Wednesday 6AM: As she heads off to work, I get last minute instructions on getting the boy to school. All I want to do is lay there and sleep for another 30 more minutes but I know I'm just going to roll around. Being in a strange bed always makes me sleep restless. I know I have to get up probably in at most an hour and get dressed, get breakfast, and get him to school. I offered to take him because based on my parents house location, it would be a waste of time and gas for her to backtrack. Plus, she had to stop at the store on the way to work and pick up stuff for a baby shower.
Wednesday 6:50AM: I roll out of bed, sleep already gone from my eyes. I head to the bathroom to take care of all the particulars. As I come out, I see he's already awake. I tell him to get dressed so we can get things moving for the day. He asks "Have you seen where my mom went?". I tell him she went to work like she does every morning. He says "Oh! Yeah I knew that." We continue to round up all our things and make the beds until we are ready to go. We head upstairs to see what we can find by way of breakfast. My fear is that the only cereals will be an assortment of fiber enriched twigs and berries type cereals that most kids would scoff at. But to my surprise, I find Cinnamon Toast Crunch (or whatever the store brand is called). Jackpot. What kid doesn't like CT Crunch?
Wednesday 7:35: We head out the door with bags in hand. I load up the truck and make sure he is securely belted in. I don't think he has ever been in my truck so I didn't want him to freak out being so high off the ground. After climbing in he says, "You're truck is way bigger than my mom's car. I like being this high." Excellent. We head to his school, wait in the parking lot for a few minutes for them to open the doors, and then he heads in. Mission accomplished. Now, do I dare check the house?
Wednesday 8:05: I get to our street. Trucks are gone. Poles are up. It's daylight so I can't really tell if anyone has lights on in their houses. All I can really see is that there are two new streetlights past the house that weren't there before but neither are on. I pull in front of the house into my customary parking space. As I get out and open my passenger door to unload the bags, the neighbor pulls up and yells "Do we have power yet?" I tell her that I didn't know yet. The crews were out last night but we stayed somewhere else. She says "You had a generator, didn't you?" I tell her yes. As she pulls away I hear her yell "We lost everything in our (g.d.) fridge". Sorry to hear that.
I make my way up the stairs of the porch. I open the screen door and immediately hear the cat meowing on the other side. She doesn't enjoy being left alone overnight I don't think. She is always extra friendly the next day. I open the door, walk in, shutting the door behind me. I turn to the right to hang up my keys. I turn to the left and peer over at the TV. While the screen is a reflective black, there's something at the bottom right that I have missed for a few days. A little red light. WE HAVE POWER!!
After 75,000 outages, almost 3 full days of waiting, a few sleepless nights, and worries over losing food and flooding basements, we can finally get back to normal.
Showing posts with label weird November storms wreck the midwest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weird November storms wreck the midwest. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Stormaggedon: Day 3
Tuesday 1AM: I wake to the sounds of popping and gurgling outside my window. What the heck is that? THE GENERATOR!! Oh, no. Please don't tell me it's dying. Please!!
I get up out of bed and head to the back door to get my shoes. I'm half undressed because I'm still partially sleeping. Once I realize this, I go back in and throw on a sweatshirt. I head outside. It's dark. Very dark. I forgot my flashlight. I head back in, grab the industrial Mag lite off the counter and return to a "choked" up generator. There is white smoke coming out of the engine. What could be wrong? Gas? Oil? I check all the gauges. Everything indicates it is ok but the noises, the sputtering, the smoke, what's causing this? I examine all the knobs and switches. And then I see it. Somehow, the choke got switched to the closed position. I flip it back and the unit fires back up to a dull purr. Whewww! That was close. I return inside, everyone still asleep, crawl back in bed and sigh deeply into my pillow.
Tuesday 6AM: "I'm leaving for work. The generator is almost out of gas," she says. What! How can that be? Sunday we ran it all night and there was still over a 1/4 tank left when I woke up. The space heater!! (in my best Jerry hating Newman voice) That think sucked over half the power itself and drained the gas quicker. That's not cool. Not cool at all. Especially considering that gas prices shot back up about $.20/gallon right before the storms. I already filled three of our gas tanks and it cost over $50. How much more am I going to have to spend? Are we still going to lose all the groceries in the fridge? How much longer is this outage going to last? I check my phone. Estimated time for restoration of power...THURSDAY!!! It's getting worse!!
