The novelty is wearing off.

As I noted yesterday, the Midwest U.S. was hit with an ice storm that started in Manhattan Monday evening. Our power went off Tuesday morning about 3 a.m. Sure, it was fun last night as we worked by candlelight until our batteries ran out, and had a friend and her dogs over for a sleepover by our gas fireplace (which keeps the primary rooms at a comfortable 62F), but awakening to darkness again was less fun.

Kansas State University is open and has full power this a.m., but a large chunk of central Manhattan is still without electricity.

USDA has a laundry list of food safety recommendations at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/NR_121007_01/index.asp.

Here’s my experience, after 30 hours of no electricity.

The freezer (left) is of no use, with an internal temperature of 51F, but that’s largely because I moved the valuable foods to a cooler outside.

The fridge (right) is of some use, at 52F. Yoghurt, cheese, condiments, produce, they will be good for awhile yet.

The cooler outside is working well, with a temperature of 30F. The frozen items may suffer some deterioration in quality, but things like milk and raw (unfrozen) meat are doing fine. I could buy some ice and add it if I wanted to bring the temperature down further.

Here’s hoping we get some power soon.