Windy Repercussions

I woke to find hubby asleep on the couch this morning – an unusual occurrence. He stirred when I came into the room and I asked why he was on the couch to which he responded, “I am waiting to see if the power comes back on.” I had not yet realized the power was off.

This is often the case for us when we have high winds in the mountains. The winds take the trees down, often bringing power lines with them. We are fortunate to have a generator that powers about 80% of the house. It will not run the air conditioning or any appliances that require 220 power. Without power we do not have water as we have a well and the pump requires power to run.

Unfortunately, this morning the automatic switchover to the generator did not work. Hubby had to go outside and fiddle with it (my explanation of things I do not understand) to get it to come on.

From the look of the outage map provided by the power company, we may be without power for a good part of the day. If the outage lags on, we will switch the generator off and on to conserve fuel throughout the day. I am thankful for the generator as it is not something everyone has available to them. Thankfully, it is not a cold day.

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SoCS – Power and Cell Outages – Soul / Sole

Day 164

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “soul/sole.” Use one, use both, use ’em any way you like. Enjoy

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Last night we had a power outage. From what I understand, it was due to a vehicle accident. The equipment must have been heavily damaged because it took almost 9 hours to repair. I worry about the pour soul(s) in the accident and hope they are ok. I have not been able to find anything written about it this morning.

So, we woke this morning to heat and power which was nice. The winds were fierce last night. I woke up several times because the wind was so loud. Our cell service is down. Not surprising considering the wind. Our tower is on one of the surrounding mountains and is the sole tower that serves this area. It often goes out during storms or extremely windy weather.

Now I am off to enjoy that second cup of coffee.

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Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you by Linda G. Hill. If you want to play along, visit her blog for the rules.

Extended Power Outage

Day 163

I postponed this blog because we had a power outage around 5:30 pm. It was to be repaired about 9:45 pm. The estimate has now extended to 5:00 am.

We have a generator but we cannot run it that long. So, it is time to put a little blog up and bundle up and get some sleep. We will power the generator off and get up in a few hours and start it again just to keep the food in the fridge ok. Thankfully it is supposed to be reasonably warm overnight.

The outage is evidently due to an auto accident. I am praying that everyone is ok.

Goodnight blog world.

Another Power Outage

Day 108

We received the edge of this arctic blast which for us meant high winds. I think our highest gusts were 35 mph.

We lost power right before 9:00 am. Internet/WiFi and cell followed shortly thereafter.

I had planned to make a 15-bean soup today. We do have a generator but it supplies only the basics which does not include our electric cooktop.

This meant the beans soaked over 24 hours. When the power came on at 8:30 pm, I decided to cook the beans. I was afraid they would be mush by morning.

So, I spent the day napping and reading which was heavenly. I finally started Becoming Mrs. Lewis and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It is definitely a writer’s book.

We still have no WiFi so I will try to update this over cell. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Man, that soup smells good!

Hoping for Restoration

Day 68

Day three with no power. We can do without the lights. We have flashlights. We have cold weather clothing and blankets galore so staying warm is relatively simple. But we are on a well and septic. No power means no pump so no water and no flushing toilets. This is the main reason we have a generator. The generator only powers some of the outlets so even running it we do not have hot water, a stove or a microwave. We can use the toaster oven and the tea kettle while we have the generator running and we can run the furnace enough to take the chill off the house and run the water and flush the toilets.

I have intermittent cell service on my phone, but hubby has none. Our WiFi is up so we can access it while the generator is running which means a few hours a day. I am rushing to get this update done while the generator is running.

Today we have ice and black ice. Everything that started to melt yesterday is now frozen because our temperatures dipped below freezing last night. After the ice melts, we are going to our daughter’s house (a little over an hour from here) so we can shower and get into some clean clothes. That will feel wonderful!

Yesterday afternoon when we drove back home we were astounded at all the tree damage. Being cut off, we had no idea how the storm affected the area around us. Huge limbs are broken off the trees and many trees are uprooted — a witness to the previously saturated ground and the heavy snow.

There were power trucks out everywhere with tree people following in bucket trucks. The trees must be cut before power can be restored. We actually drove under one tree stretched across the road and lying on the power/cable lines. 😳 There are still 3,000 people in our county alone without power. Duke power is saying power will be restored by 5:00 pm Friday. Individual outages may be restored before that time so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

20 – 30′ Dogwoods Bent over Touching the Driveway

From the little bit of news we read, the storm hit this area pretty hard. Our snow accumulation was not much, but the snow was SO heavy, the trees fell under the weight. Our dogwood trees suffered greatly with huge branches broken out of the tops of the trees. Our cedar trees lost limbs as well.

The large stands of bamboo that frame the roadways were all lying down and much of the bamboo was split and splintered. It was a sight to see.

We have still had no fuel delivery. Neither have most of the people living here. Yesterday when I spoke to the company, he said they had attempted 10 deliveries and only one was successful. This area is hilly and those huge trucks cannot make it up these hills with ice and snow. It just isn’t safe. We are looking at possibly Wednesday before they will attempt to deliver fuel.

We are so fortunate because we know the storm has taken lives. That is humbling when you think you have it rough so we are thankful and blessed. We have also been able to touch base with family to let everyone know we are okay. It’s the little things that are the most important.