Earth Hour

Did you know that Saturday at 8pm is Earth Hour? For one hour, all of America (and the world) is encouraged to turn off all electricity. Just for an hour. Stop driving, stop computing, stop doing anything that requires other than the Earth's natural energy. Like look at the stars and moon instead of a tv screen. I had really wanted to do an event around this but circumstances and blahdeblah.... so I am doing an alternative. Involving fire. And alcohol, I'm sure. LOL!

When I was a kid I used to love it when the lights went out. My family loved to play cards and if the lights would go out we would play canasta by candlelight for hours. In fact, when we first moved into our house in Bowie, we did not have power. Or walls. My dad's a builder, he built our house. Digression: His name is John, his family calls him Jack.... our house has a sign that says THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.

Anyway, I can remember my mom cooking eggs on a skillet over a fire.... Holding up the boards when you went to the bathroom.... Surprisingly, these are some of my favorite memories. Without power, we played games, and not just cards, every night we played HORSE on the basketball hoop my dad put up. He beat us every time with his one speciality shot. He would stand about 200 yards away from the hoop, put the ball over his head and let it bounce with all his might, straight into the hoop! Over and over again. None of us could do it. He would come out, challenge us to a game, do his one shot and then go take a nap knowing victory was his. Errgh. He would also wait on the roof with a pot of water just daring you to come outside during a water battle, which were epic in my house.... and I do mean IN my house....

So, yeah, power is not all that necessary in my book. Turn your electricity off on Saturday, try the whole day and see what creativity you come up with.

But really, don't take your hose through your house.....once we had floors, it got really messy.... Oh, and if your Dad's asleep, don't throw a pot of cold water on him. He could have a heart attack. Or two. And your aunt might retaliate by putting worms down your bathing suit. Maybe.

Have a great day today!