Eventful night
Aug. 27th, 2003 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blueeowynWell it was a very eventful evening. I tried to dance (and failed miserably due to my ankle). Lots of electrical storms yesterday afternoon. Lots of electrical problems last night.
For assorted reasons, my office was understaffed yesterday afternoon. So, when the front line rang while I was in my bosses office, I got to run to get it. On the bad ankle ... to the same direction as the injury. OUCH! I went to dance practice anyway to deliver some items but only danced one dance (Heart's Ease) and it was not pretty. So after meeting, I left.
Yesterday afternoon a major thunderstorm came through the area. I suspect we had multiple strikes on campus. One bolt was there for a good 1.2 seconds, faded then returned. It was cool. The building shook a little from at least 2 different strikes. I got to see the wind blow the water UP the roof of the building next door. All in all a very intense storm. It even knocked a power line across the beltway.
I called![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
javasaurus to give him an update on the traffic to save him from sitting in traffic for too long. Read my book for a bit then headed to dinner. By 7:00pm, the weather was beautiful.
As I drove, I could tell where there was power and where there was not, it is really clear, even that late at night. I do wonder how the post lights at some houses worked while the houses and their streetlights are dark. Very bizarre.
I got to where I was staying at around 9:45pm. It was DARK. I was walking up the walk carrying the recycling bin wondering how in the world I was going to navigate through the house, with the bin, 4 cats, cat food dishes, boxes, etc. to work around. My alternative was to work through the house w/out the bin, then work through the garage w/out the bin then with the bin. Fortunately, just as I stepped on the sidewalk, the lights blazed forth. COOL!
So, I go in, put the bin back where it belongs and start gathering my stuff up since it was my last night in the house and I needed to leave early enough this morning that I didn't want to pack today. I called the house to see if the machine would pick up (figuring that if it did, we had power) and got the modem. OK, I knew Java had left the computer on to do a virus scan, I guess it restarted OR we weren't hit by the outage. I picked up the stuff from the fridge, loaded the car, and off I went to go home and drop stuff.
Problem number one came when I was ready to cross the road at the light. The light which wasn't working ... at a 45 mph road. EEP! Fortunately, it was around 10:30pm and while people weren't treating it as a 4 way stop (which would have been attrocious since the lanes don't have to stop at the same time); there was little enough traffic for me to dart across after sitting for only 2-3 minutes.
There was light on the first street I passed, then the darkness returned. Darn! I get to the house and all is dark. So I open the door and go in, decide to leave the door open for the slight amount of moonlight that comes in. Lug stuff in and pile it on the floor. Realize that I don't want to leave it there since Java will trip when he gets home unless it is moved. Put a bunch of stuff in the living room, put some stuff on the shelf in the kitchen. Grab the mail & the package and put it all on the 'mail chair'.
I then cautiously move to the garage to get the barn jacket, fumbling to find it by touch, and put it by front door. Then the fun part, going upstairs to one of the back bedrooms where my battery alarm clock is. I got it about 5 years ago in the UK when I visited a friend and needed a clock. It has an alarm! It is also very small I didn't exactly remember where it was ... time to feel around the boxes & floor until I find it. Then off to the master bedroom to find my barn pants. In a pile of 5 pairs of clean pants. Open a curtain to see by the light of the moon (can you tell I really appreciate the fact that we had a little bit of moon last night?) and go through the pants. Take them and the clock to the table to grab a book (I finished almost all the ones I had with me), and head down the stairs. VERY carefully.
So, I go back to Mom's, reset the alarm clock that is there, set the alarm. Realize I left the battery alarm in the car (did I mention it is small? It is about 2 inches square and less than 1/2 inch thick) think about leaving it there and decide that given how dicey power is there (it went out twice last weekend), and the fact that the clocks don't have back-up batteries; I go to the car and get it. I reset it (time change), set the alarm and put it next to the bed and head for the bathroom. And the lights go out. ARGH! They come on. PHEW! And go back off ARGH!!! The time off was increasing. Eventually they flashed on, went off, and I heard that oh-so-familiar-and-unwelcome BOOM of a transformer going. In general when the power goes out, comes on and goes out again quickly, they are running switches. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
So, I go to take my shower. Jump when I hit the bathmat with my face (I find it too slippery for me and feel more secure in the bare tub so I had hung it over the top of the shower stall), decide to pull it down and put it on the floor. Forgetting (of course) that there is a razer up with it, until I hear the razer clatter to the floor of tub. OOPS! So I step in and try to find it, no dice. Carefully put the other foot in and can't find it. Start the shower ... find the razer & put it on a shelf. Realize that I have no idea which of the bottles is shampoo. I know most are body wash. Open bottle one, sniff, close bottle one. Lather-rinse-repeat. Try one, it feels too gooey, wash body. Try another it is about the right consistency. Wash hair. [Found out this morning that I had guessed wrong.]
