If you were to ask me today, I would say on the eighth day the Lord created the Gas Generator.Sunday Morning my wife likes to watch CBS Sunday Morning to get her day started. Fifteen minutes into the program the power went out. That time they had service restored within an hour. Annoying, but livible.
This evening we had settled down to select viewing for the night, about five thirty PM, and the lights went out again. This time I plug the entertainment center into what Sportsmans Guide called a "Generator Cart."
It's a 1000 Watt Inverter mounted on a housing that I installed a Marine Deep Cycle Battery into. I have no idea why they discontinued this wonderful beastie. It's good for about four hours fully charged, depending on how you use it. It turned out I was only going to have about an hour on it, which should have been enough.
I called the (unnamed, at least for this entry) power company and got an estimate of fourty five minutes to an hour to have service restored. When the generator cart gave out I plugged it and the entertainment center into the Gas Generator. After making the switch I came back in and called the power company again. This time their best guess was by three AM.
If I seem a little over the top on the subject, it's because of Ike. I think it was two years ago the hurricane hit the Texas Coast. No one has yet explained to me why folks in Central Texas should be without power for most of a week when a hurricane hits the coast. For most of the first day they kept insisting we would have power back on in two or three hours. The most annoying part was driving past houses, in the country or other towns, served by other companies with lights on the entire time. So, we waited.
Finally the power was restored. The part I find really galling is when they drop the ball, it happens and we should live with it.
BUT TRY BEING LATE WITH A PAYMENT!
Update
The power company actually got the power back on an hour early, two AM rather than three AM,
It seems in this case I need to cut them a little slack. The power outage was due to some fool in Calvert, Texas shooting up the relay station. One can only hope they are found. They should hope the locals aren't the ones that find them. They are even more upset than I was.
Quit shooting the electricity poles for target practice, Art!
ReplyDeleteIf you have ever lived with Helene, and her cats, without electricity you would know I didn't do it.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see you back lady.
Unfortunately, Entergy is not part of ERCOT so when they go down, there is no cross tie into the rest of the Texas electrical grid. Politics of them being a foreign company. (not from Texas)
ReplyDeleteWe had to deal with that during Ike. Our house was only out of power for a few hours (Midsouth Synergy) but our town was without power for a week (Entergy).
Greetings from Falls County,
ReplyDeleteI'm busted. That's what I get for droping too many clues to knowledgable readers.
Next time this happens I will wipe my sweaty face repeatedly on your pillow. Then I will add a shedding cat or two for extra texture. I hate "sleeping" w/out my AC in summer.
ReplyDeleteWait until winter--I'm propping the window open so it snows on the bed!
Love ya!