In the past year, I’ve seen more power outages at my little farmhouse than in the previous five years combined. Not sure why–high winds, drought, aging infrastructure, or maybe Potomac Edison has been economizing on preventative maintenance in a jurisdiction chock full of big trees?
Nah. Well… let’s leave it at all of the above. In any case, a lot of what I consider productivity requires a computer connected to the internet. Or–house work counts, right?–running water. At the least, it’s nice to have some illumination while using that broom, but if the power goes out at night, that’s a lot of candles.
I have water, firewood, snacks, and dry pet food stockpiled. I also have candles, matches, and flashlights, but that doesn’t address a need to use time productively or enjoyably. Today’s outage wasn’t quite three hours, last weekend’s was closer to eight. What to do? What to do? If the weather is acceptable, I’ll tackle some yard work, but I’m certainly not up to eight straight hours of outside chores.
What I have done is nipped upstairs (warmer than downstairs), snuggled under the covers with Tavis of Feline Perfection Fame, and whipped out the old Nook. Can go about 12 hours on battery, is self-illuminating, and always has two or three books I want to read.
And yet, I always feel a little defeated when I am backed into this option. What if I fall asleep and take a nap? What if I can’t get to sleep tonight because I took a little siesta? What if I run out of books? When will the electricity come back on so I can Be Productive?!
But then I recall how many days I’d get off the school bus as a kid and trudge up the hill to the house, only to find my mother reading in bed at 4pm, the remains of a little plate of cheese and crackers on the night table. She might have taken a few naps, and for sure, she took breaks. And yet the house was always tidy, dinner was always on the table at 6 pm.
All the science out there says naps make us healthier, breaks make us way more productive, and getting our feet up from time to time is a great idea. I love how hanging out with Travis helps me slow down and cheer up, and yet, I still feel as if I 
need a power outage to excuse the “indulgence.” The habit of working just because I can keep my eyes open, is deeply ingrained, and–I know this–not healthy.
I one day soon hope to have a solar house and to drive an EV, but before that day arrives, I hope I already know that breaks are good for me, and that they actually help me avoid the human power outages that no amount of electricity can fix.
Are a you napper? A put-your-feet-upper? What breaks have you learned to take even if the power is on?
Evening Grace
I need a nap every afternoon. I always sleep, sometimes only for 30 minutes but the body needs to be horizontal and the feet up.
I could read all day on the bed but reality intrudes and there is stuff to be done. Also my eyes get tired.
Not so many power outages here in the centre.but alot on the east coast of Canada.
I appreciate your need to be productive because I love reading the results
Mary D
One of my brothers is a napper, and he’s a guy who gets stuff done. The science supporting napping is incontrovertible, and I’m of the opinion that if I CAN fall asleep in the middle of the day, I needed the rest… and it feels like cheating.
I’ve found that 30 minutes of feet up, especially after a bit of peopling, is good for my entire household as they don’t have to put up with grumpy me.
I need to recharge after impersonating an extrovert too. I have never hit the end of my preference for hermiting, never felt a need to go out and socialize. I make myself spend time with friends, but I MUCH prefer the quiet one on one to any crowd scenes.
When we’ve lost power for long periods of time, we’ve pulled out the big backup battery that has suitcase-sized folding panels to charge it, in part to rechanrge my Kindle! One time we lost power for 8 weeks in Florida after a Category 5 hurricane. Last natural disaster time was only 1.5 weeks, so we were fortunate, I guess?
As I have to upgrade my Kindle, if the old one can still limp along I’ll hold on to it and charge it up every month to be another backup source of reading power when the electricity goes out! I have 3 Kindles piled up now, and when the last winter storm came through, projected for us to lose power for up to 4-5 days, you bet I had those suckers ready to go!
I have some small batteries that will charge my phone and my Nook, but I’m really hoping balcony solar gets its act together until I can solarize the whole house. This on again off again stuff is tedious, and oh, lookee… more high winds forecast for tomorrow along with torrential downpours. Maybe I should stockpile e-readers. What a great idea!
I grew up with grandparents and a great-aunt, who always put their feet up with a book (often a Georgette Heyer) somewhere between lunch and teatime. Now that I’m in my late 60s I find myself emulating their habit. And I never feel guilty, either about pausing for a bit of a read or a brief nap. Never fails to refresh.
