continuous electrical service is a good thing

Last winter we lost power several times due to snow and high winds.  The last outage we had was on Good Friday which was early in the month of April.  Our power went out and stayed out for many days.  We ended up with the rest of humanity at Lowe's on Easter Sunday to buy a generator and it now holds a place of honor in our garage.  We revere that appliance and bow down in reverance at its ability to bring us light, heat and most importantly, TV when the power lines are down.

We are in the midst of a blizzard which is supposed to last until Saturday.  So far, we haven't had a bunch of snow, but we have 45mph winds that is causing the light, powdery snow to blow into white-out conditions.  In anticipation of this storm, I shopped for food, bought extra dog,cat, bunny and guinea pig food, and medicine for the horses in case we are unable to leave. 

I never see it as a good sign when you get a letter in the mail from your electric company explaining that Mother Nature has her own agenda and often knocks out our accustomed electrical service.  So when this letter arrived from Capital Electric Cooperative, I initally laughed.  Then I smiled.  See, this letter also asked us to check all the boxes on the enclosed postcard in which we would be able to help the power company in times of outages.  Would we be willing to offer assistance; do we have a tractor; do we have a snowblower; do we have a snow mobile; do we have a 4 wheel drive vehicle....on and on and on.  I smiled because in this great age of our's with advanced technology, when the going gets rough, it still comes down to neighbor helping neighbor.  I think that gets lost in big cities, but here in rural North Dakota, a mere 20 miles from our states capitol, people have to pull together to help get a community effort completed.

When our power goes out, it isn't very long before I hear the snowmobiles of the Capital Electric workers traversing the fields in search of downed lines and poles.  Even when the weather is horrible and brutally cold, those men and women, leave their homes to restore power to others.  If our power company wants help from us and we have some equipment to help them, then they can have it.  I have a feeling this sense of good-will and sense of community is a dying way of life.  But here in North Dakota, I really am smiling knowing that our power company aims to provide service, but still isn't above asking it's neighbors for help too.  Simply charming!