Post by papaof2 on Nov 29, 2021 23:33:03 GMT -6
Another tale that's been languishing for a while. Not long enough for a book but it might keep you busy for a little while.
Chapter 1
Thursday, 2 October, 4:50PM
It started simply enough. I walked by the kitchen window and saw light from a neighbor's garage. Looking closer, her car was gone and she hadn't closed the garage door (it's electric, so just needs a button push). This is the neighbor who has turned up on our porch late at night more than once, stumbling drunk, perhaps wearing only a tee shirt and usually scared that "someone" or "something" is in her house. In multiple checks (at my wife's insistence, because I'm ready to call 911 about a drunk on the porch after dark) there's never been anything except a nearly empty vodka bottle. If she didn't close the garage door, is there a family emergency or was she too snockered to remember it? Guess we'll know later.
--
A couple of hours later we finish supper and are clearing the table…
Screech!
BANG!
We're instantly in the dark and the UPS for the TV and cable box is playing its "Beep! Beep! Beep!" tune. So did someone take down the pole at the T intersection where the aerial cable goes underground for this small area or just the ground level transformer for a small group of houses?
Grab the Fenix E12 flashlight (it's a design from six years ago but still their number five most popular light) from my pocket and click it on, then find and turn on the two-D-cell LED flashlight on top of the fridge to light the kitchen and go looking for the problem.
As I get to the front door, I hear high voltage arcing and there's an interesting blue-white flicker under the car on the other side of the road. I also hear a slurred whine: "Why'd they put that in the middle of the road? Who's gonna fix my car? This better not have broke any of the bottles!"
Virginia has struck again and we're not the only place without power. The arcing has stopped, probably because a breaker at the substation or on the line it from has tripped and this entire stretch of road is now without power. It's not a good time for another outage, as today's thunderstorms and heavy rain dumped over three inches on us in 18 hours and there are already more than 10,000 outages across the state. If she can whine about possibly broken booze bottles, she either isn't seriously hurt or she's too drunk to feel any pain. She did manage to climb over the console and get out the passenger door. Use the app on my cell phone to report the outage to the power co-op. That's done. Now use the landline to call 911 and report the accident. Tell the 911 operator that the accident is directly across the road from me, that the driver isn't obviously injured but is obviously intoxicated, that power is off for a number of people and that I've reported the outage to the local electric co-op. Done. The operator tells me that EMTs will be here soon but that a Deputy is at least 40 minutes away because of flooding elsewhere in the County - no surprise with today's rain. Now we wait. Virginia's in her car out of the rain and I see no reason to be standing in the rain and wind so I'll stay inside.
It seems a Deputy got free sooner than expected or maybe having an open transformer case with potentially high voltage exposed is a higher priority public safety issue? Whatever the reason, she arrived with EMS. I have video of them trying to to get Virginia out of her car and into the ambulance and she's loud enough to record well, even if not be understood because of the slurring. The Deputy checked her driver's license, saw that she's local and headed for that house - where there was no answer. We're the nearest house so the Deputy is headed our way. She did a double take when the solar powered motion light illuminated the front porch.
Knock! Knock!
"Yes, Deputy?"
"You have power?"
"No. The transformer box under that car provides power to multiple houses, including us. Any lights we have are thanks to solar power and rechargeable batteries."
"Do you have next of kin information for Virginia Dooley?"
"I have cell numbers for her significant other and her father."
"Are the parents local?"
"Based in New Mexico but mostly travelling in an RV."
"You're knowledgeable and helpful, sir, but you seem a bit stand-offish about her."
"Had too many events with her at the door snockered and scared of 'someone' or 'something' in her house and the only thing I found was an empty vodka bottle. Also heard her whine too many times about the people at AA 'not being nice' to her because they won't let her come to meetings drunk and they call a spade a spade, wanting her to stand before the group and say 'My name is Virginia and I'm an alcoholic' which makes her 'feel bad'."
"You had one in your family?"
"A grandfather who was a sad drunk and always sorry afterwards but still did it on a regular basis."
"I understand. I had an uncle who drank himself into an early grave. You've notified the electric co-op?"
"First thing I did."
"You're OK without power? No medical needs?"
"We're fine. Fridge will stay cool for eight or ten hours, freezer for 16 plus hours. We have plenty of battery-powered lights and a lighter for the gas cooktop,"
"Then you're probably better off than most of your neighbors. Anyone I should check on?"
"Next place to the South. Joe may be on a CPAP and need power for that. If he does, let me know as I have a UPS that will probably run it a couple of nights."
"You are much better off than most of your neighbors but it doesn't show. Good planning. I'll check and let you know. Virginia Dooley is headed for County General in handcuffs to have the knot on her head checked as an EMT thinks there might be a concussion. Here's the remote for her garage. If you'd close it up when power is restored?"
"What if you go with me and I disconnect the opener so the door can be shut manually?"
"You can do that?"
"Only takes a minute. Let me get boots, rain coat and my LED head light."
"You are better prepared than most as you didn't have to search for anything."
"Just don't share that with the neighbors?"
"Not me. I suspect you're carrying with this much area dark but I won't ask and there are no restrictions on private property."
"Pulling that cord is all it takes?"
"Easier to handle the double door if you have two people but a properly pre-loaded spring would have made that a one hand operation."
"You install doors and openers?"
"I try to be knowledgeable about things that might break and inconvenience me."
"I like the way you think, sir."
---
The Deputy put the car's key in the ignition for the wrecker driver and handed me the rest of them, asking if I would ensure the place is OK and lock it up. I asked her to do the walk-thru with me so there are no questions about the state of the house when Virginia was arrested. Now I'm the keeper of those keys and they're hanging with the other spare keys. I have a written and signed request from Deputy Charlotte Dilman to check Virginia Dooley's house when power is restored and ensure it's OK.
The co-op sent a repair crew but we won't have power back tonight. They put in a call for a replacement transformer and although the computer inventory showed they had one available, there are none in the co-op warehouse. Maybe tomorrow and maybe a day or so later. I got the details of the transformer and it's described as a "padmount" because it's aboveground on a small concrete pad. It's rated 100KVA. If you assume multi-level houses with two zones of heating and cooling and cooking with electricity, that might be adequate for perhaps seven to ten houses. The busbars on the damaged one have places for six feeder cables so it can supply six houses. A quick check on Ebay finds a used one for $2000 plus shipping of $450 - it's just into the next state so it might be cheaper to drive to the next state and pick it up than to pay shipping. Maybe the co-op has better sources inside the industry and won't be forced to resort to buying on Ebay? I'll hope this doesn't take as long as the "three day" board turnaround for our central heat did, finally getting a replacement after 14 days - in January, with highs in the 30's and us using a kerosene heater and the gas logs to heat part of the main level of the house.
---
Chapter 2
Friday, 3 October, 7:40AM
Knock. Knock.
It's a member of the co-op repair team. Probably not bringing good news.
"Yes?"
"Sir, the arcing damaged the high voltage line from the substation in addition to the collision damage to the transformer. We have a replacement transformer coming but it's at least 36 hours away. We will have the pad replaced before the transformer arrives but we need to run new undeground wiring for three of the six houses that transformer serves…"
"And we're one of those houses."
"How'd you know?"
"You being at the door this early with a 'Please don't kill the messenger' expression on your face. I suspect you went to the Kahns' house first and he gave you a verbal beating because he can't watch his alma mater play football this weekend. Come on in for a cup of hot chocolate. It's very cold this morning for early October in the South and you can sit down while you give me the details. Did I also see a cable truck with a trailer of aerial wire reels out there?"
"Thank you for the invite. I'd love something warm to drink. You don't have power and I don't hear a generator so how do you keep the house warm?"
"I built a small solar-charged generator that's my 'Wait until daylight' system. Depending on the season, it can provide eight to 20 hours of power for the fridge, some LED lighting in the kitchen and the furnace for a few hours. I do have a small generator but I'll only get it out if we don't have enough sun to recharge the battery bank today. Tell me about the aerial cable."
"The substation breaker for the aerial line feeding this section of the road failed closed and the line burned through. They have to replace the section that burned apart and they'll be inspecting the entire two miles of line to see how much more needs replacing."
"That means this entire area is dark for three days?"
"How'd you know?"
"We were living here when they replaced that line a few years ago. That was a planned replacement and they just wholesaled all the wires in a segment. This time they're looking to replace only the damaged wiring and that requires two trips down the line: one to identify the damaged sections and one to do the repairs with the possibility of waiting for additional wire to be brought in from storage."
"You worked in power?"
"Some in the military but I'm also curious about things which could inconvenience me so I learned how those things worked and what my workarounds might be."
"Thank you for the hot chocolate and the time in front of the gas log fire. That really helps when it's 31F and the forecast is that the temperature stays there and we get two days of freezing rain."
"Latest forecast from weather.com has freezing rain for the next 36 hours with an accumulation of just over an inch. You folks may be stringing a lot of wire but we probably won't have power back for close to a week."
"You've been talking with my boss? That's what he said might happen."
"No, just paying attention and knowing that weather.com does very good hourly forecasts about freezing precipitation."
"How can you be so calm when most of the people I've spoken to are almost hysterical?"
"Practice in living through bad weather. There's a kerosene heater in the garage and 20 gallons of kerosene in the shed out back. You've seen that the gas logs don't need power to work and the combination of gas logs and kerosene heater can keep most of this level of the house livable. The inverter generator runs four to six hours on a gallon of gas and with no sun it can recharge the battery bank for overnight power while also powering the furnace, fridge and freezer for those hours. I have about 15 gallons of treated gas in the shed and probably another 30 gallons between our two vehicles. We have at least two weeks' worth of food in the pantry. If we must go out for something, I have tire chains for my truck. While we might run out of quick and convenient foods, there are plenty of ingredients for from-scratch cooking. We can use the gas cooktop as long as natural gas stays on and the fallbacks are the LP gas grill and a Coleman stove with burners for liquid fuel and propane plus I have two gallons of the liquid fuel, some 1lb propane bottles and an adapter for the 20lb grill tank."
"You bought all that living here?"
"No. Pulled a popup camper when our kids were in elementary and middle school and cooked outside to not add to the heat in the camper in the summer. Still have a nice Coleman lantern and some spare mantles for very good outside light if needed."
"What about light in the house?"
"Rechargeable LED lights: some USB charged, some with a crank for charging and some solar-charged. The South-facing window over there has a couple of the MPOWERD inflatable solar lights sitting on top of the lower sash. No more than those are used, they stay fully charged and ready to use."
"What about cell phones?"
"High capacity solar charger - behind the china cabinet because of its size and fragility - and several powerbanks that are recharged on a regular basis. When any generator is in use, there are four USB charge ports active on the over-the-counter AC outlets."
"Would you consider renting me a room so I'm not driving in the icy mess we'll probably have in a couple of hours?"
"The only heat upstairs is what leaks up the stairs. Don't know that you want to live in a 55F environment."
"I have a 32F rated sleeping bag and pads for it in my truck. I'll pay you $100 a night for space on the floor up there."
"Love?"
"Jack, for $100 I'll even make breakfast for him."
"Your nametag has 'Williams'. First name?"
"Jason."
"Jason Williams, I'm Jack Wilson and this is Susan, my better half."
"Ma'am, sir. Pleased to meet you and thank you. Where can I park and not be in your way?"
