Here's the situation...

[papaof2]

Our local power co-op has 10 meters that have been out since 4:19AM or 17 hours.

Write the first chapter of the story that goes with that ;-)

You can do the lead-up to the event, the event itself, the fallout from the event or cover all the bases,

Have fun!

[CountryGuy]

Joe Blow rolled out of bed trying to not disturb the Mrs. He padded quietly thru the dark room into the bathroom, silently pulling the door closed behind him. As was his normal, he didn't flip the light on and assault his still bleary eyes. He could see outside the sky was already lightening with the approach of the sunrise. 'Must be about 5:30' he thought. As he finished taking his morning leak he rinsed his hands and toweled them off. He again slipped quietly out of the master bathroom and then out the bedroom door.

He heard her tail thumping against her pillow and the side of her crate. "Just, wait a sec Ms Anxious." as he stepped across the small sitting room he opened Stinker's crate. He reached down and scratched behind her ears before moving under her chin. as she stepped out with her front paws she let out a groan as she stretched her front legs forward and assumed a downward dog stretch. After several long seconds and some more groans she stood and shook off. Her collar and tags jingled so loud he thought it could wake the dead. She then sat and looked up at him wishfully and just wagged her tail. He chuckled at her routine... heck their routine. It was about the same every morning, save the timing of his morning natures wake up call.

"OK, I'll let you out but you better not go out there running all over after those damn chipmunks. Your getting to old for that and every time you do, you come back inside and then lay around sore for half the day." He looked at her wishful open mouth and panting tongue that seemed to say 'yeah whatever, blah blah blah... let me at em'. "I know, I might as well tell the wall cause you're gonna do it anyway, aren't ya." As he moved to the sliding door she was right there beside him. He slid the door open but she sat there till he looked at her "OK, go." and with that she sauntered out the door and onto the deck. She stood at the top of the steps as she surveyed her kingdom known as 'back yard'. Then, she was down the steps and off, quickly bounding down the steps and disappearing behind the hedgerow that bordered the deck. 'Glad she listens so well just like the two legged versions always did.'

With that chore done he turned and headed to the kitchen. He stopped an retrieved their mugs from the dish strainer and then wandered over to the coffee pot. Wait, where was the coffee? He realized the pot was empty and the power light wasn't on. Did he bugger up the timer again? He glanced over to the microwave over the stove to check the time and it was blank also. Next his eyes fell to the range below, it's clock display was also black. "shoot" he said in a low voice to himself. 'awww you got to be kidding me, the powers out again?' he silently asked himself.

"Guess I'll have to go old school this morning." With that he went to the stove and grabbed the tea kettle so he could fill it from the Big Berkey filter that sat on the corner of their counter. They'd used the Berkey for years now, ever since the time the water company put out their boil notice a day late and many people had got sick, one person had even died. Thankfully they'd not gotten sick but it did put a scare in them. From then one he realized how fragile and at risk the municipal water was. He'd also sent out a sample of their water for testing and although it was deemed 'safe per EPA standards' they didn't like some if the things the test showed in their water.

He sat the kettle on the burner and turned the knob. Nothing. "crap" he forgot about the stupid electric piezo igniters. He opened the junk drawer next to the stove, grabbed one of the Bic lighter wands. *poof* In an instant he heard the gas ignite and then the gentle hiss of the flame burning. He stepped over and opened the upper cupboard where he kept all his coffee and tea things. He grabbed out the can of ground coffee and the big one liter stainless french coffee press. He pulled off the lid, dumped in the 4 scoops that would render a nice stiff morning coffee.

He stood there for a few moments, sort of vegged out in his half awake state. He finally noticed the water was starting to threaten to whistle so he turned the burner off. He poured the the water over the grounds and sat the lid back on the press. While the coffee steeped he went over and grabbed Stinkers bowl and her food container to give her a little food for breakfast. They tried to watch how much and how often she got feed so she wouldn't fluff up. With her food bowl filled and her water bowl dumped and filled with filtered water Stink was taken care of.

