Forced Camping - Back to Basics!

Here in Michigan, we have had such a mild summer this year. Cooler than usual temperatures, virtually no storms, just enough rain to keep the lakes filled and the gardeners happy!
Towards the end of last week, all good things came to a screeching HALT! Flat line winds came across the Lake from Wisconsin into Michigan, taking out trees, power lines, and homes.
The power of a 60 mph wind is amazing. Mr. Wonderful was getting ready to cook dinner on the grill, and I called him over to see the 'calm before the storm' - it was dead silent. And then - Suddenly, the winds hit full force, bending the trees in our little woods! The May Apple leaves were flattened to the ground, looking for all the world like BIG FOOT had stomped the life out of them! It began to rain so hard that we could not have seen our hands in front of our faces, had we been out from under the protective roof overhang on our side porch!

As suddenly as it had arrived, the storm left us - it could not have lasted more than 15 minutes before moving on to the next town. But just look at these pictures -
We were fortunate to have only lost 3 trees with minimal damage - the worst was the one across our driveway, which needed to be cut up before we went anywhere. The next day, we saw 250 year old trees, ripped out by the roots, wires down everywhere, and firemen and volunteers removing trees from the road so traffic could pass on the main roads. I am sure that many folks had to hire tree services in order to begin repairs to their yards and homes.

Being inconvenienced for a few days was the worst for us. Since we have a well, there was no running water due to the downed power lines. No phone, no nothing. The humidity was so high that we felt like doing nothing more than we had to, to get by. We heard chain saws in the distance, and the sound of a hatchet hitting wood was right through our yard at our neighbors place. Mr. Wonderful went to their rescue with his chain saw - and saved them a lot of time and work! Too bad that a disaster is the best way to meet neighbors, sometimes!

Our power came back yesterday evening, finally. We had a generator loaned to us in the nick of time, which saved our frozen meat. Much of the refrigerated items had to be tossed. We hauled water in camping barrels that we used a few years back in the rustic horse camping sites, and used that water for most things. Cooking on the grill was not optional. The wood was too wet to do any campfire cooking. Fire departments were handing out free bottled water to whomever was in need. 5 days without power made one realize how dependent our society actually is. It is hard to live by candlelight, even knowing our ancestors got by that way for centuries. Our generation is spoiled! Perhaps we should all have a 'lights out' weekend, to appreciate all that modern living provides for us, and to learn what 'getting back to basics' is really all about.