As I sit here on our deck (because the house is hot and stuffy) while waiting for electricity to be restored to the whole town we live near, I find myself reflecting on two things:
1) It’s simply amazing how much my husband and I still have to talk about when he can’t operate power tools (or has decided it’s too hot to be in the sun) and I have no internet to capture and hold my attention. We must have caught up on months of chit-chat with each other in the last 3 hours.
It’s a bit scary just how addicted I am to being on my laptop — indoors, especially on hot, humid days — instead of making the time to chat with my husband while he’s sitting out on the deck (on our brand new patio furniture with umbrella!) trying to read the newspaper.
He absolutely loves it when I chat at him nonstop while he’s trying to read his beloved newspaper, by the way. Much the way I love it when he insists on talking to me while I’m in the middle of typing something on my laptop. Today, however, he put his newspaper down and we really talked.
2) The sheer number of things one cannot do without electricity in this day and age simply boggles the brain. One cannot throw one’s freshly washed laundry in the dryer and start another load in the washer. One cannot charge one’s laptop when the batter starts to get low.
(Of course, one can’t find all that much to do on one’s laptop anyway without any internet, but one can definitely write a blog entry using one’s word program, to later be copied and pasted into one’s actual blog.)
One also cannot finish watching the season ender of Gray’s Anatomy
Hold on while I yell outside (where my husband is finally “doing things” instead of relaxing, which is why I’m typing a future blog post on my laptop) and see if he has any strong opinions about our evening meal…. Alrighty then — it’s been decided if our electricity has not been restored within the next 30 to 45 minutes, he’ll run to a town 15 miles away that has electricity and simply pick up a pizza. Sounds like a plan to me. (Mine, actually.)
So I never said why we’re without electricity, did I? Around 2:00 I was happily reading a backlog of posts on someone else’s blog when suddenly there was a 5-second power outage, not uncommon in our rural area of Illinois. Unfortunately, this time shortly after the power came back on, it went back off again and stayed off.
We’d noticed a huge plume of black smoke a while earlier and had speculated about what might be on fire where. What we didn’t know was that fire would blow out a transformer and leave all of us without power until sometime late tonight if we’re lucky — possibly until tomorrow if we’re not.
As I type this, my laptop battery is getting lower and lower, so I’m about to lose this one slight bit of entertainment that was available to me. I guess I may have to see if I can find a book I’d enjoy reading by flashlight. I’d suggest we drive into “town” together for supper, but I’m hot and sticky, so I’d absolutely want to shower and wash my hair. Which I can’t do, because I’d run out of water in about 30 seconds flat. Ah well, such is life here in the wilds of the cornfields of Illinois.
Maybe I’ll go back outside and do some bird watching. Maybe I’ll even get entertained by a herd or two of deer wandering around in the 40-acre field behind our house that’s in a state wildlife program. That sounds awfully nice — I definitely forget to take advantage of those natural forms of entertainment far too often.
P.S. – This happened a couple days ago – I finally posted it today. Our power came back on sometime during the wee hours of the night/morning. The fire was an old foundry building – arson – no humans harmed at all, fortunately, other than the fact that 3,000 of us were without electricity for 12 hours or so and had to go to bed without showers. (Rural life means well water with pumps that won’t run and towers in the towns, also with pumps that won’t run.)
But you know? We actually had a good time that night, with candles lit all through our house and me reading a book by flashlight while my husband listened to the White Sox game on an old radio that actually runs on (gasp!) batteries. It wasn’t the slightest bit frustrating once we got used to the idea, although if we’d woken up the next morning and not been able to have our coffee…. Well, that might have been a whole other story.
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Yes we do take so much for granted when we have electricity and all the modern conveniences that are made to suck up all that power.
Kinda makes me feel for the the generations of women who had to run a household with a passle of kids without the dishwasher, washer/dryer, stove, microwave, fridge and freezer, etc, etc.
Which may be why there were so many children in families, no TV or Internet to keep them entertained after all their work was done and they had a bit of time for themselves.
I admit I’m a spoiled princess by comparison.
What? Spoiled?!? (She asks while munching on some guacamole made by her husband, with her feet up and listening to her washer do a load of clothes….)
I’m beyond spoiled – don’t tell okay? On the other hand, I’m always trying hard to “pay it forward” and be appreciative, so there you go. Hopefully it all balances out. (And I did actually put that load of clothes in the washer all by myself.)
