Blackout

On Monday afternoon (4pm) I was sitting in the kitchen knitting along and the power went out. About 10 seconds later, the lights came back on but promptly went out again. And stayed out. The kids were excited because Hector recently got some new little flashlights for them so they were happy as clams playing on their DS and flashlights.
Now for some reason we get brief blackouts every so often. Often enough that I usually won't set the clock on the answering machine because when I get around to it, the next day the power will go out briefly and I'd have to do it again. Sometimes I leave it alone for a month or so until I get tired of not knowing when messages come in and then I set the clock. So this power outage is going on for about 3 hours and I think I better find more flashlights and candles. Hector calls me on the cellphone and I tell what's happened so he said he'll bring home takeout. Great.
It's nice outside so we all head outside where the kids play with their rocket to and I knit until Hector comes home. As far as I can tell, the power is out for about 2 blocks. I called Laura, our neighbor 5 houses down to see how she is doing. Her power is out too and she has a full tub of cookies n cream ice cream so we head on over to help her eat it. The kids are having a blast playing in the dark (it's night by now) with Glenn and his spygear. Meanwhile Hector is looking to see what a generator costs cause he has a feeling this blackout might be a while. Laura and I chat which is nice because her husband just left that day for Utah leaving her and Glenn home alone.
Hector calls to say he got a generator from Costco so all of us with Laura and Glenn walk around to see how the neigborhood looks. Across the street and one street down the houses have power so we were the lucky ones. We all walk back to our house where the kids continue their play.
Poor Hector is wrestling with a 250 lb generator in the driveway and trying to read the instructions with his truck headlights. Laura and I tried to help by holding flashlights and shining light where it was needed. Finally Hector tried to turn the thing on and it caught but died. After numerous attempts, Laura reads the manual and maybe it needs more oil. Okay, we fill it with more oil and vrooom, the generator kicks in LOUD and stays on. Yay!! Boy, it's loud. We send a line to neighbors to have them plug in their refrigerators and ours. I think they were grateful for that little bit of power and sacrifice a lot of peace. Just think of having a lawnmower constantly running. Yes, so from 10pm to 9am, the generator was running and at 8:45am the next morning the power came back on. Oh, I was so happy and exhausted. :)