"Drive to the corner of the property and turn left. The double drive is to our garage and the single drive beyond that goes around by the sheds and eventually to the basement. The gates are open so they won't freeze closed, just in case we need to get out. Park on the single drive but near the road so you're well away from the trees."
"Understood."
---
"Jason, what are you smiling about?"
"My good luck, boss."
"You're stuck here working in freezing rain and that's good luck?"
"No, Rob. While passing out the bad news this morning, I met an older couple who have their act together. They invited me in for hot chocolate and time in front of the fire to get warm. They have enough alternate power to run the fridge and furnace plus they cook with gas. I rented space for my sleeping bag on the upper level - which doesn't have heat - and Mrs. Wilson said she'd include breakfast."
"If I had the sleeping bag, I'd go ask instead of driving home through the ice that's rapidly forming. Jason, maybe you're not as crazy as I thought for always having a sleeping bag, food and water in your truck."
"So I'm still a little crazy? Gee, thanks Rob."
"Are those people also gun crazy?"
"As in are they armed? Both have handguns on their belts and there's a shotgun over the front door which probably means there's one over the back door. Rob, how long does the mobile home park about two miles from here stay quiet without power?"
"Maybe a day and a half."
"And what would some of those people do after 36 hours without power if they saw any light in a house or smelled food cooking?"
"Try to take it."
"Where would they be successful?"
"Most of these houses."
"But not the one with the pansies out in the flowerbeds?"
"That's where you'll be staying?"
"Yes."
"We might see bodies out front when we get here tomorrow?"
"Possible."
"Nice folks but not anyone you'd want to threaten."
"Correct."
"Wish I had neighbors like that."
"If you don't mind living in an older neighborhood in an unincorporated area of the county, there's a house about that size for sale on down the road. Sign says they're asking about half what your house is appraised for. No golf course here, though."
"Not that I ever have time to play golf these days. I should go look. At least I'd have one neighbor who knows what to do when things go sideways and he's close enough to walk over and ask."
"Like you'll ever convince Deidre."
"I guess I didn't tell you about her being trapped in an elevator at work for six hours on Monday. The elevator was within an inch of the floor so a tiny step up but no one could figure out how to open the doors - even with a key with a red 'Elevator' tag on it hanging at the guard's desk. She's now getting seriously interested in being ready for the unexpected and she did mention moving somewhere that doesn't have a total nanny HOA that will only allow solar panels on the back side of the roof - that's the North side for us - in spite of the city approving a system on the front of the roof. I reported the HOA to the City Attorney and they have a court date next month. I expect the current HOA board to all point fingers at someone else and the judge to find them all guilty. The fine would be $10,000 per event and there are five other families who've had a similar experience. I'd rather be out of that house than deal with the next group of idiots who want to be on the HOA board. I should call about getting the house listed."
---
Chapter 3
Saturday, 4 October, 2:10AM
CRACK!
THUD!
"Jack?"
"Probably a big limb on the poplar out back breaking and landing on that driveway. When I checked earlier, Jason's truck was well away from anything that could fall on it. I will go check but I suspect it's in the 'limb is down; can't do anything until morning; let's go back to sleep' category."
"You have that ship-blinding handheld LED light you built?"
"It's on the kitchen counter to be easy to find. You want to go and see?"
"No. You can tell me all I need to know when you get back and I'll still have warm feet."
"Only from them being on me for the past hour."
---
"And?"
"Limb from the poplar. Long enough to block the back drive but I can cut it for firewood and then move the pieces."
"How much ice?"
"Half inch or more. I can see the clotheslines by the light of my Fenix E12 so you know they're much bigger than normal."
"So they are. Your feet are cold!"
"So's the rest of me. I have some wool socks out for the morning and I have the shirt and jeans I'll be wearing for the day in bed with me so they're not quite so cold when I put them on."
"Jason has an alarm clock?"
"Yes, but I also set a battery-powered clock for you to be up to make breakfast."
"Could I persuade you to make pancakes?"
"Start persuading."
---
5:40AM
Beep!Beep! Beep!Beep!
"Already, Jack?"
"It's been three hours since that limb fell, love."
"I could have done without that interruption to my sleep and the smaller 'Snap! Crackle! Pop!' that happened the rest of the night."
"I put ear plugs in after the first one."
"What about me?"
"I had them in my hand but you turned up your nose."
"I won't do that again. You are cooking this morning?"
"Yes, but I won't be using an electric coffeemaker so I could use some help. I don't expect to see much sun today and I'd rather not run a generator until someone else has one going."
"The Kahns will be out shopping?"
"If they can get the garage door open manually, get down their impressive curving driveway without hitting anything and get out of the neighborhood. It is slightly uphill from here to the main road."
"You're expecting them to do as well on ice as they did in snow three years ago?"
"Exactly."
"You'll have a camera set to record their antics?"
"And upload it to Youtube when we have internet again. They have no idea who 'mechanic2025' is."
"The angles of the videos should give the camera locations away."
"No one ever said they were good at analysis. To the kitchen."
---
"Jack's the cook?"
"He is for pancakes and waffles in the kitchen and for burgers, steaks, chops and fish on the grill."
"These are from scratch?"
"My grandmother's recipe."
"You should open a restaurant."
"I won't be doing that. Doing this occasionally for family or friends is fun but running a restaurant is too much work."
"Jack, how do I get that canvas shelter defrosted so I can get my truck out?"
"When you're ready to leave, the flap at this end of the shelter lifts high enough to put a torpedo-style worksite heater into the large HVAC duct at that end and the internal ducts take the hot air all around the roof and sides to melt the ice off. Seldom more than an hour or so per inch of ice."
"That I want to see because there is more than an inch already and the forecast on my phone is for another inch or so today. I won't be leaving for a few days as I expect a lot of the crew won't be able to get here and I'll have the opportunity for more overtime than I want."
"Other than replacing the underground wiring today, I don't think you'll be doing much else."
"That and surveying what else is down from the ice. I'm here, you can provide a place for me to charge my phone and I can cover a lot of the area on foot with the ice cleats on my boots."
"You remind me of me."
"My truck might be similar to your truck in its inside equipment."
"When the ice has been cleared, I'd like to see that."
"You're on, Jack. I should be at work. Nice that it's a short walk away."
---
Ring! Ring!
'This is Jack…'
'Why aren't you here to bail me out of this drunk tank? I don't belong here! Are you taking care of my house? Where's my car? Have you…'
Click!
"Your phone was on speaker, Jack?"
"No, love. Virginia was in full-volume, angry-with-a-hangover-migraine mode and I'm not interested in being her whipping boy. I'll set that number to 'Ignore' and it will go directly to voicemail. She can't be bailed out until she's been before a judge to have her bail set. The courts are probably closed because of the driving conditions and I have no intention of driving in this mess. If someone contacts us later on, I might drive her home but we won't put up bail money."
"She'll whine about that."
"Let her whine. It's a self-inflicted injury and about time she had to pay the piper."
"Having your sleep interrupted didn't leave you in the best of moods either."
"That would be correct. I can't even cut that limb because there's too much ice to be trying to wield a chainsaw. The ten day forecast has Wednesday sunny with a high of 38F. That will help but it probably won't melt all the ice in one day."
"It stays above freezing after that?"
"Yes. High of 45F on Saturday. I might be able to do some limb clearing then if we don't get another… Damn! The 'Ten Day' forecast just updated with a 'Winter Weather Warning' banner at the top of the page. We're getting it. The front has stalled over us and we'll get another two, maybe three days of this. Everything for miles around will be locked up solid. Good that most of the solar panels are in the basement and not under inches of ice. I will be able to set out additonal panels when we have sun again."
"You'll be running the little gen today?"
"Probably three hours this… "
Roar!
"There's my cue; someone has a much louder generator running."
"You'll use the sound control box?"
"Yes. No point in being obvious about not being in the dark. Maybe three hours now and three hours before dark."
"That'll be enough?"
"I'll check the amp hour meter on the battery bank each time. If the batteries aren't fully recharged in three hours this morning, I'll leave the gen running and the charger connected to the batteries as long as needed. Then I'll check the power we're using and see when I need to start the gen in the afternoon to have the batteries at 90% or better before dark."
"You'll have the internet or the cable TV available for a while?"
"Both while the gen is running but we may not have either as AT&T didn't have backup power for their Uverse service when we had the outage three years ago so I'm not optimistic about it now. Let me go to the basement and power all that up and we'll see."
"My computer has a connection to the router but there's no connection to the internet."
"Does the landline have dialtone?"
"No."
"Then it's all out. Let me connect the antenna in the attic to the TV and run the off-air channel setup. Just a couple of minutes."
"And?"
"We have four channels. Fox, PBS, NBC and a Spanish station."
"What's on Fox?"
"The local weather guesser. Looks like he either spent the night at the studio or started very early today. Their graphics match what I saw on my phone from weather.com 30 minutes ago."
"The other channels?"
"PBS is running a feed from Weather Underground, NBC has their often-less-than-accurate weekend weather guy in place and the Spanish station has a steamy romance. Maybe they're trying to do something about the weather and melt some ice?"
"You goof!"
"I did give you something to smile about."
"You did. You've been doing that for a lot of years. Think I might keep you, Mr. Wilson."
"Thank you, Mrs. Wilson."
---
"Love, it's been almost three hours so I need to check the amp hour meter on the battery bank."
"Show me again where it is and what I'm looking for?"
"Sure. First, to the big, ugly rack in the basement."
"This display is driven by the monitor board which is mounted on the shunt in the negative battery lead. The display has wireless remote capability but having that remote in the kitchen seems to be just beyond its reliable range so it's here at the battery bank and hardwired to the monitor board."
"The 'AH' reading is positive."
"That's the vendor's way of hooking it up which I think is the reverse of what a battery bank should have. Discharging the battery should display '-' because you're taking power away from the battery. Charging the battery should show '+' because you're putting power in the battery. However, it is what it is. In our case we check the AH used before starting the charge and we charge until the used AH have been restored and we have a '-' number that's ten percent of that, indicating that we've put more than 100% of the used power back into the battery, ideally 110%. The ten per cent difference is simply because of the way the lead-acid chemical reaction works so we just do what it requires. We used 180AH so we need to put back 110% of 180 or 198AH but that will show up on the meter as the difference or 18AH and because it's charging that will be -18AH when it's full."
"It's showing -1AH and 27 amps charging current. Maybe 45 minutes to complete?"
"Close enough. We can check back in 45 minutes and see what the meter shows. A little more than 110% won't hurt as the charge rate this charger provides can't harm the batteries."
"You let the gen cool ten minutes before checking the oil and refueling?"
"Correct. Easier to pour from the two gallon gas can, so I'll use it and then refill it from a five gallon can when needed."
"With the bulb siphon?"
"Correct. That's another silent process. Do remember to have a small but bright light like the E12 so you can see the level of the fuel in the cans. They're translucent and easy to read when there's sun on the side of the can but we have no sun today."
"E12's on my belt by the magazine holders."
"Good place for it."
---
Chapter 4
Saturday, 4 October, 12:20PM
knock. knock.
"Come on in, Jason. Lunch is on the table. The sausage bean chowder is ready as is the cornbread made in a Dutch oven on the cooktop and there's hot coffee."
"Thanks, Jack. Let me drop the rain suit and boots out here so the layer of ice doesn't melt and drip in the house."
"Put it all in the Number 2 washtub and bring it in. There's a hanger bar in the laundry and the melting ice can drip into the washtub."
