oh, hey, electricity!

Our power was out from 2:00 am Monday to 1:00 am today, with one two-hour exception Tuesday night (just long enough to get our hopes up). Since we don't have a smartphone, no electricity = no internet. Also no heat, which was especially fun with record cold temperatures (the reason for the blackout). We did have the gas range; the igniters don't work when the power's out, but we could light the burners manually with a grill lighter. And we had a battery-powered radio, and two car battery jumper boxes that we could use to recharge the cell phones, and a battery-powered DVD player so we could entertain Middle and Youngest for a while before bed.

I'm still not quite convinced that the power's going to stay up, and a UPS for the desktop is now on my shopping list. But I'm very happy to be able to sit in my room without being more than usually chilly, and to not have to babysit the gas range that's the sole source of heat in the house.

the 2021 daily meme, week 7

February 12. How would a stranger that met you at a dinner party describe you? Dinner party = group of more than three people, so they'd describe me as quiet.

13. How old do you feel? 30, 50, or 70, depending on what I'm doing, who I'm interacting with, and how my joints feel.

14. How has getting older helped you deal with challenges in life? I have more of a sense that some things really don't matter in the long run. This is helpful in many cases, but it also leads to my putting up with things that I probably shouldn't.

15. When I have a look around my home, it’s very obvious that I… hate cleaning.

16. Within the next month I will… Deeply appreciate uninterrupted electrical service. Spin yarn. Knit. Do some online improv.

17. 5 years ago I never thought… That I'd be doing improv.

18. What are you most fascinated by at the moment? What's grabbing my brain is genealogies of random people. Going on WikiTree, finding a profile that needs some love that's in a region I can find sources for, and beefing it up is proving extremely fun; the problem is finding a stopping place, because there's always more I could do. I need to start setting a timer.