Any way the wind blows

As some of you may know, Sunday night into Monday, we here in Maine experienced a backwards Nor’easter; call it a Sou’easter. Wind and rain, and wind, and did I mention wind?  Trees went down; lines went down; even the buried lines weren’t safe because trees fell on power stations.  The storm got down with us about mid-day Monday, leaving more people without power than the previous benchmark — The Great Ice Storm of January 1998.  As I write this, there are still more than 100,000 customers without power.

We here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factor are not — and were never — among them.

The generator kicked in around 5 am on Monday, seamlessly becoming Spacestation Cat Farm.  We had lights, heat, and computers if not internet, for the next 10 hours, when the line power came back on.  We have been stable ever since, and so far as I can tell, we didn’t lose so much as a branch off of any of our trees.

Around us, neighbors as near as the next road are still without power, though CMP seems to think that everyone will be back up and running by Saturday.

Steve and I went to Augusta yesterday, and were able to witness first-hand the carnage among the trees.  Not birch trees, not slender saplings — big, sturdy trees in the prime of their lives, slapped out of the ground, shattered into matchsticks.  It was terrible to see.

We also saw dozens and dozens and dozens of utility trucks traveling in convoys, heading upcountry, and many mystery trailer trucks, battered and torn, and rusty, which we surmised to be taking on the dead transformers and the old wire and taking them to reclamation facilities.

So, that.

In other news, I have been off-and-on not well, for the last while now, so progress of any kind on anything has been sideways, at best.  I cannot tell you how frustrating this is.  Lab work has been performed; and yesterday a new blood draw.  Hopefully, someone will figure something out, and normal programming will resume shortly.

I think that’s all the news for the moment.  Everybody stay safe.

Today’s title brought to you JJ Cale, “Anyway the Wind Blows.”  Here’s your link.

7 thoughts on “Any way the wind blows”

  1. So sorry to hear about your continuing health problems, I hope you are soon back in form. The generator performed perfectly for you that is great news.
    Take care

  2. As a fellow generator owner, might I suggest you check with your generator maintenance people to see if a solid 10-hour run cycle mandates a quick check-up? Or maybe a top off on oil? When ours ran for 18 hours straight a few years back that was the advised care.

  3. I’m glad you were safe and continued to have power. Hope the illness is going away, far far away!

  4. We got a taste of what what, damage was done and flooding was nearby. However, our power is underground and, though worried about a wet basement, it did not happen even though we had 100 mls of rain.
    Never mind us, be well.

  5. Wow, that warding circle created by the generator lines is really working for you!

    I hope your health issues get figured out and fixed soon. Good luck.

  6. I’m sorry to hear you’re having health problems, and I sympathize. I’ve been spending more time than I’d like in doctors’ offices myself these days, and will be for the next few months. And I’m totally envious of your generator and glad it performed well during your storm. We were planning to get a generator a while back, but decided that the finances weren’t available. Fortunately BGE came through and did some serious tree trimming so we’ve not been without power as often as we were

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