February 27

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Our power went out, some time in the middle of the night.  I called it in to the power company at 4:30 am.  Shortly after that we had power, but it was about half strength.  I made sure the sensitive electronics were all unplugged.

When the sun came up and we got up, the part-strength power was still on.  Clocks could run, but that was about it.  It was beautiful outside.

You could understand how the weight of all the snow must have brought down a lot of branches, which might be why the power was off.

This is our driveway.  I'm standing right in front of the garage, looking straight east.

The gate.  You can see how wet it was.

I'd shoveled the night before, and my better half and I shoveled the morning of the 27th.  It wasn't very deep, but it was about as wet as it could be and not be liquid water.  Extremely sloppy.  And heavy...........

Power company trucks drove around, but I didn't see them stop.  Our half-power was turned off at some point, so there was no power.

Plows went zooming round and round, filling up the ends of everyone's driveways with hunks of slush.  They went so fast they flung those same hunks of slush all over the sidewalks, necessitating shoveling AGAIN.  >:-(

Frankly, I think it's a GOOD thing if there is snow in the road and people drive a bit slower!

Especially since reading Walkable Cities, I am aware of how very often our society sets everything up for the convenience of cars, and who cares what the effects are on pedestrians, bicyclists, or 60-something people who have to shovel away the results of someone making the world happy for cars!  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Note slush hunks all over sidewalk in this next image!

At this point, we had four trucks parked on our side of the street.  Two cherry-pickers, one with a huge auger (for planting new telephone poles, I expect), and I couldn't see what kind of truck was at the bottom of the hill.  I never did see any of the trucks in action (nor did I ever hear any chainsaws).  I saw about 8 guys talking, and then I saw one guy go in one neighbor's back yard, and another guy go in the next neighbor's back yard, and yet another guy go in the next back yard......

After some time (more than an hour, I think), two more trucks showed up.  One was an even bigger cherry-picker, and the other looked like a combination of a crane and a winch.  I didn't see anything happen with any of the trucks, but not too long after the last two showed up (so we had six big trucks in our immediate neighborhood), the power came on.

Hooray!

The last time I looked at the thermostat, it was just over 52 in the house.

Luckily it was quite warm outside (mid to upper 30sF), and there was no wind.

Our furnace had not made any apparent attempt to function when the power was half on, so I was very pleased when it came on just fine after the power was restored.

Wilbur and I walked, in the early afternoon, and shoveling will warm you right up.

We have city water, and a gas water heater, so we have all the water we need, and our gas stove can be lit with a match when there's no power.  All in all, not a bad day.  I wore extra clothes, and kept the old dog covered in layers of blanket and afgan whenever he was snoozing.

Very glad to have the power back!  I like being able to look at the radar to see what's going to happen next!

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