Sunday, December 25, 2022

YABBA DABBA DUESENBERG WE HAVE POWER AGAIN:)))))))))

MAKING THE BEST OF OUR 42 HOUR POWER OUTAGE
This is a rather long blog because it covers both Saturday and Sunday.

Friday, Dec 23rd. With a pop, fizzle, and a clunk, our power went out Friday night at 7:20 p.m.  And that was that, we were in total darkness with howling winds and blowing snow outside our windows. Minutes later, with a couple flashlights we lit some candles and two oil lamps.  Kelly's cell phone still worked so she called the Power Company for an update.  They said power would be restored by 10 p.m. but we highly doubted that.  The next update said 1 p.m. on Saturday and then 5 p.m. Saturday.  The writing was on the wall, we were in for a long night and maybe even a couple days.  We settled in for the long haul. Luckily, we have a gas stove in the sunroom so we had a source of heat.  Without power, the fan wouldn't work but that was okay, it was good enough.  And of course, we had the RV outside for backup.  Kelly slept in her bed for the night and I stretched out in my sunroom recliner beside the gas stove. Kelly's sleep was so-so and I slept fine. Pheebs slept on her doggy bed in front of the gas stove beside my chair.

Saturday, Dec. 24th.  Awake at 6 a.m. I figured I might as well get up and fire up my snow shovel. It had stopped snowing but the high winds were blowing our pine trees around like a bunch of flapping noodles.  Re-lit our lanterns, dressed up good and warm, then headed outside.  I first shoveled a path to the motorhome which I then started up and with its running lights lighting up the driveway and front yard I commenced shoveling a path to our birdfeeders and was able to top up the feeders before the feathered gang flew in for breakfast.  Shoveled a path to our road and widened the path to the motorhome.  Kelly was up about an hour later so I started Scooter's generator while she readied our main coffee percolator.  I carried the perk out to the rig and plugged it in. Ten minutes later we had had hot morning coffees.  
 HEADING OUT TO THE MOTORHOME TO PLUG IN THE COFFEE POT
 HEADING BACK INTO THE HOUSE 
Finding the house holding steady at 55F we decided to spend our day in the sunroom rather than the motorhome.  I felt it priority to conserve the rig's propane in case the power outage was going to be a long one.  Besides, our little gas stove in the house was doing a great job.  If we needed to cook anything or make coffee etc. we could slip out to the rig and fire up the generator.   Sure glad now we didn't sell our little Class C Winnebago Itasca Spirit.
 HERE'S KELLY IN THE SUNROOM TUNING IN HER EMERGENCY RADIO
 STAYING WARM CLOSE TO OUR MAIN HEAT SOURCE
10 a.m. We have a battery-operated/hand crank emergency radio so we can listen to local news station weather reports and conditions. Snowplows had been pulled off the roads Thursday night so all area roads were plugged with snow and nothing was moving.  No snowplows, power company trucks, ambulances, or firetrucks moving.  Trains were stopped and airplanes grounded.  We stuck close to our sunroom's gas stove and watched all the birds in our front yard.  
 WITH KELLY JUST BACK FROM THE HOSPITAL A FEW DAYS AGO SHE HAD TROUBLE GETTING WARM SO WE FIRED UP OUR 'BUDDY HEATER' FOR HER AS WELL
 BLOWING SNOW SOMETIMES PLUGS UP THE BIRD FEEDERS SO THIS IS WHERE AND HOW I DRY THEM OUT
12:15 p.m.Shortly after noon I headed out to the rig with my coffee pot and brewed up a cup of decaf, heated up a small container of soup for Kelly in the microwave, and plugged my Kindle charger in.  Because we have a smaller propane tank on this rig I was hesitant to fire up the rig's furnace because we do not know how long this power outage is going to last. It could easily be another day or two because with today's high winds blowing all the loose snow around, Ontario Hydro may still not be able to get their trucks and crews on the road to repair all the damaged power lines.
 WE SURE ARE GLAD WE DIDN'T SELL OUR MOTORHOME LAST FALL
WARM INSIDE AND ICICLES OUTSIDE
2 p.m. Being curious to know what was happening outside our Park I cranked up the Jeep and headed out the driveway and was pleased to see that Bayfield River Road running past our Park had been plowed. Our Park roads had not been plowed.  Decided to head for Bayfield and see how it went.  No problems as I found all roads were open.  I also noticed the power was on in Bayfield.  The Bayfield Garage was open as well as the Foodland Supermarket.  Tim Hortons and the gas bar were closed.  A few shops in Bayfield were open but most were closed.
 A LOT OF SMALL BRANCHES AND PINE NEEDLES DOWN ON OUR STREET
6 p.m.  I took a drive around our Park and saw three large pine trees down.  One completely blocked one of the Park's roads and another down across a driveway missing a parked car by mere inches.  Some places were lit because the owners had generators.  Using the rig's generator we charged up Kelly's phone and my Kindle.  We spent Christmas Eve in our sunroom.  The kitchen and living room temperature was 45F but in the sunroom we had it up to nearly 70F.  The last thing I said to Kelly before she headed to bed was, "Merry Christmas Ma'.  She answered me with two words, "Ahhhh Humbug':))
