There are advantages of power outages, like the one that plunged us in total darkness [Friday] night.
My wife and I lit candles and ate a cold dinner.
I replaced the batteries in our portable radio and we sat by the wood stove, listening to a Christmas concert broadcast from Port Townsend.
The TV was silent.
No more endless talk of President Donald Trump’s foul deeds.
We went to bed early and slept soundly.
We are beyond childbearing age, but expect a spike in the birth rate nine months from now like the one in New York City after the 1965 outage.
Maybe our power grid, like the rest of our nation’s entire infrastructure, should be upgraded.
Close down coal-fired power plants that cause global climate change, hurricanes, droughts, wildfires, acidic oceans, melting of glaciers and permafrost, rising sea levels and the spread north of tropical diseases.
President Trump says he favors rebuilding infrastructure although he wants to shift the cost to the states, and to us, through higher tolls, privatization and other scams.
Even so, we should challenge Trump.
With a Democratic gain in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, maybe we can convince Trump and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to do the right thing.
It will create millions of jobs, and a cleaner, safer environment.
I looked out at the little Douglas fir in our yard at dawn.
The Christmas lights were back on.
Thanks to the PUD and those union electrical workers.
Tim Wheeler,
Sequim