The news reported this morning that Duke Power, which services the western
end of the "Triangle" in North Carolina, still had about 5,000 customers
without power.  Many others in other parts of the state remain without
power, and some still have no water or phone service.
 
My house had power restored late last night.  It was nice to have lights
again.  However, I noticed something important during the outage that is
worth passing along.  Please be careful with emergency lighting during power
outages.  I was using candles and oil lamps to light the house at night.
Because of the heat, the ferrets were inactive during the day and only
wanted to play at night or early morning when it was cool.  (It was *not*
cool when they wanted to get up at 4 am because they were finally awake and
made loads of noise to get out... but that's another story.)
 
For those in contact with people still without power, urge them to take
extreme caution in using light sources with live flames.  The ferrets were
curious about the oil lamps I was using and would almost certainly have
knocked them over if they had been within reach.  It would have looked like
a scene from the movie "Backdraft" if the lamps had spilled.  The house
could easily have burned down from a moment's lack of attention.  The same
could have occurred even without the ferrets' help.  Poor placement on my
part could have accomplished the same thing, such as on a window sill where
a gust of wind may have toppled the lamp.
 
Several people in our local ferret group were also caught with their most
recent name and phone list of ferret-folk on their computers where it didn't
do much good during the extended power outage.
 
(Raise your hand, Jeff...)
 
OK, yes, I was one of those who assumed my computer would always be there
for a quick check of my name list.  I won't repeat the oversight.  In fact,
it seems that it would be useful for many people to have a checklist of
handy household items or common sense precautions available on a web page
that anyone could print out.  (Those paper copies are useful when phone and
power lines are down.) For example, it occurred to me that if my local vet
had problems as severe or worse than I, then I would want info on
ferret-knowledgeable vets who could help my guys if the need arose.
 
I have a few suggestions dotted down that I'll share with the FML in a day
or so.  Perhaps our local web page for the Triangle Ferret Lovers could run
a page of photos of ferrets (and their human counterparts) amidst the
hurricane rubble along with the preparedness tips.  Maybe that would make
the ordeal easier or even spare a home or a life the next time Mother Nature
comes calling.  (I just hope she's in a better mood next time...)
 
--Jeff Johnston ([log in to unmask])
[Posted in FML issue 1688]