Tuesday 7:30AM: I decide to go to work early. My idea is that as long as we don't open the fridge and it doesn't rain, everything will be good. I'm shutting the generator off and plugging back in the stuff in case by some miracle the power comes back on. I text her and let her know the plan. We can turn it back on when she gets home. Oh, look. A text from my dad. "You guys should come stay here tonight. It's going to be cold." How much colder can it get? I look at my phone. Tonight's low, 28 with windchill feeling like 22. Ugh. I text her to get her vibe on the idea. We agree that unless the power comes back on, that is probably our best bet, preventing us from burning through another tank of gas and freezing to death to boot. I go back in the house and pack a bag.
Tuesday Noonish: I check the Estimated times again...still Thursday. We are listing in one of four areas that took the most damage to equipment. The estimated times are "worst case scenario" times if they run into problems repairing the broken lines. But up until I left for work this morning, I hadn't seen one single utility truck on our street except the tree cutter guys clearing the line paths along the road. The broken poles are still broken, the downed lines are still down. The overall power outage map has shrunk considerably. Of the 75,000 people without power, 98% of them have been restored. Over 50% of those left are in my town and the neighboring town to the north.
Tuesday 3:30PM: I text her to see when she is leaving work. They have another case to deal with and it has to be finished before she leaves. After that, she will head home, turn the generator back on for awhile to cool the fridge back down, empty the sump, and charge the phone. She has to pack a couple bags of clothes for our overnight sleepover.
Tuesday 4:30ishPM: I text my ex to see if she is bringing my boys to my office or if I am picking them up. They are on their way. The power still isn't on at home so I am just going to bring them to my dad's for awhile too. But what about food? I'm not going to assume we are being fed too. I text to see what the plans our...no plans. I ask if she wants to meet for food or if we are all fending for ourselves. She says we can meet. How about pizza? Fantastic. Let's do it.
Tuesday 5:45PM: I get a table for five at the local pizza place. They will meet us in a few. In the meantime, the boys and I settle in for a nice dinner. They have coloring pages for them to do and after ordering, they go to work on some fall themed pictures. After about 15 minutes, the others arrive and we make small talk before our food arrives. This was the first time we have sat down to eat a meal together since Sunday morning. We discuss the events of the last couple days and voice our concerns going forward if nothing gets fixed. She mentions that there are 6 utility trucks on our street as we are sitting there, working on the light poles. They must have heard me. Maybe we will have power before dinner is done. Maybe we can cancel the sleepover.
Tuesday 7:30PM: As we head to my parents house, I decide to detour down our street to assess the situation. There are the trucks. There are the workers. There are the new light poles. There are all the dark windows of the houses too. Still no power. Oh well. One last check of their website. Estimated time to restoration of power, Wednesday by day's end. Wednesday now, huh? So we moved up? That's good. It's still another day to wait but at least it's progress. Who knows? Maybe they will get it on sometime tonight.
We finally arrive at my parents. We are welcomed inside to a warm and invited home. It's nice to have a place to go and sleep in a warm bed. Here's hoping tonight is the only night we need to do this.
I get up out of bed and head to the back door to get my shoes. I'm half undressed because I'm still partially sleeping. Once I realize this, I go back in and throw on a sweatshirt. I head outside. It's dark. Very dark. I forgot my flashlight. I head back in, grab the industrial Mag lite off the counter and return to a "choked" up generator. There is white smoke coming out of the engine. What could be wrong? Gas? Oil? I check all the gauges. Everything indicates it is ok but the noises, the sputtering, the smoke, what's causing this? I examine all the knobs and switches. And then I see it. Somehow, the choke got switched to the closed position. I flip it back and the unit fires back up to a dull purr. Whewww! That was close. I return inside, everyone still asleep, crawl back in bed and sigh deeply into my pillow.
Tuesday 6AM: "I'm leaving for work. The generator is almost out of gas," she says. What! How can that be? Sunday we ran it all night and there was still over a 1/4 tank left when I woke up. The space heater!! (in my best Jerry hating Newman voice) That think sucked over half the power itself and drained the gas quicker. That's not cool. Not cool at all. Especially considering that gas prices shot back up about $.20/gallon right before the storms. I already filled three of our gas tanks and it cost over $50. How much more am I going to have to spend? Are we still going to lose all the groceries in the fridge? How much longer is this outage going to last? I check my phone. Estimated time for restoration of power...THURSDAY!!! It's getting worse!!
