Living in the future: power outages

The power hardly ever goes out here in Wales, which is surprising given how remote the town is and the fact that we also have above-ground power lines. And when it does go out, it usually snaps back on within a minute or so.

It's stormy out tonight. The lights flickered and went off some 15-20 minutes ago. They came back on a few seconds later, then went out for good.

I finished writing and editing the piece I was working on at the time, then Googled and clicked my way over to the National Grid website. Ah, yes, there's the link for Storm Central. First I checked to see if they were reporting any outages in my area. Nope. Okay, so I reported my outage. The website confirmed my name and service location address, and asked a couple of questions. As far as I can tell in the dark, the power lines are still up. I have no idea if my neighbors have also lost power; their lights are usually out this time of night. Fortunately, they had a "don't know" ticky box along with the yes and no options on that one.

There are some noises I'm not going outside to investigate. Deer in the yard, maybe, or branches breaking and falling. Yes, I definitely just heard a branch crack, then fall through a fair bit of brush on its way to the ground. It's weird, as there's a definite lull in the storm.

The UPS still has a good bunch of power to keep my cable modem and router connected, and it's still powering my laptop, too. Huh...I didn't remember having the laptop plugged in there. It has battery power to carry it through temporary power outages, and is pretty good at regulating spikes and such, too, even without the usual surge protector power strips that everything in my office is plugged into.

The power's been down for a good half hour now. The only thing I'm doing differently right now is writing this post rather than turning my attention to the next project on my To Do list. And that just seems...weird.

Fortunately, I remembered where the wind-up flashlight was sitting. The laptop illuminates my office just fine for the sort of work I'm doing tonight, but I'll want the flashlight when I head upstairs to bed. I think I'll do that soon.

The National Grid website now shows my outage. Alas, there's no estimated time of service restoration yet. Their phone line yields an "all circuits are busy" message, so I'm apparently not the only one up late at night and calling in. Here's hoping the electricity is back by morning.

Still no power

I heard the UPS give up the ghost around 4:30 am and woke several times after that, confirmed there was still no power, and went back to sleep. After something like a total of 7-8 hours had passed, I got up to survey the damage and figure out my next steps.

Wales is encased in ice, though it was warm enough that the roads were just damp and not slippery by the time I was on them. The sun came out, ice was raining down from the trees, and I expect the beauty of the whole thing to have passed by the time I return home. I snapped a few pictures; I'll upload them to my computer later and post any that are worth looking at.

The whole town of Wales is without power, and five National Grid trucks are reported to be working in the area. I heard one report that service is expected to be restored this afternoon. Hope so! My primary concern is getting heat back in time to prevent pipes from freezing. This afternoon is fine; the weather report for tonight and tomorrow? Not so much.

I'm down at the Panera in Manchester, researching generators and such. My compliments and thanks to the anonymous poster, presumably from Main Power Connect, for the truly useful links in reply to my first post about the power being out.

Home phone service was working with pulse dial this morning, but then vanished just before I headed south out of the ice. I figure I'll wait until power is restored and report the outage then I'm still without a dial tone.

As I was about to head out of Wales, I called debgeisler who then took a look at Boston.com and told me Wales has plenty of company -- some 350,00 Massachusetts residents are without power, and the numbers quickly climb to 1 million when we add in the rest of New England. From the looks of things, Toad Woods got off easy.

From Not So Promising to Hallelujah!

The National Grid storm center has the following to say about my electrical outage:

Outage Details:
Our records indicate an outage began on Friday, 12/12/2008 at 12:21 AM in your area.
Restoration Estimate: Saturday, 12/13/2008 at 4:00 PM
Estimated Customers Affected: 1053
Please Note:
This data is based on conditions that may change due to weather, field reports, and other factors.
Areas may be restored at different times due to our restoration process.

I called the neighbors. Still no power there, but power has been restored on a nearby street. I asked them to call me if they get power back, and will touch base with them before buying a generator.

Hallelujah!

The neighbors just called! Their electricity is back. No guarantees, of course, but mine probably is, too.

Here's hoping my next update is from Toad Woods.

Electrically Live from Toad Woods

Ah, yup. Power = on. Lights = on. The boiler responded the moment I flipped the emergency cut-off switch back on and I was just an idiot when trying to confirm that there is indeed a fire behind the access flap since the radiators are not yet noticeably warm. One fingertip burn blister plus several downed small and medium-sized branches appears to be the extent of casualties. The birch tree I thought was a goner has regained its normal lean — a few hours ago, the upper half was bent into a horizontal line. There's a good bunch of resiliency in that tree, and in me, too, I hope.

No home phone service yet, so I'll go report that. After I reset the timers on the water treatment system, a small job I was just reminded of when a backwash cycle started. The berm filter, neutralizer, and water softener all think it's 14 hours ago.

Onward.

The further icy adventures....

National Grid's online service knows my power has been restored. That's nice.

Here's hoping Verizon's service restoration estimate is wildly pessimistic:

The number you are reporting is part of an outage.
The estimated restoration time for this outage is 12/15/2008 11:00 PM.
If your trouble is other than No Dial Tone, please contact us.

My cell signal strength is shaky here at Toad Woods. Calls sometimes get through; other times they go to voice mail. The best way to reach me looks to be email for the duration...however long that proves to be.

Interior temperature is now 56 degrees Fahrenheit rather than 53. I'm not taking the long johns off yet.

(Yes, I have the option of building a fire in either of the two fireplaces if I want a blast of toasty warmth. I just may do that tonight when the cold front settles in.)

Earlier today...

...my world looked like this. Click through for 9 more snapshots of the view here at Toad Woods this morning

Iced Small Pine, with Zeppelin Hangar in background Before the sun came out and it all melted...