Dependency

I was amused: The other day, Tuesday I believe it was, Tony and I arrived home after a brief, but powerful thunderstorm. As I drove into the driveway of my home, I did what I usually do. I pressed the remote control to open garage door. The door did not respond, so I pressed it again. Again, there was no response. I guessed correctly that the power had been knocked out by the storm.

Cooling off naturally
Earlier in the day, the temperature had a warm 85 degrees. After the storm blew through, the temperature had slid down to a very pleasant 65. Naturally, since there was no electricity, the air conditioner units were not working and the house was a bit warm. I went and opened a few windows and allowed the cool, fresh breezes to have circulate throughout the house. It was quite pleasant and there’s nothing quite like the smell of the air after a good cleansing thunderstorm. Delicious!

As there was no electricity, that meant that nearly everything in the house was nonfunctional. It’s amazing how much we depend upon ‘the grid’ to get things done. So, as the daylight was waning, I simply opened the blinds, promptly sat in my favorite place on the couch and started reading a book while the breeze continued to blow and those wonderful smells continued to drift through the window.

Try matches!
What I found amusing was that Tony, my son, was hungry and wanted to cook something to eat, but seemed to be thwarted by this lack of electricity. He asked could we go out and get something to eat because we didn’t have a way to heat anything. Mind you, we have a gas stove, but it has an electronic spark generator, which is of no use when the electricity is off. So, I let him flounder for a bit before suggesting that he try lighting a match, turning on the burner, and applying the match to the gas. It worked! Old school rules! His next challenge was that the kitchen was growing a bit murky in the waning evening light. Another suggestion, opening blinds, quickly brought results!

Lastly, after getting something to eat he intoned that he couldn’t do anything because we didn’t have electricity. Well, there I was sitting and reading a book. I mentioned that he might want to do his homework, using those ancient artifacts of pencil and paper and also reminded him that he had a book to finish reading, all of which could be done without electricity. He wasn’t amused!

The laptop stays at home!
It’s funny to see how dependent we can become on technology. Just the thought of traveling to Utah without my laptop and extra camera brings up a little bit of trepidation, but it’s quite ridiculous, IMHO. I’ve certainly survived without these items before and will do so again … this coming week.

So, my friends, I’ll catch up with you in a week or so. My next post will probably be June 2nd. I’m really excited about getting to see the Grand Canyon … It will be my first time. I can write about it when I get back … if I have any electricity!

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