It's not as if I need another excuse for lurching drowsily through a Monday. I can do that with no excuse at all, but this Monday was a little slower and sleepier than usual, thanks to our friends at PG&E.

When the power went out last night at a little before midnight, I should have just turned everything off and gone to bed. I mean, I should have done it right away, instead of waiting an hour in the idle hope that the lights would come back on. If they hadn't flickered three times before going off, I might not have held out such hope. It turned out the flickering wasn't a promise, but a taunt.

The utility company hotline was somewhat reassuring. I phoned at about 12:10, and the recorded voice announced that they were aware of the outage since the first report at 11:59 pm, and that they expected to have the problem resolved between one and four hours after that time, and did I want an automated call when power was restored? Well, no. I guess if the lights come back on in the middle of the night, I'll know it.

You know, there's not a lot you can do in a totally dark house at midnight, especially when you can't even get running water without electricity. I peeked through the blinds in all directions, and the only lights I could see were off to the west, in the direction of Sebastopol. I worried about the ice cream sandwiches in my freezer, which melt all over themselves whenever this happens. They're never quite the same after they refreeze themselves. I thought about the sheets I'd just put in the dryer, and how moldy and smelly they might be by morning.

Finally, at 1:00 am, I finally crawled into bed and tried to sleep. I was tired enough that I think I was almost there when the power came back on fifteen minutes later. I'd been so diligent about turning everything off that I might not even have known, except for the brightly flashing numerals on the clock radio next to my bed. That, in turn, reminded me that I had several electronic clocks and appliances to reset, so I got up and called the Time Lady.

By the time I got back in bed, it was after 2:30 am. It hadn't taken me all that time to reset a few clocks, but once I was awake I couldn't fool my body into thinking it was still asleep. I had to let it happen naturally, and it took just enough time to make sure it would be even harder than usual to face Monday morning.

In spite of it all, I had a fairly productive day. It's just that every so often I'd feel my eyelids drooping. At 4:00 pm, I couldn't deal any more and sat in the recliner with my eyes closed. Of course that's when the phone rang, with some new assignment that had to be handled. At least I should be able to fall asleep easier tonight, unless the same thing happens again. Or something different, and possibly worse. You never know.