February 20, 2011-- When things fall apart....

When things fall apart, why does it always happen 1) when it is extremely cold and 2) when I am home alone and not sure how to fix it?
We live off the grid, relying on solar panels, a series of batteries, and an inverter to power the house. On cloudy days, or when we've used too much power or need to run a power tool like the vacuum that requires extra zoom, we have a generator to provide the juice.
Which is great when it all is running well. But, then there is today--not only does the inverter not want to accept a charge from the generator, but the generator is the older one we have and with it so cold, is impossible to start. I spent twenty minutes yanking on the cord, with the choke on and off this afternoon, trying to start the darn thing only to pull it off the little platform it sits on to keep it level. Which required me to haul it back onto the platform, pulling something in my lower back in the process....
So, I am sitting here by candlelight and the light of my computer screen contemplating ways to continue for the evening. I think I will continue to write until the battery goes dead in this computer, then crawl into bed and read the new book I bought by Rosemary Mahoney called Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff. If this woman can row the Nile in a seven-foot boat all by herself,  I can survive the next few days with no power in the house.