Blogging Melodrama

Where were you when the lights went Out?

Last night (January 16, 2006) around 8:00 pm a tree fell across some power lines into a transformer and cut all power in this area. BOOM!
Ever hear a transformer go out? Sparks fry the wires and the lines dance with electricity. Flames jump on the wires and it looks like fire crackers are going off.Now add to that high winds and rain.Boy! Aren't you glad you aren’t a line person for an electric company? I am. I believe I'd rather have any other job at that particular time. We discovered this morning they were worried about surrounding trees catching on fire. Note: Gossip put the transformer on the hill up behind my apartment and the tree that fell, I was told, could have rolled down the hill knocking down more trees onto our parking lot and onto our cars which would have blocked ingress and egress from this complex. Fire trucks would have a bitch of a time putting out a fire in that instance.

The only thing that might have helped them was the fact we've had 33 days of rain. BUT! In actuality I read the paper today ( January 19th, 2006) and it was reported a 70-foot Hemlock fell across lines on 1st street toward the local market on 1st and Willapa Ave. So the small town gossip hotline was just a city block off when talking about the local disaster.
That night I was completely unaware of the potential fire danger. ---- I prayed before I fell asleep, "Lord, Thank you for blessing me." Boy did he ever bless us all!I was stumbling around in the dark trying to find some candles and some means of lighting them. I quit smoking 12 years ago, so I don’t have matches or lighters around in abundance. Once that obstacle was overcome I decided to take a nice hot bath before the water turned cold; thanks God for leaving us with water; at least we still have a means of flushing.I rather enjoyed my candle lit bath. No phone to pester me, no neighborhood music blaring, no loud stomping and playing of kids up too late, no one running up and down the stairs to apartments, no lights shining in the bedroom windows. Nope, it was nice and quiet and peaceful after the BOOM! But I noticed how much our lives revolve around electric now days. There are stacks of music, and movies for entertainment, refrigerators and freezers that preserve stores of food, lights, locks and heat to keep us warm and safe. Alarms to warn us and wake us. We've become too dependent upon electricity.So I took that little blessing as a sign to get my camping equipment back in order.

• I need to purchase a camp stove that will run on canned fuel capable of being used safely in/out-doors.


• I need more candles and batteries and a wind-up clock.


• I need to remember to keep bags of ice in the freezers to help keep what food stuff I have in them save from getting below safe temperatures which would cause me to loose all the back up food I have.


• I need to have some back up water supply on a shelf; in case the water goes out.

I hope this little incident will help you to think out what you might need for your own comfort and survival.God bless you all as we were blessed that night when the power went out. It could have been a REALLY BAD disaster, instead it was only a temporary inconvenience.

Labels: Editorial Comment

posted by Jan myrz @ 5:50 PM