3 days from the dark ages

Whew!  Seattle almost got blown off the friggin map!   This was a seriously scary storm.  The wake you up in the middle of the night wondering if that window was going to keep the shrieking banshee out kind of storm.

I was one of the lucky non-million+ that kept their power.  People are still without, and these are getting to be the seriously stinky fridge days.  My work's power just came back today, apparently.  Insane

When I was growing up we lived on an island in the middle of the woods (we were in the woods... not the island.  It was in the Puget Sound.  Well, *is* in the Puget Sound.  The island, that is.  It's not like it sank or anything.  Although I do like to picture all islands being connected to the seabed by stalks in a mushroom like configuration.  I think I find the idea that a big wave could come and just snap that sucker off and relocate the whole community to another area completely intriging.  I also wonder if you would keep the same zip and area code if that happened.. but now, like my meandering island, I've completely digressed from my original position. Where was I...)

Oh yeah.  Growing up on the island we used to lose power in every large storm (or medium storm or small storm - I swear we sometimes lost a madrona tree if we sneezed).  It wasn't until I was well out of the house (hello, CPS!) that my parents got a generator.  We had heat and warm food thanks to a woodburning stove, but obviously no lights.  And only the water in the pipes.  Think about that for a minute.  No water. 

No shower.  No flushing the toilet (if it's yellow, let it mellow).  No water to drink.  Because our magnificant, you could bottle this stuff and and sell it to the tourists water was from a well and, contrary to old westerns, our well was not a hole in the ground with a bucket but a truly modern contraption involving an electric pump.  Oooooh.. progress!

Now I live in the city.  The power rarely goes out at my apartment as I am on the same grid as a school and a firestation.  But when I do lose power I am always pleased by the fact that I can shower (until the hot water is gone) and can flush!   Flush all I want to!  FREEDOM!

Of course, now my parents can too.  And I wonder if they ever think back to the dark days of Spaghetti-os on the stove and the small collections of bodily waste and miss it even a little.

Nah.  We were never *that* country.