Tuesday 7:30AM: I decide to go to work early. My idea is that as long as we don't open the fridge and it doesn't rain, everything will be good. I'm shutting the generator off and plugging back in the stuff in case by some miracle the power comes back on. I text her and let her know the plan. We can turn it back on when she gets home. Oh, look. A text from my dad. "You guys should come stay here tonight. It's going to be cold." How much colder can it get? I look at my phone. Tonight's low, 28 with windchill feeling like 22. Ugh. I text her to get her vibe on the idea. We agree that unless the power comes back on, that is probably our best bet, preventing us from burning through another tank of gas and freezing to death to boot. I go back in the house and pack a bag.
Tuesday Noonish: I check the Estimated times again...still Thursday. We are listing in one of four areas that took the most damage to equipment. The estimated times are "worst case scenario" times if they run into problems repairing the broken lines. But up until I left for work this morning, I hadn't seen one single utility truck on our street except the tree cutter guys clearing the line paths along the road. The broken poles are still broken, the downed lines are still down. The overall power outage map has shrunk considerably. Of the 75,000 people without power, 98% of them have been restored. Over 50% of those left are in my town and the neighboring town to the north.
Tuesday 3:30PM: I text her to see when she is leaving work. They have another case to deal with and it has to be finished before she leaves. After that, she will head home, turn the generator back on for awhile to cool the fridge back down, empty the sump, and charge the phone. She has to pack a couple bags of clothes for our overnight sleepover.
Tuesday 4:30ishPM: I text my ex to see if she is bringing my boys to my office or if I am picking them up. They are on their way. The power still isn't on at home so I am just going to bring them to my dad's for awhile too. But what about food? I'm not going to assume we are being fed too. I text to see what the plans our...no plans. I ask if she wants to meet for food or if we are all fending for ourselves. She says we can meet. How about pizza? Fantastic. Let's do it.
Tuesday 5:45PM: I get a table for five at the local pizza place. They will meet us in a few. In the meantime, the boys and I settle in for a nice dinner. They have coloring pages for them to do and after ordering, they go to work on some fall themed pictures. After about 15 minutes, the others arrive and we make small talk before our food arrives. This was the first time we have sat down to eat a meal together since Sunday morning. We discuss the events of the last couple days and voice our concerns going forward if nothing gets fixed. She mentions that there are 6 utility trucks on our street as we are sitting there, working on the light poles. They must have heard me. Maybe we will have power before dinner is done. Maybe we can cancel the sleepover.
Tuesday 7:30PM: As we head to my parents house, I decide to detour down our street to assess the situation. There are the trucks. There are the workers. There are the new light poles. There are all the dark windows of the houses too. Still no power. Oh well. One last check of their website. Estimated time to restoration of power, Wednesday by day's end. Wednesday now, huh? So we moved up? That's good. It's still another day to wait but at least it's progress. Who knows? Maybe they will get it on sometime tonight.
We finally arrive at my parents. We are welcomed inside to a warm and invited home. It's nice to have a place to go and sleep in a warm bed. Here's hoping tonight is the only night we need to do this.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Stormaggedon: Day 2
Monday 6AM: It was a long night. I think we woke up every hour or so, listening for the generator, listening for the sump pump, and worrying about what the day would bring. Plus, it was quite cold outside of the covers. We still have to go to work because running a generator costs money. As she leaves for work, assuring me that there was plenty of gas in the generator, I try to get comfortable and catch an hour or so more of sleep before I get ready for work.
Monday 7:30ish: I finally roll reluctantly from bed, lumbering toward the back door to check the generator. As I go outside, I immediately notice how chilly it is and hope as the sun rises higher it starts to warm up. I look at the gauge on the generator and see that it is almost empty. I reach for the gas can, putting in about a gallon or so. I return the cap and go back inside to get ready for work. I check my phone app for the utility company and see that we are scheduled to get power back by mid-morning. FANTASTIC!!
Monday 8:30ish: I head out the door, late as usual, and begin my journey to my office (which is about 15 miles away). I decided that since the power was going to be switched back on, I would plug the fridge and the sump pump into their respective outlets so that when the power was turned on, they would begin their normal functioning of preventing my basement from flooding and providing me with cold beverages and nourishing food. I wrapped the extension cord up, put it back in the basement, and placed the generator back into the shed where it lives. Off I go.
