It was warm enough at about 58 degrees with the sun full on and a wind good enough to take my baseball cap off along the beach within a mile of us here. My daughter's husband returned from Europe from his Legal internship to study for a month for the New York Bar exam. He flew in yesterday from Germany in a direct flight to San Francisco so the weather in the rest of the U.S. didn't affect him at all coming in over the polar route.
So, at 8 pm last night he had been awake 24 hours in order to get here so it was 4 o'clock in the morning EU time for him so he excused himself and went to bed. The power had been off here since 1PM yesterday and didn't come back on until 12:45 AM on the first. So, we were heating by fireplace and lighting by candles and electric lanterns and flashlights from about 5 pm until 12: 45 AM in the New Year but we still had a lovely Chinese dinner because the restaurants are open on Christmas and New Years usually. We had egg rolls and other fun stuff for dinner. The my son-in-law said he went to sleep and when the power went back on in the middle of the night all the lights being on and the central heating kicking on woke him up he said. I was fixing myself a midnight snack at the time by candlelight but luckily we have a gas stove top that can be lit with a match. This type of stove is harder and harder to come by I notice these days because of all the safety devices built into newer Natural Gas stove tops that ONLY will light be electric sparkers. But, we have one of the old ones that you can still light either by electric automatic sparker or by a match so cooking on the stovetop works even when the power is off.
I have a 600 dollar gas generator in the garage but I was told I made a mistake and put premium gas in it because that's what I also use for my motorcycle. But, the man told me where they repair these things that if you use premium you burn them out quickly. However, mine lasted almost 5 years before it stopped starting so I think just in saved food in my refrigerators and freezers paid for itself many times over during those years. I have thought about buying another generator but so far haven't done it. I think what I want is something that has it's own electric starter. Pulling a cord and trying to get something to start at age 74 can be painful. Especially when it doesn't start on the first few pulls. So, I'm all for an electric starter on any generator I buy now.
It did take me some time on motorcycles when they stopped putting kick starters on them though. Using an electric starter seemed like you took a lot of the fun out of riding a motorcycle because a kick starter was a part of the ride just like shifting the gears and using a clutch and throttle handles is a part of the ride of riding a motorcycle too.
I still have a KLR 650 2009 that I bought thinking I might ride it around the world like Ewan McGregor and his friend did in "Long Way Round" but that didn't happen simply because I had to get more realistic about how old I already was and how much my wife wanted me to stay alive for her and the kids and my friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment