Monday we paid the light bill. I really don't know why I'm surprised that the call came in Tuesday morning.
"We are going to turn off power in your area in less than an hour to do equipment repairs. The power will be down for about six hours." There was more, mainly a recording of someone I've never met telling me how sorry she was for something she had nothing to do with. The last part they could have left off. And here I was thinking they might make it through March without going down.
Maybe next year.
OK, at least they called. It was annoying, but no big deal. It was the middle of the day, and Helene and I both had lots to keep us busy that didn't depend on house current. I didn't even have to fire up the generator.
It wasn't the middle of the night on the coldest night we have had in years - like the last time. That time only lasted three hours, but those three hours made an impression I'm here to tell you. We are blessed with electric heat!
As it turns out, they actually got the power on fifteen minutes early. Good for them.
This morning I was sleeping in a bit when Helene called to me saying the Electric Company Tree Killers were back!
Now, a couple of weeks ago they came through. This time the foreman talked to me about what their tree thugs were going to be doing. We agreed how much would be cut off the trees they would cut, and which ones they would not touch. That part was respected, but no one said anything about the herbicide I caught them spraying on my dew berries. They insisted they were only spraying the small trees growing up in the right of way.
They Stopped.
I must have made an impression on both the crew and the folks I talked to at the company. Insted of the three to five business days they first offered for a call back, the foreman was back in person about two hours later. We agreed that dew berries didn't grow high enough to bother their wires. We also agreed they could cut the small trees out with branch cutters.
No more poison!
The guys today had walked onto the property so we wouldn't hear their truck, but 'Bear da dog' let us know they were there. I caught them with a pole saw working on the plum tree the company foreman had agreed not to touch. They assured me they didn't know anything about that, it was all a misunderstanding. You would have thought they had never seen an irate fat man in a bath robe before!
I will close with one question. Has anyone else found Tent Caterpillars in a tree you gave the electric company a hard time about cutting?
You were fearsome in your wrath, dear!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part was when the guy with the pole saw tried to ignore you. I didn't know your could bellow like that!
I thought they were supposed to do this evey five years, not more than twice in one year.
Thanks to Bear-Dog the evil did not triumph in their stealth. Hands off the fruit trees people, they've been there a long time to be as big as they are. Funny how the power continues to go out even after the trees are cut back, hmmm?
I feel like Grandma Masur contemplating the cable serviceman the taxidermist was waiting for.