Electricity = Neccessity
January 8th, 2009 | 
Author: A little over fifty years ago many people in our area didn’t have electricity, running water, or other modern conveniences in their homes. After spending 24 hours without electricity, I am so glad that I live in the 21st century. (Albeit, some acquaintances of ours don’t have running water.)
About 4:30 p.m. Wednesday our lights started flickering. Twenty minutes later everything went dark. Initially, the power company said power would be restored by 8 p.m. Then it changed to 9 p.m. Then unknown.
Having a power outage doesn’t usually bother me probably because they tend to occur in the summertime because of thunderstorms. In the middle of winter is another story. Once the power went out, it became difficult to do anything in the house. I almost felt like my evening was wasted. Snow was swirling outside and the sky was overcast – very little natural light.
We kept the main living area fairly warm with our fireplace. Then about midnight the lights came on. Yay! End of story, right?
We turned up the heat a little and went to bed.
The Farmer got up at 5 a.m. and wasn’t up but a few minutes when the power went out … again. Three inches of snow were on the ground, more was falling, and the wind was howling.
I spent a large portion of the day wrapped in a blanket, sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, and reading a book…or two. I had three cats curled around me too.
Even though I was bundled up, I struggled with staying warm. Once I’m cold for a long period of time, it’s really hard for me to warm up my hands and feet. (I think it has something to do with my hypothyroidism.)
I had all these brilliant thoughts too while reading. The floor was dirty from the wood. I could vacuum. Oh wait, that requires electric. Some pots and pans were on the counter. I could wash them. Oh wait, no electric. I could … Yeah. Probably not. Whatever it is requires electric.
Thankfully, about 5 p.m. the fish tank made a gurgling noise and the refrigerator motor turned on. Electric!!! Heat!!! Yippee!!! 
So almost 24 hours without electricity made me grateful for the modern convenience. It makes life so much easier – cooking, cleaning, working. And in the winter, the days are longer.
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