Sally's GF3 thread

[NanaK]

Our updated restoration time is midnight tonight. We'll see.

Oh, jeez. So sorry for your troubles.
Been there for as long as a 7 day stretch. Hurricanes and ice storms. I even hate those words. Hope it's over for you soon.

Got my steps in today, that's for sure! I also got another trailer load of branches to chip up and put on the garden.

Bright side! Also no one hurt, no bad damage.

Another neighbor, the "new kids on the street," have a Generac that automatically comes on, so they haven't had to deal with having no electricity.

Hubby and I have discussed this. We have a portable so we can have power but can't run everything and have to store gas.

how much propane that thing burns? About $80/day in propane.

Ouch! We were wondering about that part. I wonder if you only ran important stuff if it would be more conservative in expense. Propane is expensive here, though.

 

[Sally PB]

Ouch! We were wondering about that part. I wonder if you only ran important stuff if it would be more conservative in expense. Propane is expensive here, though.

I talked with the previous owner of that house. He said the generator comes on automatically, and will shut off when the power comes back on. I think it has a "low use" lever it can run on; we were wondering if you could shut it off when you're in bed, for example, when you don't need to run anything, and tell it to turn on in 5 hours. I guess not. Propane is expensive here too. When he said $80/day... well, I stopped wanting a Generac generator about that moment.

Our generator is gas powered, and it will run most of what you'd want it to. Asking it to run the stove (electric) and, say, the window AC, is pushing it. We didn't run much else when I was canning the tomatoes.

 

[NanaK]

I talked with the previous owner of that house. He said the generator comes on automatically, and will shut off when the power comes back on. I think it has a "low use" lever it can run on; we were wondering if you could shut it off when you're in bed, for example, when you don't need to run anything, and tell it to turn on in 5 hours. I guess not. Propane is expensive here too. When he said $80/day... well, I stopped wanting a Generac generator about that moment.

Our generator is gas powered, and it will run most of what you'd want it to. Asking it to run the stove (electric) and, say, the window AC, is pushing it. We didn't run much else when I was canning the tomatoes.

I'll tell DH about that. We only run fridge, freezer, maybe charge batteries, a fan sometimes. Have battery fans for night if it's hot. Usually run it pretty late then turn it off at night. Start it again early for the cold stuff, has always worked. Gas would be pricey to run it 24 hrs, too.

I'd imagine a Generac would be pricey installed too. Would be nice but what we've been doing works.

 

[Sally PB]

Gas would be pricey to run it 24 hrs, too.

I'd imagine a Generac would be pricey installed too. Would be nice but what we've been doing works.

Since we're in to 45+ hours of no electricity now, yeah, I think we've burned about $30-40 in gas in the generator.

I've heard a whole house Generac is about $8000. Definitely NOT cheap to buy, or run. I doubt we'll get one. It would be great for the outages that are about 8 hours long. Long enough to worry about the food in the fridge, and start to worry about the freezer. In the middle of the winter when you really don't want to wrestle a 60 pound generator through the snow.

But our gas gennie handles those times admirably. We don't run it while we're asleep or not at home. 3-4 hours at a time is about it.

 

[NanaK]

In the middle of the winter when you really don't want to wrestle a 60 pound generator through the snow.

I know what you mean. We carried our generator out of our shop during a flood and we were still getting wind gusts from the storm. It flooded a part of our property around a barn. Wasn't sure how deep it would get so here we go. We carried it quite a distance before we hit the path to the house which was dry land. I don't know what that thing weighs. It's on wheels. It's now stored if a different barn closer to the house. I can't imagine doing all that in snow. Thankfully snow and ice storms are not frequent here but with the weather you never know.

 

[Sally PB]

Power is STILL off. Now they're saying 11 pm tonight.

And hubby's overnight, Saturday delivery was within about 8 miles of us, but never made it. This is SOOO MAKING ME WANT AMAZON PRIME! Yes, I could get this kind of blank-blank service all the time!

Soup line, Prime, Soup line.

 

[Sally PB]

Oh what fun. Saw an electrical truck, so I stopped to talk to the worker. Seems there's an issue with a transformer or a "sub," which I assume means a substation? He thought it would be more like a day and a half to two days before power is restored. The power company's automated phone reporting system still says 11 pm tonight.

We'll see if DH's package is delivered today. Supposedly, it's 4 stops away.

DH contacted a person, via chat, and got an apology and the shipping charges refunded. That's more than I thought he'd get. Still not signing up for Amazon Prime, though. Nope. Nuh uh.

 

[Sally PB]

Power is still out. I am grateful for the generator, but it. is. loud.

It sure is dark at night when the power's off. Darkroom dark. Film darkroom (as opposed to print), where there are no safelights and you literally can not see your hand in front of your face.

I never "ran film" (processed customer film) when I worked at the photolab. I did do a bit of film-involved processes, making duplicate tranparancies and internegatives, to fill in for the person who normally did that. I did process my own film in my college photography classes, black and white, slide, and color negative.

Here's a trivia question that someone asked me in the "darkroom days:" What company in America is the largest employer of blind people?

Answer: Kodak.

 

[Sally PB]

The power came back on at 2:30 this morning. It is so quiet now. Ahhhh...

This morning, a truck drove up our driveway, and the horn honked, so I went out to see who it was. It was the builder of our house. He stopped by 9 years ago, right about this time of year. I remember because I was canning tomatoes then, too.

He wondered if we still owned the old farmhouse. (Yes.) He wanted to buy it. Nope, sorry not for sale. At any price. He used to own it, back in the 60s, and he wanted to buy it back. He wanted to make it a summer home, then go back to Georgia in the fall.

Sorry, man. Really, it is Not For Sale.

I did ask him about the toilet upstairs in the neighbor's house, as he built that house too. No, he did not recess the tank into the wall, that must have been a subsequent owner. He would not do anything that stupid.

I did not ask him about other things I think are "kinda dumb" to "flat out stupid" with our house or the neighbor's. Just let that sleeping dog lie.

 

[Sally PB]

Hubby went to work today. I got so much done! My secret weapon: CD player and something to sing along to. (He doesn't care for my singing.) My neighbors didn't complain, but they might not have been home, either.

Tomorrow I will start garden cleanup and the ubiquitous weeding that goes along with it. September is harvesting and cleanup month. Secret weapon: MP3 player. I'll go up on the hill and belt it out. Carole King. The Carpenters. Janis Ian. Kansas. REM. Add in Stairway to Heaven; Bohemian Rhapsody; Both Sides Now; To Sir, With Love. And guaranteed to make me tear up, Jim Nabors singing Momma, A Rainbow.

Yeah, I grew up in the 70s. Can you tell?

Before I forget: @aart, @Iluveggers, @NanaK, @U_Stormcrow, @gtaus, @cavemanrich, @R2elk (And I'll think of others and tag them in other threads)

Would any of you like some (free!) Egyptian Walking Onion starts? They grow in zones 3-10, so just about anywhere. The entire plant is edible; you get green onions and a shallot-type onion. The plant grows a stalk that makes little topset onions (also edible). Eventually, this gets too heavy and falls to the ground, rooting and growing a new plant. Thus the name: it "walks" across the ground. Ok, that's 1/3 of the name. The onion part is obvious, but the Egyptian part is a mystery.

I planted my first sets 4-5 years ago, and have all the green onions and shallot onions I can use. As long as I can get a shovel into the ground, I can dig up fresh onions. These were my first crop this spring. Even before I got any weeds to eat.

I send them 1st class mail (cheap) so a PO Box is fine. PM me your address if you would some.