Not a Circuit Was Stirring, Not Even a Watt

There are people who deliberately go to some woodsy retreat with no electricity, no central heat, no running water, no phones, and no internet. They call it a vacation. I have had quite enough vacation.

The felled trees on my own property
missed the house

On Friday March 2 there was a moderate snowfall in NJ accompanied by strong winds. Power went out at my house at 1:52 PM. I can pinpoint that thanks to an old-style electric clock that is older than I am; except for power outages and two moves it has been running continuously since 1949 and still keeps excellent time. I didn’t think much about the outage until the hours stretched into days. The windstorm (which in truth didn’t seem all that severe) had taken down trees all over the northern part of the state, closing roads and severing power lines. On Wednesday the 7^th when repair crews were making headway, a heavy snow took down more trees and cut power to thousands more customers. I don’t seem to have been in a high priority area for allocation of repair crews in the days that followed. The lights clicked on about an hour ago.

Second snow: Wednesday the 7th

I’m on a well so there was no running water during this period; I melted snow on the backyard grill to replenish toilet tanks. Given temperatures that ranged from slightly below freezing at night to slightly above freezing in the daytime there was a real risk to the pipes. I drained them when it became clear that the outage would continue more than a couple days, but, despite invitations from friends and family, I chose to stay in my cold dark house every night in case I had taken the precaution too late; once power and water pressure were restored, even in the middle of the night, I wanted to be able immediately to shut off any water lines that had burst lest water do much damage to walls, floors, and the basement ceiling. (So far, so good.) When at home in the daytime (I did go out for lunch and to visit with friends) there was plenty of work for my chain saw, sledge hammer, and wedges; my fireplace was voracious, so keeping up with it by cutting and splitting firewood was a challenge. As for nighttime, I’ve always prided myself on enough of a Zen disposition to enjoy simply being without doing anything in particular. I think I’ve used up my supply of Zen. The novelty of just watching the light from the fireplace flicker on the ceiling wore off a few days into the outage. Nonetheless, overall, it is surprising how little I missed TV, radio, and the internet: they were not unmissed, to be sure, but little missed. I missed light more: reading by candlelight proved impractical. I missed showers even more; so, no doubt, did those who interacted with me. The mail still arrived during the outage, and one of the missives was a bill from JCP&L. “You first,” I muttered.

By the way, I have nothing but respect for the linemen who go out in the worst possible weather and conditions to effect repairs. My grumbles are for management who had the task of judging how much outside help was needed.

It’s hard to pretend that, in an otherwise comfortable home, a week without electricity is a hardship in any but first world terms – though it can be argued that a first world country ought to have a more resilient electrical grid. Nonetheless, it’s enough to make me regard Henry David Thoreau as an ass. It’s also enough to make one remember that a vacation in an isolated woodsy retreat is the set-up to half the horror movies ever made.

Also, the day grows ever closer when I give up on this northern clime of chilly winds for someplace warm in the winter.

   

The Seekers – Chilly Winds