living without electricity.

This consideration has led me to delving into solar energy and battery operated tools. At least as long as the rechargeable batteries last I could concentrate on the rest of the areas where I'd have to adapt to a world without the magic of the receptacle we all use to power our lives today.

 

I have thought of this often as the thunderstorms here in Texas often knock out the electricity. It causes me to ponder ways of cooking food. Short term eating is easy; it is not having electricity for long periods of time that causes me to ponder. I know my neighbor across the street invested in a generator which proved helpful if the electricity was out overnight in the winter time.

 

Particularly the occurrence of natural disasters, the power outage should always be expected. We have rechargeable lamps in our house that we always charge so it will be ready and able when it is time to be used. But when the power outage takes a long time, we have to go back to our usual ways like the oil lamp and the firewood for cooking (although our stove is powered by liquefied petroleum gas).

In 1970, there was this super typhoon that rendered Greater Manila with no electricity for more than a month due to the destruction of electric posts. The public's first concern was light at night because we are not used to the dark. But after 2 weeks of living in the dark, we have gotten used to the situation. So I guess it takes only 2 weeks for the adjustment period in going back to our primitive ways.

 

I suppose if we had to live without electricity, there would be a few things I would do. I would dress extremely light in the summer and I would keep a wet wash cloth with me at all times. A wet wash does wonders to cool you off on a hot day. And we would open the windows and let the breeze blow through the house. In winter I would bundle up really warm, and I would have a nice selection of very warm blankets to use on the beds. We would cook over a fire, and the cast iron would be great for that. We'd keep lots of candles and matches or lighters. It would be good to have some lanterns and fuel, though we would be very sparing with that. So I guess we would rise with the chickens, and go to sleep at dusk. That way we would not waste resources. Yeah, it could be done!!