I would like to use this as an excuse for not posting yesterday’s post until today, but that’s not really fair, as we had power yesterday. But we did lose power today. Let me show you some photos of why we had no power. These are just a couple of blocks from home.
Giant tree falls in street, thankfully not on anyone's house.
In the process of falling, it breaks this power pole like a matchstick. Impressive!
This pole broke in half as well. I don't think these folks are going anywhere with that car anytime soon!
We fixed ourselves some mimosas and wandered out to see what we could see. Everyone was out on their porches or in the street, chatting and watching the power crew. Further up the block away from the downed trees and lines, people were just outside to catch the breeze, as there wasn’t any air conditioning.
That’s what I love about power outages. They bring neighbors out to chat, even if just to speculate about how long before the power will be restored. They force everyone to turn away from their tvs, electronics, computers, and talk to each other. If the power’s still out once it gets dark, it’s like a free pass. You don’t have to work on anything. You can play games or snuggle, or just go to sleep. You can fix and eat dinner by candlelight.
One of the repair crews. Amazingly quick and efficient!
I don’t know how the crews did it, but our power was back on in a couple of hours or so. I wouldn’t have wanted to be without power for too long, but I would have been ok with a few more hours – I was enjoying the “forced break” from my plans.
Maybe I’ll create simulated power outages for myself on a regular basis. The fridge can keep running to keep the food fresh, and maybe the AC too, but lights, phone, computer – those would be easy to turn off. Staying outside instead of inside? Sounds great to me!
Candlelight dinner? I’m on it! I guess I can have what I love about power outages any time I want. Except for seeing all the neighbors up and down the block – they’ll probably stay inside with their appliances, as in this great Calvin and Hobbes cartoon I used to have up in my classroom:
Pingback: Tropical storm casualties « Blog Archive « Watching NOLA Nature
Your idea is pretty good. Disconnect yourself to enjoy ‘the other side’.
Nice post.
That fallen tree was impressive… These are interesting times and you can use it to your advantage…
Calvin & Hobbes is a classic. Terrific cartoon – and only more relevant in the years that have passed since its’ creation.
Glad that tree didn’t hurt anyone or do any major damage to anyone’s property. Very impressive that crews were on the scene in 2 hours. There were people up this way who lost power during Irene and were without power for 5 days. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason. The storm itself is like a forced break, too. It sounds strange but it was great to have that time to just do things around the house that I’d been meaning to get to for a while.
I’m glad no one was harmed too.
!
I’m super-impressed at the speed of the workers – my husband went out this a.m. and there were new power poles, even! Amazing!
I do love losing power – I need to do it for myself
Calvin & Hobbes- an awesome bonus!
Glad the storm wasn’t any worse!
Yes – we were lucky – and now it’s breezy and cool like fall out there!
The size of that tree it was so lucky no one was underneath it! The storm must have been terrifying!
Mr Piglet would like the idea of a total Pc blackout…he says I spend far to much time on my PC!
It’s so easy to have the computer become an extra appendage . . .
Someone recently left this link for me:
http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org/
Now I’m passing it on to you. I think you might like it.
No wonder the power was out! That’s quite a mess.
I like it very much, Robin! Seems I’ve been doing that lately – taking Saturdays off and writing two posts on Sunday. I need to get ahead as you do and schedule my posts. I’ve done it before, so I know it’s possible! The Sabbath Manifesto has ten great things I can get behind!