Kay Hudson

This past weekend we had a Rain Event in the Houston area. Around here a Rain Event covers a lot of meteorological territory. Last Memorial Day an unexpected storm flooded roads and underpasses and a great many homes, stranding people in cars and houses. Now and then an expected storm doesn’t materialize at all, to the suspected disappointment of the local weather reporters.

This weekend we waited for torrential rains resulting from Hurricane Patricia, but thanks to the Mexican mountains that shredded Patricia on her eastward journey from the Pacific to the Gulf, our Rain Event did not live up to predictions.

There were high water spots scattered around the area, but most people know where to watch for them. No houses flooded, and no one was hurt

Some places got as much as nine or ten inches of rain; my backyard picked up five inches, much needed. By Monday morning the standing water in my yard was gone.

But Sunday morning the wind picked up, and about 10:20 my power went off. And stayed off, unlike the occasional five-second glitches that knock my computer and cable box off.

Understandable, with all the bad weather. I called in the outage (although my smart meter is supposed to report such things) and found a window where the light was just about good enough to finish some paperwork I had started. Then I switched to reading on my near-antique Kindle—no back lighting, but there’s a small light built into the case.

By noon I was getting a bit impatient. I know, this was a first world problem. It wasn’t even warm enough for the lack of air conditioning to be noticeable.

But the voice mail system at CenterPoint Energy had already called once to say the problem was fixed (it clearly wasn’t), and again to change the predicted time from 12:15 to 1:30, and then to 2:45.

So I went out to lunch and did a little grocery shopping. When I got home about 2:15, I was not surprised to find the house dark.

I was surprised to find a voice mail message saying that I should have electricity. So I called in the outage again, went through the whole recording, including the bit when the cheerful recorded voice suggests checking your circuit breakers (mine are old, but they don’t pop by themselves) and the end when she wishes you a great day. Hello? I just called to say nothing in my house works. I’m not having a great day.

I finished the book I was reading on my Kindle, so I picked up the hardback I’ve been reading and began looking for a book light—you know, those little gadgets that clip onto a book cover and purport to light the pages. I could have sworn I had half a dozen of them, but I could only find one. Made do, near a window, with a battery lantern nearby.

2:45 came and went, as did 4:30, and 6:15. After that it was “we are assessing the outage,” and my eyes were tired from a day of reading (Good) in bad light (Not Good).

So around 7 I gave up, fed the cat (who seemed surprisingly disturbed by the whole situation), and set out to find a dinner that I could see and didn’t have to cook.

Down the street I spotted a gaggle of service trucks (do three or four qualify as a gaggle?). I parked my car on the side street and walked around two of them—both empty. So I drove around the block, and by the time I got back to the trucks, I saw lights where there had been none a few moments earlier.

So I headed back to the house, where I found all the lights on. 7:20 PM, only nine hours after they went off.

Oh, joy, everything was back to normal. I took a shower (my hot water supply does not require electricity, but the light in the shower does), microwaved my dinner, and settled down to watch a movie.

And at 8:45 the power went off again. This time it wasn’t the whole neighborhood, though. The power circuits around here probably look like a nest of snakes on whatever chart exists. My neighbor’s lights stayed on, as did the street lights. Great, an even smaller outage. How long would this one take to fix?

Called CenterPoint again—at least the obnoxiously cheerful voice admitted there was an outage, and didn’t tell me to check my circuit breaker. I think she did tell me to have a great evening, but by then I was too frustrated to care.

Fortunately that outage only lasted one hour, and the house was back to normal by 10 PM.

This evening I’m watching Castle. The ice maker in the refrigerator just refilled with water. My computer is on, and the email bell rings from time to time. I’m typing this on my (battery powered but unlit) AlphaSmart with a 200-watt table lamp next to me. I made dinner in the microwave. I have a candle burning, but only for the scent.

I do love electricity. It’s too easy to take it for granted.

My thanks to theawkwardyeti.com for one of my favorite cartoons!