Well, it’s been a crazy twelve hours or so. Yesterday brought very high winds to our area. Around 5:00 pm, we heard a boom and the power went out. We looked outside and saw something burning about 75 feet down the road from us. At first, we thought there had been a car accident, until we realized that something had happened to the power lines. We called 911, as did our neighbor. The smell of burning electrical wires filled the air.
The fire department came, but they kept their distance for a long time – I suppose they were waiting for the power to be cut by Central Hudson (which is our power company.) So the wires kept sparking and burning. We live on a busy county road, so the trucks also blocked traffic. It wasn’t until we went outside that we saw wires in the street, wires blocking our neighbor’s driveway and a snapped pole or two, including the one directly across the street from us. We called our neighbors to warn them about the wires, but the fire department had already called to tell them not to leave their house.
This would also be a good time to mention that the weather turned very wintry yesterday, with wind chills in the teens (this morning there was snow on the ground.) Today is also supposed to be very windy and cold. So much for Spring, right?
We lit candles, got out the flashlights, I found a battery operated lantern, and we sat together on the living room sofa, covered with blankets. I found our old transistor radio and we listened to oldies all evening long. That part of the evening was rather nice. Power was supposed to be restored by 11:30, but at 1:00 am it was still out, so we went to bed.
The power finally came back on at 6 am. Everything seems to be working, except the newish thermostat that was installed last year, which means we still don’t have heat downstairs. Upstairs, yes. So we’re waiting for our furnace guy to come over and figure out what the problem is. My fingers are freezing as I type this!
No frozen or burst pipes, thank goodness. That was our biggest worry.
Bless the guys from the power company. There were trucks up and down our road all night long. It was windy and freezing and miserable out there.
It’s a very bizarre feeling to hear the furnace come on, but to still have no heat downstairs.
We’re cold!
Thank goodness no one was driving on that part of the road when the wires came down.
Anyway, there you have it. I have to stop typing and put some gloves on.
Happy Wednesday.
At least everyone is safe! I am thinking warm thoughts for you this morning—wish they could reach all the way. ☺
It’s getting warmer – slowly but surely. Thermostat was replaced just now, so heat is coming through the baseboards.
I hope your heat is on soon–was thermostat damaged by a power “surge” as power went out? Hope not. It was very windy here earlier in the day, I sent it down the Thruway to you guys. :) Our exhaust fan over our stove banged something terrific. Scared our dog every time, I must admit that I jumped a few times too. My husband said something must be loose up on the roof where it comes out, but by the time he came home the wind was gone (on to you) and we forgot about the fan until this morning. Typical.
Yes, we think it was. A guy came to look at it and thinks the power surge ruined it for some reason. It was digital, so he replaced it with another type of thermostat and now we have heat. I’m still wearing my jacket and a wool cap, but we know it will be warm in here soon.
Thank goodness no one was hurt – the weather seems to be playing havoc with a lot of people this winter, especially in the east. I hope your heat is restored quickly, otherwise Scout will have to sleep on your feet – isn’t that how the expression “three dog night” came about?
Scout was the only one who was warm last evening and this morning! Everything is slowly warming up though we are supposed to have strong winds later today. And snow on Friday. I’ve had it with winter.
oh!
dear!
glad to know you are all safe, despite being frozen.
hope your furnace gets fixed soon.
brrrrrrrr…….
it is 41 here right now and i have a window open for
fresh air. love it!
b
41 sounds heavenly, Becky! Wind chills in the teens today. I guess March isn’t quite ready to yield to Spring.
We would be very happy with 40’s here too. Very cold wind. We so need to feel Spring ! Glad you are finally getting warmed up.
We are, thank goodness. Thanks, Susan!
I am so relieved that no one was injured. Sometimes when we have power outages here, more in summer than winter, the actual breaker for the ac/heat trips. Have had that happened twice before I remembered to check it BEFORE calling maintenance! I hope you get heat soon :)
Hugs to all,
Deb
Good idea. There’s no breaker for the thermostat. It just died from the power surge.
I hate to tell you that we are toasty warm and spring has sprung here in Arlington, Texas. Yours will come too — eventually. Bless your heart. On another note, the picture you posted at the top reminds me of Gone With the Wind, the movie. My favorite.
That was our sunset on Sunday night, Debra.
I think that the guys who restore our power are some of the unsung heroes of our day. I’m so glad you are getting warm again. Wow, you just never know what any given day will bring do you? When the 3 hurricanes in a row hit our area about 10 years ago I remember crying when we finally saw the power trucks passing our house. More than a week without power in Florida in the summer will test you to your limits. We felt so blessed when we saw power trucks from out of state helping out in our time of need. Hope you have a blessed day!
