As I type this at a little bit after 3:00 p.m., my household has passed 111 hours without electricity. What is more, my neighbor and all those down the rural road have power. It is as if our house is the only house in the area without power. While we have not received any sort of official statement from our electric company, it is as if our house has been deliberately disconnected because of tree limbs so close to the power lines.
I guess in theory if the limbs snap, everyone on the grid goes dark so it is better to just leave our house dark rather than risk 20 other houses. This leads me to believe that we now move down to the bottom of the priority list. Which means this could go on for another week. Maybe two. Because chances are the crews have already moved on to other areas and would have to work backwards to get to us.
When this all occurred last night, I told myself that I had a small window of opportunity. Either they get it turned on by 5:00 p.m. or we will be out of power for at least another week.
I’m writing this at 3:31. We still have no power. Which means… I’m fucked.
And while we now have a generator to power the house, I cannot afford the fifteen gallons of gas required to power this thing for a 24 hour period.
And while we now have a generator to power the house, I cannot afford the fifteen gallons of gas required to power this thing for a 24 hour period.
I want to shut off the water to the house at the meter, leave the faucets all wide open to bleed off water and pressure in the lines and just move out of the house for a week. I would rather refugee in a family member’s house because I ran out of money last week and I don’t get paid until Monday. So unless the gas stations start taking blood or kidneys, I’m screwed six ways from Sunday.
I knew that if we got power on today, I would be able to look back on the situation, see that we survived it, and laugh about it. Now, I’m ready to snap mentally and go on a killing spree.
It’s funny how your priorities change when your life gets fouled up. Right now, all I want is to sit down from a hot, illuminated shower to have a hot dinner made from real food, drink ice cold water, in the glow of an overhead light, with my TV on, and an Internet connection humming away. I want all of those things happening at the same time. Give me that for one night and I think I could manage.
It’s funny how your priorities change when your life gets fouled up. Right now, all I want is to sit down from a hot, illuminated shower to have a hot dinner made from real food, drink ice cold water, in the glow of an overhead light, with my TV on, and an Internet connection humming away. I want all of those things happening at the same time. Give me that for one night and I think I could manage.
But until then, I’m ready to start slitting my wrists…
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