Thursday, June 12, 2008

Remember That One Time, With the Firetruck?

Good times, people, good times.

So, on Tuesday night we had some awesome storms come through. The girls and I sat by the screen door to the back deck, and we watched the tress dance and the raindrops tickled us and the cold wind had us share a blanket. We had a fun time! Then some major thunder and lightening started and we talked about how the cold air and the hot air were argueing about who should be able to come to our house. Then bed time.

Right after I put both girls down, I came downstairs and saw this huge white flash and a loud boom. The power pole about 50 feet from our house got hit and had some branches on it that had small flames and were sparking and smoking and you could smell the burning. We called BGE, they told us to call the fire department. About 15 minutes later the fire truck goes past our house, stops, turns around and goes past again and stops. At this point I turn to hubby and say, "If a fire truck can't get up our driveway we are putting our house on the market tomorrow".

Turns out we think they thought the fire was on a stree pole. We called them back and at this point it was raining and the rain was putting the sparks, small flames out. The fire department tells us to call BGE back and say there is no flames, just trees on the line and that way BGE will come handle it.

Well, BGE did come and remove some of the branches, but couldn't reach them all... so we have flickering power.

But we have on internet. So we called Comcast. Apparently there is a known internet outage in our area. Hubby asked how large the outage was... 5 people. Dude, we live in the boonies so we can expect this NOT to get fixed anytime soon... blah.

And this is how smart I am... I put together a lovely crock pot meal this morning, after sleeping in because the alarm didn't go off (did I mention flickering power?). Chicken, lots of summer veggies, balsmic vinegar... and then Hubby is like "don't get too excited for that meal"... cause freaking DUH, we have flickering power. So basically at my house I am making salmanella soup. Yay me.

**Updated to respond to Jess** Um, I walk 7 blocks from my parking garage to my building right now... temporary until October. So I am not lugging the crock pot :) Bad enough lugging my laptop bag.

7 comments:

Jessica said...

Take the crockpot to work and cook it!!

And that is just wild about the 'fire'...yikes!

Cheri (aka "The Mom Lady") said...

When we lived in Trinidad, the pole outside our house, that served 6 customers, surged and in the dead of night, all our lights came on and the bulbs BURST, flames started shooting out of the outlets, very scary indeed.

We called the next morning to the electric company to find out how to claim all the damage due to the surge - fried compressor on the fridge, stereo equipment - all had been on surge protectors no less. Forms to fill out. Calls to make. More forms to submit. Visit by "company expert". Only for them to claim that the WAY our house was connected to the pole was incorrect and that was OUR problem, not theirs. No matter that all 6 houses had the SAME THING HAPPEN.

This is Trinidad, a tiny island in the Caribbean. Where evidently you can't fight city hall. So I lick my wounds, pay for repairs and claim some on my insurance. Then the electric bill came. We were CHARGED for the surge to the tune of TWO THOUSAND US DOLLARS! I freaked OUT! Our company paid our electric bill (we were expats and had policies covering our overseas housing) and I wanted them to contest it. But evidently this happens all the time and they said, "We won't win so we just pay". I was aghast! But VERY glad WE didn't have to pay it!

So my utmost sympathies with your "dirty electricity" (as we called it). At least you have US law to protect you...I think. :)

InTheFastLane said...

Yum...salmanila soup. Sounds delicious.

Mommy said...

I would have taken that crock pot to Betty's.

Anonymous said...

The wind blows here and he power goes out. Hate that. Couple of years ago there was a huge storm that knocked out power to 2-300,000 people. They were calling in tree trimming crews from all over the gulf states to come and clear lines and trim trees. Amazing how long it took. Some people were without power for a month.

Knot

Unknown said...

Glad that no real damage has been done! Glad that you are all safe too. I hope that you have full power soon if not already!

Sarcasta-Mom said...

What a bummer to loose the soup :( Luckily, you didn't loose anything more serious.