(Days numbered with respect to the start of the winter storm)
Sunday, January 25, Day 1:
I awoke to find a thin coating of ice on practically every surface outside. Freezing rain was expected to continue throughout the day.
Monday, January 26, Day 2:
More freezing rain. About 150,000 people have no electricity.
Monday night, around midnight, I hear a creaking, groaning sound. First thought: "Oh, s#!t, a limb’s fallen on the house. I take a flashlight and go outside. No, nothing has fallen onto the house. Just the opposite. A limb as fallen onto my electric cut-in line, pulling my meter box, weatherhead, and other conduit onto the ground–taking out a section of roof and fascia board that the weatherhead had previously been attached to.
Oh, well. At least I still had power–but I went ahead and phoned the electric company about the line being on the ground.
Friday, January 30. Day 6
By this time, almost everyone has been turned back on. The electric companies have repaired just about all the affected distribution lines, and they’re down to the individual outages.
Tucker-Babe calls me at work. An electric company employee has come by to inform her that I am to be disconnected today. The electric line on the ground is a safety hazard, and has to be killed. I can’t be turned back on until I have the meter reset. (In my state, the electric company supplies the meters, but you have to get an electrician to set it and wire it up to your house.) Given that there are hundreds–maybe thousands–of us in the same boat in the area, and I am late in getting in line, I find out that it might not be until Wednesday, Feb 4, before an electrician can come out. I am going to be without power for days after almost everyone else has been turned back on!
Sunday, February 1. Day 8
Super Bowl! I don’t have power, so I can’t tape the game, as I have done for many years. However, I do know someone who wasn’t going to be home for the game (party), and asked them if it would be OK if I programmed their VCR to record it. They said, “No problem!”
Tuesday, February 3. Day 10
I get my power back on! They had originally thought it might not be until Wednesday, so this is a great surprise. The carpenters and electricians had made all the repairs in time for the electric company to come back out and reconnect me.
Now I can watch the game!
But no. . . .
I don’t know whether these people ever use their VCR or whether the tape was bad–but it was unwatchable. It definitely recorded the game, but the quality was so poor–it seemed to have a horizontal roll in the picture, sorta like the old-timey TVs used to have.
Not just that–it recorded in SP. So it was unwatchable, and abbreviated, the last thing on the tape was about 6 minutes left in the second half, which I found out when I FFed to the end.
So. . . .
The point of all this is, um, if anyone happened to record the game, and would be willing to spare a copy, I’d appreciate it. (And if it weren’t for that half-time stunt, I’d be posting this on our company bulletin board, but I’m afraid people might get the wrong idea.:eek: )