Early Morning by Camera Flash
No matter how many winters I’ve lived in Oysterville, it always comes as a shock (so to speak) when the power goes out. Last night was no exception. First comes a big change in reality and it takes a nanosecond or two to realize it has suddenly gone dark and very, very quiet. Then comes the realization that the power is out. Always in that order, even during the day because, in Oysterville – at least in our old-fashioned house – it’s dim on winter days and we usually have lights on here and there.
Last night we were watching a DVD, mostly because we couldn’t get anything on TV.
We assumed that the trouble was storm-related but we didn’t really connect what was happening with a power outage somewhere. Duh! About an hour into the movie (something sort of mindless about Paris) everything went dark.
A Patient Wait for Power
I made my way to the kitchen for the flashlight that is always handy there – especially for those late afternoons at this time of year when darkness sneaks up on me before I lock up the chickens for the night. Then the search for candles, another flashlight, extra blankets for Nyel and the sudden realization that his hospital bed would stay exactly as it was until the power came back on.
“How do you feel about sleeping in a sitting position?” I asked. “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry,” was the answer –which is what Nyel has said about everything for the last nine weeks. What a guy!
As I headed for the bedroom, I left him one of the flashlights (Why? It wasn’t like he was going anywhere?) and couldn’t help thinking about the flashlight my grandfather always kept handy in that very room. And, in that very room, on the dado rail behind the woodstove, alongside various medicine bottles, were extra batteries – ‘drying out’ I always thought. Or maybe they were being rejuvenated somehow. I wished we still had a woodstove…
Flashlight Ready in 1947
Sometime in the night the power came on and then sometime later it went off again. At 5:00 when the alarm sounded it was pitchy black and 40° in the house. Sometime betwixt and between outages, Nyel had lowered the head of his bed a bit so he was now neither in sitting nor lying flat – sort of half-way in-between.
Fixing breakfast was easy – we have a gas cooktop – and we ate by candlelight. I braved the out-of-doors, fed the girls, and hauled firewood into the house. The fire in the fireplace that long-ago replaced the woodstove was cheery and we actually had that cold, cold east room up to 60° by the time the power came on again around 8:00. Practically tropical!
Although the lights in Ilwaco go out but rarely, we try to be prepared with flashlights, candles, and planters–the ones from Costco that put out enough light to read by. Our heat is pellet which only works with electricity. Supposedly you can hook it up to a car battery. Fortunately, with Dave gone North, we did not have to figure out how to do. If they go out today, Amy and I will move to the cottage and fire up the wood stove.