Friday, December 19, 2008

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr

We didn't get much snow by most northern city standards but it just snowed all day yesterday making it nearly impossible to get ahead of plowing roads. To add insult to injury it hit the Seattle area just before morning rush hour. So I sat watching the ongoing bumper car demolition derby on TV. One road was so bad that everybody just left their cars and walked which of course added to the trouble (you can't plow with cars blocking the way). So it was a fun morning and afternoon. I went out for a while and shoveled the walkway and thought I had done a good job (Hey wasn't that the reason I moved here? You shouldn't have to shovel rain). Used to be in the old days it would snow for a day and a day or two later it would change to rain and be gone. Not this time around. Oddly enough this is part of global warming but that is best left to another post to explain.

All was going well for a snowy winter day now a winter night. Was getting all settled in my comfy chair to watch the Grinch when the power goes out. Okay where's the flashlights? Where's the crank radio and where's that number to the power company. A call to our local public utility reveals an automated message. There's spot power outages all over the county. So we sit and watch the main road. Within twenty minutes I spot the boom truck checking poles with his spot light. These guys here are great. Over the next hour or so I watch one truck then three then four trucks going up and down the road. When it takes that long it's usually a blown transformer and that will take some time. I knew it was time to close the shades and hit the sheets because it would be some time before this would be fixed. About five hours later I heard that wonderful thump and peered over to see the flashing 12:00 on the nightstand clock. I must give kudos to the guys on the powerlines. Would you go out in the middle of the night to freeze your butt off and one mistake and you get a new flaming hairdoo?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice! I got to drive through the snow storm last weekend on my weekend trip to Oregon. I had a blast, driving in the snow was quite fun. It was my first time in the snow, and the first time I'd ever seen it fall from the sky.

Quite an enjoyable experience, of course, I don't have to live in it either. :)

BBC said...

Well, they do get paid damn good to do that. But it's mostly a job best suited to those under fifty.

I worked under a lot of adverse conditions until I was fifty, at less than good wages.

And could handle most nasty stuff until I hit sixty, now I just want to stay inside and be warm.

Hey, didn't you just say that your power never goes out cuz you live by the sub station?

Well, a sub station that isn't getting any electricity can't send you any. I hope that you at least have some back up wood or propane heat there.

I think it's sort of foolish for anyone to think that the power will only be out for a few hours when people are often without it for a week or two.

The Seattle area has a good record of that not happening, but that doesn't mean that it can't.

I haven't driven anywhere for a few days but did clear the driveway, sounds like we may get more snow this weekend and I don't want it building up on me.

In the late 60's I lived and worked in Seattle, when the snow hit I would chain up and go over to N.E. 145th and pull others up the hill just for the hell of it.

Demeur said...

The longest we've been without power here was the inaug. day storm. That was 11 hours. This time around a transmission line went down and they still managed to get it back up before the heat dropped much in my place.

BBC said...

Well, if you don't have backup heat for at least one room, I hope that you stay lucky.

They say that more is going to hit you this afternoon, but it's not expected to hit hard here as we are at the base of the north side of the Olympic Mountains in what they call a 'storm shadow'.

Many of the storms jump over us and hit other areas harder. We do get pretty high winds at times though. Seems like windmills of some sort would work out well here.

I live in an area what the wind seems to often jump over but if I go to the beach just a mile away there is almost always a breeze if not plenty of wind.

BBC said...

It seems to me like wave power and tidal currents could provide all the electricity needed in this area, if they would just build the right system.

BBC said...

The exhaust?

The outside wall is metal and no problem. I cut out a big enough area of the wood paneling on the inside wall so that it doesn't contact it and put metal on it.

NorthCountryLiberal said...

Well, a snow thrower and a generator is standard equipment up here. Between you and me it's not all that bad. I just bitch about it alot to keep the wimps out of NNY.

Demeur said...

NC It's not really worth buying a blower or generator here unless you live in a rural area. I suspect this will be gone in a week or two and we'll be back to our usual rain and fairly warm temps.