I wasn't able to go to sleep at a decent hour so I was sitting here watching old movies on Amazon Prime when it happened. In fact, I just got done with Dante's Peak (thank God because I was sitting on the edge of my chair, worrying for Harry and Rachel). It would have been a tragedy to interrupt that! But, suddenly everything went black. And, I mean really black! I keep a candle on the corner of my desk, so my first action was to feel for a match book in the front right hand corner of my top desk drawer. Candle, meet match. Voila! A little bit of light. I REALLY need to go to the restroom which is not good news--not much light from one candle--bathroom at the far end of the hall. Came back (very carefully--my balance reeks in the dark) and grabbed a little LED flash light on a tray on my credenza. That helped just a little. Found my way to the kitchen and grabbed my normal sized flashlight from the kitchen table. Found the scented candle on my dining room table and got that lit. Then worked my way around the dining room table to the wall unit and pulled out some more candles and got those lit. Finally got the itty bitty flashlight and the normal-sized one and went back into the bathroom. Almost one whole wall in there is mirrored. Set the normal flashlight in front of the mirror pointed at the ceiling. Used the itty bitty to point directly at my book and read for a while. It was getting pretty hot in the house, but eventually, the dog started barking. My flashlights and I came out of the bathroom to see what she was barking at to find that the lights were on, the oxygen concentrator was pumping oxygen again, and so on. Glory be!
It is extremely rare to lose power around here. I don't even think we've had rotating blackouts or brownouts. At least if we have, I've not heard about them. So, strangely, my first thought in this lovely 2024 time frame was "what if it's an EMP?" And then, having seen many, many advertisements for solar generators, I thought of that ad that tells us that we have 55000 electrical hubs and an attack on just 9 will collapse the grid. I monitored my blood oxygen, and even sitting still and relaxing, i was seeing readings as low as 86 with pulse rates in the one hundred and teens. I am going to have to really think about the $90 to ship my portable generator to be fixed under warranty. And then, I guess I'll choose between food for months to come and a solar generator. Ain't life grand?...........
I guess my neighbors are watching me. Three days ago, there was a knock on my door in the late afternoon. It was a Las Vegas Metro policeman, conducting a "wellness" check. Nice guy, a believer of one denomination or another. Someone from the neighborhood, claiming he hadn't seen me in a while, requested it. Well, it's hotter than hades outside and I don't go out. The heat really places a strain on my heart. I go out for a minute or two every couple of days to put some trash or recycling in the bins. I might open the door to grab a grocery order or Amazon delivery. And I run an errand about twice a month which places me in my van. That's it. Really! And, I'm perfectly content!
The solar system, at last, is working full bore. I'm so grateful for that. Sadly, I'll still have 12 days with NO solar due to a "communication error". But, for now, I am not on pins and needles, waiting for a service call. Finally, they gave me a credit for all the months the system operated at roughly 50%. And, even better, the customer service department finally told the collections department that there was a credit and I no longer owed them anything. Thank you, Jesus..........
I'm having a problem with some sort of flare up of an old injury. When I was 8 years old, I got hit on the tailbone (coccyx) with a baseball bat. My parents declared themselves medical experts and determined there was nothing to be done. Hence, ever since, just being in a seated position aches. So, I have had problems with long car rides or an office type job. But, lately, the act of sitting, trying to get into a seated position, is horribly painful. I think it might be a muscle spasm, short-lived but intensely painful. I am getting to the point where I fear the act of taking a seat. Tonight I am trying doubling my usual anti-spasm dose of magnesium and we'll see if that helps. If so, it will be a cheap "fix" for a wretched, nasty problem.
So, the last thing to talk about today is my goofy dog. This dog eats anything. I've been doing a lot of freezing of vegetables and dehydrating them as well. She has eaten celery, and zucchini. Also, I ordered some multicolored peppers which I am chunking up and freezing. Guess who wants a bite or two or more of pepper! I have actually held back from giving this stuff to her for fear she won't eat it and it will be wasted. But, it's "pass the blueberries, Mom" around here. Is that strange or what? I just keep thinking about that commercial for The Farmer's Dog. You know the one that starts off "No living being should eat prepared food for every meal of its life" and I give her another bite of whatever I have............
