Or as Rick said in Casablanca: “I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.”
Well the best laid plans, as our Scottish friend Robert Burns noted in similar language, often go astray. I was ready to leap full bore into blogging, reconnecting with my friends, posting new thoughts, reading comments, writing comments, and generally restoring my blog presence. Then, right in the middle of a Zoom conversation, we received a tornado warning and fled to the basement. Then the power went out. And stayed out.
I would like to think that there was no connection between Eversource, our power company, having their rate increase revoked last week and their failure to prepare for 70 mile an hour winds forecast for Tuesday across Connecticut. That would be easier to believe if the other power company in the state, United Illuminating, hadn’t planned accordingly. But they had. “Surprised by the storm, ” Eversource lost power for 800,000 Connecticut households by Tuesday night. And so inept they were unable to say more than “we are assessing the damage” for two days. Even their web site to report outages crashed because “we don’t have the manpower to keep our web site current.”
We lost all the food in the refrigerator. We lost all the ice cream in the freezers. Fortunately freezers are able to keep things in general frozen for 48 hours if the door is left closed. We regained our power after 47 hours, and most meat and poultry stayed solidly frozen. Many other residents are emptying their freezers as I write. And the two large grocery stores near us have had to throw out all fresh and frozen goods. This at a time when many citizens are going hungry because our national government continues to squabble over benefits. Sadly they can’t eat the spoiled food, though I suspect there are some officials who are wondering why not.
The underbelly of the United States is on full view for the world right now. It is not a pretty picture.
Saved By Words 
47 hours with no power is unacceptable in a modern developed country like the US. At least you only lost your ice cream, and had freezer food left to eat. I have to agree that it does sound like something spiteful and deliberate.
Best wishes, Pete.
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As you can read today, 47 hours was better than half of my fellow citizens.
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Wasted food makes me absolutely crazy. Not only are people going hungry, but if you think about all the energy, time, labor, and even animals’ lives that went into producing that food, it is such a tragic waste.
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And needless too!
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I remember a year that a hurricane made it to central Alabama. It hit the rural area we were in and the power was out for a week. I lost two freezers of food, and a new refrigerator. Electrical surge hit it.
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I did have the sense to disconnect everything I could think of. I have learned some things over 73 years! I was very glad that the meat stayed frozen. It is quite an investment these days!
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Several times we were without power on Long Island for a week. We’d go dark after hurricanes and blizzards, hot and cold. Our population was not dense, so we were the last to have power restored. I’m glad yours didn’t last too long and that you lost the food only in the refrigerator.
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Did you get a generator? From the noise we heard with the windows open to cool off, it was clear that several of our neighbors own them.
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Yes. Getting a generator was one of the first things we did. In six years, we’ve never been without power for a whole day. We’re glad we have it, because we wouldn’t have water. The pump for the well is electric.
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That is on our list for this fall.
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I think it’s a good move. We’re glad we have our generator, even if it is a bit of overkill.
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Sorry to hear this Elizabeth. It does make you want to say rude words!
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I did spare you my saltier responses.
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In the depression era, rural electrification became available. The problem was getting electricity out to areas farthest away. So, Massachusetts (perhaps other states) allowed towns at “the last mile” to establish their own electric department. It was a short window of opportunity, and not many towns said yes. Fortunately our small town of Groton established our Groton Electric Light Department. We’re independent. The cost is low, and service is remarkable. We are very lucky. Hats off to the independent operators. There is no excuse for what people go through in other towns and cities. Service can be restored if everything has been maintained. What you went through is terrible, Elizabeth.
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That was true in Oregon also. I have no idea how Eversource has gone so far with so abominable service and rates.
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I’m glad to know that was true in Oregon, too. Our neighboring towns have the big electric companies as their providers, and 1) The power goes off in any big storm 2) Their rates are expensive. Sounds like Eversource.
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May even be Eversource. They are up into Massachusetts too.
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The name is familiar.
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The hits keep coming in 2020. Three of the last four years, we’ve had wildfire problems in California. Last November, our power company (the only game in town) began turning the power off when the winds picked up. There were at least three-four occasions last year in November and December. Sometimes the power was off for a few days. I’m already thinking about having to endure another year of that to top things off.
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We have been contemplating a generator. We have been reluctant to do so, but the upcoming hurricane season has us thinking about it. I shudder to think of a fire season there on top of covid. As my granddaughter says, “What’s next, raining frogs?”
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Yikes! Sorry to hear of your plight! And glad your power was finally restored!
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Thanks. It is still an ordeal for 1/4 of the state. They really cannot get their act together.
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The longest we were without power in Florida during hurricane season was seven days, but some communities suffered longer. We lost all our food and showered in cold cold water. Here in the mountains, we have a whole house generator because of all the trees and the rural nature of where we live. We have a well, so power to the water pump is essential for flushing toilers and having water for anything. We lose power frequently.
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We are going to put in a natural gas fed generator after having two major and several minor outages in the past few years.
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It makes a huge difference.
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Power companies all over – ones that control large areas – never seem to well equipped when “raging weather happens” – and modern technology of reporting via website other, never seems to be fully equipped either.
Right now my region in New Zealand has a town water supply shortage. The powers to be have never thought about sorting out the growing population in the biggest city v where they store the water…and interestingly they are some of the biggest salary earners which hasn’t made the ordinary folk feel they are entitled to all that dough…
Good to hear that you’ve back on deck at least in your neck of the woods…
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That is absolutely insane….and just days after I wrote a post on food waste. 😐
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You got it!
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I agree that so many crises are revealing “the underbelly” right now…!
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Sad for me since I already lived through a thorough airing of ugliness in the 60’s.
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