BLACKOUT!!

survived 3 major hurricanes last year & only lost power during the last one for about 8 hours. can't have just a standard, run-of-the-mill thunder storm though without losing power for 7 1/2 hours. oh they TRIED to get it back on. 3 times. unsuccessfully. it would come on long enough to make you feel safe & turn on your computer. then HA! GOTCHA! right back out again. you can imagine my disbelief when it finally came on at 1:20am. and stayed on. why do i know when it was returned to me for real? because even though i put the battery back-up in my alarm clock, i still do not trust that it will really work. yes, i AM a neurotic idiot. lol.

in case you were wondering. it's not really conducive for sleeping anyway when you have no a/c. in FL. in July. if i could have taken my skin off (sorry for the visual lol) i would have. probably still would have been too hot. actually considered getting into my car & sleeping there just to have the comfort of a/c. don't worry. it's parked in a carport, not a garage. i promise i was only contemplating the benefits of being cool again, not ending it all. ;-)

here's what *i'm* wondering though: not worried about the freezer. the meat was still all frozen solid even after that many hours. but what about the stuff in the refrigerator? when the power came back on, i checked it & it was cool but i don't know HOW cool. we did have power--albeit very briefly--3 times before it came back on to stay. was on long enough each time to give things a quick chill again. i'm not worried about most of the stuff in there (juices, hot dogs, some tortillas, pickles, things like that)...but do i risk all the dairy products or chuck 'em just to be safe?

*cringing as i think of the gallon & a half of milk i have in there, not to mention pudding, yogurt, mayo & some other assorted goodies*