"You are prepared for the less pleasant things. And anything with a description of 'hot' sounds good."
"Wash up and come eat. Is your boss still here?"
"Rob didn't make it back this morning. He called to tell me that the ice took down trees and power poles around him and he can't get out of his driveway. I'm the entire crew until someone can clear the downed poles and lines and free Rob. He drove his 4WD truck home but that work needs the pole setting truck that's parked on the dead end dirt road just South of you with its trailer of poles. If I had another crew member here, we could take that truck and the poles and dig Rob out but you need two people to use that crane."
"What's it worth to Rob to get out of his driveway today?"
"Since Diedre is pregnant with their third child and due this week, it's probably worth a lot. Maybe some of this year's venison? You've removed and set poles before?"
"In the military, a long time ago, but I doubt that much has changed in the process."
"Nicer buckets with heaters in them and larger and more powerful cranes but the rest of the process is much the same. You'd spend hours out in this mess for someone you don't know?"
"Especially with his wife near her due date. Here's a topo map of the county. Where is he?"
"Near this intersection."
"From here, we'd want to avoid the bridge over Mill Creek and the hills on County 21. Easier to go a little farther on County 17 and County 42 where the grades are more gentle and the shoulders are wider."
"You sure know the area!"
"That's always useful knowledge. Learned it when I had a job that had a great need for my presence in bad weather. Eat until you're full and drink until you're warm because it's cold and miserable out there and we'll probably not get back here until just before dark."
"With your time estimate, I can tell you've done pole replacement."
"We won't be running new lines or hanging new transformers but clearing the downed trees and broken poles will free Rob from his prison and speed up the power restoral when the next crew gets there."
---
5:10PM
Ring! Ring!
'This is Jack.'
'Just checking on you, Mr. Wilson.'
'Less than a mile away, Mrs. Wilson.'
'Coffee being made, in quantity.'
'You are a queen among women.'
'You're cold and wet.'
'You are correct. Have a new tear in the rain jacket and a scrape or two that needs attention.'
'Pole swung unexpectedly?'
'Tree limb caught in the wire broke off unexpectedly. The truck took the brunt of the hit so I just have minor scratches. Rob may not be happy about the dent in the truck but he can get out of the neighborhood now.'
'Big First Aid kit in the master bath. Meet you there.'
---
"How much ice do we have, Mr. Wilson?"
"Where the limbs and other structures can support it, approaching two inches. The smaller things are down: powerlines, phone lines, cable TV, clotheslines…"
"I heard one of ours let go about an hour ago. You'll set up the drying system in the basement?"
"Four lines, a couple of solar-powered fans and the overlapped drip pans. Since most of the outside moisture is freezing, the humidity in the house isn't too high to use that system. In the morning, I'll set out a 100 watt panel to power the fans and swap that with another one when it ices over. I have four of those panels so you can have a little bit of air flow on the drying clothes all day."
"I know that it works, if somewhat slowly. Jason, you need anything washed?"
"Just about everything I have on is wet."
"Jack, get him some of the warm sweats and he can put the wet stuff in the green laundry basket so I'll know it's his."
"You have a washing machine?"
"On the back porch. It's an old Maytag with a gas engine and a wringer but it still works just fine and there's running hot and cold water on the porch."
"I can stand out there in the cold and…"
"Not standing in the cold. Jack got some free windows a couple years ago and enclosed what was a screened porch. The screens are still there for warm weather use but I'll be opening a window at each end for today's slight wind to take the engine's exhaust out of the enclosed area."
"May I help? I've read about those washers but never seen one."
"Jack, you have rubber gloves that will fit him?"
"Should be out by the Maytag."
"Then time for a lesson in washing clothes - 1920's farm style - just as soon as I pump up and light the Coleman lantern that's hanging out there."
---
"Thirty minutes to wash and rinse that much, Ma'am?"
"Jason, the clothes didn't look to have ground-in red mud so they only needed a short wash and the original instructions for the machine had words like 'until the clothes look clean enough' so that's how long I let the agitator run. Then through the wringer, then into rinse water, then through the wringer again and the clothes are ready for a line in the basement."
"What are the other tubs out there?"
"Those are the 'suds savers'. If the original wash and rinse water aren't too dirty you can use them for another load of clothes."
"And they want $$$$ for a 'high efficiency' washer that runs an hour or more to handle one load."
"I guess that's all in how you see 'efficiency'."
---
Ring! Ring!
'This is Jack…'
'Why aren't you here to bail me ou…'
Click!
"Seems Ginny found another phone to call from. That number is now also on 'Ignore'."
"She's the one who hit the transformer, Jack?"
"Yes. She won't get bail until a judge gets to the courthouse to hear her case and decide whether she should get bail or be held until her hearing. Nothing I can do about that so I'll avoid the annoyance."
"Anything you need to do in her house?"
"No, love. When I did the walk-through with the Deputy, I turned off the water, then flushed all the toilets and turned on the tub faucet in the basement bath to drain most of the pipes in her house. I also turned off and drained the water heater. Not having power for an air compressor, I didn't blow out all the lines but they're as protected as I could make them."
"What about ice damage to her flower trellises and garden?"
"Can't fix that any better than I can fix ours until everything melts. There's still part of a row of corn that's iced over but we have the same. The potatoes and some other things will be fine under the ice. We'll probably have less damage to the house from the weight of the ice as we are still doing some limited heating and some of the ice on the roof is melting from the heat that leaks into the attic - just very slowly. I did break up the ice above the outside doors so a chunk won't break off and hit someone when you close the door. Just remember to stay well away from the house if you're outside elsewhere."
"There were some big ice daggers over the doors until you broke them off."
"Part of normal winter maintenance in the sunny South."
"Well, Jack, now that I can breathe again, I like your unexpected humor."
"Speaking of winter, I'm ready for something warm to drink. Jack, the teapot is about ready to whistle. Chamomille tea OK?"
"I'm good with that, love."
"Me too, ma'am."
---
Chapter 5
Sunday, 5 October, 6:20AM
Beep! Beep!
Morning again but not much light so probably still cloudy if not raining. The nightly "Snap! Crackle! Pop!" serenade went on again but this time my better half did use the earplugs and she didn't hear the alarm either. I'll go start coffee and see if the scent wakes her. I should also check the battery bank. It probably needs the boost of a few hours of generator time. The house also seems a bit cool this morning. Was my estimate of overnight battery life and no need to run the generator late yesterday too optimistic? Better go check.
The battery is at 12.11 volts which is the 50% discharge level when under load, so it must have dropped below that during the night while running the furnace so the solar charge controller did what it was supposed to do and turned off power to the Load terminals, turning off the relay and thus the inverter. The undervoltage recovery voltage is 12.3 volts and that can be reached quickly when the charger is in place and powered by the inverter generator - which can also power the fridge, freezer, furnace, some LED lighting and the TV, if any stations are on the air.
Flip all the switches on the GenTran to OFF and bundle up for the 31 degrees the thermometer on the outside of a covered porch window shows. Long underwear is a given in weather like this as the house won't be an even 68F plus flannel insulated jeans, lined flannel shirt, down vest, waterproof hat and gloves. If everything works, this is a ten minute trip outside to get the generator started. If not, I'll take the gen into the garage to get it started and just leave the garage door up for ventilation while I'm working on the gen.
The back drive looks more like an ice rink. I'll use the MAPP torch to thaw the layer of ice on the hasp and lock on the shed. Hang that from a carabiner on my belt. Nice that this torch has an electronic lighter that's activated when you pull the trigger. Best get the strap-on ice cleats for these insulated boots and those cleats are in a cabinet by the door. Grab the key to the shed from a hook by the door and I'm slowly moving across the ice. Nice that the hat's brim keeps the very cold rain from running down the back of my neck. Torch on and see if I can clear the lock and then use a hammer for the ice that's holding the doors together and to the door frame. It's very slow but it's working and I'm not likely to even scorch the paint with this much ice on things. OK, lock's clear enough to use the key - and it turns. Now to get the lock's shackle free of the hasp. A few more minutes with the torch and the hasp is open so I can apply controlled force to break the ice in selected places.
That took longer than I wanted to be out here because ice had formed between the doors and the rain had run inside and puddled on the floor and frozen around the bottoms of the doors. Maybe the doors need something on the outside to cover the small gap between them? Add that to my mental "to-do" list and put it on the phone's calendar when I'm not wearing gloves this thick.
Get the little gen. Check the gas. It's full. Check the oil. It's good. Set it outside and get the sound cover which will also keep it dry. Plug the cover's fan into one outlet on the gen. Run the 12/3 extension cord into the cover and connect it to the gen's other outlet. Turn the engine control to "Choke". Press "Prime". Pull the cord and… Pull the cord and… Press "Prime" again, pull the cord and… we have it running. Not a bad start when it's this cold. Let it run a minute or so and then turn the engine control to "Run".
It's had its minute, so to "Run" and it keeps running. Now back inside, hang up the ice cleats and connect the other end of the 12/3 extension cord to the "Power In" connector on the transfer switch. Now move the switches for "Fridge", "Furnace" and "Counter" from Line to Gen.
Click! Click! Click!
That's done and I hear the furnace's combustion blower starting up. Now to plug the 60 amp charger in (actually an HP server power supply with some Youtube-provided modifications that allow me to set the output voltage) using the outlet on the transfer panel and let the batteries charge while the gen powers the needed things. I'll take the 75 foot extension cord up with me so I can get power to the freezer. We've not opened it much but this is insurance on it staying adequately cold.
Back up the stairs. Shed my hat, gloves and down vest to hangers over the washtub. Use the remote and fire up the gas logs. The flames aren't at their usual height! Does that means there's a problem with the delivery of natural gas? If the pressure drops much lower, the pilot won't have a big enough flame to heat the millivolt flame sensor and the gas logs will shut off - and so will the furnace. Back in my outside gear then to the shed for a can of kerosene and the siphon pump so I can fill the kerosene heater. Take those things to the covered porch and then get the kero heater from the garage and take it to the porch.
A few minutes later the kero heater is filled and ready for use. Now back to the kitchen and… I smell coffee. Guess someone else is in the kitchen.
"Jack, I heard the gen start. Why?"
"Susan, I may have been too optimistic about the amount of power left in the batteries last night."
"Or maybe you didn't want to be out in the dark and the freezing rain?"
"That might also have been a factor."
"One of your 'lazy alerts' caught that?"
"From the charge controller's log, it turned off the 'Load' at 4:17AM so the house had two more hours to cool off than usual."
"And the heat didn't set back up at 6AM."
"Not without power. I checked the gas logs and the flame height is a little low which indicates the pressure in the gas system is low because it normally relies on the pressure regulator at the gas meter to bring the distribution pressure down to the household level. If the distribution pressure is that low, I think we can expect to be without natural gas very soon."
"The furnace can handle that?"
"I checked the furnace manual and the display on the controller board will show either "Lo" or "P" depending on the firmware version. I think that error may also get an audible alert but that section of the page was torn and taped back so of course the tear and the not-even seam are right on the "Audible Alert" column."
"The kero heater is good for?"
"Most of the day if we close off the living and dining rooms and the door at the end of the hall. That last door will block any heat from getting upstairs so Jason needs to know."
"I know there's coffee because the scent woke me so what else do I need to know?"
