Ice Wednesday - weekly column

 

Lawrence Hall, HSG

Mhall46184@aol.com

 

Ice Wednesday

 

Ash Wednesday presented itself as Ice Wednesday, which was Lenten in its own way.

 

The daughter-person evacuated her far-away home for a few days because the whimsical power supplier in The Big City where she lives is definitely not Jasper-Newton Electric Co-Operative. Her cliff-dwelling was cold, with promises of more cold to come. Her childhood home offered a dependable electrical supplier, a generator, a fireplace, and a nice supply of oak from Jake and Julie’s American Firewood.

 

We lost power to our country estate here along Beer Can Road and County Dump Extension for seven hours not because of institutional malfeasance or misfeasance or any other sort of feasance, but only because the ice took down power lines and trees which then took down more power lines.

 

Losing electricity for a few hours beneath ice, sleet, and snow is a matter of gratitude because it was for only a few hours, not for a week. JNEC linemen were out in the icy wind both day and night mending things while we sat by the fireplace.

 

Yep, that calls for gratitude, not attitude.

 

One of the nicer gadgets for helping out during hurricanes and ice storms is a portable power pack, which is a big, rechargeable battery or a series of batteries in a sturdy plastic container. There are many kinds and different prices, and a variety of features. Mine has jumper cables, an air pump for tires, a 110-volt outlet for very limited use, lighter-sockets for older accessories, and a little outlet for powering and charging a MePhone or computer. It usually rides in the back of my car.

 

The daughter-person has a much lighter power pack which features battery cables, an air-pump, and several MePhone / computer outlets. It was nice not having to ration the charge on a MePhone.

 

We also have a number of cheap battery lanterns all over the house. They have those efficient new golly-gee-whiz bulbs which do a pretty good job of lighting an area using little energy but whose piercing little blue lights make reading difficult.

 

Last year I bought a new portable generator (which is OUTSIDE) to replace the old Hurricane Rita one, and it is a marvel – more fuel-efficient than the old one, more breakers if you try to power too many coffee makers or refrigerators or microwaves or window air-conditioners at one time (I haven’t yet), and with (TA-DA!) a push-button start. The generator (OUTSIDE) proved itself after Hurricane Laura, and again in the ice age we used it in turn on the refrigerator, the microwave, and the coffee maker.

 

Anything with an exhaust or which uses flames must be OUTSIDE.

 

Because the generator is OUTSIDE I have to run a long, heavy-duty cord. Plugging together those light-load household extension cords is dangerous. The heavy-duty cables I have for the generator have little lights in the ends so that you know for the sake of safety that the cord is “live” and, as a convenience, you know where the ends are.

 

While Elsa and Anna were visiting I dug out the little folding Sterno stove I bought in 1968. I was one of ninety Navy Corpsman being trained by the Marines in their Field Medical Service School.

 

Sergeant Schneider called us rude names. If my mother could have heard the insensitive language he used she would have had something to say to him about it. So there.

 

Anyway, we young heroes (That’s what Sergeant Schneider called us, but he didn’t mean it) had occasion to spend rainy days and rainy nights in the cold and wind and mud of February along the coast (“Sunny California,” my apostrophe) and in the hills, and although the Marine cooks did a good job while chillin’ outside with us (eggs and bacon floating in rainwater in your mess tin, yum), the little stove was useful when time permitted (it seldom did) while sheltering out of the wind behind a tent or vehicle to heat up some soup or instant coffee.

 

Sergeant Schneider always seemed comfortable in the wild weather, though – I suppose not even the elements would dare annoy a Marine Corps sergeant.

 

The daughter-person took charge of the little stove and enjoyed the novelty of cooking (OUTSIDE – Sterno must be used OUTSIDE) some Ramen on the back porch.

 

Sergeant Schneider would approve.

 

As of this scribbling the power is on, I have coiled the power cords and covered the generator (which is OUTSIDE), have stored away the Sterno stove, and am simply enjoying the warmth.

 

Thanks again, JNEC; you’re the best.

 

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