Life's Luxuries Easily Taken For Granted

 I recently ran into a computer glitch that irritated me to no end:  my newish  lap top's AC power adapter quit working.  No warning whatsoever, it just stopped powering up my gismo, and rendered it completely worthless.   There was nothing I could do but go in search of a replacement power supply cord.

Now I realize we have all experienced little irritations such as this;  I know it wasn't the end of the world, but at the same time,  I couldn't help but scream to silently to myself, "Why me?!"  

Then I started thinking about the big picture....how pretty much every little convenience and necessity in our lives depends on the existence of the power grid. We flick a switch, voile there's light. We push a button, and magically we have brought to life in a Frankenstian fashion the plethora of applicances and tools that clutter our daily existence.  

The quality of our lives directly correlates with the fact that, when we desire it, electricity will be there at our fingertips.

If you have been around awhile, then you know what it's like to be without electricity.  And if you have been around even longer, you might even know better than some of us what it is like to live without electrical conveneinces. 

For one thing, it gets pretty dark at night.  And it's awfully quiet.  And cold. It's amazing how much noise there is invading our lives every minute of the day. Without power a peaceful blanket of quiet settles in.  

Back in the early days of electrification, electricty was pretty common in cities, but there were widespread rural areas without power.  This was mostly because the power companies felt that the cost of delivering electricity to these areas would never be recouped. 

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was created by executive order as an independent federal bureau in 1935.  Congress charged the REA with administering loan programs for electrification and telephone service in rural areas. Between 1935 and 1939 – or the first 4 ½ years after REA's establishment, the number of farms using electric services more than doubled.  

By the early 1970s about 98% of all farms in the United States had electric service. I venture to speculate that today there could be found a few places that are tucked away and are still without electrification.

It doesn't happen so often anymore but power outages used to be a common occurrence   I would imagine that improvements to the power infrastructure have all but eliminated that threat these days.  

Even so, I vividly recall a pre-winter's day in early November, 1996, when a nasty ice storm blanketed the area, wiping out power for hours, even days for those in remote areas of the county, and snapping of hundreds of power poles along roadways.  

It is at times like those that one takes on a pioneer attitude: one of survival and adaptation.   Nothing much to
do but gather the troops and contemplate life as it was so long ago, before the luxuries that we have now.
In a power outage, personally I will never be without illumination in my home. My collection of oil lamps is numerous and candles abound throughout the house. I have a Coleman camp stove and propane gas to power it, and I have plenty of warm clothing to layer on in order to stay warm. Best of all, I have my mother's beautiful crocheted afghan to keep me warm, in more ways than one.

So, in the light of these observations, I guess losing power to my computer wasn't the worst thing that could befall me in the deep of a Minnesota winter. After all, I have a roof overhead, and so many things to be grateful for.

One of which, of course, is electricity and those people who work so hard to provide it for all of us. We must thank those power company workers who keep things lit for all of us by answering the call to duty at any hour of the day or night when there is a power emergency.
And that leads me to remark upon the incredible new solar installation on the south edge of town. 

Deemed the largest of its kind in the state, 7,040 solar panels, covering an area the size of 7 1/2 football fields, will provide 2 megawatts of energy, or the equivalent of power used by 250 homes.

That is absolutely amazing, to be able to harness the natural power of the sun....I'm thinking that I should install one of those panels on my house so that I'm prepared for the next power outage. 

But then again, that wouldn't power up an errant laptop when it's adapter goes south. On the other hand, at least I would have lights so that I could stare at my lifeless computer.