Mono Monday : : Electric

Spoiled for choice for pictures for today's challenge. The pictures I took elicited the following musings….

We take electricity for granted until we don't have it. Then we realize how many things we depend on in our lives are plugged in and turn on at the flick of a switch or the swipe of a screen.

When I started looking around for today's Mono Monday shot, there were hundreds of examples:
Lamps, kitchen appliances (even the gas ones have an electronic ignition),     television, radio, even the telephone.
We can't even get water out of the tap or flush the toilet without electricity because our well is on a pump.

When I started looking at the pictures I had taken, I realized that the flip side of all this convenience is a fair amount of unsightliness. There is a row of, not one, but four power poles with huge transformers on top in front of a vacant lot down the street. 

Some wires can be concealed, like the mind boggling collection emanating from the back of the television cabinet. Others are untamable like the collection trailing down the wall under OiIMan's desk into three  separate power strips. I have had power outlets installed in the middle of the floor so that we don't have lamp cords cords trailing across the room waiting to trip the unwary.

A "smart meter" has replaced the old one the meter reader used to come once a month to read. We're told we can connect it to our computers, as presumably the power company can too and get minute to minute reports on how much electricity we are using. There is such a large movement against smart meters in Sebastopol (health hazard? right wing conspiracy? illegal pot growers?) who knows?) that people have been allowed to opt out of having one installed.

I like our row of three light fixtures hanging above the kitchen island with old fashioned Edison bulbs with visible filaments. They don't shed much light, but they are fun to look at, so they were my choice for today's blip.