There are millions of funny stories told by members of the Beck family in our times together. One of my favorites told by Weldon Beck. He worked with Beau Webb at the Fire Department and at Beau's 2nd job. Beau was an electrician. There was a conversation struck up with an old man about electrical work. The old man told Weldon, "It know two things about electricity". "It will light a light bulb....and it will kill you ass!" Truer words have not been spoken. One of my favorite sayings.
Monday August 29, 2011
So it was an extremely busy day at work again. It always is and I'm not complaining!! Strong work ethic plus hard work is happy but tired person! :)
The one redeeming item to the day....***MY LIGHTS ARE BACK ON!!!!******
So, it's 5:30 and I'm on my way home. I drive 60 minutes round trip to work, and I'd stopped for some Wendy's because I was too tired to cook. I received some texts from my college friend who lives in Wake Forest NC. Lynn told me that storms had just rolled through there and had plenty of straight line winds, hail and was just plain nasty! GREAT! I can't tell you how excited I was after this past week..... Sunday Week - Power out, lines down, and trees down in my neighborhood...couldn't even get in the neighborhood...stayed at my sisters house, that night I twisted my ankle and was hobbling around for the better part of a week, then Tuesday week - Earthquake that shook the East Coast from Ontario, Canada to Alabama. Saturday, Hurricane Irene and power out from 9AM Saturday to 4pm Tuesday....so coming home to a storm was not my idea of fun.
I pulled into the driveway where my neighbor Steve met me. He helped me get the generator in the garage. I had to pull the motorcycle out so it could be placed in there, and then we both pushed the bike in. He grabbed the almost empty gas cans and put them away for me and we both ran for our respective houses.
I was in the house moments before the sharpest lightning I think I've ever seen hit. Immediate thunder and that hot electric feeling in the air. Another 4 or 5 close lightning strikes and the real fun began.
The teens were watching a movie so I had them turn it off so we could view the cable (YAY it was back on!) to see news concerning the storm. One of the channels we found had live coverage. The weatherman told us the time to expect the storm to hit us. It was 10 miles away, then Joyners Cross Rds, 5 miles away, then it was right on top of us. Golf Ball sized hail hitting the house....I felt like I was in an ice machine. The teens and me, the puppy and the cat sitting in the hallway waiting it out. I then had conversations via phone with several people who were trying to see how we were. Zack called and he was stuck under an overpass just a mile down the road waiting for the storm to subside. The storm was actively over us for about 10 minutes. When it left, there was water running down the driveway, down the street (looked like a creek) and the ditch was full and appeared to be 5 or 6 feet wide and about 3 feet deep.
Now before all this happened, I'd run in and tried to close all the windows. I had trouble with one old storm window closing so I forced it. Bad move on my part. When it released it slammed 4 of my fingers (Middle and Index on both hands) under it. I was screaming I was in so much pain and so pissed that I did that. So I was sitting in the hallway with ice in a baggie wrapped around my hands. It just doesn't get better than that. In case this drama wasn't sufficient, the storm then headed for the farmhouse in Macclesfield...so I had to call Dad and get him to get out of his trailer and into the farmhouse. It's not finished yet, (remodeling) but it's liveable and being built in 1879, it's a lot sturdier than being in a trailer, under 2 HUGE 200 year old Oak trees..... He was okay and the storm went North of him. Unfortunately, the storm caused more damage for already hard hit Pinetops...where now there is even more fresh damage to power lines, trees, houses, etc. They are under a state of emergency. I was there on Sunday and the clerk couldn't sell beer and people were getting ticked. Yeah....glad I don't drink....
So - Now it's Tuesday evening and I've come home to realize that instead of turning on the air conditioner when the lights came back on....I turned on the heat. It was 80 degrees in here when I got here. I apologized to the pets and turned it on air and turned it back so it would cool off.
I have to run some errands and then I'm going to try to get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow is the last day of the month and my status report is due. Excellent news....my Project Plan (how I try to stay organized for work) is completely updated and I'm adding tasks so things don't get dropped. Here's hoping things will be better....
I'm praying for all of you on the East Coast still without power. May you be safe and have power, air conditioning and everything straight very soon.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
August 2011 Storms - Power is OUT!
