January 15, 2006

That sucked...er, blows

Our power just came back on a little bit ago. It went out early yesterday afternoon. In almost 16 years living here, that 22 hour stretch sans electricity exceeded the old record by about 16 hours.

The culprit is the wind. It's been relentless for the last couple of days, and trees and power lines are down all over the area. Throw in intermittent rain, some blowing snow and bone-chilling wind chill temps, and it's been fun fun fun.

We couldn't get an estimate on how long before power would be restored, so I took matters into my own hands and this morning headed to the grocery store for bags of ice. Not two hours later the lights flickered on. It always happens that way, you just have to use it to your advantage, eh?

In the meantime, our monthly club rocket launch was scrubbed. We can deal with rain and snow and most everything else Mother Nature can fling, but we can't launch in high winds. And of course, today is bright and sunny and the wind is still whipping ass, so no rockets for Ted this weekend.

On the plus side, it's amazing how much stuff you can get done when you're not parked in front of the computer.

Posted by: Ted at 03:47 PM | category: Square Pegs
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1 Yeah,Ted,I was one of the few who did manage to get in a flight before it was called off.I figured that with high winds and all I was gonna go the cheap and disposable theme this weekend so I started with my newly built Flis Tumbleweed.I figured I might stand a chance of keeping an eye on it if I "just" flew it on a 1/2A-2.Weeeeell it may as well have been an M motor.In typical mosquitoish fashion it jumped to put it mildly.Now with the Tumbleweed the motor isn't supposed to kick out on ejection but rather just to shift rearward.Well mine did come out.As light as it is it absolutely took off on the wind.It had to because two kids found it(thanks again fellas!)way out past the high powered pads down over the hill.I'm very fortunate.I probably don't have to tell you what the recovery rate is on those style rockets even on a perfect day.
Besides that Ken and I where again the last to leave.I have to thank him for sticking around to take care of totalling an order for me.All kinds of goodies on the way as well as already recieved.Kid in a candy store!Something else I probably don't have to explain,huh?
Anyhow I stuck around and helped him pack up and by the time it was done we where frozen solid.Our hands where so numb we could hardly move `em.Maw nature must not have thought the wind wasn't raw enough so she decided to water it down a bit.One of the last things I said to Ken before leaving was;"I'll bet it's snowing on the mountain".Sure enough!We wound up with around four inches last night and the wind chill was brutal.It was already down to 22 degrees when I got home yesterday so I can't imagine how cold it was at about 6 this morning.I forgot to look.

Posted by: Russ at January 15, 2006 08:57 PM (ObxzR)

2 I hope nothing ended up spoiling in the 'fridge! Did you all stay nice and cozy, at least...?

I grew up in a very rural area of Texas, and the power lines were notorious for going down at the least hint of ice or lightning. The longest stretch was three days. To this day it's still the family habit to stock up on canned goods and non-perishables, just in case. Never mind the fact that the area filled up with people and the roads got paved and the power lines were overhauled...Mom still insists on keeping the pantry filled and emergency contingencies planned. I can see her reasoning, though--sometimes ya never know, yanno?

I hope you weather the weather fine and get a chance to blow stuff up soon, hon!

--TwoDragons

Posted by: Denita TwoDragons at January 15, 2006 10:35 PM (hxlbJ)

3 I'm curious, since it was bone chilling weather outside why didn't you put transfer the refrigerated items outdoors? When ts happened to me I simply get a box and put them out in the fire escape until the power comes back. Heck it was so cold this weekend in nyc I could haved made my own ice out doors or used the snow before the puppy's got to it! : )

Posted by: michele at January 16, 2006 08:29 PM (v0KRJ)

4 bone chillin' winds up here, too. And with the holiday bus schedule, I mistaken ly got to the bus stop 5 minutes before I thought the bus would arrive and ended up waiting 50 minutes for it. Brr-rr-rr-rr!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at January 17, 2006 12:01 AM (i1jt5)

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