Monday 11ish: It's a typical Monday at the office, getting caught up on stuff from the previous week and beginning new projects. I keep thinking about the fridge at home so I go on the utility company's page to check again. Our new estimated time of restoring power is...WEDNESDAY!!!??? What happened to mid-morning? My fridge isn't going to hold out all day, is it? The sump is going to flood the basement! I gotta get out of here. I head out of the office for lunch and decide to go back home to hook everything back up. When I get there, I check everything. Fridge still cold, freezer still frozen, sump...empty? Ok. Great. I head to the shed to retrieve the generator. 30 minutes later, I'm back on my way to the office again. That wasn't so bad, I guess.
Monday 4ish: The day is almost over. I know she will be heading home soon if not already so any issues should be addressed shortly. Things could be way worse and I think we are going to be able to pull this one out. Just as long as it doesn't get too cold outside. I check the weather on my phone. Tonights low, 33 degrees. 33!! I don't know about anyone else but that's about 40 degrees colder than I like it. The in house temperature is holding at 57 but that is certainly not going to last as the sun goes down.
Monday 7:30: I'm frantically trying to find ways I can hotwire my furnace to the generator. Oh, it can be done. But not by me, the most mechanically deficient person on earth. I call my dad who explains the general process of removing covers, stripping wires, destroying extension cords. I had enough of that noise. It's not going to happen. Let's break out the space heater. But wait...doesn't that thing frequently trip the breaker normally? Where's the owner's manual. Our generator can safely support about 2400-2500 amps. The fridge and sump each use about 800. So that leaves another 800-900 left. We have our cell phones plugged in too though. But those can't be that many, can they? Something is going to have to go.
It's not raining and the sump seems to be holding it's own without filling up. Lets pull that for now and plug in the heater. We will put it in the kids room and just put another blanket on our bed. Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket. After switching the heater from room to room for a few hours, it took it's position in the kids bedroom for the rest of the night.
Monday 8:30:
Me: I'm hungry. Are you hungry?
Her: Yes.
Me: Well we have gas. We can cook something.
Her: How about a frozen pizza?
Me: Ok.
Her (after five minutes): But the oven isn't getting hot.
Me: Do you have an electric igniter?
Her: I don't know. How do I know...oh wait, yes. Yes I do.
Me: How did you come up with that?
Her: It's written on the stove by the clock (nice).
Me: Ok, we should be able to light the pilot. Open the oven door. Is there a hole or something where you can access the pilot.
Her: I don't know.
Me: Let me look.
I go to the stove. Peer inside. The bottom inside of the over covers the entire thing. I feel around and see that the bottom can be removed. But it's bolted in. Two in the front, two in the back. I can see the broiler through a few holes though. Maybe I can light it from there. I open the drawer, grab the Mag lite again and peer inside. I can see the long metal gas receptacles (you know the ones with all the little holes in them). What if I turn on the gas and hold a match? Will that work or blow my face off? I grab the phone, Google "How to light an electronic ignition oven when the power is out". 20 minutes later, after reading arguments on forums between people that believe it is safe and the others that warn of melting skin and loss of limbs, I consult the expert again. My dad answers and I say "Last question", further explaining the situation. He says "Sure...pull the bottom plate off the oven and you can light it in there." I explain it's bolted on. He says "Ok, do you have a broiler." Yes. "Good. Pull that out. Can you see the pilot?" I reply, "I don't know. Is that the mechanical looking thing in the back" (you see, I'm not mechanically inclined)? "Yes," he says "You have to hold a match to that, it will catch, warm up the coil and then the oven will ignite." "So you mean I have to stick my arm all the way in there with a lit match, turn on the gas, wait for it to catch, and hope I don't die?" "Unless you want to pull out the over, take the back off and light it that way, basically yes", he says.
I hang up. Grab a bag of Doritos off the counter and retreat to the couch where I belong.
Monday 10:15: Time to fill the gas tank on the generator. It's going to be another long night.
Stay tuned for part 3
Monday 7:30ish: I finally roll reluctantly from bed, lumbering toward the back door to check the generator. As I go outside, I immediately notice how chilly it is and hope as the sun rises higher it starts to warm up. I look at the gauge on the generator and see that it is almost empty. I reach for the gas can, putting in about a gallon or so. I return the cap and go back inside to get ready for work. I check my phone app for the utility company and see that we are scheduled to get power back by mid-morning. FANTASTIC!!
Monday 8:30ish: I head out the door, late as usual, and begin my journey to my office (which is about 15 miles away). I decided that since the power was going to be switched back on, I would plug the fridge and the sump pump into their respective outlets so that when the power was turned on, they would begin their normal functioning of preventing my basement from flooding and providing me with cold beverages and nourishing food. I wrapped the extension cord up, put it back in the basement, and placed the generator back into the shed where it lives. Off I go.
