The brain is kind of funny, you know? During my first blackout yesterday, I phoned the utility company and was told that power would be restored between 3 pm and 5 pm. When the lights (and more importantly, the computer and the TV) came back on at 1:30 pm, I figured I should be grateful for the extra hour and a half.

Then during the second blackout I got the message that power would be back between 11:30 pm and 1:30 am. That was good news, but not good enough for me. I took it as my due that since I’d gained an hour and a half earlier in the day, I should fully expect power to be restored by 10 pm.

And guess what. At 10:02 pm, I suddenly had full use of all my electrical appliances again (not to mention running water and heat, which were pretty important things by that time of night).

I couldn’t help being nervous about light and heat all day again today. It rained some, but mostly it was the whipping, icy wind that was so outrageous. It was as cold as Wisconsin out there. (Well, no, not really. But colder than California should be.)

It didn’t seem the flimsy power lines that have been up and down for the last two days could stand up to the wind. I kept waiting for the darkness and silence to strike again, but somehow I managed to get all the work done that I planned to do today. (Which wasn’t nearly enough, but it’ll have to do.)

The sky was kind of spooky today. It was mostly dark and foreboding, but there were patches of bright blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds for part of the afternoon. The bare trees stood out starkly against the gray, white and blue background. It would have been picturesque, if it hadn’t been so miserable, and if I didn’t have to worry about losing power.