We’ve been without power for a week. It’s not a huge deal this time around because the daytime temps have been above 40° and we have the Little Buddy to warm us up at night. We spend the days at work where we can charge our devices so that’s been fine. Our backup plans work.

Of course we shouldn’t have to be out of power. The reason we are is mostly due to timing. A week ago we filled up the gas cans, which was painful. But before adding gas to the extended run tank we decided to let it go dry so we could take out the generator for an oil change. It had been a week since we added the last ten gallons, so we figured it could go dry at any time. It lasted until 11:45pm on Sunday night.

Who wants to get up at midnight to do generator maintenance? Nobody! We agreed to take care of it after work the next day. Cue the backup heat. We went back to sleep.

Now, an oil change only takes 15 to 30 minutes. We should have power, right? Except that the starter pull cord broke. To fix that you have to take the entire thing apart using a socket that apparently got lost from the tool kit. So all week we’ve gone to work with the plan of fixing the thing in the evening, only to get home and say screw it we’re tired.

Today I don’t work. I woke up ready to tackle the generator. I even watched a video on how to do the job before I went to sleep in case my phone died before morning. Then we actually argued about who was going to fix it. I believe it is my responsibility to know how to do stuff. Chris feels responsible to take care of the hard stuff. After a bit I had to agree that his plan to acquire the missing tools before doing the work made the most sense.

So here I am, at home with no power and a phone that was at 5% and dropping. I might have to spend the day without it! Oh no! Then I remembered my backup battery. It sat on the shelf for a year through heat and extreme cold. Would it have power still? Yes! It read 100%. I plugged in my phone and happily got charging.

The moral of the story is that you should have backups, even if you don’t need to use them. You should maintain them in good order and remember that they’re there so they can do their job when you need them.

As soon as the generator is back online I’m going to put my battery back to charge.