Saturday Night 8/27/2011:
I am so glad that Hurricane Irene is about to leave us. She was a pain in the backside today and so much for having a nice Saturday. So now, I’m waiting for the generator to give out of gas so I can let it cool off, fill it up and start the process again. I figure if it last at least until 12am and I have the gas refilled by 12:30 and restarted…..it will last at least until 6:30. Then when I’ve started it again, it will last until the Calvary gets here and can take over. I guess I will need to close the back door as I just saw a mosquito in here. Now – that’s just plain cruel…but Chaos did his best in the past few months to destroy the screen in that door…..so it is what it is.
My main concern through the night is someone trying to steal the generator, so when I go out to restart it, I will be moving it to the outside of the carport and chaining it to one of the post on the carport. We’ve got all the cars crammed together under and around the carport to protect them, so if I chain it…maybe it will be there in the morning.
Looks like this week will be interesting. Being on the tail-end of Progress Energy Grid (through Raleigh NC) whenever we lose power due to a storm it’s generally a 7 day wait until we regain power. However, with this storm, Raleigh was not affected as much….so maybe it will just be a day or so. If the power stays off, then we have days where the teens are here (if school is out) and I’m at work in the next town down the road. It’s iffy though as the same power lines that were knocked down last Sunday (Tornadic type activity) are the same ones knocked down this weekend. Add an earthquake on Tuesday of this past week and you have one humdinger of a week – I’ll say!
Sunday 8/28/2011
Here we are 24 hours later (Sunday night) and it’s been an exhausting day. I got up early and refilled the generator. Then I started cleaning again. The yard is a mess, but it was too early to get out there and deal with it. Soon enough I was dressed and outside picking up pinecones and limbs and twigs. I completed the area around the pine tree in the back yard. Then I started on the side lot. I’ve learned a lot this weekend. Not only did I learn how to utilize the generator and create excellent documentation so when my faulty memory happens next time, I can retrieve info and keep on going! I also learned how to utilize the trailer behind the lawn mower. A neighbor taught me a secret to backing trailers. Don’t put your hands on the top of the steering wheel as you have to think about which way you want to turn when backing. If you want to turn right, you have to turn the wheel left. Very hard to do….at least for me. Instead. Place your hands at the bottom of the steering wheel. If you want to turn right, then turn the bottom of the steering wheel right. I backed it up like a pro. I had a serious “Fail’ moment when I was unable to undo the latch that allowed the trailer to tilt and had to use the rake to remove all the items…but oh well. Now, I know better.
So, I worked in the yard as long as I could. Then we went to Mom’s house (Me, Gregg, Megan & Christopher) to cut up the Bradford Pear Tree that fell on her fence. Gregg cut up the tree…You will never see ME handle a chain saw. I like my fingers and toes and other body parts! Then we all pulled the tree limbs and trunk over and threw them in the trailer behind the truck. Very heavy work in some seriously hot weather! Next we drove them around the fence and dumped them in Mom’s side yard. We’re planning a Halloween party bonfire to get rid of all this debris. We had to get this tree out of the neighbor’s yard. He’s quite the fussy person about his yard…..some people…. Hmmph!
From here, we left to go to Dad’s house where the tin roof was damaged on the small 1824 house on the actual roof and the lean-to beside it. I was unable to do anything with that roof (scared of heights) but I was able to start cleaning up some of the limbs that fell from the 200-yr old Oaks in the front yard. I’ve never seen such a mess. Of course, I grabbed the biggest limb I could get my hands on and drug it around the front and side of the house to put it in the burn pile. This resulted in my heart starting a seriously fast (overly fast) heartbeat. It was so hot and I was pulling on this limb for all I was worth. I need to get more help over there this week, so Dad will not attempt to cut up and remove the larger limbs. He’s not feeling well (some sort of bronchial infection) and already has heart issues (rapid heartbeat) when he overexerts himself. I then started picking up the smaller limbs from the pecan tree (back yard) and realized I wasn’t making a whole lot of progress but was worn out from top to bottom. I left to get some water and drinks and had to drive to Pinetops as the power was out all over Macclesfield, so the stores were closed.
My sister had called me earlier in the day with electrical issues. Seems her electrical box had a serious issue where the main breaker was faulty and needed to be replaced. Something about half the breakers were 110 (as usual) and half were like 17. This was causing a strange smell (as her appliances were actually getting electrocuted) and only half of her lights, appliances were working. She had called and the Power folks had come over and checked it out. They had to turn off the power from the meter till she could get it fixed. So – I was trying to organize her contact with my brother-in-law (all the while my phone was dying), so he could go over and fix the issue. He was able to go over but unable to fix the issue, so she is staying elsewhere overnight and hopefully will have power tomorrow. Then when my brother-in-law Weldon was showing her the breakers, something broke off and fell at his feet. My sister leaned over to pick it up. As she did, the main breaker flew out of the box and if she had not leaned over…would have hit her square between the eyes, and would have hurt her quite badly. God is good isn’t he?
So, at the end of the day, we returned to our house and I started clearing the yard again. Then we left to go over to my in-laws house to have dinner. I nearly started crying when I got there. There were 3 trees down in their yard. One tree had started falling, hit a second tree, and they landed on the garage doing some serious damage. Weldon had seen the first tree falling and yelled at his parents to “GO” and they all took off down the hallway away from the falling trees. (This happened Saturday during the storm). There was nothing they could do during the storm but cover “Henry”, Papaw’s 1931 Ford. Later in the day, a 3rd tree fell and landed between two sheds in the back housing 2 motorcycles and no damage to either. So…for those keeping score, 3 individuals not hurt, 3 cars not damaged by the falling trees, and 2 motorcycles not damaged by falling trees. Unbelievable! When I realized how quickly I could have lost 3 people who mean so much to me….it brought tears to my eyes!! I thank GOD above for his blessings!!!!
Tummies full we returned to the house where we refilled and started the generator and I went inside to keep Chaos the dog and Max the cat company. I’m supposed to turn the generator off and sleep tonight in a house with two teenagers and two pets with no air conditioning or lights with windows open (security issue….how do you sleep in this day and time like that?)….then get up and go to work tomorrow with more than 10 brain cells functioning. I think I will wait till 12:30 and fill and restart the generator. Then, I can close all the windows and leave on the fans for the night and hopefully the electricity will be on tomorrow. I need and deserve a good nights sleep (didn’t get that all weekend) before I start work on Monday. And I do not like the idea of the teens being in another room with windows open and asleep. Especially after the random guy on the scooter rode through the neighborhood staring at our houses. I’m assuming to find something of value to steal. We live in a sub-division with dead end streets. Not many folks come back here who do not belong…… So – wasn’t looking forward to tonight.
So, inside for the night and I’ve had my shower and although that sounds lovely (after a hard day of working outside in the heat), it wasn’t. We cannot have the water heater on while the generator is on, so I had to take a cold shower. OK – no sex jokes please. Now – I know my inner child screamed her bloody head off during this very quick shower. I’ve decided that should I have to do this again (Oh please not…please!!), I will have to consume at least 3 or 4 shots of Bourbon or Tequila to silence that bitty!!! LOL! Hmmmm, this isn’t a bad idea!
I plan to finish clearing the yard tomorrow….and who knows….maybe, get some more organization completed. I’m not saying I wished this to happen on a week day so I don’t have to be at work…but it sure filled up my weekend with some serious work!! Now – back to work….I need the rest. (If I plan to rest at work…..then I’ve not planned well…busier than a one armed paper hanger).
I am so glad that Hurricane Irene is about to leave us. She was a pain in the backside today and so much for having a nice Saturday. So now, I’m waiting for the generator to give out of gas so I can let it cool off, fill it up and start the process again. I figure if it last at least until 12am and I have the gas refilled by 12:30 and restarted…..it will last at least until 6:30. Then when I’ve started it again, it will last until the Calvary gets here and can take over. I guess I will need to close the back door as I just saw a mosquito in here. Now – that’s just plain cruel…but Chaos did his best in the past few months to destroy the screen in that door…..so it is what it is.
My main concern through the night is someone trying to steal the generator, so when I go out to restart it, I will be moving it to the outside of the carport and chaining it to one of the post on the carport. We’ve got all the cars crammed together under and around the carport to protect them, so if I chain it…maybe it will be there in the morning.
Looks like this week will be interesting. Being on the tail-end of Progress Energy Grid (through Raleigh NC) whenever we lose power due to a storm it’s generally a 7 day wait until we regain power. However, with this storm, Raleigh was not affected as much….so maybe it will just be a day or so. If the power stays off, then we have days where the teens are here (if school is out) and I’m at work in the next town down the road. It’s iffy though as the same power lines that were knocked down last Sunday (Tornadic type activity) are the same ones knocked down this weekend. Add an earthquake on Tuesday of this past week and you have one humdinger of a week – I’ll say!
