Here's some even more detailed information about post-power outage food safety. I'm very lucky that my power was restored after only 12 hours, but others are still without power going on 48 hours. As my sister pointed out yesterday, it's kind of romantic (in the literal sense of the word) to take a shower by candlelight, but it starts to get old once the electric hot water heater runs cold. My only "hardship" was having to drink black coffee this morning - my first trip to the store yielded nothing but empty shelves. I was able to score some milk and half and half at the sole open grocery store this afternoon - there wasn't much on the shelves but I snagged enough for little old me. I'm not sure if the woman I saw in the parking lot at Albertson's this morning tearing at her hair and yelling "Goddammit!" repeatedly was officially insane, or just mad because she had to buy non-dairy creamer. Even though I always knew intellectually how dependent we are on power (and internet!) it was still a shock to see the strip mall near my home closed for the second day in a row, and to see the air heavy with woodsmoke from all the fires burning as powerless people try to stay warm. It's very Dark Angel out there.