Timber --- Lights Out!

Picture It ~~~

I'm home after work relaxing, reading a book and all of a sudden there is a horrendous popping, snarling noise and then the lights go out. Quickly they go on again and I hear an even louder noise and they go off once again.

One by one, myself and all my neighbors emerge like gophers popping out of their holes to see what happened. We all congregate at the corner of our building and watch all the emergency personnel arrive vehicle by vehicle. First the police, then the fire department, then the university and finally the power company. Apparently a huge, massive branch fell off one of the nearby trees and onto the power line which then caused a surge and blew the transformer further down the line. There was also another large branch half cracked off primed and ready to fall on one of the buildings close to it. So we played meet the people in your neighborhood and I actually met someone that I hadn't met before - yay! Then one by one we wandered away in search of somewhere with working air conditioning and in my case an adult beverage and dinner. The adult beverage is because of the 100 plus children that I had the pleasure of working with on the first day of the Summer Reading Program. We first left planning on going a Mexican restaurant in hope of a fruity, slushy beverage with added adult flavorings. We ended up at a deli/coffee house that actually had the aforementioned adult beverages. I settled on a specialty sandwich and the house special drink concoction that consisted of peach smoothie mix, strawberry smoothie mix and my favorite adult coconut flavoring.

After a lovely time out we came home and still no lights or power. Apparently the force was not with us this Friday evening. So what are we to do....you could almost hear the gears turning as we try to think of somewhere or something to go or do. When in doubt go to the movies. So off we go and apparently everyone else in town had the same idea -- the place was packed.

But first a moment of silence for the cheapie movie theatre that closed their doors this week. I never made it there for a flick, but I was still sorry to see it go. I just hope the one remaining theatre doesn't raise their prices too much and gouge the poor college students.

We decided on Shrek the Third more because there was a showing every 30 minutes than anything else. It was ok -- but I would advise all to wait till it comes out on dvd. It wasn't worth the $$ to see it on the large screen.

Finally we come home and are greeted not by the glow of streetlights signaling that we have power -- but by the flashing blue strobe lights of the police cruiser blocking the street which means we still have no power! Did we think to get a flashlight out before the sun went down when we came back after dinner --- No that would of been a good idea! So by the glow of our cellphones (what did we ever do without them?) we venture into the blackhole that is now my apartment to locate my flashlight. Thankfully I knew that it was located next to my microwave! Success we have located the flashlight and it works! So I walk my neighbor back to their apartment and we locate their flashlight and I leave to return to my humble yet dark abode and there is someone standing outside my apartment. Me being the brave valiant woman that I am shout a hello (it helps that I can wield my mag lite and bop the individual on the head if I had to) and I get a hello back. So we play another round of meet your neighbor and I find a fellow Northerner is in one of the complexes near me. The guy turns out to be a history buff/grad student from Michigan and our round of meet your neighbor turns into what do you miss the most about the North? He misses the Canadian beer from home and I give my stock answer of the three things that are only found in Central Pennsylvania (TastyKake Krimpets, Middlesworth BBQ Potato Chips and Birch Beer). We also discussed how there is no Squirt Soda here. We did both agree we DO NOT miss the snow in any way, shape or form!

Finally the light bulbs one by one come on and we are illuminated by the glow of the streetlights and the unmistakable hum of all the air conditioning units fill the air. We bid each other adieu and I for one was off to bed as I had work the next day!