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My power outage experience


chevysoldier

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So yesterday I was standing outside on my front deck, wearing slippers, tshirt and shorts, watching the storm come in. Bike was sitting outside with the cover on it, kickstand was facing toward the storm. No sooner did the thought of "Either I should turn my bike around so the kick stand will help keep it up or maybe I should take it out back" went through my head when all of a sudden the wind picked up out of now and I watched my bike tip over. It seemed like it was in slow motion but I couldn't get to it in time to keep it upright. Now it's pouring rain and I am trying to get the cover off the bike so I can lift it back up. I'm tripping on my slippers and one falls off and gets blown away. (I found it today under a car not too far away.) Finally got the cover off, at this point I am soaked and have forgotten my phone is in my pocket but it ended up being ok. Never realized how heavy my bike is until it was laying on it's side. Well I got it upright, started it and pulled it around back. I put it in the corner of the house and my grill. I figure if it blew over again, it'd just lean up against the grill or building. Quick assessment showed a slightly bent right clip on and a scuff on the right fairing. Not too bad, still rideable.

Earlier today, power had been out for nearly 24 hours and as many of you might be aware I have two fish tanks. One of witch is completely planted so it needs the lights. Well no electric means no lights, heaters, air pump or filters. Temperature stayed right on the mark so that's good. But I needed to get some light and filtration going to I got the car and hooked up my 350W power inverter. Couple of extension cords and I was able to rotate the tanks on it.

I let them run for a couple hours before turning the car off. About an hour later I was sitting in the car charging my phone when my neighbor comes out and tells me power is back on. Awesome!

So now tanks are back up and running and the AC is cooling the house down. Anyways, just a short rant of how it went for me.

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I came home once and found a storm had blown one of mine over in the driveway. It tipped into the wind, which was weird, but mostly landed on soft lawn grass, and one mirror hit a chain link fence, breaking the mirror. I used to be able to jerk a 500-600 pound bike off it's side with one hand. Half of it is just falling backwards to bring it up. Definitely thinking that's no longer possible.

edit: I mean I'd try it with some bike other than mine, ha.

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Still no power at my place. Got my phone plugged into the car jumper pack to keep it charged. The oil lamp providing light and some truly un-needed extra heat. :( Gotta say it is rather ironic sitting down reading the Cabela's add that arrived today. Drooling over the muzzle loaders in the flickering candlelight. Almost let's you know what it must have been like 150 years ago when our ancestors did the same thing.

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Still no power at my place. Got my phone plugged into the car jumper pack to keep it charged. The oil lamp providing light and some truly un-needed extra heat. :( Gotta say it is rather ironic sitting down reading the Cabela's add that arrived today. Drooling over the muzzle loaders in the flickering candlelight. Almost let's you know what it must have been like 150 years ago when our ancestors did the same thing.

Cabelas ads 150 years ago...bet those were interesting. Lol

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Ok, so not quite 150 years. Sears had there first print catalog in 1894. And being they used to sell guns you could at least enjoy your gun porn by candlelight by that point in time. :). Looks like power is getting closer to my place. I ran out for some ice cream and the traffic lights are working 2 blocks closer than they were at dinner.

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After the story hit Minster we still had power but my dad had 6 trees that were down or at least had the tops taken off. So after 4 hours of hulking brush back and forth to the town dump I went to leave and the light on the corner went green, yellow, off. Which is really weird considering the storm was long gone. But we got it back about 1:30 AM.

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I hope you get power soon. My brother in law works for dp&l he just got home from work after 36 hrs. And I do believe the have called crews in from out of state. Hope they get your power on soon.

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I hope you get power soon. My brother in law works for dp&l he just got home from work after 36 hrs. And I do believe the have called crews in from out of state. Hope they get your power on soon.

Thanks! I may have to go crash at your brothers place tomorrow! My freezer

Is still frozen, and my booze cold, for now... Lol

-VanDy

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My story is pretty uneventful. The worst of it for me was having to get buckets of water to flush the toilet, helping the neighbor fix their generator, and having to deal with idiot drivers.

We were without power through 9:00 am today.

Side note: If I see anyone else post on FB talking about their "gennie" I'm going to go through the internet lines and choke them! :nono:

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Westerville lost power til about 10:30 pm Friday. Some patches here and there still out but mostly up and running.

The problem we're having up here is people coming in from elsewhere that have no power. People driving 30-40 miles to go to McDonalds, laundrymat, gas station, Giant Eagle. The reason it's a problem is because it's already choas and those that drove for an hour or so are getting pissed at the chaos. For the most part people are goosd about it but you get the few that think that because they drove so far that they get special treatment.

Everyone just needs to take a pill and relax. I know it sucks but we'll all get there.

Traffic lights are a big problem too. No one is treating them as four way stops. Everyone has the "Me First" attitude. It's like the Keystone Cops out there (if you're old enough to know who the Keystone Cops are).

For those that don't click here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx9Tovevx6w&feature=player_detailpage

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Yeah, power outages and short tempers never go well together. I'm okay up here in the Akron/Canton area but I've been through some extended outages back home from hurricanes including one that lasted over two weeks.

One thing that is different, though, is that we know to treat all traffic light outages as four way stops.

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"..Westerville power back at 10:30pm Friday..."

Sorta. On at 5:30pm Saturday, off at 8:00 pm, back on at 10:45 pm. So far.

Due to the brainpower of the contractor Westerville hired to upgrade our underground wires, my spruce got blown over onto my truck. Cut all the roots on one side and that'll happen.

Will be sending them a bill, unsure how well that will work.

picture.php?albumid=1460&pictureid=16277picture.php?albumid=1460&pictureid=16278picture.php?albumid=1460&pictureid=16279

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"..Westerville power back at 10:30pm Friday..."

Sorta. On at 5:30pm Saturday, off at 8:00 pm, back on at 10:45 pm. So far.

Due to the brainpower of the contractor Westerville hired to upgrade our underground wires, my spruce got blown over onto my truck. Cut all the roots on one side and that'll happen.

Will be sending them a bill, unsure how well that will work.

picture.php?albumid=1460&pictureid=16277picture.php?albumid=1460&pictureid=16278picture.php?albumid=1460&pictureid=16279

Yuck. Better the truck than your house though.

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I some how dodged the storms twice. I drove up the the lake Friday and never got a drop of rain. My house in cbus lost power but thankfully I have very little food in the fridge. Came back yesterday only to have storms hit my parents. They have damage and lost power. My dad is about to go nuts since the in laws are in town and he can't get away from them.

If anyone in cbus needs to borrow a chain saw I have one.

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Now you tell me. Good to know for later though.

I came home Friday to find that my Weber gas grill had completely fallen over on my deck, and all my patio furniture was pushed over to one side. I waited until the worst was over, then went outside and righted the grill. Since I had no power but did have water pressure, I cleaned the grill grates and grabbed a beer. I was without power on Friday for about 12 hours, Sunday for about 2 minutes.

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