[TheForge] the irony - illinois electrical rates

[terry l. ridder]

hello;

the below are the thoughts of a toothless disabled old man
looking back over the recent past of the family.

there is some irony in the illinois electrical rates.
up till a couple of years ago, the largest draw of electricity was the
computers. had a propane refrigerator and propane freezer, use humphery
gaslights in most of the house and aladdin lamps in the living room. the
computer room and shop/garage use the older model amish propane
gaslight.

as the family aged and the children went off to college the home
changed. it was just two years ago that i broken down and we purchased
an electric refrigerator. the children still joke about there being a
light in the refrigerator.

most of the shop tools were manual, up till the time of the accident in
1996 i had few electrical tools. it has only been since the accident
that i have been purchasing electrical tools when i had the money or
they were given to me. i did have a welder but that was run off the
propane fueled generator.

i still have the fans with air motors. they have been replaced over the
years by electrical fans. they are now relegated to being curiosities
in the basement and garage.

over the years the microwave oven and bread machines have made their way
into the home.

two of the adult children have returned home for various reasons.
they are now more aware of what going electrical has cost the family and
what being "old fashioned" meant to the family. the oldest daughter has
replaced nearly all the light bulbs with the fluorescent bulbs. my son,
has cleaned up the older kerosine lamps and lanterns for his use. i use
a coleman dual-fuel lantern outside at night instead of a flashlight.

so now instead of bringing more electrical items into the home we will
be going back to the "old" ways. the propane refrigerator is still in
the garage and if it could talk i would expect it to be eager to return
to service.

it was not that long ago it seems that the house was really totally
propane. the electricity that we did use was generated by the propane
fueled generator. it appears that we will be heading back that way in
the future.


-- 
terry l. ridder ><>