February 26, 2022 Saturday: What Would You Do With No Power? Things I’ve Learned Living In the Middle of Nowhere.

March 1, 2022

“Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.”

Jay’s Pun-A-Day calendar

We have power and the ice is gone and now it’s snowing. The power hasn’t gone out for a while now, so we were rusty, and having to use our backup generator and fireplace reminded us just how important power really is. When we first moved here, it went off quite a bit and the transfer to generator went a little more smoothly, mostly because Jay had the foresight to have an electrician set up out most necessary things ready to go on a special grid that can easily be transferred to generator power. We haven’t had to use it in a while and had to refresh our memories. What did we determine our essentials to be? Minimal lighting and outlets in our family room, kitchen and one bedroom. Water pump, so we can use the water and toilet and so that the alpacas have water. Furnace. Minimal outlets in our kitchen for refrigerator, microwave and select outlets. Garage door so we can get out to get gas for generator if need be. There are a few more things, but think about it. What is important to you? If your power goes out, what could you NOT do that you take for granted because you have had dependable energy up until the power goes out? Just think of one that we all have in common-using the bathroom. In the winter. Inside. Or heat at this time of year. I’m thinking basics, but if everyone works from home these days, could you work? If you don’t have dependable power, could you go to a local library or somewhere that had power? How could you get there if there isn’t dependable transportation or you can’t afford gas in your car? If you depend on teaching online classes, could you broadcast them? Online shop? How would it affect you? Could you offer free shipping anymore? How would you get orders?

Power. As the scripture verse above says, with Him, we have power through faith. It’s all in His hands and His plan. Is this a way for Him to show us that the devil is still working here through always causing conflict?

But Power in the energy sense? It runs the world. Who are the powerful countries? Those who supply power to their own citizens and have enough to export to other countries, generating income and jobs for their own people. Yes, doing it in a responsible way is so important and as a country, the USA has up until the past 2 years been better than any other at it. We were also energy independent for the first time in a long time. We had a strong economy and many of us had the ability and freedom to help others, because we had the means. But, our current administration has decided that it’s better to disable our own country’s clean dependable power and make us the bad guys. How is that working? Now we have unemployment, inflation, and worst of all, are in a weak spot. WE buy gas and oil from Russia and did as of yesterday! What? We are essentially financing this attack by buying oil from Russia. We HAVE OUR OWN. I don’t get it. Putin must be laughing. European countries are hesitant to implement sanctions because they also buy energy from Russia because they were convinced that the green new deal was the way to go. I guess it’s ok to buy dirty energy (in all senses), you just can’t have your own clean energy. That’s a no no. Putin has a plan, whether it’s working, who knows, while our country focuses on interesting things like identity politics and the military is consumed with combat uniforms for pregnant soldiers, who may or may not be women and giving people who aren’t citizens the right to vote in our elections to decide for people who are.

When our power went out, we were reminded of why dependable power is so important. When it came back on, I tuned in again to the news and here’s what boggles my mind and I guess because we are watching this in real time, I’m having such a hard time comprehending it. It’s 2022 and people in an essentially western style modern country are fighting a ground war. Engaging in urban combat. In a modern city. Grandmothers and grandfathers and people of all ages and backgrounds are defending their beloved country. Prepared to die. People with grit and courage. Their leader is right there with them. President Zelensky is a real leader and is staying right there with his people. He hasn’t left. I didn’t really understand the importance of NATO in all of this but do now and why Russia didn’t want Ukraine to be a part of it.

Another amazing thing is that Ukrainians still have internet, power and water as of now. Though many with children are evacuating, kids as young as 14 are fighting and armed. They instituted an emergency draft, but citizens are volunteering and standing up to Putin. They’re not going down without a fight and thanks to the previous administration have the missiles to fight back.

Reminds me of a young country a few centuries ago. How about a revisit to this group of gritty individuals who fought for freedom during the American Revolutionary War.

But I know that the reason you read this is not for this, but to hear about my boring life. What did I do with limited power? Thankfully it was only out for a few hours, so I was able to tend my herd and a few other things that didn’t require power and once we had the generator on, we found that certain things we had rearranged weren’t plugged into the original outlets and created a surge when we used them on generator power. Like the coffee maker. When I tried to make my coffee, it was too much. It took trying different circuits to find the best fit. Once the dependable power came on, I rearranged the location, which lead to to rearrangement of everything-dishes, drawers, Jay’s snack cabinet! Poor Jay! He never knows where anything will be, but now it makes a lot more sense and is one less thing to think about if the power goes out again, because face it, we need our coffee, and it will. We had been exploring having a whole house generator because years ago, it went out more, but over the years, our service got better and we felt we didn’t need it, but now? Might not be a bad idea.

I think this is a wake up call. What do you think is important? What can you give up? The power to your electronics? Your car? Think long and hard. Access to the information is what keeps us going and for that we need dependable power. Do you make sure that your cell phone is always charged? Do you always assume that you’ll have water? Can you imagine living your life on a generator? You still need oil or gas to run it and you need to go get it. Oh enough of this!