check in here if you turned off your lights tonight

[il_lilac]

We played cards and dominoes by candlelight, ate chocolate cake, and actually went an extra 30 minutes. I was annoyed that my daughter unplugged my alarm clock, but got over it. My only panic was having to reboot the modem a dozen times or so before I finally got online. whew!

[Maat]

1. I did it !

Hubby went along with it ... but fell asleep; I just relaxed.

[HuffleClaw]

2. i was at a party

and we turned out the lights and partied by candlelight for quite some time.

[jwirr]

3. I did even though I am clear out in the country and no one would see.

My grandson went along with me on this.

[Yael]

4. Read by candlelight

I needed the break and never would have taken it on my own volition.

:thumbsup:

[lligrd]

5. We Did It nt

[sandnsea]

6. All but the one above my head

But I do have all CFU bulbs, so that's progress.

[Warpy]

7. I did and looked outside

A lot of the houses on my street were dark, cars in the driveway.

[il_lilac]

8. I was surprised how many

dark houses there were on our street. We got the neighbors to turn off too!

[Lex]

9. We did!

And then we went for a nice walk together.

[Snarkoleptic]

10. Got 'er done and kept the lights off for an extra 20+ minutes.

[murray hill farm]

20. Me too!

It was so nice without the lights and just one oil lamp lit that i didnt want it to end...quiet and peaceful...kept them off for another hour.

[Mabus]

11. Checking in

I had reminded my husband around 7:30. Right after I reminded him I went to the kitchen and made sure that all small appliances were still unplugged. Then I made a sweep around the house. At 7:57 we went lights out. We kept the tv on because of the basketball games but all non-essentials were turned off and unplugged. I booted up the modem about 15 minutes ago and the laptop about ten minutes ago.

For us, it wasn't that much of a change for us. Every evening my husband and I usually end up in our bedroom to watch television together. The only big change this evening was that my husband had to give up his video game for the evening. We usually unplug all small appliances when we aren't using them. The only exception is the coffee pot which on a timer.

[Seabiscuit]

12. Raises hand ... we just finished turning our lights off.

Also lit candles, we played cards, sang songs and played Chutes & Ladders (I have a 3 year old). :hi:

[il_lilac]

18. sounds like our evening

except I miss chutes and ladders. My girls have outgrown it, but I haven't.

[FirstLight]

13. Mine are still off...teehee!

I like the calmness of it all...
reminds me of frontier days, and I would welcome a bit of rural livin' in my weekly regimen. Though I live in the mountains, so it isn't that big of a stretch to pretend we have no power for any length of time. (once had a storm knock us out for over 3 days, cooked on the woodstove & everything!)


Maybe we'll just have to do this once a week! :)

[Bobbieo]

17. We did but the town didn't!

[il_lilac]

21. We are going to try for once a month

Maybe the last Sat or Sun of the month would be a good start.

[gateley]

25. That's a great idea!

I'm also going to keep my rarely-used appliances unplugged.

Just this little bit gets one to actually thinking about all the electricity we're sucking in through the walls at any given time.

[silverweb]

14. Lights off, computer on for work.

I didn't look outside, though, so I don't know about the neighbors.

[emilyg]

26. Same here.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

15. Strictly speaking yes

The lights are off in my house but that's because it is daytime

However, yesterday night we all participated in the Lights out thing. It was surprisingly fun

[il_lilac]

27. Where are you that its tomorrow? nt

[RFKHumphreyObama]

44. Australia and it was yesterday, not tomorrow

[Subdivisions]

16. Checking in. I read more of "The Shock Doctrine" by

flashlight and sat by the window watching the headlights go by on the highway.

[Nutmegger]

19. R&K [n\t]

[gateley]

22. Yep - it felt good to do it.

Just got a call from my best friend in Hollywood to see how I'd fared. He apparently didn't REALLY watch the video I'd sent, otherwise he would have realized I'd done it 3 hours prior :7, but he did it too.

[Fovea]

23. check

Finished cooking dinner by candlelight.
Ate by candlelight.
It was nice.

[Wheezy]

24. Yep! n/t

[BlueJazz]

28. I got in bed and contemplated

[ClayZ]

29. We did!

[PetraPooh]

30. I like the dark, so I am lightless every night, tonight included. Only have the puter on.

[greenbriar]

31. we did not go completely black but we are very diligent on our electricity useage to save money

we use only what we have to every night and are very diligent on lights being on only when absolutely necessary.

