On Saturday, February 25, I posted a few impressions from the middle of a blackout which affected hundreds of thousands of people in Michigan, maybe over a a million. Two days later, on Monday, February 27, the power came back on.
And it stayed on for four whole days, until Friday, March 3. There had been a big snowstorm overnight, and when I opened my eyes in the morning, the red LED clock that sits close to my face as I sleep was out.
This time it was much warmer than the previous blackout. Once again it seemed our whole block was affected. As late morning came on, my major problem personally was caffeine withdrawal. There was no way to heat water in my place. I headed off to a steakhouse, the nearest place that would have coffee. Google maps says it was a 4/10 of a mile walk. It didn't feel that long. The biggest problem was finding dry sidewalk or street to walk on amid huge piles of melting snow.
On the way to the steakhouse I could see kids sledding down two hills in the public park nearby. On the smaller of the two hills, smaller kids were not moving very fast. Bigger kids were really zooming down the bigger hill. Near the steakhouse, people said there they had had no interruption in power.
The steakhouse was sort of like a return to my childhood: rural Midwest, 50 years ago. The coffee was nothing fancy. It was what people used to call "Joe." But it was strong, the waitress was very nice and she kept it coming, and after I while I decided to have some eggs Benedict. They make a big serving of eggs Benedict. I walked home in a much better mood than I had been in walking out, with the caffeine energy competing with sleepiness from a huge meal in a very pleasant way.
It wasn't nearly as cold as the previous blackout, but that night it was plenty cold enough. The next day, most of the snow blocking my car in had melted. I dug out the rest and headed to the library, and to the coffee shop adjacent to the library, or, actually, IN the library, which makes a great almond-milk mocha latte.
This library is where people come to warm up and charge up their phones and laptops during blackouts. And that's exactly what I was doing when I got an email telling me that Amazon had made a delivery back at my place. I looked around for a photo of the delivery on the Amazon website, and sure enough: the package was outside, right next to the door of the enclosed porch, instead of inside that door, as is my standing request, and as Amazon does most of the time.
I've never had a package stolen when it was left outside like that. I've never heard of any such thefts anywhere near my home. But anyone who is obsessive-compulsive will understand that that doesn't matter. I had to return home immediately to get that package inside before someone stole it or an unexpected downpour got it wet, or some huge stray dog picked it up between his jaws and began to to carry it west toward Nebraska.
I retrieved the package. I changed into clean clothes. I was ready to return to the library for more warmth and wifi and recharging when I noticed that the sun was shining very brightly into the living room. Then it occurred to me that it was strange for the living room to be all lit up at that time of day -- and THEN it occurred to me that I had left the living-room light on, and that my electricity was back.
And the electricity meant that I could get my laptop online from home -- except that now my Internet was out. My brother called to see how I was, I told him: fine, except for the Internet. He suggested calling tech support. Sure enough, just like that, after two calls to tech support, BAM, my Internet was back.
Some people who, like me, favor big changes in the local energy structure, such as massive adoption of rooftop solar, are hopeful that blackouts will win people to our cause. While I certainly agree that massive adoption of rooftop solar would both help prevent these blackouts, and keep more people warm during blackouts (besides things like cutting way down on pollution and greenhouse gasses from electricity generated from Koch Industries coal), I don't see a lot of local people saying the same things. Solar energy remains far from widespread in Michigan. I think we've got a lot of hard work to do in changing public opinion.
in my sleep.
which would follow the original word-for-word with one exception: the word "thing" would always be replaced by "vagina." This also would apply to "something," "anything" and "everything." Just think about it: "There are a lot of vaginas in this world." "Some vagina is wrong. I can feel it." "Let me know if there's any vagina I can do." "Hold on! I'm doing every vagina I can!" You know this one is brilliant.