Monday 11ish: It's a typical Monday at the office, getting caught up on stuff from the previous week and beginning new projects. I keep thinking about the fridge at home so I go on the utility company's page to check again. Our new estimated time of restoring power is...WEDNESDAY!!!??? What happened to mid-morning? My fridge isn't going to hold out all day, is it? The sump is going to flood the basement! I gotta get out of here. I head out of the office for lunch and decide to go back home to hook everything back up. When I get there, I check everything. Fridge still cold, freezer still frozen, sump...empty? Ok. Great. I head to the shed to retrieve the generator. 30 minutes later, I'm back on my way to the office again. That wasn't so bad, I guess.
Monday 4ish: The day is almost over. I know she will be heading home soon if not already so any issues should be addressed shortly. Things could be way worse and I think we are going to be able to pull this one out. Just as long as it doesn't get too cold outside. I check the weather on my phone. Tonights low, 33 degrees. 33!! I don't know about anyone else but that's about 40 degrees colder than I like it. The in house temperature is holding at 57 but that is certainly not going to last as the sun goes down.
Monday 7:30: I'm frantically trying to find ways I can hotwire my furnace to the generator. Oh, it can be done. But not by me, the most mechanically deficient person on earth. I call my dad who explains the general process of removing covers, stripping wires, destroying extension cords. I had enough of that noise. It's not going to happen. Let's break out the space heater. But wait...doesn't that thing frequently trip the breaker normally? Where's the owner's manual. Our generator can safely support about 2400-2500 amps. The fridge and sump each use about 800. So that leaves another 800-900 left. We have our cell phones plugged in too though. But those can't be that many, can they? Something is going to have to go.
It's not raining and the sump seems to be holding it's own without filling up. Lets pull that for now and plug in the heater. We will put it in the kids room and just put another blanket on our bed. Yeah, that's it. That's the ticket. After switching the heater from room to room for a few hours, it took it's position in the kids bedroom for the rest of the night.
Monday 8:30:
Me: I'm hungry. Are you hungry?
Her: Yes.
Me: Well we have gas. We can cook something.
Her: How about a frozen pizza?
Me: Ok.
Her (after five minutes): But the oven isn't getting hot.
Me: Do you have an electric igniter?
Her: I don't know. How do I know...oh wait, yes. Yes I do.
Me: How did you come up with that?
Her: It's written on the stove by the clock (nice).
Me: Ok, we should be able to light the pilot. Open the oven door. Is there a hole or something where you can access the pilot.
Her: I don't know.
Me: Let me look.
I go to the stove. Peer inside. The bottom inside of the over covers the entire thing. I feel around and see that the bottom can be removed. But it's bolted in. Two in the front, two in the back. I can see the broiler through a few holes though. Maybe I can light it from there. I open the drawer, grab the Mag lite again and peer inside. I can see the long metal gas receptacles (you know the ones with all the little holes in them). What if I turn on the gas and hold a match? Will that work or blow my face off? I grab the phone, Google "How to light an electronic ignition oven when the power is out". 20 minutes later, after reading arguments on forums between people that believe it is safe and the others that warn of melting skin and loss of limbs, I consult the expert again. My dad answers and I say "Last question", further explaining the situation. He says "Sure...pull the bottom plate off the oven and you can light it in there." I explain it's bolted on. He says "Ok, do you have a broiler." Yes. "Good. Pull that out. Can you see the pilot?" I reply, "I don't know. Is that the mechanical looking thing in the back" (you see, I'm not mechanically inclined)? "Yes," he says "You have to hold a match to that, it will catch, warm up the coil and then the oven will ignite." "So you mean I have to stick my arm all the way in there with a lit match, turn on the gas, wait for it to catch, and hope I don't die?" "Unless you want to pull out the over, take the back off and light it that way, basically yes", he says.
I hang up. Grab a bag of Doritos off the counter and retreat to the couch where I belong.
Monday 10:15: Time to fill the gas tank on the generator. It's going to be another long night.
Stay tuned for part 3
Monday, November 18, 2013
Stormaggedon: Day 1
As most people are aware by now, massive storm cells moved through the Midwest over the weekend, destroying thousands of homes, hundreds of businesses, and even taking the lives of almost a dozen people. One of the hardest hit places was southern Illinois and Indiana where an EF-4 tornado ripped through some small towns including Washington...there is nothing left.
