Where were you in August 2003?

[Canadianmumof5]

Ktgrok's thread about her loss of AC reminded me of the great blackout of 2003 on the east coast. It was August 14th. It was DH's birthday and we had ordered an ice cream cake for him. He ended up with a stale bran muffin with a candle in it :blink:

 

I was 7 months pregnant with DD and it was sooooo hot - and of course no power meant no AC. Fortunately I think we had power back up & running in just over 24 hours but that was pretty crazy for the people without power for much longer than that.

[Heather in Neverland]

I was at home and didn't even realize anything had happened. Dh was at work, in the employee bathroom, on the toilet when the lights went out. :lol::lol::lol:

[Impish]

I'd just moved to AB Sept 02.

 

So I was :lol: at my parents, who'd done nothing but criticize my decision to move. :tongue_smilie:

[ssavings]

In Europe for my sophomore year of college. I remember hearing about it from people at home, though.

[Ghee]

I was also 7 months pregnant in August 03. This was with my third child, it was sooo miserably hot! Small wonder he was my last ;)

[Whereneverever]

High school?

[momacacia]

Newly married, pre-kids, living in DC and experiencing the blackout, too. Good times.

[LittleIzumi]

Getting MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

 

:party:

 

(I was in the southwest. No blackouts for us.)

[Carrie12345]

I don't remember. I had a preschooler going through neuro evals, a 14.5mo, and a 1.5mo old screamer. I think the east coast could have fallen into the ocean and I wouldn't have noticed!

[Mommyof4ks]

I was also 7 months pregnant, but we did not have blackouts. It was still a miserably hot summer, and being pregnant in the summer was no fun. I only did that once lol.

[Embassy]

No blackout where I was - Oklahoma.

[stripe]

My grandma called me up on Saturday and said, " So, are you sitting around in the dark?"

"No," I told her, totally mystified. "It's ten in the morning. The sun is up."

 

The only way this comment makes sense is because she generally keeps her blinds down, but...?

 

I was pregnant too.

[nono]

We were here in Cape May County, NJ. We had satellite at the time and paid to have NY stations in addition to Phila. At the time, it was our second home, and we lived in Bergen County, NJ, which was affected.

 

It was hilarious switching back and forth between NY and Phila. In Phila., the world was close to ending, according to Ch. 6. In NYC, Ch. 4 was showing how well everyone was coping.

 

Having lived in both places, it was such a perfect contrast. We were :lol::lol::lol::lol: at the contrast reporting the exact same event in real time.

 

Both my parents were visiting. We didn't lose power here. Paybacks came a few years later when a blizzard took out the whole island and it took 3 weeks and 9 electric companies to get all of us back on the grid. :)

[ocelotmom]

We were in Northern Virginia. DS was 1.5months old. I can't recall it in the slightest.

[Ali in OR]

No blackout here, but that was our first summer in this house--no ac yet. And it was a hot summer. My youngest was 7 months old and went around in just a diaper.

[Ann]

I was at work in a mall. I was newly pregnant with DS1 so he is considered in the blackout baby statistic.:blushing: We were in an apartment without electricity for 3 days. My parents were only affected for a few hours.

[Alice]

Also seven months pregnant and in Northern Virginia. I don’t remember it that well, I do remember being miserably hot that August though.

[elegantlion]

Sitting in the midwest with the TV on watching people on the East Coast walk on the roadways.

[VeganCupcake]

Working in China. I had access to CNN, though, so I knew about it.

[QueenCat]

We were living in Georgia... but my parents were affected. I'm worried with the crazy heat we're going to get here this next week (108 on Friday, and about a week of over 100, that we may lose power). This part of the country is definitely not used to that... it's bad here if it's over 95 for a day or two.

[reign]

I was at home in metro Detroit. I left the next day to drive to Canada and see Radiohead. I loved Toronto!

[sparrow]

I was also in the Metro Detroit area. I'd had a play date, with a friend and her toddler son, at my house. Despite how hot it was, we were playing outside and had no idea anything had happened until we went in. She tried reaching her husband, who was working at Wayne State, and I tried reaching mine, who was working at University of Michigan. Nothing. Nobody could get through on cellphones and I plugged in a land line to call my husband's office, but he had already left. I was so happy when he got home.

[atozmom]

There were no blackouts here thank God. I was in the hospital giving birth to my son on Aug 14th of 2003. :001_smile: I do remember it being a very hot summer!

[EducationX2]

August 14th 2003..... I was.... most likely drunk.

 

Hey, you asked!

 

I vaguely remember the blackouts, even though I was in Maryland. I had turned 18 and graduated high school that summer. It was a good summer. :tongue_smilie:Spent the summer working with my best friend and a group of fun people, and almost every night after work we went swimming and drank at my house. (I was the only one under 21). We have lots of fun stories from that summer. I was also dating the guy that was my "first love" and would soon be the first to break my heart. Ahh... good times. :lol:

[DaffodilDreams]

I was in China. They were also supposedly experiencing power shortages, but somehow the hotels I stayed in, my workplace, and restaurants I frequented never seemed to be affected.

Edited June 28, 2012 by kimmie38017

[Mandylubug]

On August 14th, 2003 I was in the hospital with my newly second DS :)

[MollyAnn]

August 03, we were living in TX but for that whole month the kids and I were visiting my parents in MI.

I don't remember anything about the east coast being without power. DH was deployed to Iraq and I was pretty much staying away from all news sources.

[Elfknitter.#]

I was a first time mom, only 10 days in. So I would have been at my mom's (because our place was so tiny and she wanted to help even thought she worked part time.) Being in the sw, I remember watching the blackouts on the news.

