Living Like Civilized Savages

It's day six and the power is supposed to be back on today. It's been an interesting five days. Actually, the whole experience hasn't really been so bad. It helps to have a nice arsenal of camping equipment. For food we have a nice large cooler that we picked up for an outdoor concert a few years back and a couple of camp stoves - one propane and one butane. Gas is cheap and readily available. We've been able to keep our "refridgerables" cold and we've eaten very well. Add to that the backyard grill and we've eaten better that we usually do.
Cleaning hasn't been so bad either. We'd get up and clean the kitchen starting with the dishes. We'd heat up water and pour it in with the colder tap water and there was plenty of warm water for dishes. We laid a towel out on the table and by the time we were done, most of them would be dry enough to put away. Heather even washed a pair of pants for me the old fashioned way, afterwards letting them dry outside on the back deck.
The worst part has been bathing but even that was only a matter of my own laziness more than anything else. Erin had a nice warm bath via heating water with the camp stoves. I got lazy and decided to tough out a cold shower. Man, did that ever suck! I will not be doing that again. Despite my experience and subsequent advice, Heather decided to do the same thing. It was really the only moment all weekend that I've really wished for the power to return.
At night we'd go out to the local coffee house and check e-mail, charge the laptop and take care of our power needs. We'd charge the cell phones in the car. Afterwards we'd come home and play cards or read until it got late then we'd blow out all of the candles and crawl in for the night.
So, in short our suffering through this minor tribulation has been minor at best. Duke Energy can suck it!