It Could Have Been SO Much Worse...

So let me tell ya

Yesterday was A DAY!

Our electricity had been out for a day and a half

when Mr. Redoux saw it…

First, let me give you a little background:

Here in Southern California we have these winds.

They’re called Santa Ana winds

and they’re usually gale force winds of 40 to 60 mph

but they can top hurricane force of 75 mph.

And yesterday they did.

Thankfully not my car!

All it takes is a little spark

and these winds become voracious wildfires.

Three years ago we had one of these wildfires in our community.

The wind was so strong, the fire burned an acre a second

and leveled everything in it’s path.

In our neighborhood alone

nearly 200 homes burned to the ground.

Our neighborhood went from this…

to this…

in mere hours.

So now, when the Santa Ana’s blow.

the SCE power company shuts off the electricity

so if power lines are brought down

they don’t start a fire.

So there we were

on our second day without electricity

getting a little cranky because even though we have a generator

it’s inconvenient.

There’s cords everywhere

and the door has to be cracked open for the cords to come in

and it’s cold and there’s no heat because — no electricity!

And you have to unplug one thing to plug in another

and the ice cream is melting in the freezer

and we’re cooking in the dark

and I mean really, how many times can you flip the light switch on out of habit

before you remember no light is going to come on!

So that’s where my attitude was

when Mr. Redoux saw it —

the power line laying across the roof of our house

and our neighbor’s houses

plus a tree or two.

So we called 911 like we’re supposed to do

and the Fire Department came out

and they said ‘yes that’s a power line! Good thing the power is shut off!’

and they called SCE to come and fix it.

And 6 hours later they showed up and got to work (they were very busy — lines were down all over town)

So from now on

when the Santa Ana’s blow

and we have to live without electricity

for an hour or two

or even for a day or two…

I’ll be less annoyed

and way less cranky

because I’ll remember

how no one was hurt

and how our house didn’t burn down

because there was no electricity

the day the power line fell on our roof.