On light fixtures that call for 4 bulbs, we only put two in ect...

our thermostat is set for 65 in winter and 75 in summer

it is easy to use a light blanket when doing lounging activities and it is easy to wear light weight clothes in summer


and we save quite a bit of money on our energy costs

[Blue_In_AK]

32. My computer is on because I'm working

but the lights are out.

[Withywindle]

33. I turned the lights out and lit candles and used my laptop on battery power.

...but I might have violated the spirit with the TV because nothing comes between me and my Torchwood.


It was a good creepy episode too.

[chknltl]

34. Yep...thanks to a fellow DUer that is!

I absolutely knew nothing of this but things got straightened out just in time. I'll be headin' back under my mushroom now.
edited to add: "Thanx DUer, gately." :pals:

[Beam Me Up]

35. Candle light is SO sensuous ;-) n/t

[OwnedByFerrets]

36. I turned off every light....

and turned the air up so it wouldnt come on.

[lonestarnot]

37. Done.

Have been hunting my smokes for 45 minutes now! LOL. If we ever suffer a blackout for an extended period, my kid will be berserk in the first 24 hours. I made him shut down the game crap and you would have thought we had been nuked. :crazy:

[Mind_your_head]

38. Yep - we did it

Took the dog for a walk - the kids came this time too. It was fun all taking a long walk together like that. We do it sometimes in the nice weather, but it's kinda cold tonight....

I'd say there was about 60% participation in our neighborhood (although some could have just been out on a Saturday nite or something else I suppose). I could see several homes with all the house lights out, but see the glow of a TV on (I counted those as participants). I wasn't sure what to think about several homes where all of the inside house lights were totally out, but the outside lights were on - lots of those actually.

We walked passed the McMansion area about a 1/4 mile away from our neighborhood. I have to say that there definitely was a different lighting pattern than usual. Most still had their outside lights on, but the inside lights were either off or much less than usual. I had to chuckle when I saw this one particularly creepy crypt-like mini-mansion. Usually it's very dark/often no lights at all (maybe they travel a lot?) Tonight, it looked like they had EVERY SINGLE light on in the house - even the garage! (there's glass in the garage doors). Were they wanting to do the opposite of Earth Hour or was it just a strange coincidence? I just thought it was funny/ironic.

[gateley]

39. From CNN:

"Ireland's more than 7,000 pubs elected not to take part, in part because of the risk that Saturday night revelers could end up smashing glasses, falling down stairs or setting themselves on fire with candles." :7

The turned out the lights at the Coliseum in Rome (that must have been dramatic), but...

Ireland's more than 7,000 pubs elected not to take part, in part because of the risk that Saturday night revelers could end up smashing glasses, falling down stairs or setting themselves on fire with candles.

There's a snip here of the lights going out at the Opera House in Sydney.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/29/lights.out.ap/index.html

[il_lilac]

40. thanks for the link!

I was wondering how participation was. Looks good.

[gateley]

41. My pleasure - I think this was a GREAT

world-wide effort tonight!

[tblue37]

42. I did. n/t

[SeattleGirl]

43. I did!

Lit a few candles, and settled on the couch with the dog and one of the kitties.

[grannylib]

45. We did, but it's not unusual for us; we both hate overhead lighting

and we burn lots of candles. I get most of them at the thrift stores.

[pansypoo53219]

46. sorta did.

just livingroom and puter room. for longer than 8-9pm. and outside lights are gonna stay off.

[kickysnana]

47. Yup. n/t

[Triana]

48. yeppers...certainly did! (n/t)

[calimary]

49. Here! I was meandering through DU and someone's thread carried the reminder.

THANK YOU, btw!

So I looked up and saw that it was 7:40pm. We went around and turned everything off. Very quiet. It seemed darker, although not too many people on our street participated, unfortunately. Cat crawled up in my lap and husband lit a cigar. And I read some more around here briefly, 'cause my laptop had a full charge. Nice and quiet. Mellow. You could hear the freeway which I usually don't notice. Nice way to spend a mellow evening. And just cool enough.

[orleans]

50. we went dark. candles and a tap light to read by (i was working on

something)

some neighbors around here were dark, others not. others had tv on. we turned off the telly as well.

[Seabiscuit]

51. San Diego checking in.