Average Jane Is Back Online!

We had a huge storm on Thursday night that fried one of our two
incoming power lines at the pole around 1:30 a.m. Friday morning. My
husband said that the winds sounded like a freight train roaring past
the house. I slept right through it.

If I needed any proof that I’m an Internet addict, it came yesterday in the form of the power outage, which affected our modem, my office, the TV, the stove, our garage and studio, etc. It also knocked out power to our refrigerator, but our house is wired so weirdly that I only needed to run an extension cord about three feet away to get it running again.

I had already taken the day off from work on Friday and was planning to go to Coffee Morning, get my oil changed, etc. Thanks to the power outage, my car was trapped in the garage, so I didn’t get make it to any of my planned appointments. The lack of Internet access practically drove me insane. I don’t know what I would have done without my mobile phone.

I called the power company at around 5:00 a.m. and they were supposed to get the outage taken care of by 8:30 a.m. They didn’t show, so I hauled my laptop more than a mile on foot to Einstein Bros. Bagels, only to discover that they didn’t have wifi. What kind of coffee shop doesn’t have wifi!?!

The only silver lining in that whole scenario is that I had fun taking photos on the walk back. It’s really hard to photograph a squirrel, did you know that?

There was always the option of pulling the garage door opener emergency release cords, but every time I’ve ever done that, I’ve had to have an expensive service call to reconnect it, so I was hesitating in the hope that the power company would eventually arrive. Around 2:00 p.m. I gave up and freed my car.

When I got home from my evening activities around 8:00 p.m., I was getting seriously irritated about the lack of repair, so I called the automated system again. I got a message back saying something to the effect of, "We see that your meter is running, so you’re good. KTHXBYE!" Aaaagggghhh! That’s why I reported a partial outage!

I called again to try to clarify via the robot system. They finally came and fixed our power at 12:30 a.m. after my husband and I had already gone to sleep out of pure boredom. I went out in my frumpy pink robe to make sure the workmen knew what the problem was, but they’d identified it already on their own.

So now I’m back, folks! Today I’m spending the day in White Cloud, Kansas and its neighboring town, Sparks, at their giant annual flea markets. I may not buy much, but I’m planning on taking lots of pictures.

What do you have planned this weekend? If you’re local, did you make it through the storm okay?