Napping, or a first sleep/second sleep resting habit, has been the predominant habit for much of humanity for much of history. I think the industrial revolution’s “blessing” of illumination at any hour has to be seen as costing us some wisdom and a lot of health, regardless of what it paid out in increased profits for those who own the means of production.
For possible power outages (I do live in a hurricane state), I try to keep my Kindle, my tablet, and my phone charged, plus I have a couple of separate power packs that I make sure are charged before hurricane season starts.
Since I routinely wake up a couple of times at night and also sometimes have a little difficulty falling asleep, I try not to nap during the day. However, some evenings when I’m in my recliner reading (my favorite relaxing activity), I do allow myself a little catnap. I figure if I cannot keep my eyes open while I’m reading, then I must really need to sleep a bit. And as I age, it seems I need it more (which surprises me since I had always heard that older people needed less sleep). I might be an anomaly but it wouldn’t be the first time.
I’m with you. If I CAN sleep, then I needed the rest. I also have intermittent insomnia, but setting the alarm kinda ruthlessly in those periods seem to help the problem eventually (albeit temporarily) resolve.
While I don’t live on a farm, I do live in a rural area where trees vastly outnumber the people so power outages are a way of life. I always make sure my iPad is fully charged and ready to entertain me at a moments notice. The worst is when I am sitting in my (electric powered) recliner when the power goes out. A turtle on its back is more graceful than I am as I attempt to extricate myself from its grasp! While I try to keep busy and be productive, I also indulge my need for relaxation by mid afternoon, especially if I’ve had a particularly busy morning. I will sit in aforementioned recliner and read a great book for an hour or so. Once I am refreshed,I can tackle the “next big thing” on my to do list. Stay safe. Stay well everyone!
You know, in therapeutic riding barns, we use electric lifts to help some people get on and off the horse. The question has come up: What if a Participant is in the lift, flying several feet over the saddle, and the power drops? Somebody thought of that (for reasons, I imagine) and so the lift has a battery mode, and it has enough juice to get through several mount/dismount sequences. You’d think as much as we pay for those recliners… maybe soon.
I am a napper.
I usually take a nap every Sunday afternoon…every Sunday.
I am not sure if it’s a stress reliever or I am just tired.
We have a Generac…it has been a lifesaver during these past few storms…last power outage was 4 days. I was able to work from home during the last storm.
I just went to the Generac website and took a look… seems like they know what they’re doing and can work with a lot of different tech… except they have no dealers down my way. Bummer!
I am an oddball. I received an unexpected diagnosis (never heard of it) that explained my deteriorating physical condition. My reaction was to “loose it” so now I am trying to get going again and accept what I can do as good enough. Needless to say I am a pro and taking down time. I have to get going or I might disappear
Grace, I love that your mom was reading, napping, and snacking on cheese at 4 p.m.!
I’m not keen to admit but I’m definitely a Jack with all work and no play. In fact, I’m the opposite. I’ll enthusiastically go back to bed in the morning to read & drink cocoa or putter when I’ve got things to do. Sometimes those jobs get done and sometimes they don’t. I wish I were a get-it-done kind of gal, but that’s just not my personality, and at almost-eighty I don’t think I’m going to change. However, I really admire people who are that type.
I think at “almost eighty” we’re entitled to structure our days (or most of them) any old way we please. I am not a get it done type either, but as a single working mom, I acquired the ability to structure my time when necessary. Not being able to putter and go with the mood of the day for all those years has made me ferociously grateful that my work is much less structured now. I get stuff done, I might have a few to-dos written on a sticky note, but all that time-boxing, and productivity apps, and goal-setting. Nah. Nope. Been there, done that. Did not result any more or better books, so no thanks.
While I can’t nap if I want to sleep at night-preferable while working- I’ve found that taking a break to knit, weave, sew-create- works to rejuvenate me. Now what to Do with Al the things I’ve made…
I couldn’t survive without naps. Unfortunately, I can only take them comfortably when my husband has a caregiver on hand. Although on some of the days we don’t have help, i end up napping in the chair next to him. Just in case he decides to get up without telling me!
