Keeping an eye on things
One easy way to get a sense of the risks associated with city life is to read the police reports. We have one real city within easy driving distance. On their Twitter feed, today, a head’s up that two coyotes were spotted wandering along a particular road. I will keep that in mind.
Actually I do live in an area with coyotes. During the last few years, I have seen a number of coyotes. And almost no police officers. Coincideence? If your constables have the time to send tweets about the wild animals seen while on patrol, your city is safe.
I can’t own every gadget, nor should I. Looking at ads for a wifi gadget that would attach to the generator, allowing me to verify the status of genny, from afar. Where I live, we call on a nearby neighbor for those details. I’m trying to see what the utility would be, to learn that the generator hadn’t started during a power outage. What do people do? Wait for an email, and then haul extra fuel home? Would I want to pay a firm to surveil genny in my absence? (No). And what aabout the cellphone bill for the service? I’ll continue with the hands’ on effort of my guy up the road. He might not have any extra propane around, but that’s a detail. As for the doubtful utility of not naving to go outside during a storm to restart the beige beast, I think I can handle the effort. Maybe when I am (much) older, but we’re not there yet. Perhaps the grid will be more robust by then.
