PIP-WATCH -- POWER and WIND

Big Bear Bald Eagles – Up Date -- Eaglet’s egg hatching?   

(Read Jackie's and Shadow's history for background by scrolling down to preceding posts.)

An external pip appeared to be visible at dusk Saturday night when I viewed Jackie rising frequently to turn her eggs – then after a later glimpse I wasn’t sure I had seen a pip!   Jackie seemed fixated on listening -- is it pip activity of the hatching eaglet she hears or feels?   Probably she will settle down to broken sleep through the night as she periodically rouses to continue turning  her eggs. 

Fascinating Bald Eagle egg hatching facts describe the complex process with photos at this Journey North link.  There’s a second egg to hatch yet that was laid three days after this first one.

You can continue to take a peek at these Big Bear Bald Eagles live camera link here:                                                                         

http://www.iws.org/bigbear_youtube.html

The camera was inoperative for a period of time earlier the past week probably due to high winds there -- also strong winds in the valley 65 miles west causing power outage at my house.   Jennifer Iyer recaps the Big Bear Eagle activities with videos and accounts from those keeping the live camera operational in her Redlands Press-Enterprise newspaper article.

The power outage was quite abrupt here, ultimately with fluctuating on/off periods just as I was planning to heat some chicken soup for dinner.   Naturally, all the important household areas were affected including my stove, microwave, refrigerator and garage door.   I was glad my car wasn’t in there.   I reported the outage to my electric company.  Finally, I chose to get some food from a drive thru.  When I returned home I discovered all my power was on.    Only later did I note power in some other less significant house areas.    

The next morning the electric company man checked the lines.  He concluded strong winds the night before had tree branches swaying in the wind with lines probably contacting each other that shouldn’t.   He scheduled the electric company’s big truck, likely with the cherry-picker for tree trimming to prevent future problems.   

A couple weeks ago I had a similar outage when there was no wind, but the power had stayed off. Since it was Friday I had visions of being without power the whole weekend.   I made an intuitive phone call to an electrician I had never used before rather than some I had.   Amazingly he had just finished a job a mile or so from my house, was on his way home and said he could come right then.  Ten minutes later he arrived, then after due diligence testing determined the problem was not mine, but that of the electric company. 

He was able to establish full power to my house suggesting the likelihood was a squirrel may have been chewing on the line.   I knew squirrels did sometimes cause short circuits with a more permanent short to the offender as well.   He added if I needed to call him due to a similar problem in the future he would immediately contact the electric company coordinating all that for me if I wanted.  

He explained quite likely there could be a delay in my receiving electric company service, that he could setup a line to my refrigerator for food preservation.   Since my spare long-lived refrigerator in the garage died a year or so ago this seemed a wise solution to preserve food contents should such a need develop.   Subsequently, the electric company man said if I lost power as a result of a company problem I could submit a bill for any food lost. 

So....my house has power.  I hope no more strong winds before the tree is trimmed.  No offending squirrel sacrificed themself.   The ridiculous situation continues in Washington D.C.   The latest excuse I heard given for our leader’s prolific persistent prevarications is “He made a mistake” -- the understatement of the year.   Pip-watch is proving to be a much more uplifting focus.

Up Date:  Sunday Afternoon

Just saw the nest contents when the birds switched positions. There’s a little fuzz ball — one egg has hatched!  Other egg was laid 3 days after this one.  

Up Date:  Monday

The second egg has hatched!