Black Out!

Oh Mr. Franklin, while other colonists were content to keep their keys in their pockets, you were using yours to unlock a prominent place for yourself in Americana folklore. Your proposition to make the turkey our national emblem never took flight, perhaps because of the bird's poorly devoloped breast muscles, but with your lofty kite ideas, you discovered the power of electricity in a storm. I like to image you celebrated this success with a scrumptious meal of roast bald eagle.

But now it is the absence of electricity caused by the storm on which we focus.
*****
Last night we were reading Megan bedtime stories when our lights began to flicker as if possessed and then all went dark. We got out our flashlights and candles, habitually flicking the light switches as we flitted from room to room. The blackout was actually quite illuminating as to how dependent we are on electricity - sure there are the lights, but without power we are also without phone and without water.

We got ourselves situated and finished putting Megan to bed and then realized we had nothing to do. It was 8:15.
Going to bed seemed about the only thing to do.

"Hey, I know! We could address the rest of our Christmas cards!" And so, in Abe Lincoln-like fashion, we set to work with only the meager flames of candles to light our task.

An hour later we were done and so we blew out the candles and went to bed.

This morning we were still without power or water. I scrunched my hair with my fingers, put on an extra spray of perfume and headed off to work, but only after I got Mac to go out and manually raise the garage door.

The car, of course, was immune from the effects of the blackout and so I once again had light, and a clock and a radio. The hospital power is back on (but reportedly out for a few hours last night). Our house, on the other hand, has been without power all day. I can't imagine that box of fudgecicles in our freezer is doing too well. And we're either going to have to consume or toss a few seafood products in the next day or two.

We know where the power lines went down, but at 3:00 today there was still no crew out there to work on it. Us country folk are low priority and we have already been told that tonight would be the earliest the power would be back on. But with little daylight left Mac and I both think we won't have any current in our house at least until tomorrow. One power company report stated that power wouldn't be restored to all customers until Sunday night. That could be us...

So we've been making alternative plans. The friends we were supposed to have for dinner tonight offered to host us instead. Better yet, they offered their shower! Mac hauled water up from the pond so that we can flush our toilets. And he was babbling on about getting a generator for the future (Aha, an opportunity to talk about a new machine!), that is, until the neighbor cut his finger off setting up his generator (seriously). Now if only some iMac would maul one of his friends!

So those of you with power, Enjoy, and don't be surprised if we come around looking scummy and begging for a shower!