The Degrees of Power Loss

There are degrees of power loss in my house. There are the lights getting a bit dimmer. Then there is the water pump slowing down and taking a little longer to pressurize the water lines. Then of course there is the time when the inverter won’t work so that means no running of the laptop. Who could forget the tic-tic-tic as the fridge tries to light the propane again and again, or just gives up and calls a fault, due to lack of power. 

My personal favourite is when the furnace just sits there and looks at you. It doesn’t warn you or light up a fault light. No, you realize that the furnace has quit by the fact that the trailer just keeps getting colder and colder. (This is the height of fun and frivolity in the dead of winter).

While the furnace flame burns propane it needs battery power to run the fan. When the power gets too low, the whole furnace just shuts down, without warning or indicating it is doing so. As an added twist of fun is that the little light on digital thermostat still indicates that it is telling the furnace what to do. 

Then there is the “seriously, not kidding, you are reaaaly out of power” sign that is the radio display is off. The radio is also my clock and it always is on telling me the time even when the radio is off. That blank display was what I came home to yesterday,y meaning the batteries were all but flatlined. 

Now I thought about not running Jenny, as I was going to my campground tonight, so why bother? I realized that I wanted to run the fridge during the day and during the drive, to keep things cool. Groceries and yes beer.

So I ran Jenny for a couple of hours and told myself that I would get up and write this morning. Did I? . . . no . . . no I didn’t. I decided that I would sleep in and rest up for the drive, or that is what I told myself as I rolled over to get more sleep at four this morning. 

I did have a nice warm shower, a quick one as the water pressure kept dropping, meaning I was almost out of water. Thankfully I did rinse off in time. Such is life when you live off the grid and your resources are finite. You are always aware of what resources you are using and when they are getting low.

Now, all I need to do is make it through today and I will be on my vacation! Don’t worry I will still blog (or at least try to).

Once again, for no reason other than it was pretty, here is your sunrise shot.