Well, Kirkwood certainly isn't Iraq, where the husband of a good friend is headed right now. (Technically, he's en route to Kuwait, then on to Iraq.) For one not-so-small thing, nobody's trying to blow us up.
But that humbling comparison doesn't make me significantly less willing to complain about how utilities have become unreliable around here.
Two weekends ago, we were out of power for a few days while friends were out for 8 days. A significant part of the metro area - 500,000 households - was affected.
Last weekend, power was out again, this time for "only" 24-hours, but just after I'd restocked the frig and freezer, and while the heat index was well over 100.
I have been dealing with a "summer cold" for this entire length of time, which makes me even more irritable than normal. Lately, it's morphed into a horrible nuisance that's taken most of my voice, complete with drainage that makes me feel like I'm choking to death whenever I lie down and sets off periodic violent coughing fits. I refuse to take anything because I hate medicine even more than usual when I'm pregnant.
So you can imagine my delight when, on one of my nearly-hourly bathroom breaks last night, I found almost no water pressure. It gave me something to stress about as I sweated, coughed, choked, and expelled mucus through the rest of the night.
First thing this morning, we learned that we're under a boil order. And then the power went out twice, briefly. Both times were a little nerve-wracking, because these days we never know which are just usual flickers requiring the annoying but mostly-harmless re-setting of the digital answering machine, all the digital clocks(including the stove and microwave), and the computers and related hardware, and which outages will persist. All this under a clear, blue sky when we haven't had any rain in a week.
Guess how willing I am to drink (or wash with) the tap water, even after it's been boiled? Especially while pregnant. Thank heavens for the ready availability of bottled water these days. Though we do need more of that.
New Release Spotlight: Cara Putman
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Happy release day to author Cara Putman! In this suspenseful novel, Janae
Simmons left the small town of Kedgewick, Virginia, ten years ago to pursue
her...
1 week ago
5 comments:
My e-mail was down for 2 days so I never got all the e-mail messages from my friends warning me about the water! Anyway, I keep thinking if I drink the water, maybe I'll get giardiasis and then diarrhea and then lose weight. I don't blame you for not wanting to join me in your pregnant state, but a girl can dream, can't she?
Ack - this is terrible! We are so fortunate to have not been affected by all the power problems (as irony would have it, we were without power for 6 hours PRIOR to all the storms that hit the area).
P.S. - I, too, am sick, sick, sick with what sounds like exactly what you have.
Redhead, that's just gross! Did you not have pressure problems on Sunday? That was my big warning.
Jessica, how did you manage that? We haven't even *seen* each other in a few weeks and we both skipped the last book club meeting.
For me, the not knowing how long the power is going to be out is the worst. If I could just know: OK, rush out and buy ice, or take the food to a friend's, or wait it out, then I could make it.
oh shoot I hope I didn't make you feel all guilty about complaining with my earlier comment re: Iraq! You have absolutely every right to complain!! I turn int othe biggest shrew if I don't have a/c when the temp goes over 80... when I hear about folks here in the Pac NW that *still* don't have A/C I do not get it... to me it's a basic necessity like indoor plumbing. And then I hear about folks in the rest of the country who get considerably more over 80 degree days than we do, and high humidity to boot, and I'm utterly mystified.
I guess I'm just spoiled rotten.
SeasonalKat, I think I've gotten very spoiled living here. I've just plain gotten used to have reliable water and electricity!
MS, thanks. :)
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