It won’t let you down.

That was the lyrics to one of my favorite songs of times past. Our electricity went out Friday night at about 10:30 so Zee and I just trundled off to bed. This past Christmas, our four children bought us a new bed to sleep in with all the accessories to raise my head along with my new pillow, and 680 thread sheets on the mattress that now allows me to slither around without my night shirt staying fixed to our old 200 thread cotton sheets, that from time to time would put a stranglehold on me. I never made an issue out of it because I thought that our sleeping technology, a mattress that had springs that were sprung and had two depressions one for me and one for Zee from years of slumber, was top of the line. But my daughter Lillian informed me that our mattress and sheets were just one step better than what a Caveman had with no sheets and only a Woolly Mammoth robe for him and his sleeping partner to cuddle in. 

       Our power is out here at our house as is everybody else’s in the Cholame Valley. It goes out fairly often as we’re at the end of the PG&E line but it’s usually a quick fix. But this time the fix wouldn’t be quick as snow started falling about 5:00 P.M. on February 24th and it’s snowing clear down to Parkfield at 1,500 feet elevation. The weatherman said it would be just a dusting but at this moment what I see is a sky full of great big wet snowflakes. Well, it turns out that our power lines are designed for California fair weather, not Montana 30 below-zero weather. So sometime Friday night our California power lines couldn’t stand the weight of all that wet snow. In a distance of about 12 miles, the PG&E Electric lines broke in 22 different places plus one electric pole broke in two. Saturday morning our son John called PG&E to find out when the power would be restored the answer was it’s an easy fix power it will be on shortly. Believing their assessment I wanted to see the scene the snow had painted last night. It was 6:30 A.M. when I crawled out of bed awake and as I looked out our bedroom window every tree had branches bowed down with three or four inches of snow and our mountain tops 3,500 to 4,000 feet elevation have two to three feet of snow as far as the eye can see.

The sun is just now peeking over our mountain and its light has turned each tree into a diamond-studded work of art that only Mother Nature could create. In less than a half-hour that Zenith moment was gone, replaced by the voice of Cade, our youngest grandson, out in the carport. Grandpa can we take the side-by-side up to Mustang Peak, there’s enough snow to go snowboarding. It’s okay with me, if you hit a rock and break your snowboard that’s okay too, just don’t break a leg. I also asked him to open the gate to the Slope Field if he sees any cattle up there so they can drift down lower on the mountain, whereby this afternoon they might find a bite to eat. Saturday night has arrived and Zee and I are going to dinner at the Parkfield Cafe to get the latest update on our power outage. John and his wife Barbara own the Cafe so we eat there a lot. It's one of the perks of raising two sons that have a wild side that can put them on their father and mother’s worry list. Last week John and his brother Greg went helicopter skiing in the Ruby Mountains of northern Nevada. They said it was quite a thrill and they didn’t encounter any Avalanches and the snow was great. 

      John who had recently talked to a PG&E employee said, “Things are way worse than we thought and verified that there were 22 wires broken and one broken electric pole, so they think that maybe by Sunday night or Monday sometime we should be back online.” 

          It’s 10:30 Sunday night and it’s pitch black and not a sound is to be heard. I’m writing this blog by the lite of my iPad while sitting in front of a nice cozy fire that is my only heat and between my breaths, I feel that peaceful easy feeling has captured me. With no TV, no phone, no lights, just me and this nice fire to gaze at. I wonder if sometimes we humans in our constant search for always more comfort and convenience miss out. Jack, you're just dealing with a bad case of nostalgia get over it, we are hard-wired to be constantly looking for new horizons. 

         It’s now Monday morning and the latest update on our power being restored is 11 a.m. I think until all our electrical paraphernalia is restored, I’m going to spend the day watching some clouds racing by and several Red Headed Woodpeckers putting acorns into holes in a dead but still erect 30-foot tall Agave plant that they tell me in Mexico is what they use to make tequila. 

       The kitchen light has just blinked on and my internal alert system is back in action. That’s a scam call Zee. The T.V. is on and there’s a huckster trying to sell whoever is listening, a new car with plenty of financing available so that when the car is paid off, it’s worn out. My daughter Katy has become my go-to town driver and said that I missed my hearing aid appointment and slipping out the back door unnoticed was that Peaceful Easy Feeling. 

                         See Ya, 

                          Jack