Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Electricity

The remnants of Hurricane Ike came through my end of Western Pennsylvania and we lost power Sunday night, Sept. 14. Fifteen minutes later, a wind sheer took down a one hundred foot branch of an ancient maple tree. That branch broke the power lines behind my house. Since there are only four residence from that pole to the end of the line--you guessed it--we were among the last to get our power restored. That happened 6 days later (or 144 hours as my husband pointed out) on Saturday night. Luckily we have a camper and so "roughing it" wasn't really that bad for us, but taking a shower in the camper's tiny unit was the pits. After the power came back on, it took me three days to get household chores caught up, the camper cleaned out, and back online. But this ordeal was a reminder: we don't fully appreciate all the things electricity does to make our life easier and entertaining until we have to make do without it.

Catherine