The Amish Lifestyle

Yesterday, the snow fell. And fell. And fell. It piled, and piled, and stuck to everything. The trees drooped. The power lines sagged. We went about our business snug and happy while the storm played outside. I napped on the couch, since the Jack Frost's visit meant no working.

I jerked awake when the TV hissed at me announcing that the electricity had momentarily been out. Since it was back on, and all seemed well, I napped some more. I napped until the TV hissed again. Rinse and repeat this cycle about ten times until I woke up to silence. There is nothing like the silence of a snowy winter day without electricity.

We waited a half hour hoping that the lights would come back on. They didn't. We got bored. The silence of the snow was oppressive. I mentioned it would be less boring with the radio. My little brother excitedly mentioned that he had an old school Walkman (tape player), if someone had speakers. I had speakers. One problem solved.

That's when it started getting cold. That's when we found out 4,000 customers had no power. They put us on the list, but, really, that could mean anything. 

I remembered the kerosene heater that lives in the basement. I didn't know how to use it, but I read the instructions, and got it up and running. The little guy puts off a lot of heat. It kept us warm all day yesterday. It's chugging along in front of me as I type, and the room is getting toasty.

Once Dad came home, he got the generator up and running. It can power our fridge and freezer. We've been using it for charging our various electronics, and we even used it to watch Inception on the one television we have with a built in DVD player.

We cooked dinner. It was by far the most interesting thing we managed all day. Mom cooked our meat in the crock pot. We thought we could use the microwave to cook baked potatoes after the meat finished. Unfortunately, our generator does not produce enough juice to power a microwave. Who knew how much electricity microwaves actually use? I didn't. Guess what our generator can power: The George Foreman grill. Guess who devised a way to make French fries on that bad boy: This girl. Believe me. That might forever reign in my heart as the most interesting dinner I've ever participated in.

I hoped the power would be back on when I woke up this morning. I had plenty of this yesterday. I am a girl of the future no matter how much I like to think that I'm not. I could not cut it as an Amish housewife. 

The electric company hopes to have the power back today, but they didn't seem especially confident. I am hopeful. I need a shower.