Sunday, November 28, 2021

POWER -- OSUvsMICH. -- LIFE'S INTRUSIONS

This Thanksgiving season has been interesting.  A couple of days before that holiday my power suddenly went out about ten minutes into the Colbert TV program I was watching that night.  Having had my lights suddenly go out before, as I have previously described HERE, catching me "unarmed" in the bathroom, I had added to my regular strategically placed full-size flashlights by purchasing several small flashlights to place about my home in even more locations.   I was well prepared this time.

A phone call to my electric company revealed I was the first to phone in and the woman to whom I spoke said she didn't know what had happened either.    I wasn't the only one wondering, if even the company  representative didn't know.  Another call later I learned this was a planned outage and they didn't know how long the power would be off.   I went to bed.

The next day the power didn't come on again until around 10 a.m.   Meanwhile, there had been public service news reports that Santa Ana winds, sometimes as strong as 100 mph whipping downslope through mountain passes, were expected as we approached the holiday -- that our electric company might need to cut the power in some areas for safety reasons, but I hadn't thought we would be affected.

Harve Presnell sings "They Call the Wind Mariah" (remastered).                                                           from the movie 'Paint Your Wagon" (original Broadway musical)


Generally, we've not received Santa Ana's hot dry strong winds, except I recall once years ago finding a few roof shingles in our yard the next morning, but I wasn't concerned this year.  The areas that are really at-risk experience trees falling with most concerning of all, electrical lines can come down causing dangerous fires threatening homes and lives, even destructive-of-whole-communities' wildfires as has happened in recent years.

A power company other than my own near San Diego had a tree fall on their power line resulting in a town-destroying-fire called the Camp Fire, traumatizing over 70,000 people.  They lost their California homes and businesses not to mention some lives lost with that devastation that came to their town ironically named Paradise.  Too many residents are still 3 years later awaiting expected recompense so they can more fully resume their lives as described in this action news now report.

I was told our power outage occurred so maintenance could be performed that would serve to prevent our experiencing damage.  The wind did come to other areas subsequent days with violent gusts to 80 mph subjecting a hundred thousand or more people to either deliberate power cuts or those unpredictable outages.

Unfortunately, on Thanksgiving over 60,000 residents in some areas suddenly had their power shut down as a preventative measure against possible wildfires, so their turkey, ham, pies, or other food didn't get cooked this holiday and they unexpectedly had to seek dinner elsewhere.  Some families where these winds are most prevalent did resort to using outdoor grills, others may have had personal generators to power their ovens, as well as refrigerators, even coffeemakers, so they were better able to cope.

Indeed, I have much for which to be thankful since we had no winds where I live and had power Thanksgiving!

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We humans have been quite concerned about vaccinations, the flu and Covid,  but now our pets have unexpectedly had a new threat to their health.  Seems a potentially deadly dog flu has descended on our Los Angeles area.  Some businesses catering to dogs are requiring they must be vaccinated.  

Hm-m-m!  Will some dogs organize and protest?   Violently resist ..... attack others?   I wonder if there will be owners picketing with their pooches to protest this being a possible violation of their dogs' freedom rights?
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University of Michigan has upset Ohio State University football team to win the Big Ten championship.  This classic rivalry outcome proved once again to be unpredictable and an exciting game to view.  My family has individual allegiances to each of these teams.  Consequently, I said our family has a winner no matter which team prevailed!

I"m happy for Michigan fans to have this win to celebrate given to what Covid has subjected residents.  I just hope the packed "Big House" as the Michigan stadium is called, hasn't been a virus spreader location.
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Recently I answered my phone to hear a deep rough-sounding male voice authoritatively ask, "Do you want to sell your house?"   I responded, "Absolutely not!"  He abruptly hung up.  There surely weren't any niceties or words wasted in that call, not even so much as an apologetic "Sorry, thank you." for intruding uninvited into my life and wasting my time -- just right to his point.

I hope I don't hear from him again as I read a current news story that the housing situation is such, homeowners around the country are being repeatedly bombarded by some aggressive individuals to sell their house.  They especially focus on older people with some succumbing to their repetitive persistently prevalent pressure techniques with an offer that may not even be reasonably favorable to the home owner.   

I've also received regular letters in recent years from several different individuals soliciting to buy my house, calls from a few people who have identified themselves as real estate agents, but this new breed I read about sound like they're borderline harassing or worse.  Homeowners are being besieged by these unsolicited offers as described in this NPR link.

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Well, this has turned into a mixture of the significant to rather incidental insignificant items, except to those directly affected by them or those who might be in the future, that can pepper our lives as we navigate the much more important to us activities of life.  

I wonder what sort of incidental matters you could probably live without that squander your time and intrude into your daily living?    Reading this blog, you say?   That's life!

20 comments:

  1. No calls to buy my house, but we do not live in an area where there are many jobs. Owners would have an hour commute into the city! Those winds are nasty and I am wondering who will invent other solutions in the future as climate change is going to continue to challenge us.

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    1. We just need to channel their energy some way to benefit us, I guess.

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  2. I had heard about the planned outages and wondered if you were affected. I wondered about all those people with thawed turkeys. Glad you were mostly spared.
    Dog flu--yikes. Sure glad Callie doesn't socialize with other dogs. Fencing helps.
    I did watch OSU and Michigan game and was pulling for Mich but like you, wondered at those packed stands with the high Covid rates Michigan all ready has.

