Yes, he did work in the mill for quite a while (they are telling me), and then he had a trucking company there.
I've been sitting here in the dark for the past several hours. We had a storm today and the power has been out. Fortunately, my MacBook holds a charge for a long time. I'm using the hotspot on my iPhone though, and that won't last as long. I have a generator but I don't feel like trying to hook it up in the dark, at least not this close to bed time. Of course, my wife will be nagging me about not having already hooked it up. We've only had it for about four months now.
@Ken Anderson " .......I have a generator....." Our place in MO was close to the end of the feeder line from the power company's distribution point in Park Hills, about 60 miles east. The power poles dated mostly back to the days when power was run along our road: many recalled living there as kids without electric power. Consequently, ice loading (common in winter) often caused poles to break, winds were likely the second common cause, and power outages averaged at least one a month. Diligent though the repair crews were, they had to travel 60 miles or more to the location of the failure. Usually, outages were less than a day in duration, so no food spoiled in the fridge or freezer. I had an old 2000-watt generator which survived the trip from AZ, but it was aged and very hard to start, as well as inadequate to run the household. One particular outage dragged out for days.....on the morning of the 3rd., I drove the 55 miles to Rolla, and picked up a 6,000 watt unit, set it up in the rear of the house outside, and plugged it into a 220 volt socket I had installed outside. With no transfer switch, this meant my hookup was powering the house in reverse, basically, the mains in the breaker panel being energized by the generator. Using the water heater and electric range could overload the gen., so water heater was switched off when cooking. Rest of the house just fine. Light, well-water. Life of Riley! Frank EDIT: Once, I forgot to shut off the main breaker out at the meter, when starting the gen.: no juice! Of course, dummy! The "dead" powerline represented a "black hole" to the generator!
Ours is not large enough to power the whole house but perhaps a few lights and to keep things charged. It's a propane generator but still not something that we can run in the house, so I would have to have it either outside or perhaps in the library, with a vented window, since that part of the house is unheated and pretty firmly separated from the rest of the house.
So far, more than six hours without power, and it's so darned hot I wish we had our snow back. It went from huge storms that blew large trees over to no wind whatsoever. Just heat.
@Ken Anderson How hot is hot? Our pre-summer furnace here moderated today, actually comfortable for a walk along the Colorado River. At 4:00PM, temp. was 90`, Dew Point 10`, Relative Humidity 5%! It's amazing how significantly the lack of humidity affects a person's feeling of comfort. 15mph wind blowing actually felt almost chilly on my skin! Frank
I don't know what the temperatures were but I'd guess around ninety, but ninety here is far more uncomfortable than a hundred degrees in Texas.
We are having a major thunder storm right now. A week ago, we had a storm that put our power out for about ten hours, and I'm hoping that doesn't happen tonight. The wind is picking up but it's not nearly as windy as it was then. The thunder is deafening though, and the lightning is pretty close.
Scary for you guys but I would love a good thunder storm, miss them. Of course I don't want my power going out or trees knocked down or lightening striking my house but a nice storm would be welcomed by me. Do your cats get scared? Pickles doesn't fear noises.
One the older ones is deaf. The others aren't particularly concerned. Ella was outside when it started, but the rain probably had her more rattled than the thunder because she wanted to go out again a few moments later, that is until she saw that it was still raining. She doesn't seem to trust what she sees through the window. It's not until she gets to the door that she realizes she doesn't want to go out after all.
Both Bobby and I enjoy thunderstorms as well, and I remember going outside on the porch with my mother when I was younger and we would watch the thunderstorms come through. We have lost power with the storms here a few times; but usually it is not for very long. A little while back, we were out of power for almost a whole day;but that is pretty unusual for us. Since there is often the more severe storms as well as a tornado threat, it is always good to keep an eye on the radar to see what it might turn into. Neither one of the dogs is afraid of thunder; but they do NOT like getting their little paws wet ! We have to almost push them out the door when the ground is wet, even if it is not raining, and then they much prefer to stay on the sidewalk as much as possible.
@Ken Anderson Lightning, especially when fierce and close, has always been one of those spine-tingling things which in my life were extremely welcome, like fear of the uncontrollable. My first wife cowered while I embraced the wonder of a lightning storm once while we were alone together while young and dating, spending the weekend at my Folks' place in Michigan. She didn't understand then my undaunted interest in lightning, but gradually learned to understand, and even appreciate. Frank
It looks like this is going to be a summer like the summer before last, when we don't go more than two days without rain. Warm weather was slow in coming and we've had very few dry days this spring. Yeah, I know. Actual summer has just started, but I think it's going to be that kind of a summer. We haven't had thunder and lightning yet today but it's been pouring rain. Because Ella doesn't believe what she sees through a window, I usually offer to let her out during the rain, so that she quits nagging me, but today she went out in a hard rain. She didn't stay out long but I think she's tired of being in the house.
I have a feeling we're going to be hotter than usual if that's even possible. Although drought restrictions were lifted in CA. They were still in affect for Fresno County until very recently. I just got a notice that I can water 3 times a week again instead of the previous 2 days a week during the drought. In these hot temps even 3 days a week doesn't guarantee a green lawn.