I returned from my morning stint at the club and Steve asked me to take him to Taco Bell. He has been hungry for a taco for three weeks now, and there was always a reason not to go. This time we went.
We sat down with our food and I turned the TV back on. Or at least that was my intention. I had recently put a framed picture in front of the TV stand, adding to the stack of things to head out for our next, hopefully final, garage sale next month. Room is getting progressively more limited in the house and that’s the spot for pictures meant to go away in some direction other than Minnesota. It wasn’t an issue last night or this morning, so I was a bit puzzled by the TV’s refusal to turn on. I first checked my fingers. They battle with two sets of habits from our switching back and forth between Direct and Dish, so occasionally trip over themselves and hit the wrong keys. That wasn’t the problem.
The power was out. Good thing it’s morning and we have plenty of light. Not so good that Steve’s lift chair is in the up position and he can’t sit in it, more like just propping himself up while perching on the seat. Exhausting! But as he pointed out, at least power didn’t die when he was reclined way back and needing to heed a nature call. He relocated to his office chair, conveniently adjacent to the table for eating his tacos.
Did we have wi-fi? I checked my laptop, fully charged, so running on battery. No wi-fi however, so I guess it needs its own power source. How about the phone? I pulled it out of my pocket, pulled up the electric company’s number, and pushed the button. Nada. The nearest cell tower must be down as well.
This is when, despite what I just learned, that I began to indulge in paranoia. Had I, in the recent chaos, forgotten to pay the electric bill? It’s usually one of the first in the month. I had no way to go online to check billing status nor to call the company and check with them. Bugger!
I still had my shoes on, usually by now off for comfort, so grabbed my phone and went wandering. I clearly recall back when I was wearing a cardiac monitor connected to cell service to register “events”, that there were places in the house which did work and others which didn’t. We are between towers and have competing signals. Supposedly it’s a back-up system. Perhaps one tower in the area still works and a short walk around the house will pick it up.
It worked. Nothing in the front yard, so I tried the back. By the time I went through the gate, my phone rang the power company. They have an interesting system that keeps them from having to actually talk with customers. Or at least I presume that’s their goal. We can be grouchy after all.
“You have reached “_____” Power. I see you are calling from “___ ___ ____”. Is your address “_________”?
“Yes”.
“We show a power outage in your area which started at 11:11 AM due to an unscheduled equipment malfunction. It is estimated to be repaired at approximately 2:15 PM.Do you wish a callback when it has been fixed?”
“No.” I figure we’ll be home and well aware when power is restored. We have a battery clock in the living room, things to do in the meantime if our own energy can be restored while we wait on electricity. There are still books, boxes to be packed, naps to take as needed, things to clean in rooms with windows - meaning I can forget the other bathroom - so why ask for getting somewhere in a lineup delaying the next customer? (FYI Turned out power was restored in less than an hour, or about 20 minutes after my call.)
I hung up on the machine, one unanswered question left with nobody to ask. Do they have any scheduled equipment malfunctions?
It might be interesting to know, after all.
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Addendum: now that I can function online again, after posting this I checked my email. previously blocked by power loss. Sure enough, there was a notice that we had a current power outage in the area, and of course it was time stamped for when we couldn't receive it. Glad my head scratching doesn't produce dandruff flakes.
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