Remembering when the water ran out 
Last evening, The lights went out. Just after supper had been served which is not a big problem because I know how to use a fork but I was very worried about missing the weather forecast. Of course, the Genny kicked in within seconds and life went back to normal. But I remembered when just after we had moved into the house something similar happened. This was before the generator had been installed and we had visitors over from the other side. From the shower the announcement that we had run out of water. Now that is not how it actually works but in the absence of electricity our pump does not bring water up from the bottom of the well to the house so we need it. Just one more reaffirmation that a generator would probably be a good idea going forward. We are now heading into a second decade of ultimate comfort. You know that I like to revisit the time of my grandparents when they would have gone out to the well and brought up more cold water. And then heat that water on the wood stove. I think we have a better solution now. For those of you who live in large areas where the electricity almost never runs out you cannot know the pain of having everything in the house stop. With the minor exception of the doors and windows. I did get my evening weather and it told me that it would be wet overnight and that it would freeze which it did but I look at the choices we’ve made in this house and I pat myself on the back. We planned ahead. We knew that things would not always be available. Case in point the lights and the water. And although the generator seemed at the time like a major expense it has proved in hindsight to have been worthwhile. Like that time when the wind blew for far too long and knocked everything out for over a week. Except for the lights in the water. I suppose that I could always go back to living in a tent. Closing my eyes at sunset rising with the new sun and kicking the campfire back into form. I don’t want to, so I won’t.