"Good morning, Jason. Coffee is on the stove and breakfast is in progress. You need to know that the county's natural gas system has very low pressure and the furnace will probably shut down if it drops much further. Without the furnace, we'll be closing off parts of the house…"
"And part of that closure will be any doors that let warm air up the stairs so you can heat this level with a kerosene heater."
"Correct, but how…"
"I smelled kerosene when I came in here and there's a shiny spot on the side of your boot."
"I thought I caught all the drips from the siphon pump. Guess I didn't. Anyway, the furnace is running on the gen while the batteries charge as we won't have enough sun to be useful."
"Rob will be here soon. He's bringing you a quarter of a deer. He spent some of his time at home yesterday cutting up and wrapping the meat. Hope you have a place to put it."
"Love?"
"I'll put things for the next couple of days in the fridge. Put maybe half the remaining meat in the freezer and dump the icemaker bucket into a cooler to hold the rest of the meat until the freezer cools back down. The gen may be running a long time."
"That's OK. The tank is full so maybe four to six hours of run time."
"Your gen is running? I thought I heard one some distance away."
"The sound enclosure makes all the difference. It drops the sound level by 20dB or to 1/4 of the original level as perceived by the human ear."
"That's the little gen?"
"Yes."
"Those are very quiet to begin with so it might sound distant even when maybe 20 feet from the house."
"Correct. If not for the steady drone, it's about converstion level but conversations have their ups and down and voices change pitch. The steady single note is probably noticed at least in part for the annoyance factor of being a sound that doesn't ever change."
"It'll be colder upstairs?"
"Several degrees but I've never run a multi-day test to see just how low it gets."
"I'll make notes tonight and in the morn..."
POW!
THUD!
"That was out front. To a window to check…"
"And?"
"Bad and good news, love. Bad that we have a big tree down in front of the house. Good that it missed the house and that it's the maple which has roots on the surface of the ground because it pulled up some of those roots as it went down. No cost for taking it down, homeowner's insurance might pay a little for the loss of the tree and right now it's the only ice-free tree in the county so I can trim the limbs that are in the road. The weight of the ice also broke a number of limbs when the tree hit the ground so maybe a third of the de-limbing is at least started if not complete."
"Jack, only you could find something positive in the loss of a 40 foot tree."
"Jason, you have no idea how much I hate trying to mow where those roots are. I've lost one blade on the riding mower - it went under a root and then into the ground bringing the mower to a very abrupt stop. If I didn't cut that area with the ground speed at a crawl, I might have been dumped off the mower. I'd like to go back in time and offer birth control to the mother of whoever planted that tree."
"Ma'am, I think I've discovered someone that Jack hates."
"You're correct, Jason. Probably one of the very few, other than some specific members of the - his term is 'Democraps'."
"Can't say that I disagree with him."
---
"Breakfast casserole, ma'am?"
"Jason, with the gen running we can use the oven because we have power for the 380 watt ignitor. Otherwise, any baking is done on the cooktop in the camp stove oven or a Dutch oven."
"But you got it together so quickly!"
"I prepped everything yesterday and put the covered dish in the fridge for the next time the gen was running. It just happened that the gen was running this morning so it's fresh from the oven now. This particular casserole reheats well over a double boiler so I could have cooked it any time today and had a quick hot breakfast tomorrow."
"You folks do plan ahead. I need to learn more."
"Jack, you have your book list?"
"In paper format, love. Jason, this two-sided sheet has more than a dozen books with a short synopsis of each one. Topics covered include the Get Home Bag to keep in your vehicle, the Bug Out Bag if you need to leave home, cooking with storage foods of all types whether canned tomatoes or dry beans or the Long Term Storage foods from Mountain House, Wise or others, alternate means of cooking those foods, ways of purifying water if your usual supply isn't available, outhouses and other alternate sanitation, alternate means of heating, making use of available materials for shelter - people do get caught in storms and you might be OK in your vehicle if you have food, water and some extra blankets, ways of starting a fire without matches or a lighter and the books cover lots of other things - even guerilla gardening."
"Do you have…"
"Copies you can read while you're here? Yes. Be aware that we're like the County Library and the books have a coded ID strip in the binding which means they must go through the scanner and be flagged in the security system's computer so the alarm doesn't go off when you take a book out of the house."
"You can run something like that on solar power?"
"It runs on a $30 Raspberry Pi computer running Debian, which is a version of Linux, and the computer only needs about 5 watts except when the monitor is on or the scanner is in use, plus about one watt for the detector at each door or about 10 watts total power."
"I expect there are things other than books that have those ID strips so you know if those things attempt to 'walk off'."
"That's possible."
"I think that's a certainty."
---
"You're going back out, Jack?"
"Love, I need to check on the status of the UPS I loaned Joe to run his CPAP. It's a big unit and he might get three nights' use without recharging it but it needs recharging now. I have a spare set of the 12 volt 35AH batteries it uses and I charged them the day he got the UPS so they're fine. I'll put the batteries and a couple of five gallon water containers in the garden cart along with the tools I'll need to swap the batteries. I know they have a good pantry because Alma cans a lot of what they grow in the garden. Back in 20 minutes unless Joe and Alma want to talk, but I also have a charged burner phone and a powerbank to leave with them so they can let their kids know they are OK."
"Ma'am, is there anything I can do to help?"
"Maybe help Jack with getting those 45lb water jugs up from the basement?"
"I'll also push the cart if he'll let me."
---
Chapter 6
Sunday, 5 October, 9:05AM
Knock! Knock!
"Who's there?"
"Joe, it's Jack Wilson and a helper. Brought you some fresh batteries to keep your CPAP working."
"Let me put down the shotgun and unbar the door."
"Go ahead."
"Y'all come in… Boy, do I know you?"
"Sir, I'm Jason…"
"Williams! You're Jethro's grandson. I'm your great uncle Joe and this is your great aunt Alma. I don't think we've seen you since you were maybe 15."
"But how…"
"Your eyes and your ears, boy. They're just like mine."
"I guess they are. Nice to meet you again, Uncle Joe."
"Where you staying?"
"With Jack. I'm the only member of the power restoral crew that's still here because I asked Jack if I could rent floor space for a sleeping bag instead of driving home in the ice. Seems it will be getting colder upstairs with the county's gas system losing pressure."
"I wondered how long that would last. If you don't mind splitting wood, we have a nice woodstove in here and Alma still has her Princess wood-fired cookstove so we're good for a long time."
"I haven't split any wood since I left home but I remember how. OK to leave my truck at your place, Jack?"
"Of course. I'll feel better about these two if you're here to check on them and you can run those batteries to me for a charged set when needed. I know Joe has a similar cart."
"We'll keep the water so we're not thawing ice today or tomorrow, but you can take the containers back with you, Jack."
"I'll do that."
"And a pint of my pear preserves for caring about a couple of useless old people."
"Alma, anyone who can grow and can a treat like these preserves will never be useless and you should be able to check in with your kids and friends so here's a cell phone and a powerbank to charge it. Jason can get the powerbank to me when it needs charging."
"Some of the magic of your solar power?"
"The magic of an efficient generator the past few days as the solar panels don't produce much power when it's cloudy or rainy or they're covered in ice."
"Generator? I don't remember hearing one run."
"It's running now. Open the door and see if you hear it."
"OK. There's one in the distance but it's too quiet to be at your place."
"Small and very quiet generator in a box with lots of insulation to absorb the sound. It's out behind the house."
"If'n it wasn't so slick out there, I'd want to walk over and see that box. You built a good'n."
"Uncle Joe, Aunt Alma; I'll be back as soon as I pack my things."
"No hurry, boy. Just good to know that we have family close by."
---
"Jack, the furnace started beeping so I turned off its breaker on the generator transfer switch."
"What about the gas logs?"
"Flames look a little low but they're still working. Maybe the central heat using three times the gas the logs use means it can't work with the reduced pressure but the logs can?"
"Excellent analysis, Mrs. Wilson. We'll need to watch the logs as the day progresses and also check the water heater pilot height."
"Will there be enough pressure to run both?"
"Maybe. We can turn the gas logs off while the water heater is active and I can light the kerosene heater and bring it in when the flame is stable. It can be in its usual place in the kitchen so we can put a fan on the counter and blow warm air down the hall to the bedroom."
"What about the running the ceiling fan in the kitchen to push the hot air at the ceiling down to warm the tile floor as thermal mass?"
"I have a small 12 volt ceiling fan that can be put in place temporarily. It only draws six watts so it can be powered directly from the solar backup battery."
"That'll work. Warming the tile floor keeps the room warm for quite a while after the kero heater is taken out and turned off."
"Most alternate warmth ideas are just making the best use of available heat - and being aware of the minimum safe temperatures for pipes in the basement and the like. With the outside temperature hovering around freezing, having just a little heat in the basement should keep the pipes warm."
"That little diesel 'parking' heater?"
"It's rated at a maximum of 5KW or about 17,000BTU. The 'medium' setting on that heater is about 10,000BTU and it should run about 12 hours on a gallon of diesel at that output. That heat level will only warm the area of the basement with exposed pipes by a couple of degrees but that should be adequate."
"It's worked before so it should do the same this time. You have a spare glowplug?"
"Replaced the original Chinese glowplug with a German-made equivalent that should be good for many more hours and the original glowplug can be backup."
"Sounds good. Any other heat we need?"
"Not aware of other heating but I will put the 'smart' NOCO trickle chargers on both vehicles' batteries while the gen is running. Just in case we need to go somewhere. Being out at low speed with headlights on, heater on high, rear defroster on and wipers probably on continuously would be a load on the battery at the low speeds we'd be driving. I'll also plan to put the battery on a bigger charger when a vehicle returns to the garage."
"Chains on both vehicles?"
"Just the truck for now. Plus a couple bags of sand over each rear wheel for better traction and as an aid to getting unstuck - for us or someone else."
"There you go, planning ahead."
"Better than trying to stand upright on ice and push a vehicle."
"True."
---
Chapter 7
Sunday, 5 October, 2:10PM
"What's up, Rob? Having another piece of 7400 volt line break from the ice wouldn't normally get a smile from you."
"It's not that, Jason. The house went up on the multiple listing site about an hour ago and I already have a serious call about it."
"Someone not afraid of the HOA?"
"He's a lawyer and the HOA is courting him because they think he'll be on their side if he's living in their controlled area. What they don't seem to realize is that he's the lawyer that has taken on other 'petty tyrant' HOA groups in the state and those groups have always lost. Between the cash equity we have in the house and the inflated numbers other houses in the area have sold for, we'll have enough cash in hand to buy the house here and pay the movers to box and move everything. With Deidre due this week, she won't be getting much packed."
"That's great! When?"
"As soon as the ice clears. Really need power to show a house and need the roads clear to bring a moving van into this area."
"True, as getting the crane truck with the pole trailer behind it back in place here was not my most pleasant driving experience."
CRACK!
THUD!
"That sounds like it might be more work for us."
"It does at that. Something else to write up for repair and more materials needed?"
"We'll know when we get there. About a block that way?"
"Sounded like it was about there. That puts it near your new house."
---
"It IS my new house!"
"Let's walk around and see what damage you have, Rob."
"Jason, it missed the house by about ten feet."
"No damage on the street side either. Isn't this one of those maple trees that has roots on top of the ground?"
"If it is, then I'm glad it's down. Might need a stump grinder to get some of the bigger roots out. The home center rents stump grinders so I can do that myself."
"Sounds like you're already at home."