Sunday 8/28/2011
Here we are 24 hours later (Sunday night) and it’s been an exhausting day. I got up early and refilled the generator. Then I started cleaning again. The yard is a mess, but it was too early to get out there and deal with it. Soon enough I was dressed and outside picking up pinecones and limbs and twigs. I completed the area around the pine tree in the back yard. Then I started on the side lot. I’ve learned a lot this weekend. Not only did I learn how to utilize the generator and create excellent documentation so when my faulty memory happens next time, I can retrieve info and keep on going! I also learned how to utilize the trailer behind the lawn mower. A neighbor taught me a secret to backing trailers. Don’t put your hands on the top of the steering wheel as you have to think about which way you want to turn when backing. If you want to turn right, you have to turn the wheel left. Very hard to do….at least for me. Instead. Place your hands at the bottom of the steering wheel. If you want to turn right, then turn the bottom of the steering wheel right. I backed it up like a pro. I had a serious “Fail’ moment when I was unable to undo the latch that allowed the trailer to tilt and had to use the rake to remove all the items…but oh well. Now, I know better.
So, I worked in the yard as long as I could. Then we went to Mom’s house (Me, Gregg, Megan & Christopher) to cut up the Bradford Pear Tree that fell on her fence. Gregg cut up the tree…You will never see ME handle a chain saw. I like my fingers and toes and other body parts! Then we all pulled the tree limbs and trunk over and threw them in the trailer behind the truck. Very heavy work in some seriously hot weather! Next we drove them around the fence and dumped them in Mom’s side yard. We’re planning a Halloween party bonfire to get rid of all this debris. We had to get this tree out of the neighbor’s yard. He’s quite the fussy person about his yard…..some people…. Hmmph!
From here, we left to go to Dad’s house where the tin roof was damaged on the small 1824 house on the actual roof and the lean-to beside it. I was unable to do anything with that roof (scared of heights) but I was able to start cleaning up some of the limbs that fell from the 200-yr old Oaks in the front yard. I’ve never seen such a mess. Of course, I grabbed the biggest limb I could get my hands on and drug it around the front and side of the house to put it in the burn pile. This resulted in my heart starting a seriously fast (overly fast) heartbeat. It was so hot and I was pulling on this limb for all I was worth. I need to get more help over there this week, so Dad will not attempt to cut up and remove the larger limbs. He’s not feeling well (some sort of bronchial infection) and already has heart issues (rapid heartbeat) when he overexerts himself. I then started picking up the smaller limbs from the pecan tree (back yard) and realized I wasn’t making a whole lot of progress but was worn out from top to bottom. I left to get some water and drinks and had to drive to Pinetops as the power was out all over Macclesfield, so the stores were closed.
My sister had called me earlier in the day with electrical issues. Seems her electrical box had a serious issue where the main breaker was faulty and needed to be replaced. Something about half the breakers were 110 (as usual) and half were like 17. This was causing a strange smell (as her appliances were actually getting electrocuted) and only half of her lights, appliances were working. She had called and the Power folks had come over and checked it out. They had to turn off the power from the meter till she could get it fixed. So – I was trying to organize her contact with my brother-in-law (all the while my phone was dying), so he could go over and fix the issue. He was able to go over but unable to fix the issue, so she is staying elsewhere overnight and hopefully will have power tomorrow. Then when my brother-in-law Weldon was showing her the breakers, something broke off and fell at his feet. My sister leaned over to pick it up. As she did, the main breaker flew out of the box and if she had not leaned over…would have hit her square between the eyes, and would have hurt her quite badly. God is good isn’t he?
So, at the end of the day, we returned to our house and I started clearing the yard again. Then we left to go over to my in-laws house to have dinner. I nearly started crying when I got there. There were 3 trees down in their yard. One tree had started falling, hit a second tree, and they landed on the garage doing some serious damage. Weldon had seen the first tree falling and yelled at his parents to “GO” and they all took off down the hallway away from the falling trees. (This happened Saturday during the storm). There was nothing they could do during the storm but cover “Henry”, Papaw’s 1931 Ford. Later in the day, a 3rd tree fell and landed between two sheds in the back housing 2 motorcycles and no damage to either. So…for those keeping score, 3 individuals not hurt, 3 cars not damaged by the falling trees, and 2 motorcycles not damaged by falling trees. Unbelievable! When I realized how quickly I could have lost 3 people who mean so much to me….it brought tears to my eyes!! I thank GOD above for his blessings!!!!
