WTF Is a Derecho?

I learned a new word last week. Derecho. I even learned how to use it in a sentence: A derecho blew through Houston last Thursday evening, causing apocalyptic destruction and taking down the power grid for more than one million homes and businesses.

Guess who is part of the one million? As of Saturday morning, I’m one of the six-hundred thousand without power. (Update, it is now Monday, and while the number has dropped significantly, I’m now one of the 200,000+ still in the dark.) I’ve learned a few practical lessons during this time. This list is not complete and is in no particular order:

·         Top off the ‘hurricane supplies’ regularly.

·         Stop calling them ‘hurricane supplies’ and start calling them disaster supplies.

·         Check all power banks regularly and keep them charged up.

·         Buy a new, higher rated power bank because the current one is inadequate (Monday update).

·         Either replace the battery in my ancient iPhone or replace the phone ASAP.

·         Always keep the blue ice blocks in the freezer, not just during hurricane season.

·         Don’t let the canned cat food run low.

·         Buy dry shampoo and body wipes. It’s going to have to get a bit warmer before I can face the cold shower.

·         Check the cooler/ice chest for signs of leakage.

·         Put cooler/ice chest on a table, not the floor (see above).

·         Buy earplugs (the neighbors will run a generator 24/7 just outside the bedroom window).

·         Look for more things that take actual batteries, rather than rechargeable items.

My phone battery is down to 20% so I’m saving it for emergencies. The lesson I’m learning is that I don’t always have to be connected to the outside world. It’s okay to let it move on without me knowing everything that’s happening for a little while. My laptop is fully charged, and I’ve rediscovered airplane mode, so it stops looking to connect to the outside world as well. I’m going to make this my default for daily writing without interruption. I can look up synonyms and spelling when the draft is done.

On Friday, Houstonians were asked to stay off the roads to allow room for clean-up and repair crews. I heard from my neighbor that the estimated drive time to I-10 from my house, which is less than five miles, was just short of an hour. I wouldn’t have wanted to be out yesterday, anyway, but today might be a different story if it weren’t for my dodgy, arthritic hip. The elevator in our building runs on… you guessed it… electricity, so to go wandering around looking for something to do (and some food) I’ve got to negotiate the stairs.

This leads me to thinking about my independence. I’ve always been extremely self-sufficient, but my hip has thrown a monkey wrench into my plans for being the physically active older person. I need to drop some weight before I can have hip replacement surgery, and I’m making progress, but this brief (I hope) interlude has reinforced the message. I’m scheduling the appointment with the surgeon as soon as life is back to normal.

The one thing I appreciate is the quiet. Without the hum of air conditioning units, and the windows open, the evenings are especially pleasant. Off in the distance I can hear a generator running, but they are blissfully absent, and I can tell myself that I hear the CenterPoint trucks in the neighborhood behind, and imagine they are repairing our lines or transformers or whatever is down. So far, that’s a fairy tale, but without hope there is despair.

Monday update: neighbors in the townhomes next door obtained a generator and it’s running right below my bedroom window. I’m trying to think of it as white noise.

Instead of lamenting the things I would normally be doing, I’m concentrating on a few things I’ve put off. The first is reading I book I promised the publisher I’d review for the TABI blog before the release date in June. The book, The Women of Tarot, is a fascinating mini biopic of the women responsible for the significance of the tarot as we know it today. Several of the ‘big names’ are included, as are many who existed in the shadows and whose names were all but forgotten.

Along the same lines, I’m breaking in a new tarot deck: Tarot of the Abyss. The connection during a shift in cosmic energy is an important definition in our relationship and it’s likely this deck stays in the ‘go to’ drawer in my tarot cabinet.

Tillie’s demeanor has shifted as well. The windows are open and for her, this means everything going on outside is going on inside. My little guard dog is on high alert, warning off any man or beast who dare get too close. She’ll probably sleep for a week when the power comes back on.

Marlowe is unhappy about the lack of deli turkey available. Specifically, that there is none. He’ll survive, but he’s not convinced. (Monday update, there is now turkey and other provisions, thanks to my daughter. She’s the absolute best all of the time, but this is most appreciated in a crisis.)

It’s times like this, a far too often occurrence along the gulf coast it seems, that really makes me think about what I take for granted. I flip a switch and illuminate a dark room. I turn the lever in the shower to the left and the water warms. (Monday update, cold showers aren’t so bad when it’s 90 degrees inside.) I open my refrigerator and the combination of mechanics and freon keeps my food fresh and ready for me when I want it. I press a few buttons on the dishwasher panel and in two hours, all my dishes are sparkling clean. The washing machine works in the same way.

My phone, my iPad, and two computers connect to the entire world whenever I turn them on. My hobbies and volunteer work are mostly digital and require this connection. Even closer connections, like with my daughter, my family, and my friends, depend on the connectivity I take for granted.

So, what have I learned, besides the word derecho? I’m still working on it, but here are a few things at the front of my mind:

·         I want to cultivate a level of independence, both physical and digital, that does not require an electrical power source is at the front of my mind.

·         Time isn’t real. There is daytime, and nighttime. That’s pretty much it.

·         I like sleeping with the windows open. I like the night sounds and the feel of the night air.

·         My favorite time of day is between 9am and 1pm. The sun is high enough to dance with the leaves on the trees, but not yet strong enough to bake the world into oblivion.

·         My internal contentment is reliant solely on me. Mindset is everything.

I’m intent on creating a life I love, if that’s even possible, given my current parameters. I live in the fourth largest city in America, not a third-world country. Yet here I am, unwashed, sitting in the dark with a considerable amount of food spoiling in my refrigerator because something called a derecho wiped out almost 40% of the electrical grid. And two days later I still have no idea how long it will be down. (Monday update, there is now a forecasted date, but no one believes it.) CenterPoint is playing a numbers game. Whichever repair gets the most numbers off their outage report has priority. I guess that makes sense, but if they get down to 50,000 and I’m in that number, the result is the same.

The bigger picture in all of this is disturbing. Weather is uncertain and unstable, and without a doubt becoming more severe. Our infrastructure is also unstable and all the scotch tape in the world can’t hold it together much longer.

Half the city is moving on like nothing happened. The other half waits in the dark. There are still moments of magic and wonder, however. While picking up a pizza on Sunday to bring, along with ice and other provisions, my daughter found a round little air plant in the Papa John’s parking lot. Apparently blown in with the storm from who knows where, it now has a good home and a new name. Derecho.

Final update: the power came back on Monday evening. 96 hours is short when it’s a four-day weekend off from work. It’s a very long time when the power is out, and the temperature is over 90F.

Time isn’t real.

Here are some videos of the formidable weather event I hope never see to again.

https://youtu.be/WIUBtf4B8KQ?si=iCuXLGiroV5YjEbp

https://youtu.be/-F9zTpDm8XM?si=-xA9BjDF6vCI4lcT

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