"When the deals are finished, we'll be living in a paid-for house with less than half the taxes and with some very capable neighbors. I think that's a place to call 'home'."
---
The End
Chapter 1
Thursday, 2 October, 4:50PM
It started simply enough. I walked by the kitchen window and saw light from a neighbor's garage. Looking closer, her car was gone and she hadn't closed the garage door (it's electric, so just needs a button push). This is the neighbor who has turned up on our porch late at night more than once, stumbling drunk, perhaps wearing only a tee shirt and usually scared that "someone" or "something" is in her house. In multiple checks (at my wife's insistence, because I'm ready to call 911 about a drunk on the porch after dark) there's never been anything except a nearly empty vodka bottle. If she didn't close the garage door, is there a family emergency or was she too snockered to remember it? Guess we'll know later.
--
A couple of hours later we finish supper and are clearing the table…
Screech!
BANG!
We're instantly in the dark and the UPS for the TV and cable box is playing its "Beep! Beep! Beep!" tune. So did someone take down the pole at the T intersection where the aerial cable goes underground for this small area or just the ground level transformer for a small group of houses?
Grab the Fenix E12 flashlight (it's a design from six years ago but still their number five most popular light) from my pocket and click it on, then find and turn on the two-D-cell LED flashlight on top of the fridge to light the kitchen and go looking for the problem.
As I get to the front door, I hear high voltage arcing and there's an interesting blue-white flicker under the car on the other side of the road. I also hear a slurred whine: "Why'd they put that in the middle of the road? Who's gonna fix my car? This better not have broke any of the bottles!"
Virginia has struck again and we're not the only place without power. The arcing has stopped, probably because a breaker at the substation or on the line it from has tripped and this entire stretch of road is now without power. It's not a good time for another outage, as today's thunderstorms and heavy rain dumped over three inches on us in 18 hours and there are already more than 10,000 outages across the state. If she can whine about possibly broken booze bottles, she either isn't seriously hurt or she's too drunk to feel any pain. She did manage to climb over the console and get out the passenger door. Use the app on my cell phone to report the outage to the power co-op. That's done. Now use the landline to call 911 and report the accident. Tell the 911 operator that the accident is directly across the road from me, that the driver isn't obviously injured but is obviously intoxicated, that power is off for a number of people and that I've reported the outage to the local electric co-op. Done. The operator tells me that EMTs will be here soon but that a Deputy is at least 40 minutes away because of flooding elsewhere in the County - no surprise with today's rain. Now we wait. Virginia's in her car out of the rain and I see no reason to be standing in the rain and wind so I'll stay inside.
It seems a Deputy got free sooner than expected or maybe having an open transformer case with potentially high voltage exposed is a higher priority public safety issue? Whatever the reason, she arrived with EMS. I have video of them trying to to get Virginia out of her car and into the ambulance and she's loud enough to record well, even if not be understood because of the slurring. The Deputy checked her driver's license, saw that she's local and headed for that house - where there was no answer. We're the nearest house so the Deputy is headed our way. She did a double take when the solar powered motion light illuminated the front porch.
Knock! Knock!
"Yes, Deputy?"
"You have power?"
"No. The transformer box under that car provides power to multiple houses, including us. Any lights we have are thanks to solar power and rechargeable batteries."
"Do you have next of kin information for Virginia Dooley?"
"I have cell numbers for her significant other and her father."
"Are the parents local?"
"Based in New Mexico but mostly travelling in an RV."
"You're knowledgeable and helpful, sir, but you seem a bit stand-offish about her."
"Had too many events with her at the door snockered and scared of 'someone' or 'something' in her house and the only thing I found was an empty vodka bottle. Also heard her whine too many times about the people at AA 'not being nice' to her because they won't let her come to meetings drunk and they call a spade a spade, wanting her to stand before the group and say 'My name is Virginia and I'm an alcoholic' which makes her 'feel bad'."
"You had one in your family?"
"A grandfather who was a sad drunk and always sorry afterwards but still did it on a regular basis."
"I understand. I had an uncle who drank himself into an early grave. You've notified the electric co-op?"
"First thing I did."
"You're OK without power? No medical needs?"
"We're fine. Fridge will stay cool for eight or ten hours, freezer for 16 plus hours. We have plenty of battery-powered lights and a lighter for the gas cooktop,"
"Then you're probably better off than most of your neighbors. Anyone I should check on?"
"Next place to the South. Joe may be on a CPAP and need power for that. If he does, let me know as I have a UPS that will probably run it a couple of nights."
"You are much better off than most of your neighbors but it doesn't show. Good planning. I'll check and let you know. Virginia Dooley is headed for County General in handcuffs to have the knot on her head checked as an EMT thinks there might be a concussion. Here's the remote for her garage. If you'd close it up when power is restored?"
"What if you go with me and I disconnect the opener so the door can be shut manually?"
"You can do that?"
"Only takes a minute. Let me get boots, rain coat and my LED head light."
"You are better prepared than most as you didn't have to search for anything."
"Just don't share that with the neighbors?"
"Not me. I suspect you're carrying with this much area dark but I won't ask and there are no restrictions on private property."
"Pulling that cord is all it takes?"
"Easier to handle the double door if you have two people but a properly pre-loaded spring would have made that a one hand operation."
"You install doors and openers?"
"I try to be knowledgeable about things that might break and inconvenience me."
"I like the way you think, sir."
---
The Deputy put the car's key in the ignition for the wrecker driver and handed me the rest of them, asking if I would ensure the place is OK and lock it up. I asked her to do the walk-thru with me so there are no questions about the state of the house when Virginia was arrested. Now I'm the keeper of those keys and they're hanging with the other spare keys. I have a written and signed request from Deputy Charlotte Dilman to check Virginia Dooley's house when power is restored and ensure it's OK.
The co-op sent a repair crew but we won't have power back tonight. They put in a call for a replacement transformer and although the computer inventory showed they had one available, there are none in the co-op warehouse. Maybe tomorrow and maybe a day or so later. I got the details of the transformer and it's described as a "padmount" because it's aboveground on a small concrete pad. It's rated 100KVA. If you assume multi-level houses with two zones of heating and cooling and cooking with electricity, that might be adequate for perhaps seven to ten houses. The busbars on the damaged one have places for six feeder cables so it can supply six houses. A quick check on Ebay finds a used one for $2000 plus shipping of $450 - it's just into the next state so it might be cheaper to drive to the next state and pick it up than to pay shipping. Maybe the co-op has better sources inside the industry and won't be forced to resort to buying on Ebay? I'll hope this doesn't take as long as the "three day" board turnaround for our central heat did, finally getting a replacement after 14 days - in January, with highs in the 30's and us using a kerosene heater and the gas logs to heat part of the main level of the house.
---
Chapter 2
Friday, 3 October, 7:40AM
Knock. Knock.
It's a member of the co-op repair team. Probably not bringing good news.
"Yes?"
"Sir, the arcing damaged the high voltage line from the substation in addition to the collision damage to the transformer. We have a replacement transformer coming but it's at least 36 hours away. We will have the pad replaced before the transformer arrives but we need to run new undeground wiring for three of the six houses that transformer serves…"
"And we're one of those houses."
"How'd you know?"
"You being at the door this early with a 'Please don't kill the messenger' expression on your face. I suspect you went to the Kahns' house first and he gave you a verbal beating because he can't watch his alma mater play football this weekend. Come on in for a cup of hot chocolate. It's very cold this morning for early October in the South and you can sit down while you give me the details. Did I also see a cable truck with a trailer of aerial wire reels out there?"
"Thank you for the invite. I'd love something warm to drink. You don't have power and I don't hear a generator so how do you keep the house warm?"
"I built a small solar-charged generator that's my 'Wait until daylight' system. Depending on the season, it can provide eight to 20 hours of power for the fridge, some LED lighting in the kitchen and the furnace for a few hours. I do have a small generator but I'll only get it out if we don't have enough sun to recharge the battery bank today. Tell me about the aerial cable."
"The substation breaker for the aerial line feeding this section of the road failed closed and the line burned through. They have to replace the section that burned apart and they'll be inspecting the entire two miles of line to see how much more needs replacing."
"That means this entire area is dark for three days?"
"How'd you know?"
"We were living here when they replaced that line a few years ago. That was a planned replacement and they just wholesaled all the wires in a segment. This time they're looking to replace only the damaged wiring and that requires two trips down the line: one to identify the damaged sections and one to do the repairs with the possibility of waiting for additional wire to be brought in from storage."
"You worked in power?"
"Some in the military but I'm also curious about things which could inconvenience me so I learned how those things worked and what my workarounds might be."
"Thank you for the hot chocolate and the time in front of the gas log fire. That really helps when it's 31F and the forecast is that the temperature stays there and we get two days of freezing rain."
"Latest forecast from weather.com has freezing rain for the next 36 hours with an accumulation of just over an inch. You folks may be stringing a lot of wire but we probably won't have power back for close to a week."
"You've been talking with my boss? That's what he said might happen."
"No, just paying attention and knowing that weather.com does very good hourly forecasts about freezing precipitation."
"How can you be so calm when most of the people I've spoken to are almost hysterical?"
"Practice in living through bad weather. There's a kerosene heater in the garage and 20 gallons of kerosene in the shed out back. You've seen that the gas logs don't need power to work and the combination of gas logs and kerosene heater can keep most of this level of the house livable. The inverter generator runs four to six hours on a gallon of gas and with no sun it can recharge the battery bank for overnight power while also powering the furnace, fridge and freezer for those hours. I have about 15 gallons of treated gas in the shed and probably another 30 gallons between our two vehicles. We have at least two weeks' worth of food in the pantry. If we must go out for something, I have tire chains for my truck. While we might run out of quick and convenient foods, there are plenty of ingredients for from-scratch cooking. We can use the gas cooktop as long as natural gas stays on and the fallbacks are the LP gas grill and a Coleman stove with burners for liquid fuel and propane plus I have two gallons of the liquid fuel, some 1lb propane bottles and an adapter for the 20lb grill tank."
"You bought all that living here?"
"No. Pulled a popup camper when our kids were in elementary and middle school and cooked outside to not add to the heat in the camper in the summer. Still have a nice Coleman lantern and some spare mantles for very good outside light if needed."
"What about light in the house?"
"Rechargeable LED lights: some USB charged, some with a crank for charging and some solar-charged. The South-facing window over there has a couple of the MPOWERD inflatable solar lights sitting on top of the lower sash. No more than those are used, they stay fully charged and ready to use."
"What about cell phones?"
"High capacity solar charger - behind the china cabinet because of its size and fragility - and several powerbanks that are recharged on a regular basis. When any generator is in use, there are four USB charge ports active on the over-the-counter AC outlets."
"Would you consider renting me a room so I'm not driving in the icy mess we'll probably have in a couple of hours?"
"The only heat upstairs is what leaks up the stairs. Don't know that you want to live in a 55F environment."
"I have a 32F rated sleeping bag and pads for it in my truck. I'll pay you $100 a night for space on the floor up there."
"Love?"
"Jack, for $100 I'll even make breakfast for him."
"Your nametag has 'Williams'. First name?"
"Jason."
"Jason Williams, I'm Jack Wilson and this is Susan, my better half."
"Ma'am, sir. Pleased to meet you and thank you. Where can I park and not be in your way?"
"Drive to the corner of the property and turn left. The double drive is to our garage and the single drive beyond that goes around by the sheds and eventually to the basement. The gates are open so they won't freeze closed, just in case we need to get out. Park on the single drive but near the road so you're well away from the trees."
