We've hit a new peak of nerdiness over here. Ben chose the dictionary to read for nap today.

Really. The dictionary. He's got a children's dictionary. We read the first 6 pages of "A's". Mostly, we read the listings that had pictures. So we read about aardvarks, accordians, acropolis, agriculture, alfalfa, algae, allergens and some others.

Yes. The dictionary.

We are so nerdy.

We just weathered Seattle's worst windstorm in a decade. We lost power Thursday at 8:00 PM after several flickers on and off. Our power did not return till Sunday at 11:24 AM. That's right, folks: 63 hours and 24 minutes without TV.

And it was hard.

But we learned lots. What did we learn?

Lesson 1: When we hear another windstorm is coming and power is expected to be affected by knocked down trees, we will fill up our gas tanks immediately.

We had about a 1/4 tank in my car; 1/2 in Steve's. Not a real big deal until we heard stories of people who ran out of gas driving around in circles as they tried different routes to get out of their subdivisions: so many trees were knocked down, roads were closed everywhere. When power did start returning, we saw lines of cars 25 or more deep waiting to get gas. Gas stations ran out; police managed the lines at some stations. We still haven't gotten gas.

Lesson 2: When we hear a windstorm is coming, we will move all our outdoor belongings to a safe place.

The wind pushed our grill from one end of our deck to the other in short spurts and with much grinding sounds: our grill doesn't have wheels. The only thing that prevented the grill from going over was that it finally reached the other end of the deck. And lest you think that isn't such a distance, we store the grill on the extreme far end of the deck and the deck stretches across the whole back of our house. We found the grill on the opposite side of the deck. And our chairs moved to the middle of the deck. And our (rather heavy) table moved five feet from where it started.

Lesson 3: Empty the ice bin.

Maybe this is obvious. Maybe it's only obvious if you've been out of power for 3 days. We woke up yesterday to find a huge puddle of water on the floor in front of the fridge. Our ice melted. We cleared out the frige/freezer completely. Never seen such an empy fridge. Since it was so empty, we pulled out all the shelves and drawers and cleaned the entire thing out. Left the doors open most of yesterday too. Crazy feeling walking past an open fridge door...

Lesson 4: Buy batteries for all the flashlights and lanterns in the house.

Ben is scared of the dark so we needed to run a flashlight or lantern ALL NIGHT LONG. We needed to replace the batteries in his flashlight three times; his spare flashlight twice.

Lesson 5: Wash a load of underwear at the first hint of a wind storm.

Really, this needs no explanation. While we never had to recycle, it was a close thing. Steve and I talked about going to a laundromat today before the power returned.

Lesson 6: Run the dishwasher.

Luckily, we did this. Friends weren't so lucky. They had to empty their dishwasher and wash everything by hand just to keep eating.

Lesson 7: Move Ben's bed to our room first thing.

Power went out Thursday. Ben slept in his room till he got super-scared. And who could blame him? Not only did we not have power, but the winds were howling like mad outside. I ended up sleeping in his tiny twin bed with him.

Ben is a bed hog.

Friday night, we started Ben out in his own room but when he woke up and realized it was completely black in his room, he screamed like mad till I came in. And he wouldn't calm down till I replaced his batteries and climbed into bed with him.

When Ben is cold, he clings like glue to whoever is in his bed. At one point, he had his upper body pressed up against my back and on leg thrown over my legs.

And Ben talks in his sleep.

Saturday night, we moved Ben's bed into our room, with the fireplace. We all slept like logs. In our own beds. A few times Ben woke up and started to get scared but I was able to say, "Hush" from my bed and he calmed right down and went back to sleep.

Hooray!

Lesson 8: Charge up the computers.

Ben was completely lost without TV to watch. We were completely lost without TV to watch. Sometimes you just need a little TV break and we can run DVDs on Steve's computer.

Lesson 9: Charge up the cell phones.

This one is only kind of useful. Since so many power lines and major power trunks were severed, many cell towers didn't have power and so our coverage sucked. BUT, considering most of my friends don't have a phone that actually plugs into the wall (ourselves included), the only way to reach each other is by cell.

Lesson 10: Get a phone that plugs into the wall.

See Lesson 9. We did manage to dig one up from Steve's office. But it didn't have caller ID. We were forced to answer the phone willy-nilly. Oddly, tho we didn't receive any telemarketer calls. We usually receive at least one and sometimes as many as 4 a night.

But we're OK now. Ever since we got power we've been doing laundry. I've cooked up all the meat in our freezer that didn't immediately thaw. That includes 4 steaks, 5 pork chops, 2 chicken breasts, and 1 pork roast. I now have ready meat for chili, fajitas, BBQ pork sandwiches, and enchiladas. Yum. And I'm starting up a grocery list. Because the only things in our fridge/freezer are the meat I just cooked and 3 beers.

Our boy, he's not so smart. Sometimes he seems really stinkin' bright, like when he can tell you the body of an airplane is called a fuselage after he's heard the word once. Or when he says stuff like 3 and 3 makes 6 (while holding up three fingers on each hand).

And other times, he doesn't seem so smart... Like the other day. He had a friend over; the boys were playing upstairs. We hear a huge thud downstairs, a long pause, then simultaneous yells. Max (Ben's friend) got to the top of the stairs first telling us Ben got hurt. Then came Ben bawling his eyes out, rather wobbly. He already had a giant knot on the back of his head. Seriously, it was the size of a golf ball, and bright red. Max got Ben's Fuzzy Cow while Ben tried to tell us what happened. Apparently, he was climbing up to get his fish food so he could feed Benjamin the Fish while Max watched.

Wasn't till a few days later that Ben told us he was climbing up on his big bouncy ball to get the fish food.

I had a very, VERY, hard time not laughing in his face while telling him that THIS is why it isn't a good idea to climb on his balls...

Asked Ben what we should get Papa for Christmas. He didn't miss a beat: shot back immediately with "a coffee maker."

Turns out every weekend the three of us go to the grocery store together. And every weekend, Papa stops by Starbucks to get a grande non-fat vanilla latte. Sometimes he gets a mocha. But he always gets the caffeine.

And Ben's been paying attention.