Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 06/05/18> Can I get a “do over” please…?

That was a question that got asked quite frequently back when I was a kid, there were plenty of games that included “do over’s”. One that comes to mind rather quickly was the game of “horse” that we played out back on the basketball court.

That game was about making the same shot as the person who made the shot before you from the same spot, if you made the shot you were “good” if you missed the shot you got a “letter”, starting with H. Once you missed five shots, you had then accumulated all the letters to spell horse, H O R S E and at that point you were eliminated from the game. It was very common for folks to ask for a “do over” for a number of various reasons, mainly interference from other competitors.

Mother Nature interfered with me last night in a big way; she in fact, was a horse’s ass if you get right down to it. We had a perfect day here on Sunday; well maybe it was a tad on the hot side, but really pretty nice weather. Clear blue skies and not a drop of rain coupled with a gentle breeze that blew most of the afternoon. Just after sunset things changed pretty quick, long story short a vicious thunder storm broke out with heavy winds, rain and massive lightning display. The wind was the real problem for us, but seeing how it was pitch black out and raining to beat the band I didn’t explore just what caused the power outage we experienced.

Power outages aren’t uncommon around these parts; lightning seems to play havoc with the electrical grid in this area. The last thing I expected was that we would have a tree go down from the wind and take out the power line that runs from the road back to the homestead. We had one hell of a hurricane just last August and I was pretty sure that the trees that were in bad shape had been culled with that storm. Well I was wrong, and Mother Nature proved that I was wrong.

The old tree was pretty well rotted out around the base of it. It was still very alive and the old tree with all the limbs and leaves made a catch for the wind and ended up snapping the tree off about three feet up from the base. If the wind had been from the other direction it wouldn’t have caused any problem. This storm came from the east, which isn’t normal at this time of year, and that caused the tree to take the power lines down.

Local news radio said that the area had massive power outages but the power company predicted that all the power would be restored in our area in couple hours or so, which is pretty much normal. So I headed off to sleep, at 5:30 AM on Monday I awoke to no power, I made a call to the power company and I was informed by the lady on the other end of the phone line that the power had been restored to our area by 10:30 PM or so, well maybe our area, but not our house I informed her. She checked and sure enough I was right, according to her. Hell, I knew I was right; the house is pitch black and not a light switch one would work; she didn’t need to tell me I was right.

So, she put us on the “list”, just might how long the wait be on that list Mam? A couple hours was her reply, okay, what choice do I have any way. When daylight broke I took one look out the kitchen window and knew we had a big problem. The big oak tree that I am used to seeing just wasn’t filling up the tree line along the gully; it was lying across the gully. Those power lines never had a chance best I could tell. After a quick look from outside I went back inside and called the power company to inform them that it was a line down, hoping that might speed up the process, but nope, still two hours according to the lady. Her advice was “don’t go near the line” it might still be hot. Yes, I sort of know that is a possibility.

I have always had certain rules I have lived by and the two highest priority rules have always been don’t fool with married women or electricity. Fooling with either of those can lead to death, and I am not looking to die anytime soon. Fact is, I don’t even fool with the single women any longer and haven’t for 24 years, because I am a good loving husband and my wife would shoot me if I strayed just a little bit.

My day was totally screwed; the power company finally got new lines strung and the power back on right after 1:00 PM on Monday. They were even nice enough to call me about twenty minutes later and inform me that power was restored at 1:02 PM, how nice that they are so detailed. So all told we were without power for right at 16 hours, needless to say it was a long sixteen hours.

The power company made everyone switch to these “smart meters” a few years ago, maybe a little longer ago now that I think about it, but we were told that the system would monitor the conditions and alert the power company when there is a problem. Well either their program needs some tweaking or the person who is supposed to be monitoring it needs their work reviewed, but somehow, it didn’t show up as problem until I called at 5:30 AM. Next time, I won’t rely on chance, they will get a call if the lights even flicker since I know that their smart meters are not all they were cracked up to be.

So, I am calling for a “do over” and today will be my Monday for this week. I don’t care what the calendar says or what Mother Nature says, my Monday starts now. No “H” for me, Mother Nature, you took a cheap shot with the wind and I wasn’t ready for it, so I’m ready now.

Until next time,
@sultnpapper

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