I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You
Manic Monday #1
__________________________________
Thursday, Tropical Storm Zeta stripped our home here at the Fortress of Ineptitude of power.
At 10:26 AM as powerful winds ripped through central North Carolina, we lost power.
My wife Andrea who works from home was frantically on the phone explaining to anyone who would listen than she could not work from home. She was assured a lot of her fellow employees also working from home were also not working from home.
Power was winking out all over our surrounding area.
I received a text alert from Duke Energy that our power was off because of the storm.
From there, Duke Energy kept changing the goal posts of when we might expect the power to be restored. By 8:00 that night, the latest goal post was by 11:00 AM the next day.
Meanwhile, we had the Fortress alight with a variety of battery powered lights and candles. Our daughter Randie was a bit too eager to light candles all over the house.
I'm not saying Randie might be a closet arsonist but her eagerness to light candles all over the house was a bit troubling.
The neighborhood around us was surreally dark and silent. The only glow was from the eastern skyline where the airport powered by its own generators stayed in business.
Oh and a full moon that glowed like a silver orb in the night sky, casting a pale white glow on the our surroundings like a winter snow. The night sky around the moon was lit up like a skyline at dawn.
Oddly enough, despite a tropical storm blowing through followed by a cold front, Thursday night was uncomfortably warm. We had windows opened to let in the cool night air which was not all that cool. It was hard to get comfortable enough to go to sleep without sweating.
It's the friggin' end of friggin' October! Why is it so damn humid?!?
The next day, 11:00 AM came and went with no power. Alerts from Duke Energy pushed the goal post to 1:00 PM.
1:00 PM goes by with no power. Around 3:00 PM, the power did flicker for a split second twice then nothing.
Now it's going to be 5:30 PM.
But then it's not. A check of the Duke Energy website has moved to goal post to 11:45 PM.
On November 1st.
What the hell? Two more days?
Andrea puts in a call to speak to an actual people person who assures her that it will not be that long. The next target for getting the power back on is 8:00 PM Friday evening.
Not quite but we get there by 8:30 PM Friday evening.
Andrea and I sat in the living room not fully prepared to believe our good fortune. I refuse to breathe a sigh of relief until the power stays on for a...
A minute passes.
Then 10 minutes.
Then 20 and only then do I accept that our power is back on.
We also learned that our dog Rosie does not like fire. Rosie favored the corners of the house we had illuminated with battery powered lights but studiously avoided areas with candles. Apparently fire is part of Rosie's trauma before she was rescued by the SPCA.
With no power for computers, WIFI or TV, we were forced to communicate with each other. That nightmare is now over with.
Addendum: No, it isn't.
That's what I get for letting my guard down after only 29 hours.
With major winds buffeting the Fortress of Ineptitude once more, the power went down around 1:30 AM.
A text alert from Duke Energy informed me the power was out and would be back on by 5:30 AM.
It clicked back on at 5:40 AM.
I will not let my guard down again no matter how many hours, days or even years go by.
No comments:
Post a Comment