"Understood."
---
"Jason, what are you smiling about?"
"My good luck, boss."
"You're stuck here working in freezing rain and that's good luck?"
"No, Rob. While passing out the bad news this morning, I met an older couple who have their act together. They invited me in for hot chocolate and time in front of the fire to get warm. They have enough alternate power to run the fridge and furnace plus they cook with gas. I rented space for my sleeping bag on the upper level - which doesn't have heat - and Mrs. Wilson said she'd include breakfast."
"If I had the sleeping bag, I'd go ask instead of driving home through the ice that's rapidly forming. Jason, maybe you're not as crazy as I thought for always having a sleeping bag, food and water in your truck."
"So I'm still a little crazy? Gee, thanks Rob."
"Are those people also gun crazy?"
"As in are they armed? Both have handguns on their belts and there's a shotgun over the front door which probably means there's one over the back door. Rob, how long does the mobile home park about two miles from here stay quiet without power?"
"Maybe a day and a half."
"And what would some of those people do after 36 hours without power if they saw any light in a house or smelled food cooking?"
"Try to take it."
"Where would they be successful?"
"Most of these houses."
"But not the one with the pansies out in the flowerbeds?"
"That's where you'll be staying?"
"Yes."
"We might see bodies out front when we get here tomorrow?"
"Possible."
"Nice folks but not anyone you'd want to threaten."
"Correct."
"Wish I had neighbors like that."
"If you don't mind living in an older neighborhood in an unincorporated area of the county, there's a house about that size for sale on down the road. Sign says they're asking about half what your house is appraised for. No golf course here, though."
"Not that I ever have time to play golf these days. I should go look. At least I'd have one neighbor who knows what to do when things go sideways and he's close enough to walk over and ask."
"Like you'll ever convince Deidre."
"I guess I didn't tell you about her being trapped in an elevator at work for six hours on Monday. The elevator was within an inch of the floor so a tiny step up but no one could figure out how to open the doors - even with a key with a red 'Elevator' tag on it hanging at the guard's desk. She's now getting seriously interested in being ready for the unexpected and she did mention moving somewhere that doesn't have a total nanny HOA that will only allow solar panels on the back side of the roof - that's the North side for us - in spite of the city approving a system on the front of the roof. I reported the HOA to the City Attorney and they have a court date next month. I expect the current HOA board to all point fingers at someone else and the judge to find them all guilty. The fine would be $10,000 per event and there are five other families who've had a similar experience. I'd rather be out of that house than deal with the next group of idiots who want to be on the HOA board. I should call about getting the house listed."
---
Chapter 3
Saturday, 4 October, 2:10AM
CRACK!
THUD!
"Jack?"
"Probably a big limb on the poplar out back breaking and landing on that driveway. When I checked earlier, Jason's truck was well away from anything that could fall on it. I will go check but I suspect it's in the 'limb is down; can't do anything until morning; let's go back to sleep' category."
"You have that ship-blinding handheld LED light you built?"
"It's on the kitchen counter to be easy to find. You want to go and see?"
"No. You can tell me all I need to know when you get back and I'll still have warm feet."
"Only from them being on me for the past hour."
---
"And?"
"Limb from the poplar. Long enough to block the back drive but I can cut it for firewood and then move the pieces."
"How much ice?"
"Half inch or more. I can see the clotheslines by the light of my Fenix E12 so you know they're much bigger than normal."
"So they are. Your feet are cold!"
"So's the rest of me. I have some wool socks out for the morning and I have the shirt and jeans I'll be wearing for the day in bed with me so they're not quite so cold when I put them on."
"Jason has an alarm clock?"
"Yes, but I also set a battery-powered clock for you to be up to make breakfast."
"Could I persuade you to make pancakes?"
"Start persuading."
---
5:40AM
Beep!Beep! Beep!Beep!
"Already, Jack?"
"It's been three hours since that limb fell, love."
"I could have done without that interruption to my sleep and the smaller 'Snap! Crackle! Pop!' that happened the rest of the night."
"I put ear plugs in after the first one."
"What about me?"
"I had them in my hand but you turned up your nose."
"I won't do that again. You are cooking this morning?"
"Yes, but I won't be using an electric coffeemaker so I could use some help. I don't expect to see much sun today and I'd rather not run a generator until someone else has one going."
"The Kahns will be out shopping?"
"If they can get the garage door open manually, get down their impressive curving driveway without hitting anything and get out of the neighborhood. It is slightly uphill from here to the main road."
"You're expecting them to do as well on ice as they did in snow three years ago?"
"Exactly."
"You'll have a camera set to record their antics?"
"And upload it to Youtube when we have internet again. They have no idea who 'mechanic2025' is."
"The angles of the videos should give the camera locations away."
"No one ever said they were good at analysis. To the kitchen."
---
"Jack's the cook?"
"He is for pancakes and waffles in the kitchen and for burgers, steaks, chops and fish on the grill."
"These are from scratch?"
"My grandmother's recipe."
"You should open a restaurant."
"I won't be doing that. Doing this occasionally for family or friends is fun but running a restaurant is too much work."
"Jack, how do I get that canvas shelter defrosted so I can get my truck out?"
"When you're ready to leave, the flap at this end of the shelter lifts high enough to put a torpedo-style worksite heater into the large HVAC duct at that end and the internal ducts take the hot air all around the roof and sides to melt the ice off. Seldom more than an hour or so per inch of ice."
"That I want to see because there is more than an inch already and the forecast on my phone is for another inch or so today. I won't be leaving for a few days as I expect a lot of the crew won't be able to get here and I'll have the opportunity for more overtime than I want."
"Other than replacing the underground wiring today, I don't think you'll be doing much else."
"That and surveying what else is down from the ice. I'm here, you can provide a place for me to charge my phone and I can cover a lot of the area on foot with the ice cleats on my boots."
"You remind me of me."
"My truck might be similar to your truck in its inside equipment."
"When the ice has been cleared, I'd like to see that."
"You're on, Jack. I should be at work. Nice that it's a short walk away."
---
Ring! Ring!
'This is Jack…'
'Why aren't you here to bail me out of this drunk tank? I don't belong here! Are you taking care of my house? Where's my car? Have you…'
Click!
"Your phone was on speaker, Jack?"
"No, love. Virginia was in full-volume, angry-with-a-hangover-migraine mode and I'm not interested in being her whipping boy. I'll set that number to 'Ignore' and it will go directly to voicemail. She can't be bailed out until she's been before a judge to have her bail set. The courts are probably closed because of the driving conditions and I have no intention of driving in this mess. If someone contacts us later on, I might drive her home but we won't put up bail money."
"She'll whine about that."
"Let her whine. It's a self-inflicted injury and about time she had to pay the piper."
"Having your sleep interrupted didn't leave you in the best of moods either."
"That would be correct. I can't even cut that limb because there's too much ice to be trying to wield a chainsaw. The ten day forecast has Wednesday sunny with a high of 38F. That will help but it probably won't melt all the ice in one day."
"It stays above freezing after that?"
"Yes. High of 45F on Saturday. I might be able to do some limb clearing then if we don't get another… Damn! The 'Ten Day' forecast just updated with a 'Winter Weather Warning' banner at the top of the page. We're getting it. The front has stalled over us and we'll get another two, maybe three days of this. Everything for miles around will be locked up solid. Good that most of the solar panels are in the basement and not under inches of ice. I will be able to set out additonal panels when we have sun again."
"You'll be running the little gen today?"
"Probably three hours this… "
Roar!
"There's my cue; someone has a much louder generator running."
"You'll use the sound control box?"
"Yes. No point in being obvious about not being in the dark. Maybe three hours now and three hours before dark."
"That'll be enough?"
"I'll check the amp hour meter on the battery bank each time. If the batteries aren't fully recharged in three hours this morning, I'll leave the gen running and the charger connected to the batteries as long as needed. Then I'll check the power we're using and see when I need to start the gen in the afternoon to have the batteries at 90% or better before dark."
"You'll have the internet or the cable TV available for a while?"
"Both while the gen is running but we may not have either as AT&T didn't have backup power for their Uverse service when we had the outage three years ago so I'm not optimistic about it now. Let me go to the basement and power all that up and we'll see."
"My computer has a connection to the router but there's no connection to the internet."
"Does the landline have dialtone?"
"No."
"Then it's all out. Let me connect the antenna in the attic to the TV and run the off-air channel setup. Just a couple of minutes."
"And?"
"We have four channels. Fox, PBS, NBC and a Spanish station."
"What's on Fox?"
"The local weather guesser. Looks like he either spent the night at the studio or started very early today. Their graphics match what I saw on my phone from weather.com 30 minutes ago."
"The other channels?"
"PBS is running a feed from Weather Underground, NBC has their often-less-than-accurate weekend weather guy in place and the Spanish station has a steamy romance. Maybe they're trying to do something about the weather and melt some ice?"
"You goof!"
"I did give you something to smile about."
"You did. You've been doing that for a lot of years. Think I might keep you, Mr. Wilson."
"Thank you, Mrs. Wilson."
---
"Love, it's been almost three hours so I need to check the amp hour meter on the battery bank."
"Show me again where it is and what I'm looking for?"
"Sure. First, to the big, ugly rack in the basement."
"This display is driven by the monitor board which is mounted on the shunt in the negative battery lead. The display has wireless remote capability but having that remote in the kitchen seems to be just beyond its reliable range so it's here at the battery bank and hardwired to the monitor board."
"The 'AH' reading is positive."
"That's the vendor's way of hooking it up which I think is the reverse of what a battery bank should have. Discharging the battery should display '-' because you're taking power away from the battery. Charging the battery should show '+' because you're putting power in the battery. However, it is what it is. In our case we check the AH used before starting the charge and we charge until the used AH have been restored and we have a '-' number that's ten percent of that, indicating that we've put more than 100% of the used power back into the battery, ideally 110%. The ten per cent difference is simply because of the way the lead-acid chemical reaction works so we just do what it requires. We used 180AH so we need to put back 110% of 180 or 198AH but that will show up on the meter as the difference or 18AH and because it's charging that will be -18AH when it's full."
"It's showing -1AH and 27 amps charging current. Maybe 45 minutes to complete?"
"Close enough. We can check back in 45 minutes and see what the meter shows. A little more than 110% won't hurt as the charge rate this charger provides can't harm the batteries."
"You let the gen cool ten minutes before checking the oil and refueling?"
"Correct. Easier to pour from the two gallon gas can, so I'll use it and then refill it from a five gallon can when needed."
"With the bulb siphon?"
"Correct. That's another silent process. Do remember to have a small but bright light like the E12 so you can see the level of the fuel in the cans. They're translucent and easy to read when there's sun on the side of the can but we have no sun today."
"E12's on my belt by the magazine holders."
"Good place for it."
---
Chapter 4
Saturday, 4 October, 12:20PM
knock. knock.
"Come on in, Jason. Lunch is on the table. The sausage bean chowder is ready as is the cornbread made in a Dutch oven on the cooktop and there's hot coffee."
"Thanks, Jack. Let me drop the rain suit and boots out here so the layer of ice doesn't melt and drip in the house."
"Put it all in the Number 2 washtub and bring it in. There's a hanger bar in the laundry and the melting ice can drip into the washtub."
"You are prepared for the less pleasant things. And anything with a description of 'hot' sounds good."