They are amazing. The wind chill had to be below zero – the winds were very, very gusty. And yet, there they were working what ended up being about 12 hours. Bless them.
Thank goodness for a quick response….and transistor radios, huh? Sounds like the heat is on…thank goodness! It’s colder here too, but no snow thankfully. Hope you get a lot warmer soon! ;)
I want Spring, Donnamae! Right now!
My Father-In-Law worked for our Power & Light company for over 40 years when he retired (back in the day the mandatory retirement was on your 65th birthday). The stories he used to tell about climbing poles in ice and snow and following tornadoes with wires flying made my heart stop. And that was back in the 1940’s ~ 50’s ~ and 60’s when technology and safety wasn’t what it is today. He started working when they were still “pulling” electricity to the farms outside of town. We do take it for granted now, don’t we?
Glad all ended well for you. Heat is a good thing! And bless those people who drive those trucks ~ sometimes truly into the unknown to help us.
I stand in awe of these guys – and what your father-in-law did is truly extraordinary – heroic, even!
Claudia, That sounds like a tough night. Bless all the people who get out in bad conditions and keep us going. They are worth their weight.. Hope things are back to normal. Bless you, xoxo,Susie
We’re getting there. I just went out and salted the driveway which had turned to ice. I have to say that this turn in the weather is pushing every last one of my buttons, Susie!
Dear Claudia,Your dedication,and tenacity are Amazing and Admirable! Thank-You for pressing on, for the sake of those who need our Mockingbird Hill fix on a daily basis.
-Judy A-
You’re welcome, Judy. I’m pretty tuckered out at the moment. Need sleep!
You need to move south. Brrrr.
But then I’d have to deal with excessive humidity —- no can do!
Oh I hate when they tell you power will be back at such and such time and it isn’t. In Arkansas, there’s not much fear of being stranded long without heat ~ we’re more often left without a/c, but power outages are Never fun Or convenient. Best thing is to always have those emergency supplies ready. I imagine Scout is a pretty good little heater, but if you need a little hand warmer and something to do while you wait for heat, try this DIY heater. It didn’t do much for heating my house, but it did provide a bit of warmth in the bathroom. Hang in there!! they say spring IS coming!
http://www.hometalk.com/2652139/diy-emergency-heater
We have emergency supplies on hand and in fact, had bottle water and canned goods, as well as all the candles, flashlights and lanterns – plus, our little transistor radio.
Hope heat is warming you up soon. Hate to tell you it’s in the high 60’s here… But read in this morning’s paper that drought regulations will be even more severe, allowing only two days a week of outside watering. My poor west-facing front yard…
Well, I think we’ll have a couple more days of frigid temps, winds and a little snow. The dusting of snow that came overnight last night disappeared rather quickly, even though it’s very cold outside. The ground is warmer at this time of year, so it disappears like magic.
Well, now that’s scary!! The insides of the thermostats will completely melt with a power surge. We had that a few years back. What a mess!
Glad all is well except the thermostat and the heat. Glad no one was hurt.
Am mailing out your package this afternoon. Sorry I didn’t get it out yesterday – was too busy partying! LOL It will be worth the wait, I promise.
Judy
I think you deserved to party on your birthday, Judy! It sounds like you had a great day, my friend. xoxo
Very scary. I’m glad you are all safe and sound and from reading the comments have all of your heat back on. It’s just been a crazy winter in the NE. My daughter in Maryland had 70 degrees yesterday and snow predicted for tomorrow! She’ll be glad when winter is done for good. This is her first one in the NE. They moved from Portland, OR where snow is a fairly rare occurrence. Good luck with the next storm Claudia.
Blessings,
Betsy
Oh, Portland is supposed to be so lovely – what a change for your daughter!
Poor freezing Claudia, it’s awful to be cold. Hope your furnace guy is prompt and can easily fix the problem. I must admit as long as I have heat in the Winter and a fully-charged laptop, I don’t mind most power outages all that much. The quiet that descends is actually really nice. But one thing I’ve been noticing in the past 20 or so years is how often we seem to have outages. At least here in this neck of the woods. When I was a kid I can remember only the Big Blackout [November 9, 1965] when most of the Eastern Seaboard went dark for hours, and our friends’ moms were lined up waiting to cook their family suppers on our gas stove, the only one in the neighborhood. Everyone else had “modern” electric stoves, but my Dad [an employee of our region’s power company for 41 years] always insisted on gas whenever there was a choice to be made. But now outages happen several times a year where I live, and often last for hours. I guess America’s grid really is crumbling. I suspect the politicians who are saying we need to do something about it soon are 100% right. Hope things get back to normal – and warm and toasty – for you soon.
