Power Outage

We had a crazy storm come through last Friday (the 29th). We lost power almost immediately (went out around 11pm). It was pretty awesome to watch the storm. It was so windy the trees were blowing sideways. I remembered that our umbrella was still up, but there was no way I was going out and lowering it in that lightening and wind. We got lucky and it didn't blow away or break.
Were we weren't lucky was with the power - it stayed out until Sunday night around 630pm. We ended up losing just about everything in the fridge/freezer. Thankfully we were running a little low. Barb didn't lose power so the kids and I went to her place during the day while Chris was at work.
Saturday night when Chris got home we went in search of ice, but couldn't find any. If I'd known that power was going to be out that long I would've cleaned the fridge out Saturday morning and taken it to Barb's, but I didn't know...who did?! It's just crazy that a wind storm could take the power out for so long. I ended up cleaning out the freezer on Sunday morning and taking 4 chicken breasts, 5 lbs of hamburg, and a few other small things to Barb's...everything else in the fridge and freezer went into the trash. Sigh.
I found out that renter's insurance actually covers this type of thing! Then I found out that State Farm (our policy anyway) has a $500 deductible. We did not lose that much. Then I found out that the military has a claim that covers this type of thing - it covers up to $250! But, then I found out we need receipts and photos. Um. Aw, well. Lesson learned. Take photos before throwing away food and buy a few bags of ice if power has been out for at least 4 hours. It'll be cheaper to spend a few dollars on ice then replace everything in the fridge/freezer. Pay day can not get here fast enough!