Electronic Gadgets

I talk about ours a lot. Some people have asked me, "What is a three-seasons room?" It's a room that’s not heated. Instead, a door closes the space off from the house to keep the warm air inside the house during extreme weather. We only use these rooms during fair weather in the spring, summer, and fall. (Thus, the name, three-seasons room.) The room also has a lot of windows. In our case, over ninety percent of the three exterior walls have large windows.
Having so many windows give us an open view of the yard, the woods, and the wildlife that passes through. However, without heat, the windows make the room colder in the winter. We use our three-seasons room more than we anticipated. Leaving the door open allows some heat to circulate into the room. Albeit chilly, it's a comfy room to sit in with an afghan, throw or fleece blanket. Or better yet, curled up with a warm dog or cat.
My dog Nova Mae and I fell asleep on the futon in our three-seasons room while watching old episodes of M*A*S*H. I woke up cold at six in the morning, even under the blankets, with Nova sleeping snuggly at my side.
Outside, the wind was strong. I could hear every gust pressing on the windows and doors as if trying to get into the house. The wind howling over our chimney cap channeled its sound down the flue and through our woodstove; it sent a lonesome chill through me.
The television was dark, so I assumed my wife had turned it off before bed. I looked out the windows into the frigid dark morning.
I saw bright beams of light flickering through the pine trees on the west side of our corner lot. Were these UFOs? It looked more like someone was walking down the road with a flashlight, shining it into the branches.
Through the window, I can see into our kitchen. The soft blue light from the appliance clocks was not glowing. I started putting the pieces together: it's cold because the furnace is not running. The TV is off, and the appliance clocks aren't glowing. Conclusion: our electricity is out. It took a bit to figure this out because I was very sleepy.
Nova declined my offer to come under the blanket. Instead, she kept watching the strange lights in the trees. Finally, I pulled the covers over my head, returning to my slumber. There was no need to report the outage to Cooperative Light & Power because the lights I saw were their crews looking for a bad fuse, a blown transformer, or a downed power line.
Nova moved to the other side of the futon, and I rolled over. I could tell she was sitting up, looking out the window. I pulled the covers off my head and looked out the window this cold is a blessing… with her. The crews had moved to the northeast side of our property, again shining their spotlights into our trees. Nova was concerned when they started a chainsaw in the dark. "It's okay, baby girl," I assured her. "They're working to restore our power."
The crew only cut for a few minutes, then shut off the saw. "That's a good thing, they must have found the problem,” I said to my dog. “Now go back to sleep." Apparently, it was an easy fix, as I soon heard their truck pulling away. It was odd that I didn't hear the furnace come on after a few minutes, so I got up to check things out. Nova followed me.
The thermostat was set at sixty-eight, but the house was only fifty-one degrees, and the kitchen was still dark. "This is not good," I said with concern. "There must be a bigger issue."
Northern Minnesota had very heavy snowstorms while we were out of town last week. Our neighbor told me we had been without power for three days. At this point, I wasn't sure what to expect.
People talk about bad luck, but I've never given much credence to luck, good or bad. I think of bad luck as circumstances that need to be dealt with, whether or not we're ready to face them. This was one of those situations, but I didn't see a bad side. While thinking of all the things I cannot do without electricity, I began counting my blessings.
It was bitterly cold, and I had to go outside for more firewood. I looked at the big piles of neatly stacked wood, "There's enough wood to heat the house for two years," I said, while carrying in an armload.
I wanted coffee but couldn't use the coffee maker. Besides, our water comes from a well, and the pump won't run without electricity. So we keep jugs of fresh water on hand for such an occasion. Unfortunately, a few were empty, but Melissa refilled the empty bottles yesterday.
I smiled as I reached into the upper cabinet and took down the percolator. Our gas stove has electronic ignition, but I can still light the burners with a match. Or, I could brew coffee on the hot woodstove. "What would go well with this coffee for breakfast?"
I opened the freezer and took out a homemade fruitcake I'd won in a bet with my aunt Di. "Even this cold weather is a blessing," I told Nova as I sliced a piece of fruitcake. "If our power is off for days, I can set the frozen food from the freezer outside on the deck. Lord knows it isn't going to thaw out there!" Nova Mae and I shared a good laugh about that.
It was still dark outside, and I had no idea what the time was. I glanced at the clock on the stove, but.… Just then, the antique wall clock chimed once for the bottom of the hour. It was 6:30 am. At the first sign of daylight, Nova Mae and I bundled up and walked down where the CLP crew was working earlier. The scene was not good.
