Generator Generation
Imagine, if you can, living without power for a few days. No phone. No daytime TV. No internet. No refrigeration. No connection to the modern world you once knew and took for granted. Maybe you got some candles. Maybe some kerosene lanterns. Hopefully some matches. All the stores nearby are shuttered. No gas, no food, no ice, no beer and wine.
We just went five days without electricity. Windstorm blew down trees, power lines, dreams and all hope. What is a modern pioneer to do? I’ll tell you what. Crank up the generator! That’s right, mister, keep the house powered up! Reefer cooling, TV on, lights on too. Just keep pouring gas into the thing, ignore the noise from yours and the neighbors too, return to your Facebook updates, your Instagram posts, your emails and your newsfeeds. This past week we listened to the hive in full swarm across the road, generators all buzzing angrily.
Folks ask how we can manage without one. Since they themselves can’t imagine life worth living beyond the reach of the grid. Oh, sure, they remember their first power outage here, the one that convinced them to haul down to the hardware store once the roads were passable again and buy that portable 25 kilowatt big boy for the next emergency, at least keep the TV running and the computer, maybe some lights, probably not electric heat. Some got serious and installed permanent whole house units, propane tanks, inverters, automatic kick-in so they needn’t worry about missing an Oprah interview or the ending to that Netlix movie.
The pioneer days are over, friend. Sitting by kerosene lantern, hauling in water, stoking the stove — maybe we think that sounds romantic, a break from the modern world — but not for most of us now. Inconvenience isn’t in our vocabulary. I can tell you that you will survive okay without the computer for a day or two. You can discover what life used to be like before Instagram. You might even remember what was important before the digital age. Maybe why you came here in the first place….
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Tags: Fear of Losing Internet, Living Off the Grid, No Power!