Lights Out

  

    The power at our house went out about 20 minutes ago. I was in the middle of writing this column when the computer flickered for a few minutes, then went blank. I freaked out  because I was just starting to write. How was I going to get this done? I mentally kicked myself. I knew I should have done this in the morning. I should have got up earlier and done it. If I’d done that  then I wouldn’t be stewing over the power outage right now.

    I didn’t do that though. I had to figure out what to do. Maybe I could use the laptop. No, I couldn’t do that. C was using it for some Toastmaster business. What else could I do? Then I realized that I could use my IPad. It wasn’t going to be the best choice, but it was all I had. I got it out and started to load my program on it. It wasn’t working. It wasn’t connected to the internet. Of course, the modem runs on electricity and we didn’t have any. Fortunately, C’s phone can act as a hotspot. He got the hotspot up and I connected to it. I got onto my program when the cats started making terrible noises.

   Colby and Scamp don’t usually make terrible noises so I checked on them. They were chasing each other back and forth. Ok, no problem. They are just having a little cat tussle. Scamp turned and ran downstairs. I heard him howl. I followed him down stairs turning on the basement light as I followed him. That was a silly thing to do. The power is off. Scamp was outside the laundry room where the litterboxes are. He looked nervous. It was dark  and I couldn’t see what was going on. I  ran upstairs for a flashlight. I shined the flashlight into the room and looked around. What could be scaring the cats? Then I saw it. We have an old automatic litter box. After a cat uses it, a rake is activated and it scoops the litter into a container. When the power goes on it automatically rakes. Since the power flickered it was stuck open. That’s what was scaring Scamp. 

   Electricity is something that we take for granted. It occurred to me that if the power didn’t come on within the next few hours, we will not be able to cook dinner. We have a gas stove and oven but sparker that lights the burners is electric. I suppose we could do it manually. I’m not that brave. We also have to be careful about opening the freezer and refrigerator. Since we don’t know how long the power will be off we have to keep the door closed so that the inside temp stays cool.

   C wondered why the house was getting warm inside. No air conditioner, it runs on electricity. That’s all right. He opened a few windows. Fortunately, we don’t watch much TV. C got out his guitar and started to play.

   I looked over at the cats’ water dish. It is actually a fountain that cycles water in the dish. It was running. That means the power is back on.

   I was relieved. I wouldn’t have to worry about dinner. I wouldn’t have to worry about finding more flashlights or some candles when it gets dark out. I wouldn’t have to worry about C having to “sleep” without his CPAP. ( It runs on electricity.)

   I mentally thanked the employees that fix things when the power goes off.  They are wonderful and probably don’t get the credit they deserve. 

   If anyone reading this works for the power company, thank s for getting my lights back on.