Thursday, September 12, 2013

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.


14 comments:

Big Dude said...

Sounds like a terrible storm - wow to 3 folks being struck. These events make that generator seem worthwhile.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you're safe, but you might have to bake a sixteen layer cake for the wonderful guy who got you all A GENERATOR!

pam said...

Oh my gosh. We keep talking about getting a generator.

Sue said...

Mac says she's packing her bag to come live at your house. She thinks having a generator to make life normal would ease her fear of storms.

Rhodesia said...

Thank goodness you bought that generator it shows that it was well worth while. Hope your weekend id a bit better. Diane

Rhodesia said...

Thank goodness you bought that generator it shows that it was well worth while. Hope your weekend id a bit better. Diane

Blond Duck said...

I hope you're doing ok.

SissySees said...

We somehow dodged the storms yesterday. We had a little evidence of high winds, but no real rain or lightning. I hope your weekend is power-filled and uneventful!

Lapdog Creations said...

Those robo-idiot-calls from the electric company just make me more irritated during an outage... esp when they become 11 or 15 day outages... ugh!
Glad the generator worked!

gemma said...

our generator has been ordered and hopefully - this winter - when the neighborhood is huddling around their gas stoves for warmth... we will be watching tv and turning on every light in the house.

I guess we'd better stock up on supplies since we will have our neighbors staying over til the lights go back on.

Deana Sidney said...

I just came by to see how Brutus was doing. I am so sorry. I've been a bit nuts lately and not visiting as I should. How could that happen to a tiny little guy. He had his whole life ahead of him!!

Maybe adopt a big guy, give a beautiful home to a dog who has lost theirs.

My heart is heavy for you. Brutus had was very lucky to have you as a mom. He lived in a house full of love.

Deana Sidney said...

I just came by to see how Brutus was doing. I am so sorry. I've been a bit nuts lately and not visiting as I should. How could that happen to a tiny little guy. He had his whole life ahead of him!!

Maybe adopt a big guy, give a beautiful home to a dog who has lost theirs.

My heart is heavy for you. Brutus had was very lucky to have you as a mom. He lived in a house full of love.

~~louise~~ said...

That storm just missed us Marjie. Good thing you had a generator handy. I have a feeling it might be wise of me to finally get one. I'm quite apprehensive about the changing of the seasons this year.

Thank goodness Ryan made it home safely. How did Brutus do with all the noise? And, where's the cake?

Thanks for sharing, Marjie...

Pam said...

We had a moment of thunder yesterday and a pretty crazy thunder and lightning storm last week.

I am so glad your generator worked so well for you! Yay!!!