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Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The Odyssey Continues

Day Five.
Overnight, at 2:00 a.m it will be 120 hours that we have been without electricity from the grid. National Grid’s “Outages by County” webpage still shows 26,362 households in Worcester County alone, still without power. They are targeting tomorrow evening, just before midnight, as the estimated time for restoration to be completed. Having driven through a number of towns, we’ve seen that all of the crews have been doing an amazing job of undoing the damage Mother Nature wrought in just a few hours. Tonight, as we did last night, when we shut down the generator we will switch the main back on. We’d hate to miss the power being restored! (With the main circuit breaker off, there is no possibility that the electricity created by our generator, can flow out over the lines and into the grid, thereby putting utility line workers at risk.) But if all is still quiet in the morning, we will carefully shut off the main and switch the generator back on.

This afternoon I suddenly realized that Christmas is just a week and a day away and Chanukah begins at sundown this Sunday the 21st! Yikes! Between the two week visit to Washington and this most recent adventure, the holidays have been very far from my mind. So this afternoon, with the aid of the generator, we began printing our holiday cards. With any luck at all, the post office will have some bright and cheerful stamps left and we can get the cards on their way. After that, I need to make a list - a long list I fear, of things still to be done!

6 comments:

purpleronnie said...

Oh goodness, sounds like something I should be doing. I still havent' bought any gifts! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Ms Brown Mouse said...

I hope you get some lovely stamps. Over here you can design your own (sort of) and every year I forget.

Sue said...

Shew - I can't believe that you're still sitting without power. Fingers (and toes) crossed that you are blessed with electricity again soon. It's amazing how reliant we are on electricity in today's world. Thank goodness you managed to get your hands on a generator!!

Sue x

barbie2be said...

i worked on the rest of my cards last night. i have one more special one to make for roommate L and then i can check that chore off my list.

it has been positively frigid around here. no where near your temps but for my area it rarely gets below the 40's. it was 31 when i left the house this morning.

when it gets so cold like this i worry about all the homeless people. it must be horrible beyond belief to not have a home and heat in weather like this.

Anonymous said...

warm thoughts heading your way....keep me posted xxoo Carrie

Pink Granite said...

Hi Ronnie -
Good luck with the last minute shopping and getting ready for Sarah's first Christmas! How exciting!
;o)
- Lee

Hi DMM -
We chose the Celebrate because we really disliked the Christmas ones this year and the Chanukah ones were too ho hum. I know you can design stamps over here as well, but I've never tried it. Maybe next year?
;o)
- Lee

Hi Sue -
We are so very dependent on electricity!
We feel as if this was the perfect time to make the leap to a generator and it has worked out great!
;o)
- Lee

Hi B2B -
31 F in California - or anywhere - is pretty darn nippy!
The thought of ever being homeless is terrible. But to be without shelter under extreme weather conditions is so dangerous.
- Lee

Hi Carrie -
Thank you!
All is well and we're looking forward to Thursday!
;o)
- A.L.