Don ran out to get pizza once the firemen let us leave our driveway (going away from the downed wires) and he said it was so strange to go about a half mile and see life going on as normal, power on, everyone nice and warm. It was only those of us on this stretch of road, maybe 20 or some homes?
I hope you three are are warmed up by now..It’s been quite windy here too..making it very cold with the wind chill..You are kind of lucky that your upstairs and downstairs are on separate thermostats..at least you could sit upstairs and warm up if needed…I totally agree with everyone thanking those heroes who work in any kind of weather and the worst conditions to help us in times like these!!!
Glad you are safe, but no good not having heat:( I hope you find out what the problem is and get it fixed quickly.
Wow, that ‘s crazy! Power lines at our neighbor’s house went down last April during a nasty spring storm when a tree fell on them and knocked them down. We were without power for 24 hours. At least the temps weren’t bitter cold like they were for you. We’ve had our furnace go out in November, so I know how cold it can get. Thankfully, your pipes didn’t burst. A plumber told us when it is bitter cold (or when your heat goes out), to open the cabinets to the pipes underneath your kitchen sink and to leave the faucet on at a slow, steady stream.
Oh my goodness! Glad everyone is OK and the power is back on! Hope you got warmed up!
hugs,
Linda
OMG, you poor things! It’s a lot of serious drama; really glad you are safe and that all of this didn’t happen closer to your house; scary. Did Scout want to dive under the covers with you? Here again, I’m glad you’re not alone in that house this winter, Claudia! This is when a partner is so comforting; twice the joy, half the pain. I love that you and Don tried to distract yourselves with the transistor radio. You could concentrate on COZY and not WORRY! I can’t relate to how cold you must be and I truly thought from what I’ve read and what you and others were saying that the thaw was here to stay. Darn!
I haven’t experienced anything like that as far as the power goes except for having an opposite experience during HOT weather. We lived in an old neighborhood in an old house and that meant city sewer, telephone poles, electrical poles, etc. were also all old. There was this ‘thing,’ looks like a gigantic can atop a pole…is it what they call a transformer?…that pulled us down on one of the hottest days of a summer, oh 3 years or so ago I think. It was 18 hours before they fixed it…they had to find the right, nearly-retired parts for our ancient pole since they’d have to wait for yet another day to replace the actual pole, whereas for the moment this ‘can-thing’ was the more critical problem, so I guess it was like finding parts for a vintage car or something; they had to wait for the new parts to be ferried up from San Diego to L.A. and then north to where we were located, so it was delay, delay, delay as the temperature inside my house climbed, and climbed, and climbed past 90 degrees as the afternoon wore on. Despite not opening its door, I lost food in the frig; had to pitch it after that many hours with no refrigeration. The can-thing-on-the-pole went black; it had torched/fried itself and they told us later we were lucky it hadn’t sparked a fire because it was encased in old-growth trees. This was across the street from us. It was a dark street, no streetlights even when there IS electricity…so it also became a very dark night with no moon. We’d had burglaries/break-ins in the area, so I was reticent to leave windows and doors open but my husband was working late that night and, as a result therefore of being alone, I couldn’t open up the house like I wanted to for ‘air’ so I felt like I was going to expire from the heat. When those Edison power guys finally arrived, finishing about 4am, I had to restrain myself to not go out and hug each and every one of them; I was never so glad to turn on an air conditioner than at that moment when the lights came back on.
Were you in San Diego in the ’94 earthquake…was it even felt that far south? I can’t remember. I was residing out of state at the time, but my friends and family in SoCal endured it, and they had power off for a long, long time…replaced by constant aftershocks. Candles couldn’t be used, because they’d knock over and risk fire with all the aftershocks. When I’d returned permanently to SoCal the next year, I had more than one person tell me to make sure we NEVER ran out of batteries and to make sure we had plenty of flashlights scattered all around the house and in ‘earthquake’ stashes (preparedness).
Will be interested to hear Part II of how things turn out tomorrow for you. Excuse my ignorance (but I know nothing about snow)…aren’t pipes/plumbing prepared with wrapping or something at the start of winters so they don’t freeze, or does that just partly work in a blizzard or what? Thought I’d read about that one time…I always figured, when I had wild dreams of moving to the Northeast as a single young woman, that I could risk my life by not knowing what to do for winter, since I’d never thought about ice on a windshield, snow piling up at your front door and blocking entry/exit, pipes in a house freezing/breaking; salt on a road, etc. How would a weather-wimpy Californian like me get along, not knowing what to do? Seems like a lot to learn and not take for granted. Anyway, you two take good care! Out west here, we were poised and got ready for rain this afternoon….please, please; just a little rain…but it waltzed around us, heading south; we got nary a drop, AS USUAL. Drought-ridden Southern California is in for another world of hurt this summer.