Step out in hall, hear a cat, try to find the cat with foot (gently), try to pet cat (to make up for 'kicking' him ... I nudged him with my foot), get bitten, bash face into railing, realize that I was not as square to the stairs as I had thought, re-orient. Go to the bedroom, carefully navigate around the treadmill. Find bed. Realize that I hadn't neatly laid out the pjs. Hunt for all the pieces. Remember (finally) that there is probably a flashlight next to the bed. Find light, find PJs, get dressed for bed. Round up the cats to sleep with, close the door, put out the evening cat food and settle down for the night.
Try to kill the mosquito that is buzzing around my ear, my ear now hurts (do NOT slap hand square on ear with water in the ear ... please). Read a bit by flashlight. Turn the light 3 clicks and hope I remembered the correct number of clicks. Go to sleep.
Get up at 3:30am to let a cat out of the bedroom (5 weeks there over the course of the summer, this is the first time he HAD to go out in the middle of the night). Go back to sleep. Wake up a bit after 5am to see the clocks flashing. Go back to sleep. Wake up to the alarm at 7:30.
Java called at 8 (we still don't have power at home), and came to work.
For assorted reasons, my office was understaffed yesterday afternoon. So, when the front line rang while I was in my bosses office, I got to run to get it. On the bad ankle ... to the same direction as the injury. OUCH! I went to dance practice anyway to deliver some items but only danced one dance (Heart's Ease) and it was not pretty. So after meeting, I left.
Yesterday afternoon a major thunderstorm came through the area. I suspect we had multiple strikes on campus. One bolt was there for a good 1.2 seconds, faded then returned. It was cool. The building shook a little from at least 2 different strikes. I got to see the wind blow the water UP the roof of the building next door. All in all a very intense storm. It even knocked a power line across the beltway.
I called
javasaurus to give him an update on the traffic to save him from sitting in traffic for too long. Read my book for a bit then headed to dinner. By 7:00pm, the weather was beautiful.As I drove, I could tell where there was power and where there was not, it is really clear, even that late at night. I do wonder how the post lights at some houses worked while the houses and their streetlights are dark. Very bizarre.
I got to where I was staying at around 9:45pm. It was DARK. I was walking up the walk carrying the recycling bin wondering how in the world I was going to navigate through the house, with the bin, 4 cats, cat food dishes, boxes, etc. to work around. My alternative was to work through the house w/out the bin, then work through the garage w/out the bin then with the bin. Fortunately, just as I stepped on the sidewalk, the lights blazed forth. COOL!
So, I go in, put the bin back where it belongs and start gathering my stuff up since it was my last night in the house and I needed to leave early enough this morning that I didn't want to pack today. I called the house to see if the machine would pick up (figuring that if it did, we had power) and got the modem. OK, I knew Java had left the computer on to do a virus scan, I guess it restarted OR we weren't hit by the outage. I picked up the stuff from the fridge, loaded the car, and off I went to go home and drop stuff.
Problem number one came when I was ready to cross the road at the light. The light which wasn't working ... at a 45 mph road. EEP! Fortunately, it was around 10:30pm and while people weren't treating it as a 4 way stop (which would have been attrocious since the lanes don't have to stop at the same time); there was little enough traffic for me to dart across after sitting for only 2-3 minutes.
There was light on the first street I passed, then the darkness returned. Darn! I get to the house and all is dark. So I open the door and go in, decide to leave the door open for the slight amount of moonlight that comes in. Lug stuff in and pile it on the floor. Realize that I don't want to leave it there since Java will trip when he gets home unless it is moved. Put a bunch of stuff in the living room, put some stuff on the shelf in the kitchen. Grab the mail & the package and put it all on the 'mail chair'.
