February 16, 2022

"Everyone stay calm," I said as the White Dog Army came rushing in. We had lost electric service (something that rarely happens to us). "It will only be a brief interruption to our day."

The emergency plan was set in motion, more as a practice than with any sense that it would be needed after five or ten minutes. My oxygen tank was pulled from the corner and I shifted to the metal cylinder. Steve dragged out the battery powered lanterns and placed them in the office, the living room, and in with us. Roman took a protective stance at the front window to ward off rioting intruders (at least in his mind).

Just about then normal life stirred and the lights came on...only to crash again before it fully repowered us. Steve got on his cell phone. "We are going to be out for a while," he told us. "There are about 10,000 homes affected." he showed us the map. "So let's get comfy and decide where we are going to order dinner from."

The hunt for dinner was a bit complicated. First Steve had to ascertain that the restaurant was not affected by the outage; then that they delivered; and finally, we had to choose from the menu. We had afternoon treats in the fading light of day but it reassured the WDA that we WOULD be able to survive this crisis without fear of starvation. The electricity came on before they were faced with the prospect of dining in the dark for their evening meal.

Steve included sardines in their bowls to soothe jangled, thrust out of routine souls. Mark us "safe."