Jan. 21st, 2024

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The power went out at 1 pm. I had work to do on the computer (various sorts of research), but that was finished then. I wandered around for a little bit, hoping the power would come back on, but after about ten minutes, I decided I needed to come up with an activity. So I cleaned the glass in the bathroom, mirrors and shower door. The power still wasn't back on.

We've lived here 20 years, and the outages over an hour have been very rare. Like, twice ever. The longest outage we've ever had was 1.5 hours. I felt like this was going to be a long one. The power company first said 4:30 (3.5 hours). Then after a while it changed to 5:30. then 6:30.

Fortunately it was a bright sunny day. After I cleaned the glass in the bathrooms, Cindy and I had beer and talked, like we often do at some point on a weekend. But after 1.5 hours, that was enough.

I went to the basement to work. My intention for the weekend was the online research, cleaning the bathrooms, and cleaning the basement. Fortunately, the basement workroom has a window, and the sun was low, so it came right in. And sweeping and such doesn't take much light. So I did a bit of that.

Then a friend messaged Cindy and said, "hey, since you're out of power too, do you want to meet us at New Fortune for dinner?" So we did that. But that was about the time I was starting to get nervous and make plans. Because I was going to friends for whisky in the evening. So... what if the power wasn't back on? What if the power came back on, but the furnace didn't start? (This happened to some friends, recently.) So I brought firewood in (the fireplace blower takes power). I started to open up the sump in case we didn't have power for the sump pump, so we could bail the water out. But then we had to rush out to dinner.

Fortunately the power came back on around 5:30, when we were at dinner. It was a rush home from dinner, and then getting ready and rushing back out for my friend's house, but power was back, and the furnace was running, so it worked out just fine. I was only a couple of minutes late to my friend's.

We've lived her for 20 years, and this is the longest outage we've had. The previous record was 1.5 hours. It went out at 1:00. At 3:00, the power came back on for about 30 seconds. Then, at 4:00, it came back on for a few minutes. I think they were testing. Around 4:20 I was outside getting firewood, and I heard a loud noise, like... electrical. We have a substation about a block away. When I went in the house, Cindy said the power had come back on for a few seconds. That noise was apparently the power going back off, at the substation. I figure they had fixed some circuit or other, and this was their way of testing what still
wasn't working.

eclipse

Jan. 21st, 2024 12:32 pm
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A while back there was a total eclipse of the sun that could be seen in parts of the US. I thought it would be nice to see, but didn't really think about going. But so many people did, and people talked about how cool it was. It seemed to me then, that it really was something that one should experience.

And now another one is coming up, and it is even closer to home. The path of totality is only about a five hour drive away. I was starting to formulate a plan to go there. And then I realized I'm busy that day. April 8th is our whisky tasting. Usually, I could get out of one of those if I really had to, but this particular one is my baby. There's no way I can get out of this, short of a real emergency.

So I'll have to content myself with seeing another partial eclipse. And also, I'm telling myself it will probably be cloudy again.

The next eclipse that's visible anywhere near this part of the world will be an annular eclipse that goes right over us in 2048. With some luck, I'll still be around then. Then another nearby annular eclipse in 2057. Then a couple more in 2077 and 2078. Then a total eclipse that is centered over Milwaukee in 2099.

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