20 Hours

We had some incredible thunderstorms roll through our area last night.  Thunder and lightning started around 3:45, and although rain didn't start until 4:30, we lost our power at 4.

3 or 4 people in the area were struck by lightning (all survived).  UPS called me to tell me that my driver couldn't get here for our 5:30 to 6PM pickup, because trees were down everywhere.  We got at least 4" of rain in 3 hours, flooding roads at a much lower elevation than us, and it took Ryan 40 minutes to drive the 1-1/4 miles from the golf course down the road where he works almost to our house (he parked in the town hall parking lot and trudged the last 3/8 mile up the hill).

But my generator worked!  I laughed at the weather!  I baked a cake!  I  watched TV and read!  And I didn't take upset at the fact that it took until noon today (20 hours) for the power to be restored.

Here's how the electric company's robocall to us around 6 last night went:

Your power is currently out.
(no duh.)
This interruption in service is due to a weather event.
(ya think?)
All of our crews are working to restore power as quickly as possible.
(sure.)
We have no estimate as to when your power will be restored.
(Right.  Because the 5 customers on this transformer are unimportant.)
We will call you with further updates.
(What fun.)

They did send a crew out at 8 this morning, because there were live wires in the street, and it took them 4 hours to cut up the tree and put back the wires.  I guess live wires make us more important than we otherwise would be.  They did leave these tree remnants along the street, as seen from inside my yard.

OK, maybe you can see them better when I get the camera right next to the fence.

Meanwhile, fresh thunderstorms have started here, and our power is out again, a mere 5 hours after it was restored.   I might have to go bake some bread.