Powerless....again!

Maya and Aunt Julia at their UM party. Usually Julia straightens her hair (!?) but here she let it go natural. Ms. Maya actually has blonde hair though there is a little of the dark birth hair left

A series of storms came through Saturday night. They tried to clear the stadium of 100,000 plus fans who were vulnerable to lightning strikes resulting in chaos.  Although the fans were baking in the 95 degree heat just minutes before, the temperature dropped more than 30 degrees and it was pouring rain and hail outside the stadium which at least inside had a little roof to cower under. I was out chilling with the Moms where the storm seemed to by-pass. Steve called to say we had no power, the torrential rains were causing our sump well to overflow and he could not get the generator started. He wanted me to look at the radar to see how much longer the rains would last. Fortunately right before our lower level was flooded, he figured out the trick with the generator (turn on ON switch..) and the pump saved us.

Going home, I could take the much longer but probably faster expressway or the direct route through town. As there is usually little traffic so late, I opted for the town route: a mistake. Branches littered the roads. Every last light was out replaced by hastily placed stop signs. The street lights were out too yet packs of students roamed the streets walking in front of cars oblivious to the fact that they would not be seen until the last second, dumb as deer 4.0 GPAs notwithstanding. My neighborhood was totally dark. The energy hot-line suggested that maybe, just maybe we will have power again by 11 pm Monday night. Argh!

Although Steve got the refrigerator to run briefly with the generator the night before, he could not get it to go yesterday even though power was running to it as evidenced by the refrigerator light going on. Did he burn out the motor somehow? Did we want to have to buy a new refrigerator right now? No. And if we did, would we stick to our so 1990s all white motif or would be go to a stainless steel model with an eye on re-doing the kitchen soon though the bathrooms are the first priority. It made us grumpy. And why always does  our neighborhood lose its power. Driving around, we could see that power was restored elsewhere. Even Naomi had power (we filled up her freezer and refrigerator) just a few blocks away. We had lunch out with Josh.  I spent a good part of the day in front of the window reading The Help. I didn't run so I wouldn't have to take a shower in a totally dark bathroom. As it became darker, we took a walk to see if we could figure out what was going on. The energy trucks were cruising through the neighborhood but didn't seem to be doing anything useful. We ran into a man who used to work for the big energy provider who told us we'd be lucky to see power before the end of the week given all the cost saving measures the company went through like trying to repair on the spot blown transformers rather than replace them and cutting work crews to bare minimum levels and since it was Sunday and then Labor Day, they would not be thrilled to pay all that overtime. Then in front of what seemed to be where all the lines come together and where a huge electrical box is, we found a retired chem professor who used to be my academic advisor briefly. Steve knows him as he was his boss' PhD advisor and was included in various lunches they had together. The prof also is an election official that convinced Steve to become the same. We studied all the wires going here and there. The prof had figured out what each one was good for but this still didn't answer what exactly what was going on.

At home, I was tired of sitting in the dark and went to Naomi's to watch Ms. Maya's antics, she likes to put on a show. Miracles of miracles, the power was restored more than 24 hours before predicted. I returned home to find the refrigerator quietly humming. Could Steve not hear that? But one less thing to worry about.

It was cool, misty and windy this morning. But I've become even slower. Just what is going on? Fortunately I felt just fine.