Ode to the fine folks at PSE

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, February 8, 2006

How many PSE workers does it take to change a light bulb? One-hundred and fifty. One to switch out the bulb and 149 to drive the trucks.

That joke, lame as it is, was told by yours truly Monday night as my wife and I headed back to Shorewoods following nearly three days without power.

Hansville got its lights knocked out around midnight Friday and, being among those who refuse to get a generator, candles and woodstoves were the orders of the day. Or the nights as the case may have been. Being campers of the backcountry variety, used to strapping on headlamps and heating simple foods, it wasn’t too difficult to tackle the loss of power. And, when it got too tedious or boring, we simply ate out or went somewhere that had working lights.

What was tough was the fact that, although certainly the hardest hit in North Kitsap, Hansville was also apparently pretty low on Puget Sound Energy’s to-do list. Driving to Kingston, Poulsbo, Silverdale and even the outskirts of Indianola, it was a bitter pill that they all had power much earlier than we did.

OK, so we were jealous. But it’s hard not to be when you revel washing your hands in warm water in a bathroom at a store only to go home, again, stumble through your freezing house, trip over two dogs and cats, find the headlamp, light a candle or six, start a fire, put dinner on the woodstove and try to figure out how to read by candlelight without going blind.

Worse yet were Monday’s “teasers.”

Power came on twice for two minutes or so before blinking us back into the 1800s. Sunday night I felt like a post-marooned Tom Hanks in “Castaway,” turning on lights with the flip of a switch. Although I never did take it upon myself to befriend a volleyball. Sigh.

Anyway, Hansville’s back on the grid and — despite the delay — I’d personally like to thank each and everyone at PSE who helped make it so. “Wilson” would be proud.

JOE IRWIN

Editor