Gridlines

After today, I'm really beginning to think that the Amish might have it right when it comes to electricity!

Otter came over to do her laundry today.  She called me to let me know that not all the lights in the house were coming on, and the ones that were coming on were not very bright.  I told her to call Bill, he thought maybe it was a fuse or breaker.  He told her that she should be able to do her laundry.  She got the washer started, then when she went back to check on it she discovered that the washer controls showed it was finished.  But the washer was full of water and it didn't look like it had done anything at all beyond filling up.  That's when she called me again, and I came home (I took an early lunch.)  We checked a few things and then I restarted the washer.  No water came in, but it did start to agitate a bit - not much.  I talked to Bill and he told me to check the breaker box.  Everything looked good, he had me flip one a see if anything happened - nothing.  Otter and I lined her laundry basket with a trash bag and then we took all her damp and soapy clothing out of the washer.  We got as much water out as we could, then we put it in the bag-lined basket and I followed her up to the closest laundromat.  I gave her enough quarters to get her laundry done, we didn't need any more detergent for it.  I left to go back to work, she said it washed ok and she also used the dryers.

Bill took off a couple of hours early.  He thought it might be a specific fuse, so he went to get a replacement.  He came home and put it in, and discovered that it wasn't any better.  Being an Engineer who works around electricity at times, he got out his tools including the multi-meter and he started checking things.  He discovered that only have the electric current that should have been coming into the house was actually coming in.  I called the electric company and *RHTW started the conversation with them.  I think I scared the girl who answered - which actually doesn't bother me - and she agreed it was an emergency and told me that she'd get a crew sent out. I told her I wanted her name and her word on it.  I also told her that if we had any choice other than their services we would have already switched.  It was just about time for me to leave work by then, so I headed out and got my 2 errands done - mailbox to drop mail in on the way home and Subway to get dinner to bring home in case we were unable to cook anything.  But the electric company did what they said (for once!) and they got a crew out here.  They were just finishing up.

It seems that one half of the new lines they buried 2 months ago (the ones that have absolutely nothing to do with my house other than being attached to the box in my yard) failed.  There is now a very large, long cable now stretching from the back yard of the neighbor to the west (the one we don't like), running up the fence line in my yard, beside the fence line of the dog yard, through the gate of the dog yard, across the dog yard and up to the box outside my wall.  And they say they'll be out to bury it in 2 weeks.  The foreman did call me after they left, he thought maybe he'd been rude to me but I didn't think so.  However, I did tell him that I appreciated him calling me back.  He was appalled at how bad the back yard looks and that it's been over 2 months now, incidentally.

Bill ran the washer through a full cycle and it seems to be working.  The house was getting a little warm since the a/c wasn't able to get enough power to work but it's working now and is cooling.  Maggie is still asleep, where she's been for the last few hours.  But then the words "energy crisis" are almost perfect to describe her.

I really, really, REALLY need the next week off.  I'm pretty sure that if I see a certain phone number (Younger Boss) on my caller id - I'm going to let it go to voice mail!

*RHTW.  She gets responses.