Sunday, June 10, 2012

The Country Chronicles

Never a dull moment in rural Minnesota. 

At 11:45 p.m. Thursday I was working on a website journal entry when the power suddenly went out.  A call to Xcel Energy to report the problem and I was informed an accident had occurred. A vehicle had taken out a transformer pole.  Injured motorists and incapacitated autos had to be evacuated before the power crew could begin the arduous task of replacing the pole and the transformer. 

This time the blackout was man-made, but most often it isn’t. Bon Bon Pond is connected to a power line that runs along a heavily wooded road close to the St. Croix River.  Named “Fairy Falls” this area is extraordinarily beautiful but the thick foliage wreaks havoc with power lines whenever the wind blows.  

 Fairy Falls, Stillwater, MN


When you lose juice in the country it also means you’ve lost your water supply, which includes the ability to flush toilets.  We all use wells and running water without electricity is a no-no as  the pump would lose its prime. 

I’ve lived in the country for most of my years and weathered a lot of problems in the process but power outages are by far the worst.  The electricity did not come back till 12:30 p.m. on Friday—nearly 13 long, hard, dark, dry and miserable hours later. 

Country life has taught me many things, not the least of which is a healthy respect for the power of Mother Nature and appreciation for modern conveniences—like flush toilets and a cup of fresh-brewed coffee!

P.S.  Bad weather is moving in at the moment.  The bird feeders are in and the gazebo windows closed.  It’s time to start the drill all over again:  flashlights-check;  jug of water-check; cell phone charged and ready-check;  prayers to God-check; . . . 

2 comments:

  1. I hope you're okay! You're one tough lady to live in the country. It's not easy but I suppose the joys outweigh the difficulties.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Choo! As it turned out, the accident responsible for the outage did occur at Fairy Falls! A 17 year-old driver was traveling too fast, lost control and hit a power pole.

    My long range plan is to get a generator. It's really the only way to handle the frequent and numerous blackouts.

    There are many times I wonder "what am I doing here?" Then, the wildlife does something to touch my heart and the problems and hardships don't seem so bad.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to give us your comments!