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(Day 53 without turning on the electric lights! Battle against
CMP’s high prices) Well we have lasted 52 days and are still going strong. I have learned quite a bit about this adventure of ours. I have learned that there are good things and bad things about it. Some things I have learned just by chance such as how adjusted we are to electric lights and how much it has thrown us off by just our normal habits of living. We are so programmed to turn on the lights upon entering a room that I had to duct tape the wall switches to keep this experiment pure. It is getting more challenging now that the days are much shorter. We have learned to plan things more strategically for the daylight hours such as housework and woodbin runs down in the basement to name but a few. I had a marvelous time trying to polish the holiday silver in my only time frame until then (I have to work like everyone else). I was low in polish and had to wait to do my grocery shopping to get the polish before I could even start and by then at just around 4:50 pm in the foothills it was almost completely dark outside. The cloud cover from the rain made the skies darker by around 3pm. Not to mention we have heat saving curtains that not only keep the heat in but the sunlight out! Yikes sometimes I feel like I live in a cave with all of the energy saving gizmos I set into place in this house! The advantages of the situation are still as follows; my night vision has improved dramatically as I never thought it would. Mainly out of pure laziness for the most part it seems. Sometimes it is a pain to just grab a lantern to do a quick errand so I take the time to wait for my eyes to adjust before venturing forth in those instances. Also with the all encompassing darkness of the country and you have the light from a small lantern or flashlight in your presence you can notice the approach of someone else into your space for they need light too just to travel around. So it is tougher to get spooked by someone in this house now after dark (except for by the ghosts-but that is another story…) It is so completely dark that you need some source of light. I still love our meals by candle light. It is not only beautiful but somehow adds a soft elegance to any meal. By candle light people are so entranced by the atmosphere they are more likely to speak softer and the manners from my girls that I have pushed on them for so long are more noticeable now. Very nice! Somehow the home seems softer and less harsh without the electric lights it creates a more mellow ambience and the age of the house is more punctuated in a good way. One could easily feel lost in time with the light of the kerosene lamps and candlelight and the heat from the woodstove. Sounds are more pronounced and noticeable now that one has to strengthen the night vision mode if you want to venture out even relatively close to the light source for something. The light only surrounds a small area around the source while the intense darkness seems to swallow up anything beyond its soft reach. Also some people might think you are not home due to the light situation. Hmmmm nice sometimes… Disadvantages: a few noted so far. We have had little to no injuries since we started this. However there has been the occasional stubbed toe and miscalculating something beyond the light source. But we are getting much better now!lol! There is also the situation of people not returning the lamps and light sources to the baker’s rack I have set up in the kitchen for that purpose. It is a pain in the neck and I am thankful for no injuries in my quest on those occasions for a flashlight with good batteries! I also have to work on people replacing the batteries of those that have seen its day. It is still pretty cheap purchasing batteries and recharging them than in turning on the electric lights. I still have cable and internet etc. Just no electric lights… It is really such a small thing to part with that results in such a major savings on the electric bill that it is worth continuing this experiment at least until spring. And the worst thing yet that I have endured; stepping in dog poo! I was so tired when I came home from my holiday and food shopping yesterday I ran right to the bathroom without bringing a light and yuck! I had a very upset dog who managed to squirm around the blockade to that room and leave me a gift on the floor! I knew that I should have grabbed a lantern for that run but it was not completely dark yet and I had to go….Well lesson learned and my glorious LL Bean fleece lined slippers that I duct taped on the left toe since I could not part with them-gone! I threw them right away in the trash outside. I just did not even want to deal with cleaning the poo off them. Maybe it was a sign that I had to part with those wonderful duct taped slippers… And a sign that I need a stronger barricade for Bart and to not travel far without a flashlight or lantern even when it is not completely dark. Not that Bart has any accidents-that was what threw me off-I literally did not expect to step into that… L So we have lasted 46 days! Unbelievable! We went into this challenge not knowing where it would go and wondered what kind of a ride that it would be. I wanted to lower the cost of my electric bill since it has been rising to sky high prices lately. In this economy, well-we had to come up with something new to try to become more efficient in this household. I also love the idea that we are one small family trying to make the world a greener place in which to live. I could not give up my electronics (computer, high speed internet etc)… since I need them to make a living to pay the electric bill and put food on the table. Those things were crucial to me in making a living in these tough times. I love antiques and I am such a history geek that I thought on the dilemma and came up with the solution of seeing where the bill would go if we just did not turn on the lights. This has led to a most interesting adventure indeed.
So far we have brought the bill down quite considerably and I love it. I had no idea how much we saved by just not turning on the lights. We saved half of the normal cost of electricity by doing this. I went out and purchased two large flashlights from Family Dollar many batteries and a lantern from Wal-Mart and another from Aubochon. Not to mention the many candles I had purchased and had on hand already. I also purchased a beautiful kerosene lamp from my favorite antique store in town-“Serendipity”. We have dinner by candle light and many small flashlights that I bought the girls over the years from camping trips and their summer camps. We have a loading dock for rechargeable batteries as well. Unfortunately we have a large black dog who has been more than patient with us for tripping on her quite a bit. Poor Loki-she is such a good sport through this. I know that I am getting much better with my night vision. Sometimes I hate to just grab a flashlight or lantern to make a short trip in the house (usually for a bathroom run) and have actually sat there in the dark adjusting my eyes to make the trek needed. We live in the wilderness with no street lights or urban glow from nearby cities so when it gets dark-it is a complete darkness that is so thick it hits hard on the psyche. My girls are troopers and have not complained one bit. They wanted to put the light on in the basement the other day to fill up the woodbin since they waited until 4:30 (after dark up here now). I held firm and told them they need to strategize better since they knew it had to be done. I gave them my largest lantern that I use for cooking and putting my makeup on in the bathroom for them to use in the basement. They groaned and probably thought me quite crazy. But, really for that savings on the bill-Yikes! I am really finding great sympathy in our not far off ancestors. I actually find myself thankful for a full moon since the glow really lights up the house after dark if the skies are clear. I am teaching the girls and myself to strategize daylight activities so we can save on batteries and candlelight. And yes we can always turn on the light in an emergency. Thanks goodness that has not occurred yet! I am really having fun with all of this. We also did not skip a beat during the Halloween snow storm as I like to call it. We were hit with an early snow storm that wreaked havoc all across the East Coast and received quite a bit of heavy snow that day. We lost the power for more than 24 hours but we sailed right through it and knew that we could handle more if needed. I filled the bathtub with water for flushing the toilet (the well does not run when we have no power in the country) and was all set for washing dishes and cooking (thank goodness to all of the wilderness roughing it camping trips with the Hodgkin family). Those camping trips we took years ago when we went camping in the wilderness with no utilities and facilities-literally in the woods with tents and our kids and a camp fire; really paid off in times of no electricity. Besides, my daughter Tiffy and I had a good excuse to crank up the Victrola and dance the Charleston till we dropped! lol! We had such a good time and then for a good meal by our now cherished candlelight. Hmmmm I am wondering how much we ever really needed the electric lights in this house. .. We seem to be getting along quite fine without them. J |