Hey Duffy,
Your post took me back to a few years ago, to a time before we had electricity or running water at our cottage. While I do love the “mod cons” (modern conveniences) it is a simpler, slower life without them.
I used to take our dirty dishes, pots and pans down the steps to our beach and wash them in the ocean (rinsed them in fresh water we hauled here from the city). I watched otters play and bald eagles fish while I washed my dishes! Everything took more thought and time to accomplish, and I didn’t mind it. My husband and I talked a lot. We got about 10 hours sleep every night because it wasn’t really possible to read by candlelight and the Coleman lantern was awfully noisy. When it got too dark to see, we either sat in front of the fire or went to bed. We cooked on a little propane stove and kept our perishables in a cooler with ice. This is one of the reasons I drink red wine – it doesn’t ever need to be kept cold!
Thanks for the reminder of the benefits to be had from going without mod cons, at least for a short while. Now I am going to join my husband in watching pre-recorded satellite TV on our PVR (like a Tivo). (Yes, things have really changed over the years here at Channel Point Lodge!)
That’s so funny! Living without “mod cons” on a temporary basis is definitely nice once in a while. God forbid, however, that it should ever become necessary on a permanent basis. Yikes, the mere thought!
We “rough it” for 3 weeks every July/August while bass fishing in Minnesota – but we do have electricity and running water there. That’s about it, though – and we love it. Long walks, fishing 3 times a day, lots of family time when my stepson and his g/f are there for one of the three weeks. We play cards and laugh like insane loons. Yep, it’s great as long as it’s temporary.
(P.S. This is so odd – I just posted on your blog. A long, detailed post – but I wanted to address a lot of variables in the many questions you asked.)
dont even think of a life without electricity. My husband is an electrician!!! But reading a book with a flashlight that’s priceless, i guess is was one of those books you cannot put down. What is the title?
It’s called “Boredom in the Pitch Blackness” Lynnette. Not the book, the state that drove me to read a book with a flashlight, LOL!
The book was one by Kay Hooper – I don’t remember the name. She writes light-weight murder mysteries that involve psychics – from a special FBI unit, even. I just grab books at a 2nd hand paperback book store (because I’m way too thrifty to pay more than 25 cents a book, it’s how we’re able to take two nice vacations a year) and she’s one of the authors I checked out recently. Very light-weight but enjoyable reading.
I live in a very rural area of the New York State Adirondacks and we’re often without power for a bit. However, last year – during the entire months of May and June – I had no power (it’s not fun to get behind on your bill and be out of work at the same time!). Thankfully I have a well that spouted 50 gallons a minute when drilled, so I have a hand pump on it and a gas stove that lit with matches. Two months of that (and an occasional trip to the laundromat) was an experience that I’ll remember very fondly – now that it’s over!!
Whoa, not that I most definitely would NOT have enjoyed! Thank heavens for the hand pump and the gas stove. We have an all electric house due to me being extremely allergic to LP gas (no natural gas lines in our area), and with gas prices they way they’ve been for a long time, we’re really glad we built an all electric house 22 years ago. Well, except maybe once in a great while when we’re without power.
The bonus was losing a few pounds and getting stronger carrying all that water. Thankfully, as the well is at the top of a hill, I got to carry the bucket up empty – the work was carrying it full even though it was downhill. I made lots of Jack and Jill jokes to myself as I did it…
Love the flexibility of humans!! Wonder how many words could describe these blips in modernity? Breather? Respite? At this point went to Mr. Roget and found ‘truce’. What a very different approach. Truce with what? Electricity? Modern life vs. Boondockery? Whatever you call it, It sounds very soothing and healing and happy!! Can’t wait til the next blackout!! After the first half hour shock the mind kicks in and starts looking for alternatives — heavenly!
P.S. do love the ‘gentleness’ of your relationship with your dear one.
Awww, Maggie – thank you. There are times, you know, when we act like idiotic bickering siblings. I’m pretty sure any 29-yr-old marriage has quite a few of those moments. But we are each others best friends, so it always works out well in the end.
One of the best things about our two yearly vacations is how we suddenly connect again. Jim isn’t distracted by the 28-thousand things he thinks he must accomplish on our 2 acres, and I’m thrilled over suddenly not feeling guilty all the time about how I’m not doing laundry, cleaning, scrubbing, whatever. It’s lovely when you take a pause and remember just how much you enjoy your spouse’s company.
And yes, the suddenly lack of electricity (once the horrified shock wore off) was great. Who woulda thunk?