Power to the People

Last night here in Southern California we were under a severe rainstorm watch. I read that about 1 million people in Orange County were without power. Well, it happened to us at about 8:45pm. We lit candles, dug out the flashlight and, at first, complained about how there was no computer, no TV and worst of all, no heat. I decided some time ago that since the cost of propane was high, as was the the cost of decent firewood, we would just go with electric heaters. At least that way I'm only paying one large bill instead of several. Evently we sat around just talking and laughing, waiting for the lights to come on. They didn't... so after a couple of hours we turned in for the night. When we still had no power the next (cold) morning we went to breakfast and basically did our standard Saturday routine. The power came back on shortly before 10:00am and things got back to normal, but it did make me realize once again just how dependent we are on electricity. It was almost as if our lives had been put on hold until power was restored. I hate that feeling and would really like to be self-sufficient in our needs. I'd love to have solar and wind power, but right now we can't afford the initial costs. Still, the idea of being self sufficient is very appealing. Growing some or all of our food, owning and using only those things that we can maintain ourselves, making our own furniture, etc. Not generally practical in this day and age because using that electric table saw is a heck of a lot easier than a hand saw, but I do feel that we should all have a backup plan of some sort. Maybe just start with some oil lamps and go from there and at least I do OWN a hand saw!