Inspired by my previous post, Presents of Mind, and a few incidents this year that left me temporarily without blessings which I usually take for granted, I'm starting a Seven Days of Thankgiving series. They'll be in no particular order. Seven days isn't nearly enough, but—as a good friend keeps reminding me—better done than perfect.
It doesn't take long for a power outage, such as we experienced with Hurricane Irma, to make one realize the blessing of reliable electric power. One of my happiest childhood memories is of an ice storm that forced us to use candles for light, cook over a camp stove, and have the whole family sleep huddled together on the floor by the fireplace. But our power outage didn't affect our water supply, nor our septic system, and it was winter, so there was no need to worry about spoiled food. If the few days it lasted was too short a time for a child's sense of adventure, I'm sure my mother was thrilled when the power came back on. I wasn't the one who had to worry about washing diapers! And there was nothing I could call delightful about a power outage in the middle of a Florida September, other than being provoked to gratitude. I can't imagine what the people of Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands are experiencing.
Yes, nothing like losing power to make you realize how much you rely on it.
Back in October 2011, we lost power for 8 days. What amazed me was I live much of my summer without power with no issues. The difference is that the summer residence is set up to be run without power - gas fridge, gas stove, gas lanterns, a fireplace for warmth, and an outhouse. We do have to bring potable water, but we have rain water or river water for washing.
The rest of the year, we live in a place where everything relies on electricity - stove, fridge, heat, light. Thankfully for us, not our water, but most of the rest of town has wells, so they do need electricity to have water.
There is something to be said for living off the grid, I guess.
Our power has been awful lately. Usually on only in the evening, when nothing is open. So how do I make copies of tests for my students? How do companies that run during normal working hours get anything done? One of our new administrators sat at her desk for several weeks unable to even once turn on the computer her predecessor had left all his files on.
That's wretched, Kathy. I remember the Internet going out, but not the power. Is it the season of the year or worse problems?
There have always been power outages, but the problem has been much worse lately.