Even up in my own comfortable corner of Indiana just across the border from Chicago, IL, we got to see the effects of the hard rains, strong winds, and threats of tornadoes. Sunday started off as a great day to just lay on the couch and watch football. It turned into a day I won't soon forget.
I'm not trying to discount any of the damage and loss of life, injuries, and the like that occurred as a result of these storms. Our prayers and thoughts go out to everyone who was hammered by these storms. But I wanted to share an account of what my day was like in my own, dis-joined rambling kind of way.
Saturday night: We decide to sleep in the next morning because, well, we didn't have anything to do on Sunday.
Sunday AM: When we finally decided to roll out of bed, after taking care of the particulars, I do what I do every Sunday morning...checked my fantasy teams and made any necessary last minute adjustments.
Sunday AM later: We decided to go grab a late breakfast at a local family restaurant (where you get omelette's as big as your forearm). The sky to the southwest is beginning to look ominous.
Sunday Noonish: Our food arrives, the Bears game kicks off on the TV in the restaurant. The sky outside is now darkening at rapid speed as the clouds roll in from SW to NE.
Sunday Noon-thirty: We are slowly finishing breakfast when we notice that Soldier Field was being evacuated for safety reasons. Apparently the strong winds and lightning were too much to keep playing.
Sunday Noon-forty: The phone rings from a concern mother who urges their child and fearless boyfriend to retreat to the basement of their home posthaste. Their power has been out for almost 30 minutes and they are sure that ours will be as well. However, our current location is fully lit and quite comfortable in fact. The concerns are quickly poo-poo'd as another destination was scheduled for the morning...snacks from the grocery store must be obtained. The sky...oh, boy the sky.
Sunday 1pm: As we peruse the aisles of the local grocer, we suddenly hear what sounds like rocks, pelting aluminum siding. The winds outside howl as the rain mixed with some chunks of ice beat down on the building. We decide it's time to go and proceed to the self-checkout. As we clear the foyer area to the parking lot, we are surprised by the fact that the rain had stopped and the ground looked barely wet. At this point, the sky looked like a cross between dirty cobwebs and pea soup. We head for home (which is only about 1 mile away).
Sunday 1-twentyish: As we approach the halfway point to our domicile, the atmosphere instantly turns into what I can only describe as a monsoon meets a hurricane. The water was flying horizontally in all directions at the same time and the amount of sticks, leaves, and other loose debris mixed in made visibility less than zero. As we approach the municipal building (housing both the police and fire depts) traffic is stopped. No one wants to move because, well, no one can see. Then...nothing. Rain stops, wind dies down, visibility clears...but only for a moment. Just long enough for us to continue the 2000 feet to our street. Maybe this is worse than we thought??
Sunday 1-thirtyish: As we turn down our street, we are greeted with a continued onslaught of wind and rain. But more concerning, 20 feet in front of our house, a police car sits perpendicular to the road with it's lights flashing, indicating only one thing...Roadblock. We watch as he turns cars from the other direction away, making them, ironically enough, turn around using our driveway. As we approach, the officer puts up his hand indicating that we stop and turn around. I wind my window down and we both, in unison, shout "That's our house. Right there," as we point to the almost 100 year old 2-story. "Fine," the officer says, "I will let you in." He proceeds to move his vehicle and we are allowed to pull into our driveway. Why the roadblock, you ask? There was a downed power line, or so we thought within 15 feet of our house. As we stood and watched from the living room window, the neighbor nonchalantly walked down by the police car, reached down and picked up the potentially live wire, proceeded to spool it over his arm, and carried it back to his house, placing it beside the porch. Apparently, that wasn't a live one but rather a phone or cable line. Who does that, though?
Sunday 2-fifteenish: A crowd begins to gather on the neighboring houses porch, peering north up the street. We proceed to investigate on our own as there is nothing on TV now. There is nothing anywhere for that matter since the power is now out. As we get to a good position we can see emergency vehicles and barricades about forty feet or so up the street from our driveway. Further up the street you can see what looks like branches in the middle of the road. A tree had fallen across the road, smashing a car parked on the other side and tearing down the power lines on both sides of the street in the process. About a half dozen light poles were taken out as well and two transformers on the tops of each pole apparently burst into flames, but were quickly distinguished by the gusts of water pounding into them. Yeah, I'm thinking this is worse than we thought.