He finally decided to ponder the electrical situation. So wonder what caused it this time. Last time was a tree branch taking down the line and the time before that it was a drunk shearing off a power pole. I'll see how long this goes. If it's too long I guess I'll have to pull out the generator. That Honda EU3000iS was definitely worth the money. it started every time, it was quiet and it sipped gas. Still, he didn't want to have to drag it and the power cords out so he could run the fridge and freezers a few hours through the day.

[CountryGuy]

No one else playing?

[papaof2]

Since I posted the challenge, I'll contribute. I did expect better response.

=============


Saturday, 23 July, 20:21


"JimBob Parker, can't you do anything about the power?  It is your grandpa's company."

"No, SallyMae, it was his company up until 1992 when he sold it to the Anneewakee Power Co-op that year.  It still has 'Parker Power and Light' on the buildings but that's all the influence I have on them."

"Well, it's coming on dark and power was out when the rooster woke me at 5AM so it's been out more than 15 hours and all the app has is 'Assessing Condition'.  The thermometer in the shade on the porch had 95 last time I looked at so you know it'll be too hot and muggy to sleep without the A/C.  You better do something."

"I'll drive down the road to the KwikMart and see if they have power or if they know anything more.  Some of the power guys stop by there for a cold one on their way home from a repair job.  Maybe Jake will have heard something."

"What about the generator you was gonna get?"

"You spent that money on that new all-the-bells-and-whistles washing machine when I told you I could fix the old one - and Willie Jenkins told me he only spent $40 for a new water level sensor."

"Well… uh… sorry, JimBob.  Guess you did know best.  Can you get Uncle Tim's old generator going?  I know you said it could only run one thing at a time but would the fridge and freezer be OK without power overnight so we run that little window A/C?"

"SallyMae, I ordered a new carb for that gen but the vendor's promised '4 day delivery' ended on Thursday.  If we're lucky, it might be in the mail Monday."

"Then we'll be hot and miserable until then?"

"Unless the Co-op gets the power fixed before then.  Let me run down to the KwikMart and see if Jake's heard anything."

"Take some of the foam coolers and bring back some ice.  We can have something cold to drink and keep the fridge cool.  Don't think we'd find dry ice for the freezer any closer than Dawkinsville and that's only if that big Kroger grocery there still has it."

"Don't know if they do.  We ain't been there in a long time - you like the customer service better at the Publix that's five miles closer.  The Kroger's open 'til 10PM?"

"Midnight on Saturday."

"Be back when I get back.  If there's dry ice, I'll get some ice cream for the kids."

"You do that.  They've been good about playing in the kiddie pool with that battery-powered showerhead and water cooler you put out there.  I wondered what you were doing with that little 12 volt pump and fan and the battery out of the pop-up camper but I gotta say that water's cooler than County Water coming out of the hot ground.  How long will that battery last?"

"I've had that old Harbor Freight solar system connected to it and it's almost able to keep up with the load of the pump and the fan blowing across the old central A/C evaporator coil.  Probably be too dark to play outside in another 20 minutes unless you want me to pump up the Coleman lantern."

"Go ahead and do that.  The kids will be cool longer and they'll be tired enough to right on off to sleep even without A/C."

"Five minutes.  I know where the lantern, the fuel, the funnel and the spare mantles are."


---


"Hi, JimBob.  What you need today?"

"Hi, Jake.  I could use some info about how long the power will be out and if you know of a place that sells dry ice that's closer than Dawkinsville."

"Power's gonna be out for at least a couple of days.  A gas tanker headed for the Exxon about two miles that way was involved in some kind of multi-car accident.  Bottom line is that the tanker rolled off the road, took down two or three poles and then caught fire.  The gas and diesel ran down the drainage ditch on that side of the road and there was fire for about a thousand feet that took the VFD a couple of hours to put out.  Best guess one of the power guys had was sometime Tuesday or Wednesday for power to be back here - lots of poles and wiring to be replaced."

