Yesterday was interesting.
My cousin called me late yesterday afternoon. She is caregiver for her mother, my aunt, that is 89 years old. They had no power, and weren't going to have any for at least a day. It was getting too hot in their trailer. She had a portable air conditioner. Could I bring my generator over? Um, It's a large whole-house generator, already hooked in, so no. I asked if she and my aunt could come stay with me, until their power got restored instead? Not really a viable option. My aunt's blood pressure goes up when she's in unfamiliar surroundings. In addition, there is too much equipment for her, to move for just a day. She can't lay flat, so uses a recliner for both sitting, and sleeping. Ok, I have a recliner. We'd have to load her oxygen machine, wheelchair, walker, the extender for the commode, and there is a metal support system, so she can lower, and raise herself on the potty.
Ok, let me see what I can do. I know several of my neighbors used portable generators during the last power outage, after the hurricane, when they had no power. One neighbor had loaned both of his out, and hadn't gotten them back. Another neighbor had one, and yes, I could borrow it. I loaded up Dd #1, the grands, and a gas can, then went to load the generator. Got everything loaded, then headed to my cousin's place. Got everything set up, and working fine, but her extension cord was not heavy enough, and was getting too hot. We headed home to get one of my heavy extension cords. By then, it was storming bad.
On the way home, traffic was heavier, and moving slower than normal. OH, the traffic light was out. No big deal. Another traffic light was out, and we noticed that in that area, several businesses were without power. Moving on, we ran into a small traffic jam. There were a LOT of cop cars, so I figured there was an accident. Hold the phone, those power poles are leaning. I pointed it out to Dd. Further up the road, there was a lot of smoke. We turned around, and took a different route home, got the power cord, and headed back to my cousin's. I did not take the road that I knew all the traffic would be on.
We got to my cousin's, and it was past supper time. She went to get KFC, while I swapped out power cords, and got everything hooked back up. Everything fine, we ate supper. Afterward, we left for home. By now, it's been a couple hours since whatever happened on the main route, had happened, and I was curious to see if they had cleared it up yet.
Nope, it was not cleared up, but they had set up a detour. You could still get close enough to see what had happened, before getting to the detour. A huge Oak tree got struck by lightening. The lightening struck the base of the tree, catching it on fire, and cutting it so it fell. When it fell, it hit a power pole, and the power lines. When that fell, it took down more lines, and more poles. Not all the poles hit the ground. The ones further away from the tree were leaning at a strange angle. Almost 900 people were without power.
In the meantime, because of the bigger emergency, the trailer park my cousin lives in, has been put on hold. Their crews have been diverted to cutting up, chipping, and removing the tree, cutting all those lines, putting in a bunch of new poles, and rewiring. Hopefully, they'll get to her place late this afternoon, or first thing in the morning.
My cousin called me late yesterday afternoon. She is caregiver for her mother, my aunt, that is 89 years old. They had no power, and weren't going to have any for at least a day. It was getting too hot in their trailer. She had a portable air conditioner. Could I bring my generator over? Um, It's a large whole-house generator, already hooked in, so no. I asked if she and my aunt could come stay with me, until their power got restored instead? Not really a viable option. My aunt's blood pressure goes up when she's in unfamiliar surroundings. In addition, there is too much equipment for her, to move for just a day. She can't lay flat, so uses a recliner for both sitting, and sleeping. Ok, I have a recliner. We'd have to load her oxygen machine, wheelchair, walker, the extender for the commode, and there is a metal support system, so she can lower, and raise herself on the potty.
Ok, let me see what I can do. I know several of my neighbors used portable generators during the last power outage, after the hurricane, when they had no power. One neighbor had loaned both of his out, and hadn't gotten them back. Another neighbor had one, and yes, I could borrow it. I loaded up Dd #1, the grands, and a gas can, then went to load the generator. Got everything loaded, then headed to my cousin's place. Got everything set up, and working fine, but her extension cord was not heavy enough, and was getting too hot. We headed home to get one of my heavy extension cords. By then, it was storming bad.
On the way home, traffic was heavier, and moving slower than normal. OH, the traffic light was out. No big deal. Another traffic light was out, and we noticed that in that area, several businesses were without power. Moving on, we ran into a small traffic jam. There were a LOT of cop cars, so I figured there was an accident. Hold the phone, those power poles are leaning. I pointed it out to Dd. Further up the road, there was a lot of smoke. We turned around, and took a different route home, got the power cord, and headed back to my cousin's. I did not take the road that I knew all the traffic would be on.
We got to my cousin's, and it was past supper time. She went to get KFC, while I swapped out power cords, and got everything hooked back up. Everything fine, we ate supper. Afterward, we left for home. By now, it's been a couple hours since whatever happened on the main route, had happened, and I was curious to see if they had cleared it up yet.
Nope, it was not cleared up, but they had set up a detour. You could still get close enough to see what had happened, before getting to the detour. A huge Oak tree got struck by lightening. The lightening struck the base of the tree, catching it on fire, and cutting it so it fell. When it fell, it hit a power pole, and the power lines. When that fell, it took down more lines, and more poles. Not all the poles hit the ground. The ones further away from the tree were leaning at a strange angle. Almost 900 people were without power.
In the meantime, because of the bigger emergency, the trailer park my cousin lives in, has been put on hold. Their crews have been diverted to cutting up, chipping, and removing the tree, cutting all those lines, putting in a bunch of new poles, and rewiring. Hopefully, they'll get to her place late this afternoon, or first thing in the morning.
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No "live and let live" here! Yeah, there are some exceptions to that "rule".
