Cut off

When our electricity went out late in June, my husband was forced to stop watching the news. I haven't regularly watched cable or network news for several months now, and am much happier for it, but he missed it.

At first.

And then he didn't. As the hours stretched into days and then into more than a week, we found ways to keep busy and entertain ourselves that didn't include television. We got up at sunrise, worked on clearing trees most of the day, took naps, read books and magazines, ate simple meals and fell into bed as darkness fell.

A comment yesterday from Kathy kind of slapped me upside the head: While we suffered from the storm, we have absolutely not suffered from drought this summer. The big weather story prior to the derecho was the Colorado wildfires. Had I not been cut off from the outside world, I would have learned that rain hasn't fallen in many other parts of the United States in far too long. This map shows the location and severity of dry conditions throughout the country.

I feel so badly for those of you with withered gardens. One of the great joys of my day-to-day life is putting a meal together from vegetables I've picked that day or preserved and stored in the pantry. I'm not a survivalist, not by any stretch of the imagination. But growing some of our own food is one of those self-sufficient skills I really appreciate. (Today's agenda includes making more pesto and canning some salsa – I rarely have tomatoes, peppers and onions ripen all at the same time, but this year it's a summer miracle!)

The other "cut off" subject around here is our trees. The four pines are just stumps now, thanks to Simon, our Amish neighbor, and his chain saw. There's still a lot of hauling to do, but the big job is done. We're debating about whether to have him take down a couple more of the standing pines, to open up the view, but I think we'll leave well enough alone. The remaining trees block the late-afternoon sun fairly well. Being cut off from that heat source is truly a blessing this time of year.