As far as I can tell, “terrific” used to mean “inducing terror,” as in what folks might have felt centuries ago during a tempest. Last night a thunderstorm raged for (by Jessica’s reckoning) two to three hours. I awoke intermittently to the roar of rain on the roof, thunder that rumbled and crashed loud enough to shake the house, and lightning that never left the sky dark for more than a second or two.

At our house we love the thunder and lightning. The kids are always disappointed if they sleep through it. But nobody did, last night. I had to keep myself awake to enjoy the delight of a terrible storm outside, while Jess and I were snug at home in bed.

Then the power went out.

That was “terrific” in the more modern sense, because we got to test the generator in summertime. I asked Jess to flip it on as she went down to the ducks this morning, and as soon as I heard it cough to life I turned on the shower.

It’s delightful to enjoy a hot shower when the power lines are down! The well and water heater, my studio, the kitchen, and all three freezers are hooked to the generator and will operate until the propane runs out–not likely, since at our rate of usage we have a five-year’s supply of propane.

Nevertheless, this morning’s outage taught me a few things. I’m glad the generator doesn’t automatically flip on every time the power goes out; it seems to burn the same amount of fuel no matter how much power we’re drawing off of it. So to save fuel during the next outage, I think we’ll try running it half an hour for every two hours of outage. That’ll allow us to run the well pump and fill water for drinking, cooking, washing, and toilet flushing. It will also allow the fridge and freezers to run and keep cold, but will prevent unnecessary running of the generator when it’s not really needed.

Such a schedule could keep us comfortable without grid power regardless of the season for weeks–or even longer.

A free sound-and-light show, and power when the power’s out? That’s terrific!