Living in the Midwest, we become accustomed to power outages of all kinds, for varying lengths of time, and in any season. This fact of life is compounded for us because we live in the country. For some reason, this adds a layer of challenge to keeping things running.
I mean, we’re used to strong winds knocking down power lines in any season. Lightning can strike in spring, summer and fall, taking out power transformers and power poles. Icy, frigid weather can cause power to be taken out any time. The dry hurricane we had one late summer left us without electricity for four days and that was still better than many who suffered after a number of tornadoes over the years.
In our case, living in the country, living in a very old house, or perhaps just serendipity means that we can lose power at odd times. When it rains – even a drizzle – our hot tub stops heating. For years a hard rain would render our cable TV useless. (We finally had that fixed, but it took some convincing of the cable company that water was, in fact, causing us to lose cable signal).
During the recent Christmas weekend which brought with it sub-zero temperatures, we were not surprised to lose cable, internet and phone line. In fact, we were grateful to maintain electricity in the house throughout the weekend. But the cable/internet was a story.
On Saturday night of the weekend, my husband was watching a football game and I decided to go to bed and read for a while. When I entered the bedroom, it was a little chilly (considering the wind chill that night was -27, I wasn’t alarmed). I moved the cabinet holding the TV, plugged in a space heater, and read for a while. Then I went to sleep.
Meanwhile, my husband woke up from his football-induced nap and realized the game was no longer playing. In fact, nothing was playing. So he came to bed.
The next morning, he informed me that we had no cable, no internet, and no landline. Fortunately, it was Christmas, and we had other things to do! So he called the cable company, heard the recorded message that they were aware of outages in our area, and we promptly forgot about it.
As an aside, our son came over for Christmas dinner (he lives next door) and mentioned that his house had internet. We thought that curious, but again… Christmas. Food. Presents. More important things to worry about.
The next day, temperatures were warmer and my husband called again. He got the same message, only this time it said the company would not send workers out in dangerous weather and would repair outages when they could. That seemed fair.
Tuesday came, and with it normal weather. I left for work and hubby called a third time. This time he stayed on the phone until he reached a real person, who informed him there were no outages in our area. She dispatched a service person that was to arrive later that day.
Upon my arrival home from work, the service person was actually wrapping up. He had told my husband that the amplifier in the bedroom (which we didn’t know we had) had come unplugged. They both informed me that they guessed the cat had done it, and the man had fixed it so it wouldn’t happen again.
Before I could think better of it, I said, “Oh, my. I did that! I must have loosened it when I plugged in the space heater!”
Lessons learned: be careful when you plug things in; when the cable goes out, check the amplifier; and the cat doesn’t mind taking responsibility for my errors.
great snippet as usual – things happen and hopefully we can learn from any mistakes- and hopefully NOT causing death or injury to anyone 0 be very careful out there and have a SAFE and healthy 2023!!!
Power outages are a real problem for us also. Twice we were told there was no outage in our area. And both times my husband got in his car and drove around until he found a downed wire or limb over the lines, and called the company to inform them where the problem is located. Here is their reply: Oh, it affected only a few people… Duh! We few people are still paying for a service we’re not getting!
Even while taking a football-induced nap, we want that TV on when we wake up! (My husband denies he ever naps!) And don’t think we don’t notice the hike in charges every few months! Complain, complain, complain! I was up at 1:00 this morning because I couldn’t sleep. Groping down the hallway, feeling the walls, and thanking God for my eyesight. It’s not a New Years resolution, but I’m trying not to complain and grumble over minor things. If you truly look at it… most things are minor. Try living without electricity or blindness.
But Susie, if I had a cat, I might be tempted to blame the animal. You know… if cats could talk, they wouldn’t.