On Having No Electricity for 157+ Hours: The Glass is Half Full

One of those Facebook images that has passed so many times I can't give credit to the originator.

I'm looking at the upside of life without power.  157 hours without electricity in your home is half of something. I'll call it half full. 

Increasing Outdoor Family Time.   I went tubing on the Mohican River, something I haven't done in 30 years or ever done with my kids.  We also went looking for relatives' gravestones for my genealogy research.  Cemeteries had trees down but never need power anyway.

Getting No Political Calls and Less in the Future.  Every phone I own requires electricity so my phone rings without answer and has for days now.  That's doubly good because I couldn't receive all the political calls that all registered voters in Ohio are getting these days to try to get us to identify for whom we are voting plus I have an increasingly better chance of dropping off the call lists altogether for lack of answering.  There are potential future benefits as a result.

Getting Weaned Off Television.   I was already starting to get away from watching anyway.  It takes time away from blogging, right?  I haven't seen even a second of television since more than a week ago.  I may just not renew those TiVo's next time around.  Who needs cable?

Losing More Weight.   Though I've been improving my diet, my still-lingering bad habit of having some cold juice to drink before bedtime has been put on hold, at least, for a week.  I've dropped four pounds this week.

Saving on Utility Costs.  My electric bill will likely be at least 30% lower than this time a year ago.  I'm going after that Time Warner Cable credit too.  Can they prove my cable was working?

Gaining More Appreciation from Our Dog.  Our family dog was starting to act more like a cat these days.  She just lounges around and does her own thing.  She asks for attention on her terms.  She's had a fairly lonely few days.  I bet she rethinks things in the future.

Catching Up on To Do List.  Amish living had me more productive than usual.  The tree got trimmed (Mother Nature did that), the windows cleaned, and the porch swept.  The refrigerators and freezers will get cleaned out for the first time in a long time too here soon.

Getting Work Done.  I've escaped to my office when someone else has had the kids these days.  It's cooler there.  That means my work to do list is shrinking too.

That's a pretty good list.  I'll declare the proverbial glass is half full.