Mother Nature

Mother Nature has shown her might yet again.  We were spared the loss of electricity for the first and second wind/rain events, but the third one was definitely the charm.  Our electricity went out last evening after my phone provided a "Tornado Warning, take cover now" alert.  Well, my dinner was on the grill.  I thought I might have just enough minutes to get it cooked...

I was wrong.

The wind started to kick up in that sickening sort of way when the wind swells and blows the leaves backwards.  The light was looking 'sickly'...that yellowish green light that always means that Mother Nature is taking you to the woodshed.

We turned the grill off and started fastening it and other things that could blow away down.  These thunderstorms have had ferocious, straight-line, winds of up to 80 mph.  My sister, who lives in Bedford, endured a period a couple of nights ago where she thought the roof was going to blow off her home.  Her electricity and phone line are out.  I've talked to her after that ordeal, but not today.

The storm brought lots of wind, fierce lightening and some rain.  After a couple of hours, we started the generator hookup.  This was important for the reasons of comfort, but MOST importantly (at least to husbando) to finish washing the NASCAR race.  Apparently the cable had not yet kaputted.

As I've mentioned before, my husbando is an electrician.  However, you have to be an astrophysicist in order to go through the steps necessary to successfully hook the generator up into the panel.  Well, all of 'that' was done, with the final step of getting the generator started in order to hook up the plug (which hooked into one panel, which hooks into another panel).

Flip on switches.  Push "start".  Rumble.  Nothing.  Rinse and repeat several more times.  Starter gives out.  Pull start does not work.  All is lost at least for the evening.  Surely the dawn will bring better luck.

Nope.

While our luck was not much better, we did manage to drain the gas (it had fouled), clean the carburetor and in general learn several intricacies that we had not known before.  While we got a little further each time, and actually managed to get the darn thing running a bit longer than the last time on several successive attempts, we still ended up with a non-running generator. 

Our good friend calls and is a mechanic.  He is generous and comes over.  As a mechanic, he is knowledgeable about the intricacies of carburetors (whether on a car or a generator).  Within about one hour, we are up and running.  Water!  Lights!  Fridge!

No AC...but it is withstandable for the moment.  At least I could get a much needed shower.  We spent all day working and sweating.  We spent all morning working and sweating over the generator.  We smelled like goats.  It was good to wash it away.

We brace for more heat and storms.  We are inconvenienced.  Others are not so lucky.  We are mindful of our blessings.