The things we take for granted...

Electricity, for instance, and the many things that provides, chief among them being heat. I expect to come home to a warm, well lit house at the end of the day, and never really give it a second thought. I expect a warm shower, easy access to hot meals, and a number of those other kinds of comforts. They just aren't something that are at the forefront of my mind to be grateful for. Well, they weren't until last night, anyhow.

If you live in the Northeast, or pay attention to national weather/news, you know that we in the Northeast got hit with a rather significant winter storm over the weekend. Some of you midwesterners may have seen it before we got it. Anyhow, in southcentral PA, what we got was a rather nasty ice storm. I came through the initial storm just fine. I did lose power for a bit overnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning, but it was back on shortly after I woke up on Sunday morning, so no harm, no foul.

However, the storm left behind a layer of ice on most trees and power lines, which is not a good combination. That alone might not have been the worst thing in the world, however, nightfall last night brought in 30+ MPH winds, which spelled doom for many trees and powerlines that were already much too heavy from the weight of the ice, most of which the day had not been warm enough to melt. My power went off at about 7:30 pm last night, and based on my one clock that remembers the time but doesn't update it during a power outage, it was out for about 19 hours, coming back on about an hour and a half ago, shortly before I got home from work.

Now, in the grand scheme of things, a 19 hour blackout isn't all that significant. There are many folks around here who will be without power into tomorrow, possibly beyond. And I've heard of people being out of power for a week or more in the middle of winter following an ice storm, so in some senses I can count my blessings. However, as one who had never been throught a sustained power outage of any kind before (at least not since I've been on my own), it was a rather disconcerting experience, especially given that it is now winter. Watching the temperature indoors plummet over night and having virtually nothing you can do about it is a less than wonderful time, to say the least, especially when you have no clue when the power will be coming back on. Knowing that the daytime was only going to bring about a 5 degree increase in the outdoor temperature didn't help my mood any either.

It was all a relatively tame reminder of how little control I actually have, despite all my best efforts. A little bit of frozen water (far from the vilest thing nature can throw at me) rendered me rather pathetic and sad. It also brought to light a lack of preparedness for such an occurance on my part. Thankfully, that lesson came rather tamely this time, and is one I don't plan on having to learn again.