Thursday, November 5, 2015

Can We Really Unplug? by Alison Henderson

We recently went through a seriously unpleasant sixteen-hour power outage. We spent the morning working in the yard—no problem. But as the hours stretched out and the house got darker, I had to make an effort to stay calm and OG almost went off the deep end. It got me thinking about how much more dependent we are on our electric-powered devices that we used to be.

Sixteen hours isn’t that long. Why was it so difficult? The first year we were married, a massive spring ice storm paralyzed the city and yanked the power line right off the back of our house. It was cold and snowy, and we were without power for five days. I remember having to sleep under a down comforter in a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and never being able to get warm. We still had hot water, so we could shower before work, and I dried my hair in front of the gas fireplace. Our furry cat was happy as a polar bear, but I was quite cranky. I can’t remember what we did for food since we had an electric stove, but somehow we survived.

About fifteen years ago, we had major summer storms two years in a row in Minnesota that knocked out power for several days. The first time, we lost all the food in our fridge and lived out of a Coleman cooler. After that, OG bought a generator. The second time, we saved our food but had to deal with a crazy neighbor who couldn’t stand the noise of the generator. We were without lights, television, and air conditioning. However, it stays light until nearly ten o’clock in the summer in Minnesota and the evenings are usually comfortable, so I don’t remember it being too bad.

Fast forward to the present, and many things have changed. The recent outage came at seven o’clock in the morning and lasted until eleven that night. Because we now have the latest energy-saving, on-demand hot water heater with an electronic start, we had no hot water, and I’m much too old for cold showers. Besides, our lovely new gas fireplace is all-electronic, too. There’s no way to manually turn on and light the gas, so I couldn’t have dried my hair that way anyway. Our cordless phones didn’t work to call the utility, and when I used my cell they just referred me to their website for updates. Fortunately, we had a battery back-up for the modem and router, so we had internet—but only for a few hours. For the rest of the day, we relied on my cell phone and tablet. If they hadn’t been fully charged, we would have been out of luck.

I was able to light the gas stove with a match, but the microwave and oven were out of commission, so it was soup for dinner. The situation got dicier as night set in. We sat in the pitch black living room, huddled next to a pair of fluorescent Coleman lanterns. As a retired gentleman, OG is much more dependent on television than I think healthy, but it is what it is. Since this happened on a Sunday, there was no football! He tried to read a little, but I think he spent most of the evening sitting with his eyes closed, trying not to explode. I fared better. I read more than half of Jannine’s Every Move She Makes (excellent, by the way!), but it was exhausting in the dim light with my old eyes. It was a very long evening. I have never been so relieved to hear the beeps and flashes as our appliances came back to life a little after eleven.

There are several reasons this outage was so much more difficult for us. Previously, our daughter was still at home. Children are distracting—they engage you; they have needs; they make noise. This time it was just the two of us in the silent darkness that set in by dinner time. Previously, we had hot water—you never know how much you miss hot water until you don’t have it. But possibly most significant, it pointed out how much we’ve come to rely on our gadgets to fill our time and attention.

Many people enjoy camping to get away from the constant electronic hum of modern life, but for better or worse, OG and I are not among them. Next time we lose power, I’m taking him to a hotel!

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com

15 comments:

Margo Hoornstra said...

Great post, Alison. Your OG and mine have s lot in common. Hotel it is! Actually during our last power failure in January, the kids were insisting we come stay with them. We resisted that and actually spent a peaceful evening enjoying the quiet. Although my OG did head out when the utility truck came down our street to provide his take on the situation. To be honest, we'd had dinner and the power was restored sometime in the middle of the night. So it wasn't THAT bad. Glad you survived yours!

Margo Hoornstra said...

Forgot Move ( as I call it) is a VERY good book.

Brenda Whiteside said...

I sympathize. I have another TV husband that would've gone mad on a Sunday. Trouble with power outages is they can't usually tell you just how long it will be. Hot water is a must. Yes, hotel next time.

