Jun 12 2008
The lessons of “roughing it”
Like many other Midwesterners, I lost electricity when weekend storms rumbled with trees and powerlines. The power went out Sunday afternoon. It was restored briefly on Tuesday – long enough to do a load of laundry - then went out until early Wednesday morning.
A power-outage is a great reminder that most material goods aren’t that important. My TV and PC became to large paperweights. The furniture formed an obstacle course. Everything else impeded the hunt for bare basics: an emergency radio, the crank-powered lantern, and a can-opener to break into dinner.
The things I missed the most were the fridge, the washer, and the dryer. Going to bed early was no heartache. I read and wrote while there was natural light, then I fell asleep. The weather’s been unusually warm, so I was comfortable.
I’ve had problems lately with appliances, so I’ve come to appreciate basic devices. I had a cordless phone/answering machine combination. It hadn’t been holding a charge, so I bought a new battery. No use. Sometimes it charged; sometimes it went dead. I went to a resale shop and bought a phone for $5. Its a plastic relic with huge buttons, including two mysteriously labeled “FLASH” and “AUTO”. I suspect it was an office phone, since it has a speakerphone option and a hold button. The latter plays a deafening electronic rendition of Fur Elise. But it works, even when the power’s out. (More on that below.) I also dragged out the cheap answering machine that I couldn’t GIVE away two years ago. When I got home this evening, I had a message from a high school pal – in other words, it works perfectly.
Thank God for Mr. Bell and his amazing invention.
When my washer died a clicking death, I ended up washing one load of clothes in the bathtub. I used a washboard and a small paddle. Afterwards, I felt tremendous admiration for my grandmothers. It took a lot of upperbody strength to wash and wring a single load of schoolteacher clothes. Those ladies washed work clothes for farmers and miners!
I told my friend Karen that I needed a new washer, and we discussed local retailers. Within a few hours of our conversation, she called me back. Her family friends had recently moved and were selling a dryer (circa ‘89) for $50. Daniel and Tim were kind enough to handle the delivery and installation (including finagling space for it in dinky utility closet).
Why doesn’t anyone offer a Nobel Peace Prize to Whirlpool factory workers? 
I think “Flash” is for if you have call waiting and need to switch over.
I remember in the Blackout of ‘03, my grandmother’s old princess phone was a lifesaver. That is why I WILL NOT switch to cellular-only, and why I always keep that old princess phone around in case I need it. (Though I did get rid of all my land-line long distance recently; I’m very nervous about that!)
Power outages do put things into perspective.
Thanks for the info. I thought it was some setting if you wanted the light to flash instead of the ringtone (which is DEAFENING).
A princess phone – oh, is it pink? And does it have the heft of a ballpeen hammer when you pick it up? Mine was beige, on loan from my parents when I went to college. My roomie Michele said if anyone broke in, we could beat them to death with it.