Windy!

I got home from work today, and when I came in the house, I could hear something beeping. I wondered what it was. It would wait awhile, then it would beep again. I did not know where it was coming from. I came to my computer and was checking blogs, etc, and the beeping continued sporatically, and soon, my monitor would go black, then come back on. Soon, my computer would shut down and come back on. I began to assume it was the backup power supply in Louie’s office that I was hearing.

Louie came home and asked if the electricity had gone out today. I did not know, but soon, the computer kept restarting, even before it started, and the beeping continued. He went in to turn on the tv in the living room, and as soon as he turned it on, it would shut off, then it wouldn’t even turn on. I said, I wondered if any of the neighbors were having problems. It was SO windy!

Louie called the police department (because that’s where you call when you have utility problems after business hours) and asked if anyone else had called with a concern. Nope. No one. She said she would send someone right over though. Joel, the head of the electric utilities stopped over and looked at our house, and didn’t see anything, but as soon as he stepped outside from talking to us, the lamp started flickering and the tv would shut off. He said the city truck would be stopping by to check the voltage, and he would check the lines for fallen tree limbs coming to our neighborhood, as there were several limbs down due to the wind.

The truck showed up and we heard pounding on the back of our house. Louie went downstairs and out the back door to see what was going on, and they told him that the transformer was new, and so was the line, so they weren’t sure what the problem was. As they were checking the voltage, it went from 220 down to 110, so we were happy that they saw it for themselves. At that time, the lights were flickering like in a horror film and the tv kept turning off and turning back on by itself. Next thing we knew, the two guys had backed their truck up to the pole and one of the guys was up in the bucket checking the line. (This is my neighbor, Amy’s back yard and shed. The ‘city’ maintenance alley is between lots, although you can’t see it. Both homeowners mow it as their lawn.) My camera battery was going dead and needed to be recharged so I snapped a few quick pictures. (For those of you who recognize this back yard, YES, Amy did have her tree cut down yesterday behind her deck. That tree told me when it was windy, just by sitting at my computer. Now I’ll have to get up off my butt to check out the wind! We wonder if the ‘tree guys’ might have dropped a limb or two on the pole. Hmmmm….maybe! )

If you enlarge this second picture, you will see a pipe that runs down along the outside of the pole. The wires that run from the line have little ‘connectors’ of some sort that run down inside or along that pipe. Evidently, the wind must have been blowing those wires and pulling, or shorting out, or something. They did repairs of some sort, then they wrapped a wire around the ‘pipe’ a couple times, securing the wires. I heard one of them say, ‘Wrap it around again. There, that should last forever!’ Then, they left. Everything has been fine since. Whew!

I guess we WERE the only ones having problems. Not anymore!

Six more hours of work tomorrow then I’m done until Tuesday. Yippee!!!!! Have a great weekend!

Michelle

Update: The constant surges and spikes and falls in electricity that occurred for hours and hours this day damaged the control panel unit on my electric range. Fortunately, the oven and stove top units work, but the clock is junk. I don’t really need a clock, since I have two on the wall, one on the microwave above the stove, and one on the ‘Under counter radio/cd player’, but it’s just the point. It DID work, and now I have an imperfect stove. If you know me, you know that I take care of, and cherish my ‘things’ and it just didn’t ‘wear out’. My insurance deductible is $500, and right now, I refuse to pay half of that just for the part so my clock will keep perfect time.