I then cautiously move to the garage to get the barn jacket, fumbling to find it by touch, and put it by front door. Then the fun part, going upstairs to one of the back bedrooms where my battery alarm clock is. I got it about 5 years ago in the UK when I visited a friend and needed a clock. It has an alarm! It is also very small I didn't exactly remember where it was ... time to feel around the boxes & floor until I find it. Then off to the master bedroom to find my barn pants. In a pile of 5 pairs of clean pants. Open a curtain to see by the light of the moon (can you tell I really appreciate the fact that we had a little bit of moon last night?) and go through the pants. Take them and the clock to the table to grab a book (I finished almost all the ones I had with me), and head down the stairs. VERY carefully.
So, I go back to Mom's, reset the alarm clock that is there, set the alarm. Realize I left the battery alarm in the car (did I mention it is small? It is about 2 inches square and less than 1/2 inch thick) think about leaving it there and decide that given how dicey power is there (it went out twice last weekend), and the fact that the clocks don't have back-up batteries; I go to the car and get it. I reset it (time change), set the alarm and put it next to the bed and head for the bathroom. And the lights go out. ARGH! They come on. PHEW! And go back off ARGH!!! The time off was increasing. Eventually they flashed on, went off, and I heard that oh-so-familiar-and-unwelcome BOOM of a transformer going. In general when the power goes out, comes on and goes out again quickly, they are running switches. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
So, I go to take my shower. Jump when I hit the bathmat with my face (I find it too slippery for me and feel more secure in the bare tub so I had hung it over the top of the shower stall), decide to pull it down and put it on the floor. Forgetting (of course) that there is a razer up with it, until I hear the razer clatter to the floor of tub. OOPS! So I step in and try to find it, no dice. Carefully put the other foot in and can't find it. Start the shower ... find the razer & put it on a shelf. Realize that I have no idea which of the bottles is shampoo. I know most are body wash. Open bottle one, sniff, close bottle one. Lather-rinse-repeat. Try one, it feels too gooey, wash body. Try another it is about the right consistency. Wash hair. [Found out this morning that I had guessed wrong.]
Step out in hall, hear a cat, try to find the cat with foot (gently), try to pet cat (to make up for 'kicking' him ... I nudged him with my foot), get bitten, bash face into railing, realize that I was not as square to the stairs as I had thought, re-orient. Go to the bedroom, carefully navigate around the treadmill. Find bed. Realize that I hadn't neatly laid out the pjs. Hunt for all the pieces. Remember (finally) that there is probably a flashlight next to the bed. Find light, find PJs, get dressed for bed. Round up the cats to sleep with, close the door, put out the evening cat food and settle down for the night.
Try to kill the mosquito that is buzzing around my ear, my ear now hurts (do NOT slap hand square on ear with water in the ear ... please). Read a bit by flashlight. Turn the light 3 clicks and hope I remembered the correct number of clicks. Go to sleep.
Get up at 3:30am to let a cat out of the bedroom (5 weeks there over the course of the summer, this is the first time he HAD to go out in the middle of the night). Go back to sleep. Wake up a bit after 5am to see the clocks flashing. Go back to sleep. Wake up to the alarm at 7:30.
Java called at 8 (we still don't have power at home), and came to work.
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-27 06:58 am (UTC)*HUGS*
no subject
Date: 2003-08-27 07:28 am (UTC)poor baby!
Date: 2003-08-27 08:35 am (UTC)Re: poor baby!
Date: 2003-08-27 08:59 am (UTC)It probably sounds a lot worse than it was (and I would MUCH rather find that I wasn't square with my face than tumbling down the stairs).†
no subject
Date: 2003-08-27 09:06 pm (UTC)Oddly enough, one of my thoughts when the *big* blackout occurred was that I would have been glad of that flat little flashlight I keep clipped to my keychain for use at the ends of rehearsals and privy breaks at night (and later on for finding the car after faire in the dark).
Guess which the only working flashlight in the house was :-) Kiddies got dressed for bed in the dark (well, enough light pollution to let them get a clue of where *some* things were... more or less, if enough color differenc) with back and forth visits from the blue light. Of course, the lights came on *just* as they were being actually herded into bed after brushing their teeth in the blue.
Buying at least 2 more flashlights next trip to Target... Reminds me, I need to try my in-laws again in the morning. Haven't been able to reach them today (either no power still from yesterday or answering machine broken), and I want to find out if they've been able to get up their street yet (and whether my MIL made it to work). The end of their cul-de-sac was blocked by a rather large felled tree... unfortunately for them it wasn't affecting all that many houses, so...
Here's hoping you've your power back by now!