My sister’s house in the woods was built 30 years ago with a back-up generator. They don’t miss a beat. The hot water tank, furnace and range are natural gas. They live in a verdant valley of big timber which is protected all the way to ridiculous at the state level. She gets really itchy when the power is out, however, because it also often means they’re trapped in their subdivision by downed trees and power lines and bad weather.
Me, I nap when I can. Learned how with small children who also taught me to get up half a dozen times a night.
And back-up generators of which Generac is probably the best known is available from Amazon, Home Depot et al.
I use to take a nap in the afternoon. Every day unless something absolutely unavoidable claims my attention as in the days of the Perfect Storm and the plumbers invading my house last summer. I like to read for a while and then go to sleep – in bed, of course, in order to better enjoy it – it is a way of taking care of myself every day. It doesn’t mean that I don’t take care of myself the rest of the day, it means that this space is cherished. I don’t know how to qualify it: a pre-nap reading or a post-reading nap? What do you think? Or better yet, let’s ask Travis!
For my next pre-nap reading I’m happy to announce that Bernard and Sorcha are going to join me, thank you Grace for the ARC!
I’m a sleep late creature. Being retired, I can choose my own schedule. I’m a night person, so I can sit up late and read til whenever. And get up late the next morning.
I am the grateful owner of old fashioned oil lamps, including one with an etched scene on the chimney. When power goes off, as it did during today’s multiple storm bands, I have more than sufficient to haul out one of our Grace’s books from the shelves(plural) & dive back in with old friends. Love those print copies where I own them in perpetuity & nothing short of a funnel cloud or massive tidal wave flood waters can pry them away from me. The e-versions are more for those times stuck in waiting rooms, bureaucratic lines, or a need for fast reviews because authors need reviews in this time of algorithm overlords else we can’t find them.
Sad news when there is no electricity! Several years back when the power outage lasted 1 week, we decided to bite the bullet and got a generator. Although it took several more years to pay off the machinery, now with all the outages, we can at least have light and a few extra goodies. The big thing is I can go to the basement “my art center” and continue a piece, play around with different suggestions, and continue on my latest effort – learning the techniques of Watercolor painting. At Christmas I received a wonderful gift from a acquaintance “How to learn Watercolor painting.” Since then it has become a “new” favorite. Two very important blessings, a gift from someone with whom I have had many difficut times and the joy of owning a generator. I do sympatize with all who suffer outages.
We were brought up to work harder and longer so taking breaks or naps feels wrong and not productive. Starting taking a vacation day from work on my birthday and enjoy it greatly!
My paternal grandmother believed in the ten minute power nap. She set her internal clock and always woke up ten minutes later. My mother on the other hand made an attempt to do the same thing after I was born thinking she would take that power nap while I took a longer baby nap and still have some time to do some chores before I woke up. She told me that I ended up waking her up crying because my diaper needed changing. So she gave up on that idea. I inherited her inability to set the internal clock. My naps are usually at least an hour long. They can be two hours if I am in the final phase of a migraine. I end up sleeping poorly with a migraine. And I occasionally fell asleep when nursing my son. He was a slower eater and I would have to sit to feed him. The lactation consultants said breastfeeding forced a woman to rest. I can attest that those breaks were sometimes very welcome. Other times I would read a book while my son slowly ate. I would surprise people that I was actually reading with a child under one year. I said that I had time while he was nursing and I only needed one hand to hold my book and one arm to hold my son. It worked out well.
I get agitated during the day seeing my husband sit looking at his phone, or napping, because my to do list is always nagging at me and I have a to do list for him too. But come 7 pm I without fail put my nightgown on and that’s my time to relax and read in bed or watch tv, etc. I do take accidental naps here and there, primarily due to insomnia and a young dog who likes to wake at 530 am to go pee. Our power here in the Hudson Valley seems to go out once a month. We have a small generator, which I can use to make coffee, but otherwise have learned to have jugs of water standing by for the toilet (well runs on electric pump), battery operated lanterns, power packs for our cell phones and iPads, battery operated fans for the hot months, and I’m seriously considering a camping stove. Life immediately comes to a standstill when the power goes out. There’s nothing else to do but read.