We lost three big pine trees in the high winds overnight. The winds must have been extremely strong to uproot three trees together! The power lines held the trees at a forty-five-degree angle, keeping them from falling over entirely, but also took out our electricity. "We may be without lights for a while," I said. "There's nothing we can do about it now. Let's go inside."
I started thinking ahead; what could we make for dinner that didn't require power? I had previously prepared and frozen a package of seasoned chicken with broth. "We have eggs, flour, and a rolling pin. We'll make chicken and noodles." Nova liked that idea.
Melissa was still in bed and said she was cold. So I told her the power was out.
In the old days, folks heated bricks on the woodstove, then put them under the blankets to warm the bed. In modern times, we heat corn bags in the microwave oven. No power? No problem. I set a corn bag on a rack on the woodstove. It warmed up nicely, and I took the corn bag to the bedroom, placing it under the covers.
"I think we've become too dependent on electricity," I told my dog. "These electronic gadgets are over-rated."
Melissa and I had been looking forward to a quiet Christmas Eve together. We planned to watch a movie but couldn't do that without power. So instead, we would put together the puzzle I got her for Christmas, or maybe we would open the chess set her parents gave us for Christmas. Then, we could play games by candlelight. Unfortunately, all we have are those tiny tealight candles that are not very bright. No problem.
My wife has two antique lanterns. They're not just for decoration, she keeps them in working order, and Melissa has plenty of wicks and a good supply of lamp oil. So this was going to be a beautiful, genuinely old-fashioned Christmas Eve. We could even wind up the Victrola and play Christmas records.
Shortly after seven a.m., another CLP crew arrived. I heard them cutting away at the trees. I didn't want to go outside because it would break my heart to see these beautiful mature trees coming down. So I finally went out around seven-thirty.
It was one degree above zero, with a wind chill of minus twenty-eight. Vince, one of the CLP workers, said the first crew didn't have equipment large enough for this job. "We got off work at three-thirty this morning and got called back in at seven," he said. "It's been a long couple of weeks."
The man in the aerial bucket continued cutting. Then he lowered his boom so Vince could hand him a bigger chainsaw. I cringed as the huge tree top made a loud cracking noise, then went crashing to the ground on the far side of the power lines. Large branches were snapped away like twigs as the top came to rest. I said in jest, "You guys can just leave that there; I'll clean it up in the spring."
Vince laughed. "We cut trees down; we don't remove them."
I told Vince how Melissa and I planned to have a wonderful, old-fashioned Christmas Eve without electricity.
"I don't want to ruin your Christmas," Vince said, "but we'll have your power back within thirty minutes." Although I was very grateful to have the power restored so quickly, I was saddened by this. I was very cold and walked back to the house. Within a few minutes, the microwave made some funny chimes, all the clocks began flashing "12:00," and the kitchen lights came on. The furnace didn't come on, but the woodstove had warmed the house to a toasty seventy-four degrees.
I drove into Zup's grocery for eggnog. I ran into our friend Colleen and told her how Melissa and I would spend the evening without power. "Oh, that sounds absolutely wonderful," she said with admiration.
"Yeah," I replied, "but the CLP guys went and got our power back on right away, spoiling my plans."
Not missing a beat, Colleen said, "Well, you know where the breakers are, right?" We shared a good laugh about that. I admired her for quickly thinking of a way to salvage our wonderful, power-free evening.
With the lights back on, Melissa decided we would watch the movie after all. She had purchased a special Christmas gift for us. So we could watch movies on the futon in the three-seasons room, even on bitterly cold nights, while staying cozy and warm under our new electric blanket.
Melissa spread the blanket over the futon, plugged it in, and turned it on. The lights came on, but unfortunately, the blanket produced no heat. The brand-new electric blanket was defective. "I think we've become too dependent on electricity," I said to my wife. "These electronic gadgets are over-rated. Should I put a couple of bricks on the wood stove?" We shared a good laugh about that.
Instead, I grabbed a fleece blanket for the couch, and Melissa climbed under the throw in her favorite chair. We watched the classic movie, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. It's a movie where two guys struggle to find a way to get home for Thanksgiving, despite the adversities and obstacles that get in their way. Come to think of it, the movie has a beautiful message for Christmas, too.
The storms have come and passed; the winds have calmed; the power is restored. We will plant new trees for our grandchildren to enjoy. The memories created during a power outage, caused by the wind and those three trees, will last forever.