turns out some robocalls at 6am are okay

My phone rang an hour before its alarm was set to go off, letting me know the power was back on at home. Hurrah! Am packing up the things I brought to the wonderful sadcypress's and heading out, to shower in my own place, close the windows, &c.

I still hate Pepco, but I no longer hate any of you. :-)

inventory

The first hot shower after a power failure is a marvelous thing. I'm a little sorry I can speak of this scientifically, but that doesn't make it less true.

I'm impressed by how little in my refrigerator I've obviously needed to throw away. Some cold cuts, for sure (that were probably long overdue even if the power hadn't gone out) and half a deli sandwich - but beer? mustard? soda? apples? jam? Thank you, no, I'm keeping them. A case could probably be made that I should ditch the milk and juice and eggs - but these are things that don't strictly need to be refrigerated in the first place (even eggs, it's true - and even milk, as lactose-free milk isn't specifically shelf-stable but does lack what causes milk to go off, i.e. lactose), and I've also got yogurt cups that have been sealed this whole time. I will round up the open bottles of coffee creamer and toss them, and the yogurt in the big carton.

The freezer is quite full, and the power was not out for 48 hours, so I am choosing to believe the advice of those who say the stuff in there is still okay.