"Wash up and come eat. Is your boss still here?"
"Rob didn't make it back this morning. He called to tell me that the ice took down trees and power poles around him and he can't get out of his driveway. I'm the entire crew until someone can clear the downed poles and lines and free Rob. He drove his 4WD truck home but that work needs the pole setting truck that's parked on the dead end dirt road just South of you with its trailer of poles. If I had another crew member here, we could take that truck and the poles and dig Rob out but you need two people to use that crane."
"What's it worth to Rob to get out of his driveway today?"
"Since Diedre is pregnant with their third child and due this week, it's probably worth a lot. Maybe some of this year's venison? You've removed and set poles before?"
"In the military, a long time ago, but I doubt that much has changed in the process."
"Nicer buckets with heaters in them and larger and more powerful cranes but the rest of the process is much the same. You'd spend hours out in this mess for someone you don't know?"
"Especially with his wife near her due date. Here's a topo map of the county. Where is he?"
"Near this intersection."
"From here, we'd want to avoid the bridge over Mill Creek and the hills on County 21. Easier to go a little farther on County 17 and County 42 where the grades are more gentle and the shoulders are wider."
"You sure know the area!"
"That's always useful knowledge. Learned it when I had a job that had a great need for my presence in bad weather. Eat until you're full and drink until you're warm because it's cold and miserable out there and we'll probably not get back here until just before dark."
"With your time estimate, I can tell you've done pole replacement."
"We won't be running new lines or hanging new transformers but clearing the downed trees and broken poles will free Rob from his prison and speed up the power restoral when the next crew gets there."
---
5:10PM
Ring! Ring!
'This is Jack.'
'Just checking on you, Mr. Wilson.'
'Less than a mile away, Mrs. Wilson.'
'Coffee being made, in quantity.'
'You are a queen among women.'
'You're cold and wet.'
'You are correct. Have a new tear in the rain jacket and a scrape or two that needs attention.'
'Pole swung unexpectedly?'
'Tree limb caught in the wire broke off unexpectedly. The truck took the brunt of the hit so I just have minor scratches. Rob may not be happy about the dent in the truck but he can get out of the neighborhood now.'
'Big First Aid kit in the master bath. Meet you there.'
---
"How much ice do we have, Mr. Wilson?"
"Where the limbs and other structures can support it, approaching two inches. The smaller things are down: powerlines, phone lines, cable TV, clotheslines…"
"I heard one of ours let go about an hour ago. You'll set up the drying system in the basement?"
"Four lines, a couple of solar-powered fans and the overlapped drip pans. Since most of the outside moisture is freezing, the humidity in the house isn't too high to use that system. In the morning, I'll set out a 100 watt panel to power the fans and swap that with another one when it ices over. I have four of those panels so you can have a little bit of air flow on the drying clothes all day."
"I know that it works, if somewhat slowly. Jason, you need anything washed?"
"Just about everything I have on is wet."
"Jack, get him some of the warm sweats and he can put the wet stuff in the green laundry basket so I'll know it's his."
"You have a washing machine?"
"On the back porch. It's an old Maytag with a gas engine and a wringer but it still works just fine and there's running hot and cold water on the porch."
"I can stand out there in the cold and…"
"Not standing in the cold. Jack got some free windows a couple years ago and enclosed what was a screened porch. The screens are still there for warm weather use but I'll be opening a window at each end for today's slight wind to take the engine's exhaust out of the enclosed area."
"May I help? I've read about those washers but never seen one."
"Jack, you have rubber gloves that will fit him?"
"Should be out by the Maytag."
"Then time for a lesson in washing clothes - 1920's farm style - just as soon as I pump up and light the Coleman lantern that's hanging out there."
---
"Thirty minutes to wash and rinse that much, Ma'am?"
"Jason, the clothes didn't look to have ground-in red mud so they only needed a short wash and the original instructions for the machine had words like 'until the clothes look clean enough' so that's how long I let the agitator run. Then through the wringer, then into rinse water, then through the wringer again and the clothes are ready for a line in the basement."
"What are the other tubs out there?"
"Those are the 'suds savers'. If the original wash and rinse water aren't too dirty you can use them for another load of clothes."
"And they want $$$$ for a 'high efficiency' washer that runs an hour or more to handle one load."
"I guess that's all in how you see 'efficiency'."
---
Ring! Ring!
'This is Jack…'
'Why aren't you here to bail me ou…'
Click!
"Seems Ginny found another phone to call from. That number is now also on 'Ignore'."
"She's the one who hit the transformer, Jack?"
"Yes. She won't get bail until a judge gets to the courthouse to hear her case and decide whether she should get bail or be held until her hearing. Nothing I can do about that so I'll avoid the annoyance."
"Anything you need to do in her house?"
"No, love. When I did the walk-through with the Deputy, I turned off the water, then flushed all the toilets and turned on the tub faucet in the basement bath to drain most of the pipes in her house. I also turned off and drained the water heater. Not having power for an air compressor, I didn't blow out all the lines but they're as protected as I could make them."
"What about ice damage to her flower trellises and garden?"
"Can't fix that any better than I can fix ours until everything melts. There's still part of a row of corn that's iced over but we have the same. The potatoes and some other things will be fine under the ice. We'll probably have less damage to the house from the weight of the ice as we are still doing some limited heating and some of the ice on the roof is melting from the heat that leaks into the attic - just very slowly. I did break up the ice above the outside doors so a chunk won't break off and hit someone when you close the door. Just remember to stay well away from the house if you're outside elsewhere."
"There were some big ice daggers over the doors until you broke them off."
"Part of normal winter maintenance in the sunny South."
"Well, Jack, now that I can breathe again, I like your unexpected humor."
"Speaking of winter, I'm ready for something warm to drink. Jack, the teapot is about ready to whistle. Chamomille tea OK?"
"I'm good with that, love."
"Me too, ma'am."
---
Chapter 5
Sunday, 5 October, 6:20AM
Beep! Beep!
Morning again but not much light so probably still cloudy if not raining. The nightly "Snap! Crackle! Pop!" serenade went on again but this time my better half did use the earplugs and she didn't hear the alarm either. I'll go start coffee and see if the scent wakes her. I should also check the battery bank. It probably needs the boost of a few hours of generator time. The house also seems a bit cool this morning. Was my estimate of overnight battery life and no need to run the generator late yesterday too optimistic? Better go check.
The battery is at 12.11 volts which is the 50% discharge level when under load, so it must have dropped below that during the night while running the furnace so the solar charge controller did what it was supposed to do and turned off power to the Load terminals, turning off the relay and thus the inverter. The undervoltage recovery voltage is 12.3 volts and that can be reached quickly when the charger is in place and powered by the inverter generator - which can also power the fridge, freezer, furnace, some LED lighting and the TV, if any stations are on the air.
Flip all the switches on the GenTran to OFF and bundle up for the 31 degrees the thermometer on the outside of a covered porch window shows. Long underwear is a given in weather like this as the house won't be an even 68F plus flannel insulated jeans, lined flannel shirt, down vest, waterproof hat and gloves. If everything works, this is a ten minute trip outside to get the generator started. If not, I'll take the gen into the garage to get it started and just leave the garage door up for ventilation while I'm working on the gen.
The back drive looks more like an ice rink. I'll use the MAPP torch to thaw the layer of ice on the hasp and lock on the shed. Hang that from a carabiner on my belt. Nice that this torch has an electronic lighter that's activated when you pull the trigger. Best get the strap-on ice cleats for these insulated boots and those cleats are in a cabinet by the door. Grab the key to the shed from a hook by the door and I'm slowly moving across the ice. Nice that the hat's brim keeps the very cold rain from running down the back of my neck. Torch on and see if I can clear the lock and then use a hammer for the ice that's holding the doors together and to the door frame. It's very slow but it's working and I'm not likely to even scorch the paint with this much ice on things. OK, lock's clear enough to use the key - and it turns. Now to get the lock's shackle free of the hasp. A few more minutes with the torch and the hasp is open so I can apply controlled force to break the ice in selected places.
That took longer than I wanted to be out here because ice had formed between the doors and the rain had run inside and puddled on the floor and frozen around the bottoms of the doors. Maybe the doors need something on the outside to cover the small gap between them? Add that to my mental "to-do" list and put it on the phone's calendar when I'm not wearing gloves this thick.
Get the little gen. Check the gas. It's full. Check the oil. It's good. Set it outside and get the sound cover which will also keep it dry. Plug the cover's fan into one outlet on the gen. Run the 12/3 extension cord into the cover and connect it to the gen's other outlet. Turn the engine control to "Choke". Press "Prime". Pull the cord and… Pull the cord and… Press "Prime" again, pull the cord and… we have it running. Not a bad start when it's this cold. Let it run a minute or so and then turn the engine control to "Run".
It's had its minute, so to "Run" and it keeps running. Now back inside, hang up the ice cleats and connect the other end of the 12/3 extension cord to the "Power In" connector on the transfer switch. Now move the switches for "Fridge", "Furnace" and "Counter" from Line to Gen.
Click! Click! Click!
That's done and I hear the furnace's combustion blower starting up. Now to plug the 60 amp charger in (actually an HP server power supply with some Youtube-provided modifications that allow me to set the output voltage) using the outlet on the transfer panel and let the batteries charge while the gen powers the needed things. I'll take the 75 foot extension cord up with me so I can get power to the freezer. We've not opened it much but this is insurance on it staying adequately cold.
Back up the stairs. Shed my hat, gloves and down vest to hangers over the washtub. Use the remote and fire up the gas logs. The flames aren't at their usual height! Does that means there's a problem with the delivery of natural gas? If the pressure drops much lower, the pilot won't have a big enough flame to heat the millivolt flame sensor and the gas logs will shut off - and so will the furnace. Back in my outside gear then to the shed for a can of kerosene and the siphon pump so I can fill the kerosene heater. Take those things to the covered porch and then get the kero heater from the garage and take it to the porch.
A few minutes later the kero heater is filled and ready for use. Now back to the kitchen and… I smell coffee. Guess someone else is in the kitchen.
"Jack, I heard the gen start. Why?"
"Susan, I may have been too optimistic about the amount of power left in the batteries last night."
"Or maybe you didn't want to be out in the dark and the freezing rain?"
"That might also have been a factor."
"One of your 'lazy alerts' caught that?"
"From the charge controller's log, it turned off the 'Load' at 4:17AM so the house had two more hours to cool off than usual."
"And the heat didn't set back up at 6AM."
"Not without power. I checked the gas logs and the flame height is a little low which indicates the pressure in the gas system is low because it normally relies on the pressure regulator at the gas meter to bring the distribution pressure down to the household level. If the distribution pressure is that low, I think we can expect to be without natural gas very soon."
"The furnace can handle that?"
"I checked the furnace manual and the display on the controller board will show either "Lo" or "P" depending on the firmware version. I think that error may also get an audible alert but that section of the page was torn and taped back so of course the tear and the not-even seam are right on the "Audible Alert" column."
"The kero heater is good for?"
"Most of the day if we close off the living and dining rooms and the door at the end of the hall. That last door will block any heat from getting upstairs so Jason needs to know."
"I know there's coffee because the scent woke me so what else do I need to know?"
"Good morning, Jason. Coffee is on the stove and breakfast is in progress. You need to know that the county's natural gas system has very low pressure and the furnace will probably shut down if it drops much further. Without the furnace, we'll be closing off parts of the house…"
"And part of that closure will be any doors that let warm air up the stairs so you can heat this level with a kerosene heater."
