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The Dark 24 - In praise of boredom

     Hey everyone!  Did you know that this page now has a companion Facebook page?   It will have articles, memes and such that interest me that relate to this page but don't really apply.  Be sure to check it out.

 

     So a few days ago my wife and I lost power for roughly 24 hours.   It was out on Sunday at roughly 4 PM and stayed out until Monday afternoon. 

    To be honest I've often wondered if I could lead a "Amish" style life.   I'm not a fan of TV in general.  I figured that some time in the future I would conduct a little experiment and see if I could give up things like the radio, TV and even my cell phone for 24 hours or so.  

    No, I'm not a "Prepper", frankly if the proverbial excrement did hit the rotary blades I would probably be one of the first to go.   My nickname would be "Bait" in a Zombie survival situation.   I'm actually OK with that, because I believe in other people, that the best of a society comes out when that society is tested, when we work togather to accomplish a common goal.

   Sadly I've been proved wrong in that belief over the last few years...but this is not a political blog nor am I going to turn it into one.

    We were not really as prepared as we should have been for this.   We do have all our candles and flashlights in one place, but sadly we found out that a few didn't work.  That the batteries we needed were stored else where and that we needed some new ones.

   Since we heat our home with a pellet stove, we lost our main source of heat when the power went out.  Sue and I almost got into a fight because she was trying to put some things away into the freezer, where as I figured that they were already cool or cold from being in coolers - and since we would probably have power in the morning - why open them up?   However, I was a smart man for a change and kept my mouth shut.  Luckily the house is super insulated and as the temperature started to drop, we were warm and cozy.

    So, after a few minutes of talking about how people lived in the past; Abe Lincoln for example earned his law degree by studying by firelight and many people played some sort of instrument to entertain themselves...we settled in and got on our phones.


    I would put my down, try to think deep thoughts or do something to entertain myself as the house grew darker...but kept going back to my phone.   I considered picking up a book but again found it was to dark to read.  Honestly, I was disappointed in myself.

    The pattern however repeated.   I started to talk to Sue, but ended up picking up the phone for some trivial thing.  For example did you know that Abe Lincoln was basically a divorce lawyer?  Now, thanks to Google, I do.

   It occurred to me that the world would end and most people would simply stave to death because they would be looking at their phones and would not eat.

    Here I was being one of them.   We have become to easily distracted.   Any research that I've done here, about gardening or even a generator, has been done electronically.   It's simply become to easy to distract ourselves.

    When in truth I would have been alright with being bored.  Boredom allows the mind to rest and be creative.  How many games, musical pieces, artworks have come out of simply "doing nothing"?  The mind can simply not be stimulated all the time, it needs some down time.  It needs to be bored.

    I'm not a neuroscientist by any means, but I got a feeling that I might be right on this. It allows for a little bit of creativity and silliness.   It allows for creation.    I think that the next time the lights go out, so does the phone.   I'm going to see if I can let myself be bored. 

I do stupid things when bored
 

     If we are going to succeed at this little "experiment" then I  have to schedule my time better.   Be pro-active about getting stuff done.  Be better organized.

    Everything we do is a lesson, it's up to us to learn something from them.  We will be better prepared for the next power loss, and we both think that this one was unusual for several reasons.   We had wind reaching up to 55 miles per hour, which took down several trees and power lines all across Western PA and neighboring Ohio.  Those trees are gone now, those power lines have been repaired.  

      I am still thinking a generator is in order, but we will wait until the next blackout and see how long it lasts or how bad it is.   If it's to long or the house gets to cold then I think I'll invest in a whole house generator and spend the money to have it set up right, but for now...I'll bide my time.  

    Winter may be coming, but I seriously doubt it will have "Ice Spiders big as hounds" to contend with. 

   . 

  

    

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Location: Stoneboro, PA 16153, USA

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