Saturday, February 04, 2006

Wind Storm

It was definitely "a blustery day Pooh" as Christopher Robin would say. We actually had a high wind warning from the National Weather Service for all of Saturday, and I think it was richly deserved. We could hear the wind blowing throughout the night, and then when we got up this morning we noticed that the power had been out for a few hours. All morning the trees were whipping back and forth, and the road was littered with downed branches. Luckily, our house seems to be safe and snug. Finally, around noon, the power went out again. When you lose power in our area, the stoplights simply stop working. No flashing red, and no warning that something is wrong. As a result people don't quite seem to know how to behave. We saw more than one person just blow through a light without even seeming to notice.

When I lived in the countryside the power would go out all the time, and sometimes it would stay off for a day, or two days, or even more. However, it was kind of a different story because we were not so helpless as we are here. Our house had a woodstove for cooking and heating, and we always had big supplies of firewood, food, and water. More than anything, losing power just didn't seem to bother people the way it does here. Still, nothing can ever make cold, dark showers anything other than awful. Luckily, the whole thing only lasted about five hours, and we are able to warm and digital once again.

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