"Correct, but how…"
"I smelled kerosene when I came in here and there's a shiny spot on the side of your boot."
"I thought I caught all the drips from the siphon pump. Guess I didn't. Anyway, the furnace is running on the gen while the batteries charge as we won't have enough sun to be useful."
"Rob will be here soon. He's bringing you a quarter of a deer. He spent some of his time at home yesterday cutting up and wrapping the meat. Hope you have a place to put it."
"Love?"
"I'll put things for the next couple of days in the fridge. Put maybe half the remaining meat in the freezer and dump the icemaker bucket into a cooler to hold the rest of the meat until the freezer cools back down. The gen may be running a long time."
"That's OK. The tank is full so maybe four to six hours of run time."
"Your gen is running? I thought I heard one some distance away."
"The sound enclosure makes all the difference. It drops the sound level by 20dB or to 1/4 of the original level as perceived by the human ear."
"That's the little gen?"
"Yes."
"Those are very quiet to begin with so it might sound distant even when maybe 20 feet from the house."
"Correct. If not for the steady drone, it's about converstion level but conversations have their ups and down and voices change pitch. The steady single note is probably noticed at least in part for the annoyance factor of being a sound that doesn't ever change."
"It'll be colder upstairs?"
"Several degrees but I've never run a multi-day test to see just how low it gets."
"I'll make notes tonight and in the morn..."
POW!
THUD!
"That was out front. To a window to check…"
"And?"
"Bad and good news, love. Bad that we have a big tree down in front of the house. Good that it missed the house and that it's the maple which has roots on the surface of the ground because it pulled up some of those roots as it went down. No cost for taking it down, homeowner's insurance might pay a little for the loss of the tree and right now it's the only ice-free tree in the county so I can trim the limbs that are in the road. The weight of the ice also broke a number of limbs when the tree hit the ground so maybe a third of the de-limbing is at least started if not complete."
"Jack, only you could find something positive in the loss of a 40 foot tree."
"Jason, you have no idea how much I hate trying to mow where those roots are. I've lost one blade on the riding mower - it went under a root and then into the ground bringing the mower to a very abrupt stop. If I didn't cut that area with the ground speed at a crawl, I might have been dumped off the mower. I'd like to go back in time and offer birth control to the mother of whoever planted that tree."
"Ma'am, I think I've discovered someone that Jack hates."
"You're correct, Jason. Probably one of the very few, other than some specific members of the - his term is 'Democraps'."
"Can't say that I disagree with him."
---
"Breakfast casserole, ma'am?"
"Jason, with the gen running we can use the oven because we have power for the 380 watt ignitor. Otherwise, any baking is done on the cooktop in the camp stove oven or a Dutch oven."
"But you got it together so quickly!"
"I prepped everything yesterday and put the covered dish in the fridge for the next time the gen was running. It just happened that the gen was running this morning so it's fresh from the oven now. This particular casserole reheats well over a double boiler so I could have cooked it any time today and had a quick hot breakfast tomorrow."
"You folks do plan ahead. I need to learn more."
"Jack, you have your book list?"
"In paper format, love. Jason, this two-sided sheet has more than a dozen books with a short synopsis of each one. Topics covered include the Get Home Bag to keep in your vehicle, the Bug Out Bag if you need to leave home, cooking with storage foods of all types whether canned tomatoes or dry beans or the Long Term Storage foods from Mountain House, Wise or others, alternate means of cooking those foods, ways of purifying water if your usual supply isn't available, outhouses and other alternate sanitation, alternate means of heating, making use of available materials for shelter - people do get caught in storms and you might be OK in your vehicle if you have food, water and some extra blankets, ways of starting a fire without matches or a lighter and the books cover lots of other things - even guerilla gardening."
"Do you have…"
"Copies you can read while you're here? Yes. Be aware that we're like the County Library and the books have a coded ID strip in the binding which means they must go through the scanner and be flagged in the security system's computer so the alarm doesn't go off when you take a book out of the house."
"You can run something like that on solar power?"
"It runs on a $30 Raspberry Pi computer running Debian, which is a version of Linux, and the computer only needs about 5 watts except when the monitor is on or the scanner is in use, plus about one watt for the detector at each door or about 10 watts total power."
"I expect there are things other than books that have those ID strips so you know if those things attempt to 'walk off'."
"That's possible."
"I think that's a certainty."
---
"You're going back out, Jack?"
"Love, I need to check on the status of the UPS I loaned Joe to run his CPAP. It's a big unit and he might get three nights' use without recharging it but it needs recharging now. I have a spare set of the 12 volt 35AH batteries it uses and I charged them the day he got the UPS so they're fine. I'll put the batteries and a couple of five gallon water containers in the garden cart along with the tools I'll need to swap the batteries. I know they have a good pantry because Alma cans a lot of what they grow in the garden. Back in 20 minutes unless Joe and Alma want to talk, but I also have a charged burner phone and a powerbank to leave with them so they can let their kids know they are OK."
"Ma'am, is there anything I can do to help?"
"Maybe help Jack with getting those 45lb water jugs up from the basement?"
"I'll also push the cart if he'll let me."
---
Chapter 6
Sunday, 5 October, 9:05AM
Knock! Knock!
"Who's there?"
"Joe, it's Jack Wilson and a helper. Brought you some fresh batteries to keep your CPAP working."
"Let me put down the shotgun and unbar the door."
"Go ahead."
"Y'all come in… Boy, do I know you?"
"Sir, I'm Jason…"
"Williams! You're Jethro's grandson. I'm your great uncle Joe and this is your great aunt Alma. I don't think we've seen you since you were maybe 15."
"But how…"
"Your eyes and your ears, boy. They're just like mine."
"I guess they are. Nice to meet you again, Uncle Joe."
"Where you staying?"
"With Jack. I'm the only member of the power restoral crew that's still here because I asked Jack if I could rent floor space for a sleeping bag instead of driving home in the ice. Seems it will be getting colder upstairs with the county's gas system losing pressure."
"I wondered how long that would last. If you don't mind splitting wood, we have a nice woodstove in here and Alma still has her Princess wood-fired cookstove so we're good for a long time."
"I haven't split any wood since I left home but I remember how. OK to leave my truck at your place, Jack?"
"Of course. I'll feel better about these two if you're here to check on them and you can run those batteries to me for a charged set when needed. I know Joe has a similar cart."
"We'll keep the water so we're not thawing ice today or tomorrow, but you can take the containers back with you, Jack."
"I'll do that."
"And a pint of my pear preserves for caring about a couple of useless old people."
"Alma, anyone who can grow and can a treat like these preserves will never be useless and you should be able to check in with your kids and friends so here's a cell phone and a powerbank to charge it. Jason can get the powerbank to me when it needs charging."
"Some of the magic of your solar power?"
"The magic of an efficient generator the past few days as the solar panels don't produce much power when it's cloudy or rainy or they're covered in ice."
"Generator? I don't remember hearing one run."
"It's running now. Open the door and see if you hear it."
"OK. There's one in the distance but it's too quiet to be at your place."
"Small and very quiet generator in a box with lots of insulation to absorb the sound. It's out behind the house."
"If'n it wasn't so slick out there, I'd want to walk over and see that box. You built a good'n."
"Uncle Joe, Aunt Alma; I'll be back as soon as I pack my things."
"No hurry, boy. Just good to know that we have family close by."
---
"Jack, the furnace started beeping so I turned off its breaker on the generator transfer switch."
"What about the gas logs?"
"Flames look a little low but they're still working. Maybe the central heat using three times the gas the logs use means it can't work with the reduced pressure but the logs can?"
"Excellent analysis, Mrs. Wilson. We'll need to watch the logs as the day progresses and also check the water heater pilot height."
"Will there be enough pressure to run both?"
"Maybe. We can turn the gas logs off while the water heater is active and I can light the kerosene heater and bring it in when the flame is stable. It can be in its usual place in the kitchen so we can put a fan on the counter and blow warm air down the hall to the bedroom."
"What about the running the ceiling fan in the kitchen to push the hot air at the ceiling down to warm the tile floor as thermal mass?"
"I have a small 12 volt ceiling fan that can be put in place temporarily. It only draws six watts so it can be powered directly from the solar backup battery."
"That'll work. Warming the tile floor keeps the room warm for quite a while after the kero heater is taken out and turned off."
"Most alternate warmth ideas are just making the best use of available heat - and being aware of the minimum safe temperatures for pipes in the basement and the like. With the outside temperature hovering around freezing, having just a little heat in the basement should keep the pipes warm."
"That little diesel 'parking' heater?"
"It's rated at a maximum of 5KW or about 17,000BTU. The 'medium' setting on that heater is about 10,000BTU and it should run about 12 hours on a gallon of diesel at that output. That heat level will only warm the area of the basement with exposed pipes by a couple of degrees but that should be adequate."
"It's worked before so it should do the same this time. You have a spare glowplug?"
"Replaced the original Chinese glowplug with a German-made equivalent that should be good for many more hours and the original glowplug can be backup."
"Sounds good. Any other heat we need?"
"Not aware of other heating but I will put the 'smart' NOCO trickle chargers on both vehicles' batteries while the gen is running. Just in case we need to go somewhere. Being out at low speed with headlights on, heater on high, rear defroster on and wipers probably on continuously would be a load on the battery at the low speeds we'd be driving. I'll also plan to put the battery on a bigger charger when a vehicle returns to the garage."
"Chains on both vehicles?"
"Just the truck for now. Plus a couple bags of sand over each rear wheel for better traction and as an aid to getting unstuck - for us or someone else."
"There you go, planning ahead."
"Better than trying to stand upright on ice and push a vehicle."
"True."
---
Chapter 7
Sunday, 5 October, 2:10PM
"What's up, Rob? Having another piece of 7400 volt line break from the ice wouldn't normally get a smile from you."
"It's not that, Jason. The house went up on the multiple listing site about an hour ago and I already have a serious call about it."
"Someone not afraid of the HOA?"
"He's a lawyer and the HOA is courting him because they think he'll be on their side if he's living in their controlled area. What they don't seem to realize is that he's the lawyer that has taken on other 'petty tyrant' HOA groups in the state and those groups have always lost. Between the cash equity we have in the house and the inflated numbers other houses in the area have sold for, we'll have enough cash in hand to buy the house here and pay the movers to box and move everything. With Deidre due this week, she won't be getting much packed."
"That's great! When?"
"As soon as the ice clears. Really need power to show a house and need the roads clear to bring a moving van into this area."
"True, as getting the crane truck with the pole trailer behind it back in place here was not my most pleasant driving experience."
CRACK!
THUD!
"That sounds like it might be more work for us."
"It does at that. Something else to write up for repair and more materials needed?"
"We'll know when we get there. About a block that way?"
"Sounded like it was about there. That puts it near your new house."
---
"It IS my new house!"
"Let's walk around and see what damage you have, Rob."
"Jason, it missed the house by about ten feet."
"No damage on the street side either. Isn't this one of those maple trees that has roots on top of the ground?"
"If it is, then I'm glad it's down. Might need a stump grinder to get some of the bigger roots out. The home center rents stump grinders so I can do that myself."
"Sounds like you're already at home."
"When the deals are finished, we'll be living in a paid-for house with less than half the taxes and with some very capable neighbors. I think that's a place to call 'home'."
---
The End