Living off the Grid with Batteries

NEWS FROM LAKE WEBEGONE

FROM RICH: Some people get excited about the idea living off-the-grid. No electricity, hauling water (we estimate that we - eg Rich - will carry a metric ton of water this summer), pit toilets etc. And it's a great idea.

But, well, we realized the other night that we are now living with batteries. The three big batteries in the vehicles - the one in the truck and the two with the trailer are rechargeable (we have a generator for that purpose). And then we have 9V batteries for the smoke and co2 alarms. And 12 AAA batteries for our four flash lights, and two computer batteries, two Nook batteries, two cell phone batteries, a weather system that has at least 12 AA batteries, three cameras that have batteries, a hanging light in the tent that has 4 AA batteries, one bike with a light which takes batteries, a rechargeable battery in our electric toothbrush, and shaver and trimmer, a head band flashlight with batteries.....

Ten years ago we would not have had most of the above. We would have had a car battery and batteries for a couple flashlights! And that's it! I had always looked at the big packages of batteries at Costco and wondered who might use all that many batteries.... 

Hmmm. Next trip to town, guess what we are buying!

Convenience and technology that's fueled by batteries. It is interesting to think about how electricity has changed out lives. First we were tied to wires, and now we are tied to batteries. 

And, I would not change it. It is too damn convenient. But on the other hand, we can no longer maintain the illusion that we are living wholly off-the-grid. We just take the grid with us in the form of batteries. And tomorrow we go to Prospect and can plug our lap tops into the electric outlets of the library and charge our puters so we can do e mails and send out rambling blogs to our community...

Right now I sit in camp with the sun creeping into my shady spot and use up battery time. It is a pleasant 70 degrees, gorgeous day. Tonight I get a fishing lesson from a man in camp who has been coming here for 35 years. Promised me I would have trout for dinner. (That will be another blog).... Life is just too hard.