Turn out the lights

I don't know about you, but I used to think I couldn't live without electricity connecting me to the world. It seems I can live, and survive, and maybe not really get used to it or like it, but if I had to do it long enough, I would figure out a system for accessing power for 3 hours a day and be happy. I recently got to experience no electricty for about 56 hours(with a 90 min break at hour 45). It did not kill me. I was bored to tears after the first 12 hours, but then I slowly gave in to the notion and instead of thinking about everything I couldn't do, I focused on what I could do.

Here's what I discovered:
1. I do need light..so candles or a fire, or a lantern are a necessity. I like the mood the candles and fire create, all warm and glowy. Cold and light is okay-cold and dark is not okay.

2. Warm water is a definite...so, thank goodness for the gas grill...or I would have had to create some sort of rig to heat water in the fireplace. I need to have warm water to wash....some things are just a necessity. Warm water followed by warm clothes, heated by the fireplace..

3. I can not over emphasize the power of fleece, down, wool and flannel. Oh, and Under Armour. This combination will maintain body temperature even in the most Arctic conditions. It's true.

4. Electricity means noise....lack of electricty means the absence of noise..and by noise, I mean all the background humming, and beeping, and whirring that we live with 24/7. No power means the natural sounds of living can be heard..both inside and outside, like the wind, like ice melting, like wood crackling and popping.

5. No power means quiet bodies, quiet minds....time passes slowly, in degrees,unhurried, measured in logs on the fire, pages turned, rows knitted. It takes approximately 1 hour to burn an apple tree log about 8 inches in diameter; it takes approximately 30 minutes for a fire burning in the firplace to raise the thermostat 1 degree; it takes approximately 1 hour to knit 16 rows and rip it all out again; and it takes approximately 1 hour to read 40 pages. It only takes a few minutes for eye squinting darkness to become total blackness.

6. 3 hours of power would be enough to satisfy me...an hour in the morning-time to shower, brush and check and send email; time to cook and clean, and time to charge the phone. An hour at midday would re-up the phone and pc juice....and provide the much needed cup of joe; And an hour in the evening would power up the pc for a couple hours of night time use, provide the necessary power to cook and clean up after yourself, and check and send more email.

7. Electricity not only powers light and heat and the Internet, but it creates work....light means tasks can be done deep into the night time darkness; power means dishes can be washed, clothes can be washed..which creates more work; power provides life to the computers, and ipods, and phones, making it necessary to do something with them- for if not to use, why do we have them?

8. Having no power levels the playing field-suddenly all the toys and gadgets are useless; no one has access to the Internet, and no one has real heat or hot water. There exists a calm sense of community with fellow man.

Now, 36 hours later here I sit, on the computer, with my lights on..cell phone beeping, computer whirring, refrigerator hummin, no fire burning, no candles flickering, just the smell of stale wood smoke hanging in the air. I am waiting to cook dinner, and then clean.Here I sit wondering how much laundry is waiting for me, wondering if I should go and turn on all the Christmas candles and lights, feeling as if I should be doing something, instead of relaxing, and listening to the sounds of a December night. I am lucky to be warm. There are many more who are not warm tonight. I wish my power on them.