Jannine Gallant said...

We loose power frequently. The worst time for an entire week, but on that occasion a tree fell on our house so we had the added excitement of damage cleanup to keep us busy... I think it is harder on men, who are sooooo addicted to the TV. I'm pleased to hear my book kept you entertained. Now I'm even happier I sent you the paperback version!

Rolynn Anderson said...

Well said, Alison! We are WAY too dependent on the grid, that's for sure. There's a magazine called OFF THE GRID for people who don't/won't/can't use electricity or water supply from the infrastructure. Very interesting. One of my favorite novels is ALAS, BABYLON, when people are forced to get back to the basics after a catastrophe (but many fail). I often wonder if I'd be a survivor, especially without my computer :-)
Yup, next time get OG to a hotel. Brilliant strategy!

Alison Henderson said...

I don't know if it's our age, or the fact that life has become some much more electronically attached, but this outage was more difficult than the others. The entire county was without power, so we would have had to drive pretty far to find a functioning hotel, but it might have been worth it.

Jannine, the paperback copy was my savior. Thank you!

Mary Morgan said...

Great post, Alison! The longest we went without power was during an ice storm up in Washington. It lasted three long days. Fortunately, we had a gas fireplace and not the electronic one, so we camped out there. That was years ago, but I shudder to think what my husband would do if this happened on a weekend. He loves his football, too. :)

Alison Henderson said...

Three days without power can feel like three weeks. Those old-fashioned gas fireplaces you could turn on with a key and light with a match used to be lifesavers during power outages, Mary. But no more.

Joanne Stewart said...

Great post, Alison. The first time the wind blew out our power...my hubby went out and bought a generator. We now have two, enough to keep the fridge going, to place a light in a bathroom, and run the TV. Our fireplace and hot water are gas, but luckily, we've only ever had to do it for about 6 hours at the longest. We are most definitely addicted to our gadgets, because we don't know what to do when stuck with each other, either. lol

Alison Henderson said...

Six hours is just enough to remind you how attached you are to electricity without pushing you over the edge. And you're so right--we no longer now how to fill our time with just each other!

Diane Burton said...

When our kids were little, we lost power for 5 days. I'd just frozen 10 lbs of blueberries. Couldn't save them. They dribbled down the freezer. Since it was summer, Hubs cooked on the grill. Dry ice was non-existent. Our kids thought it was an adventure. I'm with you, Alison. If it happens again, we're going to a hotel.

Alison Henderson said...

Ten pounds of frozen blueberries? Oh, no! I'm just glad I thought to dump the ice out of the icemaker before it melted all over everything.

Leah St. James said...

I haven't experienced a serious power outage like that since leaving Jersey. But I well remember huddling in sleeping bags, my nose freezing. When I was little , my mom actually bought coal for our fireplace but it was the hard stuff and wouldn't burn. (Well, she tried.) Where I live now, our utilities are underground, and I'm less than a mile from a hospital, so I think we might be in some protected zone. But if we were to lose power for any length of time, IT WOULD BE AWFUL. Just thinking about it makes me shudder! A good book would be a perfect solution. :-)

Alison Henderson said...

Our local utilities are underground, too, Leah. The outage was caused by a giant utility tower many miles away that just fell over. They still haven't figured out why--it was just installed a few months ago.

Susabelle said...

We are addicted, aren't we? In Missouri, where I lived the first 50 years of my life, there were a lot of power outages. We lived in a neighborhood where power was underground, but sometimes the problem was elsewhere, affecting our line in. Now I live in Colorado, in a very self-sufficient town, where the power goes out very seldom. However, I've been known to cook an entire meal on the side burner of my gas grill in a pinch. :) The first power outage we had after moving to Colorado was in the middle of the night, in the middle of a raging snowstorm, the first one of the season, and the first one we'd experienced in Colorado. We stayed snuggled in our beds under blankets, and by the time the sun was coming up, we had power again. I am ever thankful for modern utilities!