Sorry about yesterday's missed post. On Sunday evening wild thunderstorms swept into our environs---tornado warnings, trees down everywhere (except for, by some sleight of hand, my yard), power lines broken, etc. We lost electricity for 24 hours, although, thankfully, yesterday afternoon a friend loaned us a generator so that I could rescue my refrigerator and freezer.

Power outages in the winter are far less troublesome. We can melt snow for the toilet, dishwashing, and animal water buckets; we can keep our cold stuff cold; we have a gas stove and wood heat. These summer outages are much dicier, what with refrigeration and water worries. However, my boys, as experienced wilderness campers, are resourceful. On a regular day they are as technologically addicted as any other teenagers. But when the grid lets us down, they calmly prepare to dig latrines and take cold-water baths in the stream.

Nonetheless, I'm glad to have the power back. What I miss most, I realize, is running water. I hate not being able to clean up the kitchen. That counter covered with filthy pots and pans oppressed me all day long.

But since I wasn't able to do laundry, work on the computer, bake bread, or mow grass (due to a parallel, exasperating, but unrelated mechanical breakdown), I did get a lot of reading done. A day spent with Virginia Woolf's The Years is never a waste. The more often I reread that book, the more it amazes me. Perhaps I will write more about it tomorrow.