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Saturday, June 6, 2020

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.

38 comments:

  1. Toby looks like he's supervising your housework very well.

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  2. Hari OM
    The battery died on my ticking clock... I realised I am glad of the silence... YAM xx

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  3. What a perfect shot of Da Boss.

    Glad you have your power back!

    XO
    WWW

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  4. I quite like power outages, as long as they happen during the daytime. The silence is a treat.

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  5. Years ago I had to take a teaspoon of the contents of the vaccuum to an allergist. What I took him was a teaspoon of dirty cat hair. I love your idea of giving it to the birds.
    Poor Toby. Poor, poor Toby. Lucky Toby.

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  6. I'm so relieved you got your power back. It's always such a worry for us since I'm worried about food spoilage, etc.

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  7. Snap! I had bread and butter with peanut butter for my lunch sandwich. I wasn't hungry enough to make up a salad, but I knew if I didn't eat I'd be snacking all afternoon. I dislike being without electricity when it is hot enough or cold enough to need the air-conditioning turned on, otherwise it isn't so bad, since I have batteries for the radio and a camping lamp along with plenty of books. I do miss being able to make a hot drink in winter if the power goes out.

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  8. You found plenty of things to do without electricity; good for you. It's always a relief when it comes back on, though. Is a number 4 clipper blade going to leave Toby with more hair or less hair than usual??

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  9. Good you could still weave with the power out!

    betty

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  10. Better to loose electricity during the daytime and when it's not cold... but still a b***h... got to have toast and coffee!!

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  11. Sorry about the electricity or lack of, but the end of this post made me laugh out loud.

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  12. A house without power - planned or otherwise- always seems like a cold house.
    I can have hot drinks and cook with my gas stove.....and have heat at a push by turning the oven on and leaving the door open. No hot water unless I boil the kettle is a pain and I'll admit to using candles at a push for light
    Like River said, air conditioning in the summer certainly needs the electric turned on. Time for the library or shopping centre when that happens!

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  13. A well written, wry, amusing piece, Joanne. i really enjoyed reading it. And I hope the sparrows appreciated your largesse!

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  14. YOur post is a good reminder to keep a few jugs of water in the bathroom, where ther'e room.

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  15. Puss doesn’t know what’s coming!

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  16. Sorry you power went out but glad it returned! That turquoise is stunning.

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  17. Glad you were not without for too long.
    I work by my own power like you. It is I suppose a little empowerment!
    How many people now could not cope atall without power?

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  18. We have a cardboard box of things that are useful during a powercut - wind up torch, candles, camping gas stove. We can always make a hot drink. It's been needed all to often lately.

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  19. Joanne-powered machines don't need no stinkin' electricity!

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  20. Power out... is the worst. At least here you can have toast on the AGA. Glad it was't off too long.

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  21. One year Baltimore Gas and Electric announced that it would be shutting off our power from 9 AM to 3 PM on Wednesday. The Wednesday happened to be the day before Thanksgiving. They heard plenty from their irate customers and wisely reconsidered.

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  22. Luckily we've had very few outages since we moved to this house 11 years ago. But they're a pain in the arse when they occur.

    We have loads of those little orange flowers on our lawn. Like you, I've no idea what they are.

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  23. I never thought about being able to weave (you not untrained me) without electricity. Your post just gave me something to try. I'm going to call the operator and ask about getting phone numbers.

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  24. an update - I just dial 0 and got a recording instructing me on various numbers 911, 411, *611 etc.

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  25. Have you been running your air conditioner? I hate it when the power goes off during a hot spell. We've been in the 90's and turned ours on. It does not sound like it was a good day. I hope today has been much better!

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  26. Your day sure didn't start out well. Power outages are absolutely scary. We had one (in S. california) that happened in the worst hotspell. People were even sitting outside in front yards, which is unheard of here.

    Good luck, Tobt,

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  27. That's half an inch. He's going to be so cold.

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    1. I bet it's an inch of Toby, and he hates summer, so he may even thank me.

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  28. The last time we had a power outage here, it was while I was out and came home to see devices flashing.

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  29. Always irritating when the power goes out. Even more annoying is talking to the electric company's automatic answer machine, I think. Still, being able to continue with something you enjoy without power is a bonus. And, it wasn't 95 degrees outside!

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