Sunday 4-ish: After going back and forth with what we should do next, we finally decide to go to the shed to retrieve the small gas-powered generator so that we can at least get the sump pump working and maybe power the fridge so we don't lose the food. We bring the surprisingly, light-weight machine close to the house, ground it with a metal stake that was already there, and proceed to fill it with gas. I check the oil, top it off, and we are in business. Or so I though. Choke-off, gas-on, ignition-on. But the rip-cord starter is doing nothing but breaking my shoulder. One pull, two pulls, ten pulls. Nothing. Twenty pulls, thirty pulls, wait, let me try...nothing. I retire to the house. We need another plan. 30 minutes later, no plan, I proceed to try again. Maybe that's all it needed, being rustled around out of it's tomb and drug across the yard. One pull, two pulls, ten pulls, fifteen frustratingly small but hard pulls. Nothing. Defeated, I return to the house and the safety of my couch.
Sunday 5-thirty-ish: Our phones are about dead now. We have no mobile chargers to use and our only option is to head out somewhere. Not in this town though. Where are we going to go? The next closest town with any sort of commercially based civilization is about 16 miles away. Well, that should give us plenty of time to charge two cell phones. Lets do it. Oh, wait. There is the neighbor. He is way more mechanically inclined than I. Let's see if he knows whats wrong with the generator. "It won't start, eh?" "Did you fill it with gas?" Of course we did. "Is the oil ok?" Yes, sir. "Did you kick it?" No but I will if you think it will help. "Give me a minute. I will be right back." A minute arrived and he returned with an aerosol can of, yep, you guessed it, starter fluid. Why didn't I think of that? One spray from the magic solution and BLAMO!!! It's purring like a kitten (a 3400 watt kitten).
Sunday 6-thirty-ish: After getting everything plugged in, making sure the frozen food was still frozen, the fridge food was still icy cold, and emptying the sump three or four times (rain water run off from the yard and around the foundation of the house drains into our sump), we make our way to the car. Remember, we had to charge our phones. Off we go toward retail central.
Sunday 8-ish: We finally return home to a dark house, a dark street, and a dark neighborhood. The sound of generators all around was humming like a pack of wild animals. With a charged phone, I check the utility company website for outage information. Our town alone had almost 6000 customers without power. The total customers with outages was over 50,000 by 8:30. The ETA for returning power...not listed. This could be a long night.
Stay tuned for part 2
Even up in my own comfortable corner of Indiana just across the border from Chicago, IL, we got to see the effects of the hard rains, strong winds, and threats of tornadoes. Sunday started off as a great day to just lay on the couch and watch football. It turned into a day I won't soon forget.
I'm not trying to discount any of the damage and loss of life, injuries, and the like that occurred as a result of these storms. Our prayers and thoughts go out to everyone who was hammered by these storms. But I wanted to share an account of what my day was like in my own, dis-joined rambling kind of way.
Saturday night: We decide to sleep in the next morning because, well, we didn't have anything to do on Sunday.
Sunday AM: When we finally decided to roll out of bed, after taking care of the particulars, I do what I do every Sunday morning...checked my fantasy teams and made any necessary last minute adjustments.
Sunday AM later: We decided to go grab a late breakfast at a local family restaurant (where you get omelette's as big as your forearm). The sky to the southwest is beginning to look ominous.
Sunday Noonish: Our food arrives, the Bears game kicks off on the TV in the restaurant. The sky outside is now darkening at rapid speed as the clouds roll in from SW to NE.
Sunday Noon-thirty: We are slowly finishing breakfast when we notice that Soldier Field was being evacuated for safety reasons. Apparently the strong winds and lightning were too much to keep playing.
Sunday Noon-forty: The phone rings from a concern mother who urges their child and fearless boyfriend to retreat to the basement of their home posthaste. Their power has been out for almost 30 minutes and they are sure that ours will be as well. However, our current location is fully lit and quite comfortable in fact. The concerns are quickly poo-poo'd as another destination was scheduled for the morning...snacks from the grocery store must be obtained. The sky...oh, boy the sky.
Sunday 1pm: As we peruse the aisles of the local grocer, we suddenly hear what sounds like rocks, pelting aluminum siding. The winds outside howl as the rain mixed with some chunks of ice beat down on the building. We decide it's time to go and proceed to the self-checkout. As we clear the foyer area to the parking lot, we are surprised by the fact that the rain had stopped and the ground looked barely wet. At this point, the sky looked like a cross between dirty cobwebs and pea soup. We head for home (which is only about 1 mile away).
