[WaltGraham]

At about this time last night in the middle of watching a movie with my 2nd favorite grandkid we got bumped off the grid. I spent most of the day obtaining a generator and running lines to the appropriate places to power the freezers, fridges, computers and lighting for what we were told would be an extended outage.

I got done at precisely 17:50 and sat down with a whiskey while supper was being grilled.

At 18:00 the power came back on...

 

[SpecialEd]

My parents down in Monroe are not expecting to get power back for a week. They put in an auto generator a couple years back as they are in the mountains and prone to outages but it doesn't handle the AC unit well.

 

[Charlie Petty]

Walt was that due to the heat or the storm weather?

The official high here today was 104 (record) and on the I-road this afternoon the car said 110...

When Hugo hit here I went 5 days on candles and flashlights and then on 6 I scroed a Colement lantern. Just got it lit when the power came on.

I think There is a variation on Murphy's law that deals with this

 

[WaltGraham]

Walt was that due to the heat or the storm weather?

The heat spawned some pretty impressive thunderstorms with some 70 mph winds and the odd tornado thrown in. Downed trees did most of the damage to the power grid.

I've been here 30 years and I've never seen so much sideways green lightning. For about an hour we had a kind of War of the Worlds thing going on. Apparently, the term for such an event is "super derecho". New one on me.

Today I get to play with my chainsaw and maybe put a few rounds downrange with my new Camp Carbine.

 

[ExSarge]

Because of the Tstorms, trees, snow and ice up here I installed a whole house propane powered generator which automatically starts up after 1 minute of loss of power. It was expensive but worth it. It last ran two days ago from 2000 to around 0200 and kept our two refrigerators and a freezer going while we watched TV. Time before that it ran for some 12 hours before power came back. Used to hook up a mobile one manually but that became a task, especially in the middle of a snow or Tstorm. I highly recommend the configuration we now have (20 KW supply).

 

[t-star]

you're missing the boat; down to surplus store and get a dual crank ; then do your lines and get the kids on the pedals; tell them they've got to cycle to china and this is a special green dragon that will fly them there if you pedal hard enough- keeps 'em busy for hours- oh, and dual crank- pedals for both hands and feet( they actually did make them)

 

[IrishCop]

At about this time last night in the middle of watching a movie with my 2nd favorite grandkid we got bumped off the grid. I spent most of the day obtaining a generator and running lines to the appropriate places to power the freezers, fridges, computers and lighting for what we were told would be an extended outage.

I got done at precisely 17:50 and sat down with a whiskey while supper was being grilled.

At 18:00 the power came back on...

Well, I'm glad your outage was relatively short lived...too bad it couldn't have come back on just a little sooner.

Glad the storms didn't cause you any more heartache than that, though. The windspeeds you described in your follow-up post...wow! And "sideways green lightning"...was that from the electrical lines, or an honest to god atmospheric display? Either way, what a show!

 

[IrishCop]

Walt was that due to the heat or the storm weather?

The official high here today was 104 (record) and on the I-road this afternoon the car said 110...

When Hugo hit here I went 5 days on candles and flashlights and then on 6 I scroed a Colement lantern. Just got it lit when the power came on.

I think There is a variation on Murphy's law that deals with this

High the last two days here in the Tennessee Valley was around 106. Over 100 the last 5 days. Absolutely brutal. No storms yet, thank God, or power outages, but they are starting to talk about water rationing, and have opened cooling centers in various locations around the county for those without AC.

As a sidenote, Coleman Lanterns rock! The wife and I moved onto this property two weeks before the power lines were brought in. Survived with Coleman lanterns and cook stoves. We had laid our own water lines, so it wasn't too bad...kinda peaceful, actually. We got power Dec 31, 1999...just in time for Y2K.

 

[WaltGraham]

And "sideways green lightning"...was that from the electrical lines, or an honest to god atmospheric display? Either way, what a show!

Dunno, looked like it was jumping from ridge to ridge. Haven't seen anything quite that intense since I lived in Florida.

On the up side, the case has now been made for the generator to be purchased out of the household budget rather than my "toy" account...

 

[Charlie Petty]

Aw Walt... I know she's a nice lady and it would be a real stretch for even a nasty old hag to call that a toy...;-)

 

[stand watie]

To ALL,

i just got off the cell-phone with my younger brother-of-the-heart (C.Ed Harris) in Eastern Panhandle WV.

Ed says that HALF of WV is out of power & HOT. - the state's power companies are telling everyone that it may be 2-3 more weeks (it's been 4 days as of today) until power is restored to MOST of their customers.
NO lights, NO AC, freezer thawed out (there goes ALL 800+ pounds of deer/moose meat!), NO ice to be bought & even the landline phone is OUT up on North Mountain.

"Elder Brother" is also out of juice in (western) northern VA.

Ed said that ASAP a "auto-start" 10K generator will go in!

my BEST WISHES to all of my "gunhub friends".- hope you get power back soon.

yours, sw

 

[SpecialEd]

It's a toy of you want to buy it before you need it... it's a necessity once the power is out and the food is getting warm and there is no hot water or coffee in the morning!

 

[WaltGraham]

Aw Walt... I know she's a nice lady and it would be a real stretch for even a nasty old hag to call that a toy...;-)

She is and she says to say howdy to the best pistol instructor she ever had.

Guess that sez volumes about me...

 

[WaltGraham]

It's a toy of you want to buy it before you need it... it's a necessity once the power is out and the food is getting warm and there is no hot water or coffee in the morning!

You nailed that one. It ain't a necessity until it is; 20 hours without power and everyone is starting to get a bit cranky. I think we often forget how thin our veneer of civilization actually is.

There will be a lot of lightly used generators for sale in a couple of days...

 

[Javlin]

And "sideways green lightning"...was that from the electrical lines, or an honest to god atmospheric display? Either way, what a show!

Now that you mentioned it it was like that during Katrina when the power was going down explosions,flash and green nice display The aftermath another issue Wife and son booked 48 hrs later using the last of the H2o for the toilet Well glad to see some normalcy coming back into play.