Midnight Mutterings | Lights out

||| MIDNIGHT MUTTERINGS by JACKIE BATES |||

I hadn’t planned to write about the power outage April 15, 2026, three days ago, because you already know about it, especially your own experience. However one thing I found out checking the internet is that I misunderstood a major factor: that not all of Orcas Island was affected.

I saw a map that showed that only part of Orcas Island was without power. Most of the west side of Orcas as well as the top part, including Eastsound did not have an outage. I didn’t know that until I saw the map. Because I hadn’t bothered to charge my phone and laptop overnight, both of my devices had very little charge remaining and there was no hint of when the outage would be resolved. When I phoned OOPALCO several times, listening to a message that the outage was ‘system wide, I assumed Eastsound had no power and there would be no place for me to charge my devices.

I didn’t have a power storage device and my phone and watch were almost dead; I managed to charge them a little using the power in my new-to-me 2020 Chevy Bolt EV. I tried to charge my laptop, which didn’t work, even though I was able to charge my watch by plugging it into my laptop, which was plugged in the car. That worked, but still the laptop failed to charge even as the power went through it to charge the phone. I didn’t spend a lot of time using the EV’s power because I wouldn’t have a way to recharge the car if it were depleted. Because the car is new to me, I don’t yet know her habits and appetites.

I had a bit of a lonely day as most of my neighbors are away and I was loath to use the power of my phone and laptop, not knowing when power would be restored. My phone is my only radio and I use it to play audio books. After a few hours of silence in my own company, I thought I might have to read a real book. I also had no water as I am on a well with an electric pump, I had no light which didn’t matter in the daylight and no heat or way to cook.

And, um, no toilet. Decades ago, I had built an outhouse on another corner of the acre the house is on, which would have been great if a tree hadn’t fallen on it in the winter of 2024. I hadn’t gotten it fixed as we hardly have any power outages anymore. I have a small wood stove, but a poor supply of long burning wood, so reaching a temperature that would cook anything or even boil water (if I had any water to boil), would have taken a long time. The house is tight and the day mild, so I wasn’t really cold.

Ah, but I have a little cabin on the beach that has running water (thank you Doe Bay and indoor plumbing) AND a propane cook stove with even a tiny oven. The wood stove is tiny, too, but heats up nicely with a little almost dry driftwood. At under 300 square feet, the cabin is a lot easier to heat than the house with its high ceiling.

So I was soon warm and fed and didn’t mind that the wonderful running water was freezing. Worked fine with modern plumbing, and I could heat up small amounts on the propane cook stove. Daily showers are a luxury, and unnecessary. And I had a lot of unread books.

Eventually, the power returned, around 4:30 I think. Once I got the phone and laptop sufficiently charged, I turned on the radio and then, immediately ordered a power storage device that can be charged like any device or (very slowly) by solar.

That power storage device arrived the next day and is my insurance that we won’t be having another power outage any time soon, now that I am prepared. You don’t have to thank me for the next few months/years of uninterrupted electrical power. Unless, of course, I manage to lose my new toy when I finally stop worshipping it daily and it drifts into hiding, along with all my passwords and my neighbors’ grandchildren’s names.

PS: Well, this is embarrassing. I just looked at that map again and see I must have misread it. There are lots of outlines and overlaps and all of Orcas seems to have had the day-long power outage. And there’s a note that 98% of the San Juans were affected. So going to Eastsound probably wouldn’t have helped me after all. And I would have just been in the way of everyone trying to cope in difficult circumstances. I have only spoken to one neighbor and she arrived after the outage and wouldn’t have known what happened (or didn’t happen) in Eastsound or the rest of Orcas. Sigh.