What Every Home Could Use

I was going to post something... anything... in this blog, because it's been seven weeks and one day since I last wrote here.

(FYI, what had kept me from posting was a serious depressive episode. There were days I didn't shower or shave: Sometimes longer than a week. I decided yesterday that I would kick it today.)

I was up around 4 a.m. this morning. A heavy thunderstorm with strong lightening was happening. That, a thunderstorm late Friday afternoon, was the first rain that had fallen in my area for a while. If I find how long, I'll put it here later.

The storms had stopped a dry spell that made this June one of the driest months in the state's history. As of Friday only 5/100th of an inch of rain had fallen this month.

I was on the internet around 5:20 a.m. when the electricity went out.I went fumbling for candles and flashlights so I could see in the dark. Thankfully, the sun would rise soon.

Then I thought of this things that I recommend for every home, be it house, apartment, or whatever building you can think of:

• A big box of wooden matches, preferably Ohio Blue Tip, with the match stick around an inch long. Having smaller boxes of smaller matches would also help.
• At least one candle nine inches or taller.
• Several tea or votive candles.
• At least one flashlight with batteries that work.

While those are good for emergencies, I also thought of these things that every home should have:

• A ball of string.
• A pack of playing cards.
• A pair of dice.

Take if from me: You won't regret having those items.

And at 8:05 a.m., the power returned. I got back on the net and wrote this after I did some chores around the apartment.