Three Powerless Hours

Many of you old-time Quangsters are well aware that my son, eleven-year old Weston, does not like school.  This is not to say that he does not like learning because he will question me endlessly every "together moment" we have. [Please see sidebar item devoted specifically to this phenomenon.]

He wants to learn what he wants, when he wants.

Weston does some of his best learning on the computer. One night he sat for three hours using Google Earth to find all his favorite landmarks and monuments, such as Devil’s Tower, The Empire State Building, and the Eiffel Tower (which he tried to find in relation to the Louvre.) If I send him to multiplication sites online he can answer questions endlessly on his times tables. Give him those same questions on a piece of paper and he can’t breathe.

Although he’s never been much of a history buff, times are changing thanks to software such as Civ City Rome, Age of Mythology, and Age of Empires.  He and his friends are constantly asking me questions such as “Who was Pippin the Short?”  “Who was Edward Longshanks?” and “Does Hephaestus cheat on Aphrodite the way she does on him?”

Needless to say, many of his play dates with his friends revolve around learning history wasting time on his computer.

Friday afternoon, the power went out.

My husband got to come home from work early. Weston had a friend over playing and I was tending granddaughter Hoolie, while her mom worked.

Things were very quiet because none of our machines were humming. Computer Geek was playing “volleyball” with Hoolie using a red balloon. Weston and his friend, lacking a computer (ohmygoshno!) to play on, were downstairs in Weston’s room rocking on a battery-operated guitar.  Computer Geek mentioned casually, “What kids will find to do when there is no power.”  I thought, “Ohmygoshblogpost!”

Knowing that the odds of ever catching such a momentous few minutes on film ever again were pretty close to nil, I grabbed my trusty digital camera and documented their powerless journey.

Go for the spike!

Smoke on the Water...

Untangling kite string

A little after five o'clock, the power came back on. A few minutes later all three kids came back in. Computer Geek and I looked at each other and in an unspoken agreement decided not to tell them we were back online.  It didn't work. They smelled the electricity running through the walls and excitedly fired up the computer. Back to answering questions. "Who were better, the Greeks or the Egyptians?"