November 14, 2017 – Tuesday
It sometimes takes being hit over the head with something for me to grasp it. Well, not literally. It’s not that I’m a slow learner … it’s just that, at times, I’m a slow realizer.
My last post was of a (not so) dark and stormy night. Well, we’ve just had two dark and stormy nights. I’ve gotta tell ya … I’m not a fan!
How did the pioneers do it? All that rain battering your cabin or sod house … the wild animals hunting you at the creek … the blizzards raging … the scorching heat! I would have jumped off the nearest bluff. Given myself up to a panther in the trees by the river. Hitched a ride with the next wagon train going anywhere! You get the picture. Nope – that “withstand anything” pioneer mentality isn’t in me.
Yesterday I stood in my cozy dining room and watched the winds whip through my dinner plate maple’s brightly colored leaves (the first year I’ve witnessed actual color change!) … except for a handful of hearty leaves it was denuded instantly. One moment full foliage, the next – bare branches. I watched the whole million leaves whip through the air and scuttle along the road and go over the bluff … out to sea. I was glad I witnessed their departure but without leaves those branches looked menacing – reaching towards the house with outstretched limbs. I moved from the window. Too creepy. Too windy.
Wind makes me crazy. Another non-pioneer thing in me. I’d have been writing the first chapter of Little House on the Prairie and the prairie winds would have picked up and I’d have been out the door looking for that bluff or cougar!
We lost electricity at 2:44 on Monday morning … something woke me up and I think it was the darkness. Or maybe it was the porch furniture and decorative ladder that had fallen over and been scraped across the decking that I heard. In any case … IT WAS DARK! And stormy! Winds whipping rain sideways … quite the blustery night.
We get rain up here in the northwest but it’s usually piddly drops … mizzly drizzle, saturating wetness that just is in the air … not actual RAIN. Yesterday we got RAIN. And I loved it. I could have done with out the wind and I would have loved it more had I had electricity! For a total of 19 hours it was out.
It came back on at 10am meaning 7 hours without refrigeration. My thoughts immediately went to what was in my fridge that should no longer be? I googled the subject … most safety postings said 4 hours was a safe bet. After that, things needed to be pitched. I asked my neighbors and they all said everything was FINE. Unless I had left the door ajar, things were good. Um, I was hesitant. Food poisoning is not my friend. But, I thought, what’s good for my neighbors should be good for me, too. Right? So, I left things as they were … the cooked chicken, the yummy may0-laden chicken salad, the new tub of whipped cream cheese.
I luxuriated in my warm and powered up home … the vacuum and carpet shampooer were in use, the washer was in full agitation mode, my computer was recharging, my fridge was happily humming … and then we went dark. Again. At 4pm on a rainy, dreary day in the NW, it’s dark. It’s dark up here regardless if it’s raining because after October, twilight arrives sometime soon after lunch. So, by 4pm … it was definitely getting to the almost dark-dark stage!
Good thing I have more candles than Martha Stewart cuz I was using them! But, even with all the candlelight I found it hard to settle in. I was antsy. I wanted to watch TV. It had been all of a few hours and I missed my Hallmark channel! I wanted to be on my computer. I was in the middle of working and I wanted to continue. My comforter (that the guest puppy had thrown up on the night before) was still in the washing machine. The fridge was silent. My computer was cold. As was the house. It’s amazing how fast warmth goes out of this structure when the heat isn’t on!
I put on an extra sweater and found my flashlight and lantern – both at the ready. The dogs were restless – the wind’s whine annoyed us all. I was on edge. I wanted a glass of wine. Nope – in the fridge. Maybe I’d eat an early dinner – I had baked up chicken earlier. Nope – that had already gone through 7 hours of no refrigeration … how much salmonella could a girl take? So, I had peanut butter on crackers and water.
By 6pm when two of the guest dogs were picked up, I’d felt like I’d been plunged into darkness for days … WEEKS. (Note to self – never move to Alaska!) What was I to do? I thought I should play the piano … you don’t need more than candlelight for that! But, I don’t know HOW to play the piano. My phone had no service so I couldn’t pick up Pandora. The house was quiet except for the snoring of the pug, the rain against the windows and the constant clicking of Clara’s toenails on the floor as she nervously paced the living room. I snuggled with the puppy on the couch and tried to read by flashlight. I wasn’t very successful … so we just had a nice one-sided chat.
By 9pm the guest puppy had been whisked home and the girls and I, feeling like it was the middle of the night, headed for bed. I haven’t been to bed at 9pm since I don’t know when! It was a fitful slumber … Clara got me up half a dozen times. She would go outside into the inky blackness with my lowly flashlight beam guiding her way and then she’d lift her head into the rain and turn and look at me and come back inside. Was she checking things out? Figuring out the storm’s longevity? The wind direction? I don’t know – but she did this 5 more times before settling in. Gert got me up a couple of times, too, but wouldn’t do much more than stand in the rain on the deck and look at me pathetically – silently begging me to let her back in. So, I did … and then she wet the bed. So, I was up, in the dark, stripping my bed, grumbling not so quietly about aging dogs and stupid blackouts and this/that being so inconvenient and it wasn’t until I was on my way to the kitchen with an armful of bedding that I realized how lucky I was. Hit over the head, figuratively, with wet linens in the darkness … the light had come.
I was inside. I was dry. I was warm (and while I wasn’t toasty … I wasn’t wet or freezing or outside!). I had a roof over my head, a refrigerator and pantry full of food, my dogs and I were safe and comfy and cozy and … I was so lucky because there are so many who do not have the luxury of what I have. Of what we all have.
Just as I was snuggling back into my naked bed, at 4am, the power came back on. So, I got up and ran around and turned whatever was on at 4pm off. The furnace kicked on and the dogs and I slept like babies.
The questionable perishable things in my fridge have already been picked up with today’s trash, my bedding is in the dryer and the dogs have calmed down and are asleep. I’m off to the grocery store to restock my festering mayo, salad dressing and cream cheese. While there I’ll pick up some extra supplies for the local food bank and purchase one of those Thanksgiving dinners for families in need. It’s the least I can do. I encourage you to do the same. We are all so fortunate.
Who would have thought darkness could bring so much light?