Sunday 1-twentyish: As we approach the halfway point to our domicile, the atmosphere instantly turns into what I can only describe as a monsoon meets a hurricane. The water was flying horizontally in all directions at the same time and the amount of sticks, leaves, and other loose debris mixed in made visibility less than zero. As we approach the municipal building (housing both the police and fire depts) traffic is stopped. No one wants to move because, well, no one can see. Then...nothing. Rain stops, wind dies down, visibility clears...but only for a moment. Just long enough for us to continue the 2000 feet to our street. Maybe this is worse than we thought??
Sunday 1-thirtyish: As we turn down our street, we are greeted with a continued onslaught of wind and rain. But more concerning, 20 feet in front of our house, a police car sits perpendicular to the road with it's lights flashing, indicating only one thing...Roadblock. We watch as he turns cars from the other direction away, making them, ironically enough, turn around using our driveway. As we approach, the officer puts up his hand indicating that we stop and turn around. I wind my window down and we both, in unison, shout "That's our house. Right there," as we point to the almost 100 year old 2-story. "Fine," the officer says, "I will let you in." He proceeds to move his vehicle and we are allowed to pull into our driveway. Why the roadblock, you ask? There was a downed power line, or so we thought within 15 feet of our house. As we stood and watched from the living room window, the neighbor nonchalantly walked down by the police car, reached down and picked up the potentially live wire, proceeded to spool it over his arm, and carried it back to his house, placing it beside the porch. Apparently, that wasn't a live one but rather a phone or cable line. Who does that, though?
Sunday 2-fifteenish: A crowd begins to gather on the neighboring houses porch, peering north up the street. We proceed to investigate on our own as there is nothing on TV now. There is nothing anywhere for that matter since the power is now out. As we get to a good position we can see emergency vehicles and barricades about forty feet or so up the street from our driveway. Further up the street you can see what looks like branches in the middle of the road. A tree had fallen across the road, smashing a car parked on the other side and tearing down the power lines on both sides of the street in the process. About a half dozen light poles were taken out as well and two transformers on the tops of each pole apparently burst into flames, but were quickly distinguished by the gusts of water pounding into them. Yeah, I'm thinking this is worse than we thought.
Sunday 4-ish: After going back and forth with what we should do next, we finally decide to go to the shed to retrieve the small gas-powered generator so that we can at least get the sump pump working and maybe power the fridge so we don't lose the food. We bring the surprisingly, light-weight machine close to the house, ground it with a metal stake that was already there, and proceed to fill it with gas. I check the oil, top it off, and we are in business. Or so I though. Choke-off, gas-on, ignition-on. But the rip-cord starter is doing nothing but breaking my shoulder. One pull, two pulls, ten pulls. Nothing. Twenty pulls, thirty pulls, wait, let me try...nothing. I retire to the house. We need another plan. 30 minutes later, no plan, I proceed to try again. Maybe that's all it needed, being rustled around out of it's tomb and drug across the yard. One pull, two pulls, ten pulls, fifteen frustratingly small but hard pulls. Nothing. Defeated, I return to the house and the safety of my couch.
Sunday 5-thirty-ish: Our phones are about dead now. We have no mobile chargers to use and our only option is to head out somewhere. Not in this town though. Where are we going to go? The next closest town with any sort of commercially based civilization is about 16 miles away. Well, that should give us plenty of time to charge two cell phones. Lets do it. Oh, wait. There is the neighbor. He is way more mechanically inclined than I. Let's see if he knows whats wrong with the generator. "It won't start, eh?" "Did you fill it with gas?" Of course we did. "Is the oil ok?" Yes, sir. "Did you kick it?" No but I will if you think it will help. "Give me a minute. I will be right back." A minute arrived and he returned with an aerosol can of, yep, you guessed it, starter fluid. Why didn't I think of that? One spray from the magic solution and BLAMO!!! It's purring like a kitten (a 3400 watt kitten).
Sunday 6-thirty-ish: After getting everything plugged in, making sure the frozen food was still frozen, the fridge food was still icy cold, and emptying the sump three or four times (rain water run off from the yard and around the foundation of the house drains into our sump), we make our way to the car. Remember, we had to charge our phones. Off we go toward retail central.
Sunday 8-ish: We finally return home to a dark house, a dark street, and a dark neighborhood. The sound of generators all around was humming like a pack of wild animals. With a charged phone, I check the utility company website for outage information. Our town alone had almost 6000 customers without power. The total customers with outages was over 50,000 by 8:30. The ETA for returning power...not listed. This could be a long night.
Stay tuned for part 2
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