Powerless

Snow pelted Washington overnight. For once, the forecasters hit the mark. On Friday, the National Weather Service issued a storm warning from 6:00 Saturday to 6:00 Sunday, with projected snow fall between about 10-20 centimeters. By Saturday morning, the the weather service pushed the warning back to Noon and increased snowfall projections to about 15.5-30.5 centimeters.

I blew off the storm’s significance. At 1:00 early Sunday, accumulations on my back porch barely topped 2 centimeters. The situation dramatically changed in the four-and-a-half hours that followed. By 5:30, according to the measure of accumulation on my back porch, the storm dropped 28 centimeters of snow. 

I hadn’t planned on the 5:30 wakeup, but my backup power supplies—five of them—beeped throughout the house. The storm had knocked out the electric power. Naturally, the folks on the street behind us were warm in cozy, while a block away the cold filled the homes.

As I shoveled snow this morning, more than a dozen people walked to the 7-Eleven, which, barely a block away, had power. Fortunately, we have old-style gas stove and water heater—newer models are electric ignition—so we could cook (coffee first) and shower.

Electricity returned five hours and 47 minutes from the outage’s start, after I had emptied perishables from the refrigerator and put them outside on the porch to stay cool.

The power outage reminded me just how much we depend on electricity. And how electricity is easy to take for granted. I gripe about our high utility bills compared to last year, but today’s outage is reminder of necessity, not convenience. I wonder when the Internet will reach the same status, as necessary utility, if not already.

About mid afternoon, following a second snow shoveling, I grabbed the Canon 20D and EF-S 60mm Macro lens. I captured the flower in my quick snow shoot. Depth of field is tight, and it’s not award-winning photography by any means. For reasons I don’t understand, I tend to get better results shooting with a Nikon than Canon digital SLR.