Inconveniences of Modern Life

Do any of us realize how dependant we are upon electricity? We have grown up in an era where it was always avaliable at the flick of the switch on the wall. We take it for granted. Even this method that I use to communicate my thoughts to the ethernet is wholly dependant upon the movement of electrons down wires or cables. Without it EVERYTHING comes to a screeching halt.

Memphis is without power. I'm writing this from my parents home in Middle Tennesse where I've taken refuge. You don't think about what happens when 2/3 of a major city loses power. In minor storms our way of coping was to go to the mall. The Mall is without power too. Ditto the grocery store, the resturant, the movie theater. Unfortunately ditto the hospitals, the gas stations, the power company main office itself. Even here, the affects of the storm are being felt. My mom's office closes all their home loans through a processing center in, you guessed it, MEMPHIS. The rerouting is creating its own headaches. Mom's hours are longer and the stress level is higher than usual.

How much will the price of groceries increase so that they can re-coup the losses in meat, dairy, produce and frozen foods? How many businesses are operating on such a narrow margin that this event will be what pushes them out of business?

How do we simplify and become more self-sufficient? I'm not about to give up my modern conveniences...I love my computer too much...but surely there has been brought home in this a need to be far more prepared. I need to have more canned food on hand. We have the capacity to cook, thanks to the gas grill, but not enough foods that won't spoil. Having lots of food in the freezer didn't help this time. I'll be re-assembling that emergency kit that we used to have during the earth quake scares of the late 80's. I'd gotten careless. We were lucky. We had somewhere to go. Others aren't. We need to be ready and not so dependant that we are incovenienced when our modern lifestyles are suddenly disrupted.

Hopefully I'll be blogging from Memphis again soon.