Tummies full we returned to the house where we refilled and started the generator and I went inside to keep Chaos the dog and Max the cat company. I’m supposed to turn the generator off and sleep tonight in a house with two teenagers and two pets with no air conditioning or lights with windows open (security issue….how do you sleep in this day and time like that?)….then get up and go to work tomorrow with more than 10 brain cells functioning. I think I will wait till 12:30 and fill and restart the generator. Then, I can close all the windows and leave on the fans for the night and hopefully the electricity will be on tomorrow. I need and deserve a good nights sleep (didn’t get that all weekend) before I start work on Monday. And I do not like the idea of the teens being in another room with windows open and asleep. Especially after the random guy on the scooter rode through the neighborhood staring at our houses. I’m assuming to find something of value to steal. We live in a sub-division with dead end streets. Not many folks come back here who do not belong…… So – wasn’t looking forward to tonight.
So, inside for the night and I’ve had my shower and although that sounds lovely (after a hard day of working outside in the heat), it wasn’t. We cannot have the water heater on while the generator is on, so I had to take a cold shower. OK – no sex jokes please. Now – I know my inner child screamed her bloody head off during this very quick shower. I’ve decided that should I have to do this again (Oh please not…please!!), I will have to consume at least 3 or 4 shots of Bourbon or Tequila to silence that bitty!!! LOL! Hmmmm, this isn’t a bad idea!
I plan to finish clearing the yard tomorrow….and who knows….maybe, get some more organization completed. I’m not saying I wished this to happen on a week day so I don’t have to be at work…but it sure filled up my weekend with some serious work!! Now – back to work….I need the rest. (If I plan to rest at work…..then I’ve not planned well…busier than a one armed paper hanger).
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Hurricane Irene
Well to say the least today has been quite the day. I awoke at 8:00 am and immediately got up to check the status of the Hurricane. The center of the eye had just passed into the Carteret County area. Winds here in Rocky Mount NC were about 25 mph so I figured this would be the best time to get Chaos up and outside to do his business. Now for a pit bull puppy, he does not like water, baths, rain etc so I had to go out with him. He finally did his business and we came back in. The electricity was on at this time however soon the winds picked up and power went out around 9:00. I really dislike power outages because I so like being connected. Thank God for smart phones so u can still reach out to others via phone or social media. The girls slept late. I fed the dog and cat and checked the status of the neighborhood and then went back to sleep myself.
Now I knew I had to go get the generator out and start it myself when my brother In law told me treed were down at my inlaws house. Luckily just roof damage to the garage...and that can be fixed. Mom had a tree down on her fence. We will deal with that tomorrow I guess.
So at 4pm I went into the garage, pulled out the motorcycle, pulled out the generator and put the motorcycle back in. I had to call someone for directions on how to start it and its going!! I will have to refill it with gas in a few hours....at least twice before tomorrow morning....but that's ok. Its nice to have power again but honestly it is so loud!! When I move to the farmhouse I will see about having a generator installed so when weather events occur all this manual labor can be done away with. I now jave to document the process for starting the generator so I can repeat the process later but I learned something new. Now if only we had cable (tv), I would almost be content! Thank you God for keeping me and my family safe!! I love you!!!
Now I knew I had to go get the generator out and start it myself when my brother In law told me treed were down at my inlaws house. Luckily just roof damage to the garage...and that can be fixed. Mom had a tree down on her fence. We will deal with that tomorrow I guess.
So at 4pm I went into the garage, pulled out the motorcycle, pulled out the generator and put the motorcycle back in. I had to call someone for directions on how to start it and its going!! I will have to refill it with gas in a few hours....at least twice before tomorrow morning....but that's ok. Its nice to have power again but honestly it is so loud!! When I move to the farmhouse I will see about having a generator installed so when weather events occur all this manual labor can be done away with. I now jave to document the process for starting the generator so I can repeat the process later but I learned something new. Now if only we had cable (tv), I would almost be content! Thank you God for keeping me and my family safe!! I love you!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)