A cold front is moving through today. We woke to rain pelting the windows. Now the sun is out but the wind is bending the pines and the branches of the hemlocks outside the kitchen window are flapping like flags. According to the weather service we can expect gusts in excess of fifty miles an hour.

Out here in the country we lose our power on days like this. Trees and powerlines don't get along. When we lose our power we lose our heat and the water from the well. Since our work depends on computers and the internet, we can't work.

So I'm on edge when the wind blows, waiting for the lights to flicker and fail. Will I make it to the end of the sentence I'm typing?

Well, that one, yes. And this one too. There's a relief.

I used to be able to deal with such disruptions. Once, when I was living at home, and the electricity when off, I lit an oil lamp and read an Elric book by Michael Moorcock.