Things learned and pondered

I'm pretty sure this will be the last post relating to the storm. I'm sure folks have every right to think, move on already! But this is less about the storm and more about the reflections that resulted. So, top ten things I learned and observed, in no particular order:

1. I would have made a really crappy pioneer.

2. I understand why people used to live with their livestock in the winter. Four creatures in a freezing cold bedroom sharing body heat is better than two, and I didn't care one whit what species my companions were. A dairy cow or a goat would've been quite welcome.

3. Sometimes the greatest gift you can give is a warm beverage and clean underwear. We were in a 8-by-2 block area that was persistently without power after much of the neighborhood got it back, and the woman across the street actually had electricity (apparently getting hers from the next feeder down). Now, I know her only to say hi and this is truly not intended to judge her - I know nothing about her as a person nor about her circumstances, and it's always harder to see the needs of others when you don't share them. However, I learned that if I am ever the one house with power, I will put little flyers on the doors of all the immediate neighbors, saying "Hey, if the power is still out in the morning, feel free to stop by for a hot beverage. I'll have tea and coffee from 7 to 9 for anyone who wants it. I can't offer everyone a shower, but you can at least use my bathroom to freshen up a little, maybe change your underwear without risking hypothermia." That little bit of comfort would be much appreciated.

4. The hot water bottle should make a come-back. The one way we were able to create heat was by boiling water outside on our little one-burner camp stove. I would have paid - well, a lot of money - for an old-fashioned rubber hot water bottle to take to bed at night. We looked at a couple of drug stores, and it was all electrical heating pads.

5. We are ridiculously dependent on the Internet. It took the radio announcers and government officials a surprisingly long time to catch on and stop saying "You can get more information about [school closures/emergency shelters/places for a hot meal] on the Web, at ...." I think at first they didn't realize how many people had so little hope of connecting to the Internet, and of course lots of low-income folks have no way to connect at home even with electricity.

6. Some people are buttheads. There have been over a hundred cases of carbon monoxide poisoning from people using grills, campstoves and generators indoors - several of them fatal, the majority among people speaking limited English. After several days the health department started going door to door in targeted neighborhoods, and the newspapers published front-page warnings in a half-dozen languages. Well, conservative radio listeners and letter-writers have actually spent mental energy condemning this (and I quote an example from the Seattle Times): "Shame on you! You and others are making a big deal out of how friendly you want to be to people who don't read or write English well. English should be our language in this country and we should not be enabling people not to speak or learn it." Excuse me? We were talking about a deadly public health threat that was causing people to actually die, and you want to withhold information that prevents deaths as a sort of linguistic tough-love policy? Heartless idiots. These people should be expelled from the country to live somewhere where they don't speak the language. Somewhere really fun, like Turkmenistan.

7. Gratitude is too quickly forgotten. The inevitable analysis and questioning has begun: Did the city/county/utilities do enough to clear dangerous trees? Are property owners to blame for not clearning their trees? Why did City Light send their workers home the night of the storm, and did that cause delays in the recovery effort? Why aren't our electrical wires underground? (Hello, anyone worried about earthquakes... ?) AAaanyway - that's all fine, we have the right and the responsibility to challenge our public services and make them better. But let this in no way denigrate the work done by the actual crews, day after day in cold and rain, getting our power back up. Somebody should throw these people (and their families) a big-ass party come January. Perhaps one or two of those hotels that made an unexpected windfall...

8. I should probably overcome my hatred of pumping gas. All the emergency prep literature says "never let your gas tank go below half full." I never follow this advice, because I loathe pumping gas and I leave to the last possible moment. But I may reconsider that policy. In a real disaster - well, if nothing else you might be able to get the hell outta Dodge.

9. I understand why newspapers, musical skills and storytelling used to be so valued. Remember learning in history class about how Americans on the remotest frontiers bought newspapers and devoured every detail of the Lincoln-Douglas debates? How there used to be hundreds of daily newspapers? You know how in Jane Austen novels they are always learning with enthusiasm that Miss Paddington has consented to entertain with a few tunes in the evening? Have you ever read The Decameron? It all makes sense now. When you have no other way to get information about things that affect your life, you pounce on a recent newspaper. And, when it's too dark to read, you can still while away the dark hours playing an instrument, singing, or making up stories.

10. And speaking of Jane Austen...You know how they're also constantly going out on walks? Miles and miles of walks across the pastoral English countryside? That makes sense too. Gotta keep the blood moving to stay warm.