Fire.
Yeah.
On Thursday, I was getting really fed up that we STILL had no power. Worse, I had to endure it because I soon discovered I wasn't going to be called into work. So, I had to ride the whole thing out. Well, at least till the afternoon when my dad brought the generator over for the day, at least giving me a nice dose of TV.
Still, I had to do whatever I could to keep busy. Biked around the block a few times, played solitaire (I am damn good at that game) and continue to listen for updates on my radio. I went in my backyard and down into the wooded area. I used to hang out there with my cousins, there's this neat fort thing which is a bunch of trees and wood and crap forming a circle that we used to hang out at. I have no idea who built it, but it was neat, and had a trail behind it leading to the lake. Not anymore. I don't recognize it anymore. There were more trees down than I could imagine, forming a maze of branches and huge roots sticking out of the ground. I tried to find that clearing with the fort, but couldn't. I hit a dead end, there was simply a wall of trees. It was quite the obstacle course, but keep in mind this is very thick woods, and I couldn't go around without risking getting lost.
That night, some cherry pickers came down the street. I felt like an Iraqi first seeing the U.S forces fight back Saddam's regime, well, at least without getting a bomb dropped on my house. They started clearing trees that were leaning against power lines. They weren't power trucks, but still, after a week of nothing, this was an encouraging development. The power company is now clear to come in and fix things, whenever that may be.
Later, my uncle came to pick up the generator. He said he noticed that just up the street has power now. Yeah, that sucks, but hey, his next door neighbor has power and he doesn't. So do the people across the street. There are only 5 houses including him on his street with no power. Needless to say, he was extremely pissed. He's got a nasty temper. If either of us got power, we'd be happy. The other could keep the generator full time, which would have been enough. He also said he noticed sparks coming from a power line up the street.
we unhooked the generator just as he left, and my dad decided to turn on the breaker, just in case they restore power later on. Wouldn't you know it, the lights flickered on! We had POWER! As it would turn out, the whole community had it, but our neighbors don't because their service lines are down. Go figure.
So, we are pretty estatic, and hop in the car to happily return the generator, which they now have as long as they want. At my cousin's house, he shows me around how the street has no power. He's pretty pissed that my out of the way home has power and he doesn't. Later, my uncle is about to call the power company and take a scraping off them, when the phone rings. My uncle answers, and says something to my dad in french. My dad gets up and says we're leaving. He said there's something happened back home, and the fire department was there.
My dad races home, and my uncle follows. I feel sick wondering what's happening. After all this, now there's a fire problem at my house. We arrive to see the power company and a fire truck outside. Power crews and firemen are checking out the house. My mom and sister are out by the driveway, holding the puppy with a very shaken look on their faces. My house, however, looks fine. We pull up to a fireman who explains the line to the telephone pole frayed and caught fire, causing a small fire to the siding. The power company put it out and the fire department, who was up the street responding to a similar call (Remember what my cousin said?) is inspecting the house. My dad starts cursing and losing his temper, and my mom is starting to cry also. No one was hurt, but it shook us up alot. They let us back in, and say they'll restore our power as soon as they find the problem. Disappointed, I was going to go to bed when I noticed the power company came back to our pole to work on it again. A few mniutes later, the power came back. Everyone calmed down, and things were back to normal.
Well, sort of. The surge melted our cable lines, meaning no cable and no internet. We still had satellite, but my TV seems to be damaged by the surge. I'm not sure if I can fix it or not. For the next week or so, we must serve as a bed and breakfast for our neighbors. We lend my uncle's generator to one, and we let them use our showers and sleep in our heated house. They had to wait 12 days before power was restored.
So, I go back to school after missing an entire week. A fair amount of people didn't have power for awhile. A nearby school had it's gym roof collapse and it's brand new floor ruined. Well, now I have to look forward to this week, where I have a dance and a driving test on the same day. Hmm...