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    1. Suppose people lucky enough to have friends or family they could visit probably had to box up their uncooked vittles and take them to hopefully cook wherever they went.

      That dog flu would be worrisome so hope it doesn't come your way.

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  3. I have installed an Inverter connected to a storage battery that keeps key lights and fans going on for eight hours. This has helped me go through outages without much difficulty. You may like to explore this option.

    If your problem is rough voiced phone calls, mine is delivery persons searching for addresses. Most annoying to answer the doorbell to find such ignoramuses.

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    1. I’ll have to look into the inverter with storage battery idea. Thanks, Ramana. If it was solar powered that could extend the energy life. I have some stand-alone battery charged lights and would only need one in whatever room I’m in. My major concern would be backup power for my refrigerator with freezer. Then if i could power my microwave that could be nice, too. Of course, in a hot summer cooling capability would really be needed. I went through a few days one year when the A/C broke down but I had power and set up fans which helped.

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  4. I appreciate your thoughtful and engaging and informative posts, Joared. Everything becomes more complicated when it becomes unusually windy and the power is out. That's for sure.

    Hearing that wonderful old song brought back memories and emotions from my grade school years. During that time we had two parakeets, Minnie and Mariah. My middle sister chose the name "Mariah" for the green parakeet. Minnie was the blue one. Whenever I hear that song, I remember our parakeet as well as the the powerful emotional response I felt when hearing that song as a young girl. I'm not sure which version I heard. It would have been earlier than the Harve Presnell rendition. YouTube has numerous versions but this one you chose is outstanding.

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    1. Songs do have a way of bringing us unexpected memories — so much a part of our lives. Your parakeets must have been an especially treasured one of your sister, too, for you. Selecting the version and artist to post here was not easy. Generations earlier Vaughn Monroe’s recording, an orchestra leader and singer I had the pleasure of meeting once, may have had one of the most popular versions of this song. There were numerous other artists, too. I even had the opportunity to sing this powerful song as part of a chorus that presented a yearly show in the city where I was living. The show’s performance was recorded to a 33 1/3 rpm vinyl album for a long lasting memory I treasure.

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  5. I'm chuckling about your Dog Vaccine Protests, but I'm also realizing that it may not be entirely silly. The dogs themselves holding signs, yes; their owners, not so much. This is unfortunately where we are, isn't it?

    What terrible timing/necessity, to have a planned outage on Thanksgiving Day! I can only imagine the chaos that ensued in some affected homes.

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    1. Ah yes, dogs could be given haircuts with messages, or wrapped in signs, or little flags attached to their tails to wave just for starters.

      That was my initial thought, too, but I guess I can just be glad my power outage didn't happen Thanksgiving Day though I only needed my microwave to heat some foods. As for all the others that holiday some may have realized they lived in risky areas for high winds, had Plan B, but others may not.

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  6. We've had some very high winds at the weekend, but nothing like 100mph round here. A lot of branches crashed out of my trees but no tree came down. We had a power outage in the night but as I only knew about it next morning I can't say that it bothered me.
    I am constantly being pestered by an equity release firm, it means they want to give me a big loan against the value of my house; they are a proper nuisance. If I wanted to make changes in my life I'd make them off my own bat. Do they think old people are all soft in the head?

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    1. Glad your winds did no damage other than branches crashing out but not into your house. I slept through the rest of our power outage the night my lights went out shortly before midnight. Guess they thought I should have gone to bed earlier and might never have known what happened.

      Ha! I think there are those hoping to take advantage of any of us old people who might not be up to date on their con jobs in this new tech world.

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  7. Glad to say that power outages are very rare in the UK, but we do have a torch and candles just in case.

    We don't have calls from estate agents urging us to sell our house, or calls from equity release firms. If we did, they would quickly get a flea in their ear!

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    1. These particular "preventative" power outages are new. They've been instituted partly because of that Paradise fire. Utility companies have had to reassess some of the risk factors not only for their customers but their own financial lability in these wildfire situations.

      "get a flea in their ear" is a new expression to me -- I like it!

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  8. I've often thought why the original power company installations were not underground to prevent such scenarios. I know the cost would have been high but I think of the aesthetics as well, no wires overhead. Even tubes to hold them above ground. Ah well. And solar street lights which are so successful if combined with wind power.

    You got me thinking Joared. I'm glad you're back to whatever normal is for any of us these days.

    XO
    WWW

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    1. I've thought about underground, too, but would that be more problematic in the event of earthquake? Yes, so much would be better with solar lights though I recently read an article suggesting the sun's solar flares may be a bigger threat to our increasingly technical world than we have known in the past.

      Yeah -- "whatever normal is ....!

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  9. Good that you have flashlights all over your home. Good idea. David rooted for Michigan. Thrilling that they won.

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    1. I’ve never had so many flashlights but stumbling and falling in the dark is something I intend to avoid.

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  10. :) Sounds normal to me. We did have power all through the day. As a kid we had a blue and gold kitchen and lots of enthusiasm for any Michigan games. Mother graduated from there.

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    1. Glad you kept power through Thanksgiving, too. Michigan and Ohio State fans are each very avid as was my husband for OSU and I could enjoy with him, too, up to a point.

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