"Power's out here?  You have lights."

"And refrigerators and freezers and the satellite system on the roof for doing credit cards.  It's a very quiet Honda inverter generator.  It runs on LP and I have a 3000 gallon commercial tank out back that was filled on Tuesday.  Good for probably two weeks or more of running that gen 24 hours a day."

"You probably have something like that at home."

"I have backup power, but it's good for twenty years."

"Hunh?"

"Solar power system.  It can't power everything, but we have lights, fridge, freezer and a window A/C in the bedroom.  Sure beats trying to sleep without any A/C when the heat index is 99 and higher.  We tell the kids it's 'Camping with Momma and Daddy night' and they have a little tent and their sleeping bags in our bedroom - the sleeping bags suffice as a mattress for kids in single digit ages."

"That sounds like a great idea.  Maybe when the new carb for the old gen gets here Monday?  Meanwhile…"

"Meanwhile, load up all your coolers but one with bags of ice.  That last one is for the dry ice as I started keeping a little freezer of it last month.  I expect it'll all be gone as soon as the Co-op tells people how long power will be out."

"Thanks, Jake.  I have five coolers, so eight bags of ice at two per cooler and as much dry ice as will fit in the other cooler - just leave room for a half gallon of Moose Tracks ice cream.  The kids have been real good about playing outside in the kiddie pool in the shade so I should reward them."

"Third freezer door for the Moose Tracks.  When you get home, leave the ice in one cooler and run some scrap PVC pipe into the cooler and down almost to the bottom - even better if you have a grid of some kind that can raise the ice bags off the bottom of the cooler about a quarter of an inch and leave about a quarter of an inch between the bags and between the bags and the sides of the cooler.  Then put some PVC elbows through the lid of the cooler and put a small fan on the PVC that goes to the bottom of the cooler.  Leaving the ice in the bags means you don't increase the already ridiculously high humidity when that fan is moving cool air out of the cooler.  It won't cool a big area but it should help in one room."

"I think I could kiss you for that, but I'll let SallyMae do that since you two are cousins and no one will think anything about it."

"Good thought - you just ain't my type."

"Got my coolers of ice, here's the cooler for the dry ice - where's that?"

"In the back room.  That freezer is much colder than the others and uses a separate condenser that's outside - easier to get the lines out through a wall back there than to jackhammer the concrete floor to get them under it."

"Makes sense.  Fill the dry ice cooler except for the space for the ice cream.  I don't expect to see Co-op power for three or four days so I'll plan for that.  If the carb for the gen does come in, we'll have a little power - run the fridge and freezer for an hour then the A/C for two hours and repeat as needed."

"If those coolers stack as well as I think they do, any dry ice left after you fill the freezer should be in as many coolers as you can stack together for the best insulation.  If that cooler with PVC pipes of ice works well for cooling one room, you might want to use some of the dry ice to refreeze a couple of bags for the next day."

"Thanks, Jake.  You saved me a trip to Dawkinsville and provided some good ideas for managing without Co-op power.  Here's my card."

"And that's why I need power for everything here, JimBob.  You got what you needed and the rest of my refrigerated and frozen products will survive for sale tomorrow."

"Or the next day or the day after."

"That too.  We never expect the power to come back until we see the yard light come on.  That's when I go turn the Main breaker back on.  That way the house is isolated from any surges or whatever that may happen while they're putting things back together."

"Good idea.  I'll turn off the Main breaker when I get back to the house.  Thanks again, Jake."

"You're welcome - and thanks for the business."


---

[udwe]

Wellll?

[papaof2]

Sorry. I can only post the ideas.
I don't have the power to make anyone write (yet - I'm working on that possibility in a story that's a long way from prime time).