A day without electricity does not start well

I went to bed late, and have done so too many nights in a row. This morning I gave in and turned off the alarm. Back to sleep. Then my phone began chattering. Strangled ringing noises. I sat straight up and it was 8:20 in the a.m. according to my atomic clock.

Groan, groan, groan, I sat up and resolved to get up, at least to see what was on the mind of the phone. Bathroom first, and the flush sounded a little whishy. Washy, even. Flipped the light switch. Nothing. Nada. Nil. No way to start a belated day.

Water in the pitcher, and I could rinse my teeth. I dressed even more slowly than usual, right up to nine, when I called my sister. We can be sure she was up at six, and probably even at McDonalds for breakfast.

"What's the phone number for Ohio Edison?"

"I don't know; can't you look on your bill?"

"I haven't had an electric bill for ten years. Nor a phone book."

"Oh! I'll look on my phone and call you back."

She did that, and now Ohio Edison is among my contacts. I called to report the outage. The entire transaction was handled by an automated voice that knew all the right answers. Except one. My line would be repaired by ten a.m., June 6th. I even looked at my phone calendar to be sure of the date, since ten a.m. was half an hour down the line.

Around eleven I called my neighbor. Cathy was out of power, too, the difference between us only that she has been up since seven, She actually saw the power quit as she left to go shopping, and called in the outage then. When she called for an update, noon was the expected return to service.

So, I took care of the cat, slowly. By ten it was apparent there would be no toast for breakfast. This truly was the worst part of the day. Bread and butter and peanut butter are an awful substitute.

The I took the vacuum to the porch, to empty. Why waste a canister of cat hair on the land fill when I can give it to so many sparrows for nests. No power yet, so I got the scissors and cut another canister of cat hair from around the brush roller. The joys of a long, long hair cat.

The view over the banister. When I was through with the cat hair, I snipped the spent buds, so more can bloom another day.

Still no power, so I took to weaving. Just like a forebearer. Take that, Ohio Ed. I still can weave!

The clock on the studio wall made an attention getting noise. Probably like a cell phone ringing in the concert hall. Definitely the sound of the second hand going tic-tic-tic.

Time to run the vacuum. That takes me a long time, cane in one hand, vacuum in the other, shifting the damn cord. But, I got done, well into the afternoon. The cat was amused.

"Foolish woman!" Little does he know, on June 24th he will visit the vet, to be updated and certified. Then on July 1st, he will visit the groomer. I specified number 4 clippers this time.

Foolish cat.