Roughing It in Paradise

On the heels of last week’s 12-inch snowstorm came another yesterday. This snow, wet and heavy, weighed down the branches of every tree.

One old locust lost a large limb, neatly dropping the main part into the crotch of a big hackberry, but strewing a tangle of branches across our driveway.

I started preparing a hearty breakfast to fortify Dennis against tree-removal labor to come. Just as I finished shaping a batch of biscuits, the electricity flickered and went out. I switched the biscuits to a large skillet and baked them on top of the wood stove. They had to be turned to brown on both sides, so they turned out more like English muffins, but they tasted fine with eggs boiled on the wood stove.

Dennis wore his headlamp to the basement and brought up the old percolator. We heated a kettle of water for dishwashing and made coffee. The gadget on the left is an Ecofan. It is powered by the heat of the stove and helps distribute heat farther into the back part of the house.

A neighbor came with his chain saw to help Dennis clear the driveway. He came back later on his tractor to plow a path through our long driveway. Things were looking up.

Later I made a pot of soup on the wood stove and invited Laurie and Greg, who didn’t have electricity either, to join us for a hot supper by lamplight. I had planned to bake corn cakes on the wood stove to go with the soup and cole slaw, but just before our guests arrived, the electricity came back on, so I made cornbread in the electric oven.

This experience makes us realize even more our extreme dependency on electricity. I'm glad we heat with wood, which keeps the house from freezing and allows primitive cooking. I'm glad we have good neighbors, headlamps, oil lamps, candles and a good supply of firewood. But how I would love to have a wind turbine in the pasture!

Do you realize how vulnerable we all are?

Copyright 2013 by Shirley Domer