amid the glow of darkness

The winds were very heavy last night and somehow they managed to take all the power out of the town. It was most likely a fallen branch or some other storm anomaly, but it was a dark, silent town that went to sleep last night. The locals brushed their teeth with bottled water if they brushed their teeth at all and the sense of doom lived in more than one household for sure. When the power is out, fear is at a premium, it's the horror story that we have drilled into our heads every day. Is this terrorists? Will the Mexicans come and steal my stuff and will the black people come and rape and murder my family? With all this fear, the town was relatively silent as people always choose to stay close to home during power outages. The thinking behind it being, stay together and we can protect our stuff from others. Every house had a dancing stream of light bouncing off the walls as someone made their way through the house with a flashlight. It would flick on for a moment, lighting on window, then another and then it would disappear. There was no sound. Just the wind over the trees and the tall dry wheat fields, which makes a sweet rustling sound which is very sooooothing. No televisions, no stereos, nothing to break up the sound. Just the wind.

It's a scary place to be in. When the electricity goes out you get a brief glimpse of Armageddon or a blast from the past of what life was like for two thousand years before electricity. Sadly, we are so dependent on electricity that we don't know what we will do without it. Now, sitting in the dark shell of the former electric world we are forced to do things we have lost as a society. We have to talk to each other, entertain ourselves and seek other forms of communication. We are made to reevalute our readiness for life and to see just how much life we are really living. It scares us to see how dependent we are and we resolve, silently, in the dark, to become less dependent and better prepared because this is what it will be like. No water, no light, nothing to entertain us like the night before, just conversation with our friends and family, books by fire light or lantern and a lot of one-on-one time with those we sleep with... If you know what I mean. Food will have to be heated another way. Sharing information will be slower and require better memories. Hand writing will become more common. Practical skills will once again be a priority. "Going to the store" won't be as easy and neither will paying for those goods.

The wind blew across the forest fire that is still high up in the forgottens and most likely made it harder to control for the fire fighters. I'm sure they were loving the cooler temperatures of the past two days, but were instantly demoralized by the high winds and dry lightning storm. The winds carried the smoke down the valley and past my house. Filling the night air with the smell of a campfire. I can't see the fire, but I can smell it and that can make you nervous as you frantically look all around you for the source of the smell. I was pretty sure that my house or the barn was burning and I kept getting up to look. After an hour, I stopped looking and just sat on the porch and looked down the valley towards town. The usual glow of the village was gone and it allowed the stars above the pallouse to glow intensely as I had never seen them before. It was glorious. As the winds died down and the cloud cover past along, the brilliant night sky gave up it's secret and I viewed every single star that the northern sky could offer. Shooting stars, satellites which seemed to give a sense of irony to the moment and UFO's ( they could have been weather balloons) The silence, the stillness and the smell of a campfire made it feel like a glorified camping trip... All from the relative comfort of my front porch. It was heaven.

Heidi is not a dog that is fond of lightning and she finds me and stays right next to me until it's over. In this case, we sat on the porch and watched the far off lightning illuminate the sky above the forgottens. There was never a peep of thunder, but the glow was nice and that made it easier for Heidi to enjoy our time together.

I spent two hours with Heidi looking at stars before I headed to bed. It was quiet, it was still and I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face and a gun under the pillow. (Mexicans and Aliens)

The power had returned by morning and it felt like it none of it ever really happened. It's almost like the power plug of life was pulled just for the night and that without electricity the world didn't move at all and that all life was just frozen and only I was awake to witness it like in a cheesy sci fi movie. Only with the sounds, the motions and the lights of modern day technology does the world seem to be alive or work and that makes me sad. I liked everything about last night, except the part where I didn't have someone to "get to know better".

If there is really anything to take from this kind of experience it's this; know where you keep the flashlights and have water handy that doesn't come from the faucet, have a great dog to spend time with, have a house that a breeze can flow through easily, learn to enjoy cheese and crackers, light is not as necessary as you think it is and neither is your television. However, the ipod is a gift from the gods.