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).