Let's Talk About...The Power of the Wind

Ok. There is nothing like a long power outage to put things in perspective.

Recently, in anticipation of what became nearly 100 mph wind gusts, Xcel shut down the power in many areas to avoid potential wildfires. The wind itself also took out other power lines resulting in over 150,000 customers without power for anywhere from a few hours to four days.

I was one of them. Maybe you were too.

We think we are ready for something like that, but are we really? Even with (very) little notice, there is no way to completely prepare.

Where are your flashlights? Can you light your fireplace? Do you have food? Will it spoil? And, of course, what will we do with ourselves?

Let's back up. When the power goes out, the first thing you notice is the quiet. And the dark. The refrigerator isn't running. The computer isn't humming. The heat turns off. It gets pretty still.

The outage started during the day. Xcel said 3:00 p.m. but ours went off several hours earlier. You start preparing for a long dark, cold night. Find those flashlights. Get those fake candles out. Or real candles if you are brave. I am not.

Your internet goes down. No TV. No computer. The batteries on our phones and iPads start sinking into the darkness.

What are we supposed to do? We pulled out an old Scrabble game, grabbed everything that might spoil out of the refrigerator and sat down for a long game and lots of cheese, salami and crackers. We are lucky that we have a gas stove. A quick flick of the lighter and we can have hot water. Or a fried egg. If you have an electric stove, well, you are out of luck.

We sat down and thought, this might actually be fun. Our daughter was in town so it would be some good bonding time.

All true until the temperature started to fall. And fall. I thought I would just plug in the electric blanket or heat up the fancy heating pad filled with some bean-type material in the microwave. Oops. Sorry. No electricity.

So, we put on multiple layers of sweatshirts, puffy jackets, gloves and blankets and huddled by the fire playing Scrabble while munching on leftover pasta and cheese. That was fun.

Until it wasn't.

The night wore on. The cozy firelit game night soon turned into a freezing vigil. We went to bed early and heaped comforters on the bed. Emma, our dog, cuddled up with us all night.

Sounds blissful, right? Except there were hurricane winds pounding our home and bending our trees all night.

Not much sleep.

The morning dawned (there's got to be a morning after) and we re-learned the art of pour-over coffee and ate the last of the bagels and cream cheese and eggs.

Certainly, the power will come back on soon, we thought. Wrong. We sealed the refrigerator to keep everything as cold as possible for as long as possible. I took direction from my ice. If it was still solid, everything was still good.

The wind roared. I understand the concept of "prairie madness" where pioneers hurled themselves off cliffs because of the wind, weather, and loneliness. The backup phone batteries were getting pretty low.

I had work to do. You can't edit Google Docs on your phone. It was time to head out in search of that elusive internet we are so dependent upon.

I went to both coffee shops in town looking for WIFI. They both were closing. Do I have to go all the way to Longmont to do my work? Then I looked up and The Wheel House beckoned. Maybe they have Wi-Fi!

I walked into a mob of people watching some game on TV (the electricity clearly pumping away) and luckily found a place in the back. I ordered a drink to pay my rent and opened my computer. I was there for two or three hours. They couldn't have been nicer about it. And I wasn't the only one grabbing at those invisible but essential waves of the world wide web.

Lots of lessons learned after our power snapped back on after 30 hours.

First and foremost, the invention of toilets was brilliant. No electricity required. Only water and gravity. That was a blessing in so many ways.

Which raises the question: Which would you rather have go out – your electricity or your water? Tough question. No toilets and no washing? Or no light, heat, internet and TV? Quite a dilemma. First world problems.

Another lesson reinforced is that we are so utterly dependent on power. Our clocks stop, our cooking abilities stop, no laundry, no TV, no computers. And no heat. It's not like we can just build a fire in the middle of the family room like our ancestors did. We are helpless. Like baby birds.

Thankfully, no one was dependent on a respirator or other electric medical device.

And the food you bought on Friday? Most of it was spoiled by Sunday. I heard some people tried to return spoiled food to King Soopers for a refund. My head is still reeling from that idea. Was this an Act of God, a deliberate ploy by Xcel to spoil your food, or just one of life's inconveniences?

I would rather have a bunch of spoiled food and four extra layers on than have the house burn down. You have to keep it all in perspective.

In the end some of life's adversities can bring you closer together. Wind, darkness, and cold all have their place. The silver lining is I now can play a mean game of Scrabble and appreciate the people I have to hunker down with. And, thankfully, my house is still standing.