5th Anniversary of the Big Black-out

It was five years ago today (August 14, 2003) that much of southern Ontario, parts of Quebec and some US states were plunged into darkness with a major electricity black-out. I remember it very, very well as I was returning home after getting Nova's 10 puppies in her first litter (see photo) tattooed. It was late afternoon and the only thing I noticed was that traffic lights were out but I didn't think too much of that. When I arrived home, Michael told me about the major black-out and the suspicion that it was another terrorist attack (i.e., 9-11, 2001). Well, that was a scary thought although it turned out not to be the case, TG.

Anyway, almost 50 million people were without power, some for a couple of days and some for a week. Our outage lasted about 2.5 days. With 10 puppies to care for, it wasn't fun having no electricty or running water for so long. Plus, it was hot as can be that summer. My biggest concern was letting the pups outdoors late at night, with coyotes in the woods, and trying to keep track of our little critters by flashlight. They were almost 7 weeks old then so they were motoring around.
Fortunately nothing bad happened to our puppies but it was a very stressful, hot and sweaty 2.5 days.

The biggest thing I missed was not being able to take a shower or bath, especially since it was so hot. Just made everyone realize how totally dependent we are on electricity for everything, including water too in our case. Since then, we try to ensure we keep candles, flashlights, batteries and bottled water on hand in case of an emergency. But really, it was a wakeup call but little is being done to lesson our dependency on electricity. Hopefully, nothing like this will happen again.