[lynn]

I have no idea what you are talking about, no black outs here. I was probably getting ready for school and sitting at the pool with friends.

[JessReplanted]

I remember! We were here in PA, and my oldest was 8 months old. We lost power for much of one day, but not nearly as long as those in the east. I remember being so surprised to discover that the whole east coast was out!

 

And now, whenever the power goes out, I always wonder if it is something happening locally or nationally (or globally). :lol:

[DawnM]

No blackout, I lived in Los Angeles. I was going to work I am quite sure. I don't have a calendar in front of me, but it was a work day.

 

Dawn

[Parrothead]

I think that was our first summer in MT.

[Starr]

I used a land line phone to call my ds in California so she could check the internet and tell me why the power was out. It was creepy, summer, good weather no apparent cause.

[FaithManor]

Dressed to the nines with white and hat and gloves having formal tea at a lovely tea house with the ladies in my extended family. My beloved paternal grandmother had a stroke that year and her health had improved enough to have an outing. We wanted to do something memorable since we knew we wouldn't have her around much longer. The tea house was amazing! The owner had purchased wedding dresses at garage sales and made table skirting out of the skirts and trains of the dresses...decorations from the sleeves and bodices. The place was exquisite and worth every penny we paid.

 

We heard about the black-out while we were there...dad called my mom's cell phone. My niece, living in Manhatten at that time, was taking the stairs (she was on the 24th floor of her building) down to ground level and beginning the two mile walk home to her apartment - I think there was a lot of fear when the blackout hit because at first thoughts strayed to 911. It was over 90 degrees and I knew it was going to be a brutal afternoon for her. My grandma wanted to stop and pray right there on the spot and the dear owner of the tea house said she wanted to be a part of that. She came and laid her hand on grandma's shoulder while we prayed. It was very touching and a cherished memory.

 

Poor dh, on the other hand, was in an office building in Troy and the traffic getting out of that city was hideous. What should have been a 1.75 hr. drive home, turned into a 4.5 hr. drive.

 

Faith

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Ds1 was 6 mos. old. Dh and I still lived in his condo. He stayed there, but ds and I went to my house (I owned a duplex with my mother before I got married), because the condo lost water along with the power. I guess they needed electricity to pump the water from wherever it was. We had no electricity at my house, but the water was from a tower, and that was okay. All the neighbors were hanging out outside, trying to keep cool, and it almost felt like a party atmosphere. I remember filling up the baby pool and we all sat in it.

[Lisa in Jax]

Ktgrok's thread about her loss of AC reminded me of the great blackout of 2003 on the east coast. It was August 14th. It was DH's birthday and we had ordered an ice cream cake for him. He ended up with a stale bran muffin with a candle in it :blink:

 

I was 7 months pregnant with DD and it was sooooo hot - and of course no power meant no AC. Fortunately I think we had power back up & running in just over 24 hours but that was pretty crazy for the people without power for much longer than that.

 

This post is the first I've ever read about a blackout on the east coast in 2003. ;) That's probably b/c August 14th, 2003 we were in Mumbai, India, picking up our son from the orphanage, and weren't up on the US news.

 

FWIW, it was hotter than hot in Mumbai -- and humid as heck. Hotter and more humid than this Florida resident had ever experienced! ;)

[Mavis]

I was pregnant and probably floating in the pool or in front of the A/C. I had my son on August 16th.

[DawnM]

Wow. How old were you when your first child was born?

 

High school?

[Amber in AUS]

In Europe on my honeymoon!

[Annie]

It was the summer between high school and college, and I was working the most boring job I've had in my life. I was in the midwest, and our power didn't go out, but I remember thinking it might not be that bad if it did because then I could go home. :D

[Amy in NH]

We didn't lose power, here.

[bluemongoose]

On my honeymoon!:party:

[LibraryLover]

I dont remember that at all.

Edited June 28, 2012 by LibraryLover

[Tess in the Burbs]

I was overdue on my dd's pregnancy in the heat wave.

[Mabelen]

Outskirts of DC. We did experience the blackout but I think it was shortlived. May be just a little over one day? We missed the AC and the community pool closed, but we did enjoy the icecream in the freezer!

[mumto2]

Suburban Detroit with 2 littles and a missing dh. He had ran out of gas on the way home!:lol: After he walked home and paid the neighbor kid for helping him rescue the car--kid had a full gas can. We went to bed. We headed in my car for my mom's house the next day. She lives in a place in Northern Michigan that still had power! Sad thing was we had a generator -- just no fuel for it!

[Barry Goldwater]

On our way to the east coast for a family member's funeral. Had radio on and in the car and heard, "WHAT WAS THAT?!? ARE WE STILL ON?!?!?!?" I thought there was an EMP attack. We picked up pizza in PA, where there we found a town that still had power, to bring to the family that was 'in the dark,' where we stayed over and sweltered on the floor of their living room. Worried all night that the viewing would be by candlelight, but power was back on by then.

[angela in ohio]

Living in the middle of the city, with two little girls and a 1 yo baby boy. We were so poor back then, I thought dh just hadn't been able to pay the electric bill. :lol: Then, we got in the car, and I heard about the blackouts on the radio. We went to stay out of the city, because we didn't want to be there when it was dark.

[Lady Florida.]

I wasn't in the blackout area. I do however, remember the November blackout in 1965. It meant no school, which certainly made it memorable. :D

[edeemarie]

I was 8 months pregnant, but living in southern California. I heard all about it from my family back east. Glad to not be a part of it!