When we lose our electricity

A week or two ago a storm blew through the country in Nebraska, the Sandhills, where I grew up. From every indication it was supposed to be a real blizzard and it was. It snowed and blew like crazy. I think some weather reports said there were gusts up to like 60 miles an hour. But even with the wind and the snow there was an even more pressing problem. It was warm enough when it started to get cold and snow, everything was coated with ice. Some of the electric lines had what looked like 2 to 3 inches of ice on them.

The power poles simply couldn't hold up the weight, especially under the strength of the wind. There was something like 200 power poles that were broken off in western Nebraska alone. Countless individuals lost their power. My brother ended up being without power for eight days. Down here in Missouri, we might lose power for a few hours or a couple days, but nothing like eight days. My brother ended up purchasing a new generator when he couldn't get his older generator to work.

So how does being without power affect one? One thing for sure is when you are on your own well service being without power leaves you without water. No water. Mick, my brother, didn't have water for those eight days. Where I grew up though, most people have windmills that pump water for their cattle. One could take buckets and such and collect water at the windmills and then haul it home. At least you would have drinking water. Most of the time we don't have to worry about losing our water here in Scott City. The city has generators in case we lose power to pump the water. Scott City also has a water tower. But if we were to have a catastrophic type earthquake, we might lose our water service. We might be days or weeks without water service.

But no water means there is no bathroom. Back when I was little, we didn't have indoor plumbing so we had a two-hole outhouse up towards the barn. I still don't know why there were two holes. I'd bet there never was two people in that outhouse ever. Back in the 1950s we used a pitcher pump to pump our water. Back then no power didn't affect our drinking water or using the outhouse. But in modern America, no water and no indoor plumbing creates a problem. We have gotten soft today. We like to walk up to the sink and fill our cups or go to the indoor outhouse. I guess I'm wondering what would we do if we didn't have either?

But no power also means our central heat and the AC aren't going to work. My brother and some of our friends up in Nebraska lost power in the dead of winte,r when heat is vital. Many up where I grew up have installed wood heat and many also have the old propane Warm Morning type stoves. A blower sure makes both more efficient ,but both will shuck out heat without power. My question is: What would we do here if we lost power in the winter? Probably get cold. A few have wood heat, but most here in our area rely on natural gas heaters. But with the danger of a massive earthquake happening here, we could lose our natural gas service for an extended length of time.

Any hint of a storm and most everyone in our area heads to the store to stock up on bread and milk. I guess many are figuring that they can exist if they have both. My first thought was milk toast, but many today probably haven't had milk toast. One thing for sure, our electric toasters won't work without power. I guess one could put toast in the broiler and toast it. I do have an oven that fits on the Coleman gas stove.

The old cook stoves when I was growing up all had pilot lights, but the new cook stoves all have electronic igniters which rely on electricity. My brother has a propane cook stove which relies on electronic igniters, but he can manually light the burners. My one sister lives in an all-electric home, but she didn't lose power so she was good to go.

We rely on natural gas where we live, and we have a gas range. It has electronic igniters, but we can manually light them. In the drawer right beside the cook stove is a couple boxes of the old wooden matches just in case. Most of the old wooden matches are the kind you have to scratch on the box, but we also have some that will ignite on any surface. I still remember some of the old timers would start the wooden matches on their thumb nail. Always thought that was cool until I broke off a chunk of the light tip, and it stuck under my thumbnail.

But then if worst comes to worst, we can break out the old two-burner Coleman stove and cook on it. I cooked many a meal on that old portable cooktop. Probably my favorite meal was to either brown some hamburger and onions and then add pork and beans or to brown some onions, add some cut up hot dogs and pork and beans. I still enjoy a simple meal of a little meat and pork and beans. I used to like a name brand pork and beans, but last few years my favorite hands down is Showboat P&Bs. Man they are good.

I was talking to my brother, and he said the evenings got pretty darn long. There isn't much one can do in candle light or with a flashlight. He said he had been doing some reading in the evenings, but he didn't have enough light to read very well. One suggestion would have been to break out his cell phone and spend the evening on Facebook. Only problem was he didn't have cell phone service. Most of the cell towers in the area had lost power and didn't work. His land line relied on electricity so it was dead.

Back a few years when I was hunting where there was no power, I'd fix supper right at dark. And after I'd eaten supper and cleaned up, I went to bed kind of like the old timers did. The worst part of going to bed with the chickens is you wake up at a ridiculous time in the morning. But after a couple cups of the percolated Folgers coffee, I was good for the rest of the day.

Losing our power kind of jolts us and causes us to appreciate all the luxuries we kind of overlook and really don't rejoice over. I think it does us good to periodically do without so that we can be thankful when we have an abundance.