Weekend fun reads
Happy Friday! It’s been a while since I’ve written a lifestyle post, and since I’ve learned a few fun things this past week, I thought of sharing them in a blog post, especially this fun fact below.
Yesterday I shared on my Instagram stories that we had a power outage the day before which, turned out, was caused by… a SQUIRREL. That was surprising and somewhat funny (though, also kind of sad as we don’t know if the squirrel survived), which led me to do a little bit of digging (pun intended). Turns out that squirrels are the culprits of most power outages in the US… I had no idea…
Per this article in Summerland Review: “Fun Fact of the day: Squirrels are behind most power outages in the U.S.
The American Public Power Association (APPA) says that squirrels are the most frequent cause of power outages in the U.S. The APPA even developed a data tracker called “The Squirrel Index” that analyzes the patterns and timing of squirrels’ impact on electrical power systems. Turns out, the peak times of the year for squirrel attacks are from May to June and October to November.
Typically, the squirrels cause problems by tunneling, chewing through electrical insulation, or becoming a current path between electrical conductors. “Frankly, the number one threat experienced to date by the U.S. electrical grid is squirrels,” said John C. Inglis, the former deputy director of the National Security Agency, in 2015.” - now that’s a fun fact for sure!
As cute as these creatures are, I find out more and more how destructive they can be, especially in Florida as there are so many of them here… and they’re gutsy little guys… this one was following us begging for food… ah, he’s too adorable…
In other news, yesterday was Earth Day, an appreciation day dedicated to our planet, as well as bringing awareness of the issues impacting it and its health. I shared on Instagram a simple way to take part in it, which is having a plant-based meal day (trust me, plant-based is delicious!), but there are so many more ways to help. This Travel and Leisure article shares 9 activities that can be done at home every day to make an impact (if you have kids, get them involved as a way of learning and also keeping them entertained).
On that same topic, Free The Ocean launched Trash TV (short - less than a minute) videos to watch in order to fund the removal of plastic from our oceans and coastlines. The facts are chilling, (i.e. we eat a credit card’s worth of plastic every week) but the good news is that we can help - every small gesture adds up in the long run.
As we hear more and more about climate change, Google Earth added a new feature Timelapse - read an overview of it here, or explore it yourself here and here and see how our planet changed over the years.
You might have noticed that life has been slow around here… as we’re awaiting our second vaccine shot, and have been busy with life things (good old fun taxes, etc.), we’re laying low, hoping we can get out there soon. We’re itching to explore and maybe even take a road trip but, right now, these are just ideas, as we have no plans set yet.
That’s all I have for now. I hope you enjoyed this post, but most importantly, did you know that squirrels cause power outages?
Exact backpack (in tan) here; somewhat similar dress here and here.
Until next time.
xoxo,
Em
