IN THE DARK!

    FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5TH.
           IN THE DARK!

     I know. It's suppose to be dark
at night. But I noticed something
strange as I was struggling to get
to sleep Wednesday night. The soft
light usually touching my ceiling
from a nearby street light wasn't there.
The room was darker than normal. I
figured that was probably a good
thing. It was already close to 1am
so maybe I'd finally nod off.
      That's just about the time the
telephone rang. Startled, I reached
for our bedside phone only to find
that it too was dark. And silent! It's
an extension that depends on power.
And there was none. In fact there
was no power anywhere!
      I felt my way to our spear
bedroom, the closest room with a
wired telephone.
      I answered only to find a
recorded message waiting for me
from the Power Company. It
explained there was a power
outage in my area affecting over
300 homes and went on to say 
crews had been dispatched to
locate and repair the problem.
      I, of course, was already well
aware of the fact there was a power
outage. And since there was little
I could do about it I located a
small flashlight and made my way
back to bed.
      About 45 minutes later, as I was
just crossing over into whatever
exciting dream awaited me, the
phone brought me back to reality
again. Making my way back to the
extension I discovered it was my
recorded friend from the Power
Company again explaining that
the problem causing the blackout
was expected to be repaired by
5am. There was also a reference
to a web site where I could change
my notification plan and some
other option. But since my Wifi
is powered by electricity, when
it's available, I saw no need to
explore that alternative.
      I did opt for a telephone option
that allowed me to stop updates on
the situation for 8 hours! I knew
the power was still out. I knew
there was nothing I could do about
it. And I didn't see how hourly
updates on the progress of the crew
would help me to sleep....any more
than an hour anyway. So I pressed
the code for no more updates! It
proved a good move!
      I eventually got some sleep
and awoke to find the power
restored and a Power Company
Crew working on wires at the end
of my block.
     Hope, if it goes out again, they'll
just let me sleep........and that all your
NEWS is good!