It's strange, but when we have storms, wind, and heavy rain, we rarely have an electricity outage. However, on a mild, sunny, slightly breezy day, we lose all power. I blame it on drivers who decide to "pole park." It doesn't seem feasible that that many drivers run into power poles on a clear day, does it? Do you have frequent/infrequent outages, and what causes them?
Never! We must have one of the best suppliers in the area/state. I can count on one hand how many times the electricity has been out since we moved here 20 years ago. they keep the lines free from all tree limbs. they hire a tree trimming crew to clear the lines every year. If we call about something they are out to fix it immediately. We had a tree fall on the transformer during an ice storm about 10 years ago and they cleared a huge row of trees away from the lines that run up the edge of our property...at no charge to us.
So, how do you get online with no electricity? Here is frequently fried squirrel or birdie that causes non-storm related outages. They get into things like transformers and substation equipment. Also, construction workers with backhoes and such have a bad habit of digging into underground lines. And sometimes it is a driver parking in the poles.
One of the many problems related to living in the city is not the frequency of outages but there are usually so many homes and businesses affected it takes quite a while sometimes for power to be restored. We don't have outages nearly as often as we did 27 yrs ago when we first moved into this house. Over the years the company maintaining the lines has changed to a better outfit and they have been putting in newer lines. Our 'supplier' is not the problem, it's the trees, cars hitting light poles, lightning taking out transformers, high wind/heavy rain/hail knocking down lines and sometimes just the age of lines. If our power is out for any long length of time we take Randy's laptop to our favorite coffee shop and use their free wi-fi. Ours went out in the storm this morning about 6, was back on in roughly 3 hours...we weren't the only ones involved.
Nightowl, we don't get online when the power is out! We just light candles and kerosene lamps, fire up the grill, and hope the outage is temporary. If it isn't, we have a wood-burning stove for winter outages, and hand-held fans (the kind funeral homes give out) for summer outages. We check on a couple of neighbors who may not have heat in the winter (makes for some great parties when they come over bearing casseroles and smiles)and in the summer we all suffer together. How on earth anyone survived in Texas before the advent of air conditioning, I do not know!
I thought you meant that your power was down when you posted this. Thankfully, I also have wood heat so we at least have heat for winter outages. In the summer they are miserable, especially if it is long enough to ruin things in the fridge. If we have no power, we have no water, so I keep jugs of water handy for emergencies. I also have candles and kerosene lamps to use. The last time the power was out, it was out over 6 hours and my kerosene lamps did not behave right. The flame would not go down when I adjusted the wick. Does anyone know how to fix that problem? I had to put them out because it was too dangerous to use them like that. We did not have kerosene lamps when I was growing up. I cannot remember any power outages at all, and we had lots of snow and ice storms with major accumulations.
We get very few outages in this general area, thankfully. We did lose power a week or so ago, during a very major storm, but it was back on again within 30 minutes.
