Can't live without power!!

I'm in Central PA, we didn't get anything from Ike, we were lucky. I could have handled a couple of days without power compared to my sister. She and her husband are at my parents for now, they evacuated from down by Galveston. They are not allowed back into her city yet, no electricity, and her street is still covered in water and debris. Even though her house is up on stilts, with the surge, its estimated she had about 3 foot of water in her house. And for now, they are just wondering if there is anything left of their house. I always have candles, battery operated radios, etc on hand, comes from living in Texas most my life lol. And as long as you don't open the refrig, or as little as possible it will keep the food for up to 24 hours, then it's ice chest and cooking lol. We also have camping gear, so cooking wouldn't be a problem either.

I am fortuneatley nowhere near where IKE did his damage. I can relate to no power though. I lived in a remote area on the coast for a couple of years and the windstorms were forever knocking the power out. We had no power and no fireplace so we froze. I can remember living by candlelight and curled up under the blankets. When it would get really cold we would drive into town so we could have a hot meal and have the heater on. I hated it at the time but looking back, those were the days!