We’re now at day five with no power. The house is only 34 degrees, so the pipes are now a major concern. PECO called this morning to ask us if our power is on. It’s not. They told us that the power would be on by 11pm on Friday, then 11pm on Saturday. But we talked to the crew working in our neighborhood, and they told us (accurately) that they would be quitting yesterday at 7:30pm for the night. They have not yet shown up for work today.
So, we’re racking up expenses at a local hotel.
Meanwhile, the hard drive on my computer died, so I am using a loaner that won’t allow me to do a lot of things I want to do. Fortunately, the warrantee on my computer is still in effect.
Whenever the power comes back on and we move back home, we have dozens of trees and tree-sized branches littered across our property that we’ll have to figure out how to deal with. One landed on my grill, partially dislodging my side-burner and possibly causing a rupture in the gas line.
I also have to replace an arm on my passenger-side windshield wiper, the pump and reservoir for my power steering, an oil leak, and something with the emissions system.
I’m doing laundry in the coin-operated machine at the hotel because Finn dumped his milkshake upside-down in his winter coat, which was lying on the floor of the car.
I hope your day is going better than mine.
Didn’t you have an announcement up and coming? Or is this bad news it?
No, better news is coming up soon.
We’ll be glad to hear it. The current state sounds truly shitty. Hope it ends soon.
Did you use any bad words when PECO called this morning? I might be at the bad words point by now.
But perhaps your only choices were press 1 for yes my power is back on and press 2 for no, you fuckers still do not have my power back on.
This might be a good time to put up the post asking for donations!
Yeah, it was an automated call. No ‘press 7’ for “I hope you die.”
I laughed at that, even though your situation isn’t funny at all.
Wasn’t that the line from Network, where the guy who has just fired him says “let me know if there’s anything I can ever do for you” and the reply is “yes, i wish you would die soon”? Too funny.
Hang in there, BooMan!
Karma owes you some good, after all of the shit you’re gone through in the recent past.
Sounds like it’s time to turn off the water, drain the pipes, and put some antifreeze in all of the traps.
Don’t forget to flush the toilets and get antifreeze into those traps too.
your week is ending shittier than mine began. Gimme a holler if you need help with the trees.
Thanks. Will do.
I’d come over and help with the trees too but I’m going out of town for a week.
After you chop them, you can try to sell them for firewood.
You might just make a tidy sum.
Actually, scratch that.
STORE them for awhile, until everyone else’s downed trees are put in their front yards, and gone.
THEN, try to sell your wood.
Hope the dog got to come with over to the hotel. 34 is a bitch inside a house, maybe call a local plumber and get in line for a house call. They’re busy when this stuff happens, you can always cancel, but good to be on someone’s list.
Over here when the power comes on we often have surges and then there’s a kind of power off, power on again thing that plays out for half a day. Even my surge protectors get fried.
Fingers crossed crews can multi task going to church AND get the power back on…
I once had to watch a crew of 5 work on transformer outside my house that blew in a storm. They were there for 2 days and I discovered why Carhartt overalls have all those pockets. It’s to store the endless twinkies, sandwiches, donuts & sodas the guys eat inbetween their breaks!
Advice from the frozen north — one way to keep the water in your pipes from freezing (which then causes the pipes to rupture when it thaws) is to keep the water running, just a trickle is enough.
The ones we worry about here are the ones closest to the outside walls (like maybe the pipes under the window at the kitchen sink) and the outside water taps (here, we routinely turn these off in the fall.)
Hope things get better!
Pipes burst in the house I currently live in early in January (rent a room from the owner/co-worker). It flooded my entire room. Didn’t lose anything of monetary value, but posters I had from assorted protests got ruined. Definitely just keep the water on a trickle.
So sorry you guys are having such a rough time. Hope it turns around for you soon.