatly prefer an alternative, and it looks like there are plenty of alternatives to consider.
And yes, the dogs are back home. I hear highway B is still terrible, but with luck there won’t be another power outage — or at least, not until I have a brand new generator! — I will add, the generators at both my house and my mother’s were tested in December, before it got really cold, and they both worked just fine. It’s honestly a mystery what could have happened to them. They are each malfunctioning in a different way, too, not the same way.