 MARILYN, KELLY REALLY ENJOYED YOUR BOOK AND SHE EXPLAINED THINGS TO ME AS SHE WENT ALONG
Sunday, Dec. 25th. 7 a.m.  Still dark out but I could see it was brightening in the east.  Thankfully we didn't get any more snow during the night and the winds were much diminished from the previous couple of days.  I slipped out to the motorhome and fired it up and followed that with topping up the bird feeders.  By the looks of it, I am going to have to get a whole dumptruck load of birdseed brought in.  Those feathery guys sure have monstrous appetites.  My Kindle had been showing 'low battery' so with a 75-watt inverter plugged into the Winnebagos dash I began charging it.  Kelly was up an hour later and the rig was all warmed up for her as we settled into our morning coffee routine.
 KELLY USES A FLASHLIGHT SUNDAY MORNING TO MEASURE OUT THE COFFEE
 THE FLASH ON THE CAMERA MAKES IT LOOK BRIGHTER THAN IT WAS
 CHARGING UP HER PHONE IN THE RIG, CHECKING MESSAGES, AND CALLING ONTARIO HYDRO
It was bout 9:30 when we decided to fire up the Subaru and take a drive around our Park to see how folks were faring.  We noticed at least half a dozen people had their vehicles running and were in the process of probably heading into Bayfield.  I took pictures of the trees down in our Park and then we headed into Bayfield ourselves to have a look around.  
 THE BAYFIELD RIVER HAS FROZEN OVER
 ICE BUILDING UP ALONG THE SHORELINE AT BAYFIELD'S SOUTH PIER
KELLY POINTS OUT A FEW THINGS ON OUR SUBARU DRIVE THIS MORNING...I THINK SHE SAID 'THERE'S WALDO'
Being Christmas morning everything was closed except the post office/convenience store and the Foodland Supermarket with a number of cars in the parking lot.  At the convenience store, gas pump people were lined up filling gas cans for their at-home generators.  Kelly called Ontario Hydro when we got home and their estimated time for repairs to our area was 5 p.m. later today. Where have we heard that before but we know the crews are out there in all this terribly cold and blowing weather doing the absolute best job they can.  I figure there must be one whole heck of a lot of damage to power lines somewhere.
 SUBIE'S ALL-  WHEEL DRIVE DID GREAT IN THE SNOW THIS MORNING
 I THINK THESE FOLKS IN OUR PARK HAD THE CLOSEST CALL FOR HAVING THEIR CAR CRUSHED
A NEAR MISS
 TALK ABOUT LUCK I DON'T THINK IT GETS MUCH LUCKIER THAN THIS
GLAD TO SEE A SNOWPLOW DOING THE ROADS THIS MORNING
CLOSE CALL FOR THIS HOUSE TOO....MAYBE A FEW DENTS AND SCRATCHES
 I DON'T THINK THESE PEOPLE WILL BE GOING ANYWHERE TOO SOON
 WITH THE SIZE OF THAT HOLE THIS PERSON MIGHT BE CONSIDERING A FRONT YARD FISH POND IN THE SPRING
 ANOTHER NEAR MISS
 THE HIGH WINDS HAVE MADE SOME OF THE TREES A HAZARD NOW
 ANOTHER TREE DOWN ON TAMARACK DRIVE
 ANOTHER CLOSE CALL AND I THINK IT LOOKS WORSE THAT IT IS
 THIS IS THE WINNER OF OUR PARK'S CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS THIS YEAR
 HERE i AM IN THE RIG WORKING ON THE BLOG IN WINDOWS NOTEPAD
 WHEN I CAME IN SHORTLY AFTER NOON FROM THE RIG KELLY SAID THIS WAS HER CHRISTMAS DINNER
It's 11:50 a.m. as I type this in the warm and toasty motorhome.  It's a good thing I topped up the rig's gas tank a few days ago.  Kelly chose to stay in the sunroom beside our warm gas stove.  Pheebs stayed with mom.  We thought we saw police in the Park this morning but we're not sure.  They may have been doing door-to-door wellness checks because this is a Senior's Park.  From the motorhome I saw them walk past our house so I figure they must have looked in and decided we were well enough:))  I had come back into the house and we were both in the living room reading.  Kelly got up to get something in her bedroom when I heard an odd sound beside me.  The fan came on in our gas stove.  Before I could figure it out I saw our antique lamp flicker and shouted to Kelly, 'The powers on:)))))))))))  I immediately checked the clock and it was exactly 1 p.m.  Anyone who has ever been without power will well know the feeling of jubilation when power is restored.  Kelly said if she was ever reincarnated she would not like to come back before the invention of electricity.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up and getting ourselves reorganized back to our normally comfortable routines.  Music again, the Internet again, TV again, heat again, lights, water, and hot water again, landline phone again etc. and etc.  I have more I could say but I'm just too darned tired to even think about saying more.  Goodnight........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz:))
 OUR FRONT YARD CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
GROANER'S CORNER:((  
My friend Jim told me that when he asked his wife where she wanted to go on vacation, she said that being married to him was a vacation.  When I commented that was a nice thing to say to him, Jim replied, "Well, actually, what she said was I was the 'last resort."
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People who work out too much are like monsters. Aka the Abdominal Show-man.
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11 comments:

  1. Wow,rough circumstance,glad it's over,ya done good being prepared as you were!-Mary

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  2. Who'd have thought you'd be asking Santa for electricity for Christmas?! Glad you had what you needed to get through such a long outage in all that bitter cold and snow. Not knowing when it's going to come back on is the worst! Can't believe how much snow you've gotten and how many trees came down. Sure glad your trees all stayed upright :-)) Happy 2023 to you three.

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  3. Living was off in the country, E. Of Algonquin, we frequently lose power. We have a generator, but don't fire it up unless the outage is prolonged, and we don't keep it going for hours. We just make sure the freezer stays frozen, check the news and shut it down again. I love the silence when we have a power outage. There are so many things humming away in our households! Glad you weren't to badly snowed in!

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  4. Sure 'nuff, that spare home saved the day! Now you have a valid reason not to sell her. That power outage story would be way different if you hadn't had that back-up. Kelly's looking good in the pictures. I'm glad you all made it through so well. A little sense of security in case it happens again. And, really great that you made sure to fill tanks ahead of the storm. Thanks for doing such a good job keeping us informed, and for all the accompanying photos.

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  5. Been there done that and it is fun at first but gets old real quick. Several years ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to have a whole house generator installed. Best investment yet! Love the head shot of Miss Pheebs, what a precious little girl.

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  6. Glad you had the motor home to help you through.
    The sky looked so angry in the icy photo, as always beautiful photos.
    We don’t realize how much we rely on something until we don’t have it. Without the buddy heater and the gas fireplace it could have been a very miserable and extremely cold couple of days.

    Deb

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  7. Glad you guys survived the power outage so well!! Resourceful folks you are! I go back and forth about water versus electricity if I had to chose. Hope Kelly continue to improve!

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  8. Merry Christmas, glad you are all safe and the power back on.

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  9. That's a very lot of very lucky people!!

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  10. Sorry you had to go through all that trouble. Luckily we had a minor miracle over the weekend and did NOT lose power. But we had LOTS of snow!

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  11. Is this one the worst you've ever had in your present home? Sounds like you were well prepared....but it does take it out of a person. Now you can rest up in warmth.
    So glad it didn't last any longer than it did. When I was young, it was exciting to cope with unusual situations....now, nah. Not so much. Just a slog. I guess it is interesting in retrospect though.

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