Friday, May 20, 2022

Val Is Powerless

Val has been powerless for 21 hours!!! It has been a giant slice of Not-Heaven!

Thursday was errand day. The forecast was clear, until 5:00-6:00, when precipitation chances went from the teens to 85 and 68 percent. I knew I'd be home by then. In fact, when I pulled T-Hoe into the garage at 4:15, some giant raindrops had just begun to plop. Once inside, I saw that Hick was not watching Gunsmoke, but the St. Louis weather.

"What's going on? Are we having a tornado? You never watch the weather."

"Not yet, but we could! There's severe thunderstorm warnings! Winds up to 60 miles an hour!"

"Oh. That's news to me. Were you worried about me?"

"Yeah. I didn't know where you were."

"Huh. Maybe I should cook the second half of our pizza at 5:00 instead of 6:00. In case we lose power."

"That might be a good idea."

I went to change out of town clothes, and the lights flickered off. And on. And off. And on. Five or six times. Then they stayed off. It was 4:30.

"I hope that comes back in time for our pizza!"

"I'm sure it will." Said Hick. Jinxing our electricity for 21 hours.

The Pony was still out on his route. We were worried about him. Good thing he checked in. Although the picture he sent did not ease our worries.

"Since you're probably gonna ask: I'm still out delivering mail in this rain. It is very wet."

"Be careful. Our power went out a couple minutes ago."

"Just got a notice that my internet got knocked out. Guess I'm glad I'm working!"

"Yeah."

"Multiple trees down on this street. One landed on a car."

 
Later, when The Pony clocked out at 7:40, he shared the other news.

"A branch fell on a carrier on (road near our house) and cracked their windshield. I'm fine. Except for a little piece of metal I just pulled out of my foot. It started to hurt after the rain started. Changed shoes, helped for a bit. Started up again before I clocked out. Pulled my sock off. Felt like a splinter. What I pulled out was a tiny piece of metal. I dropped it before I could get a picture. Smaller than a grain of rice, but definitely metal."

So The Pony may pull up lame, but at least he doesn't have to throw away all the food in his refrigerator.

More on our powerlessness on Sunday...

10 comments:

  1. One stormy night here about 2 months after moving in I commented that the power had not gone out for a significant amount of time, two nights later it went out for almost as long as yours. I will keep my mouth shut from now on!!

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    1. I need to learn that lesson! It was less than five minutes after I mentioned early supper that our power went off!

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  2. Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night...they don't mention shards of metal in the foot.

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    1. Nor do they mention "helping elderly parents during a power outage." The Pony selflessly volunteered to drive out and take FRIG II's contents to his own refrigerator. Sadly, it was at 8:00 a.m., time for work, and 16 hours after the power went off. So the food was already DONE. Though I certainly don't want to stick a fork in it.

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  3. You shouldn't have to throw out ALL the food, some should be fine as long as the fridge stays shut, things like eggs, butter, cheese and vegetables. I'd throw out meat and processed meats though.

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    1. Threw out the bologna, half a deli pizza left to cook, sour cream, mayonnaise in opened jars, chip dip, sour cream, slaw.

      Kept the condiments in the door of FRIG II, eggs, romaine lettuce, grapes, cheddar, pepperjack, provolone, squeeze mayo that had just been opened and used ONCE, and the pre-cooked pulled pork that is vacuum-packed. We'll see if I survive the pulled pork.

      At least we didn't have a lot of food in FRIG II. Mostly it's in the freezer.

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    2. vacuum-packed is fine, you'll be okay.

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    3. I hope so! I put some in my leftover Chinese food tonight. We'll find out...

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  4. Poor Pony! Ours went out during the night. Bill looked at the clock and said, "look at that, everything went out exceopt the clock. It's the right time." DUH! It went out at 12:54 a.m and is back on a 12:54 p.m. He's a genius, too.

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    1. Heh, heh! Even a stopped clock is right twice a day!

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