Severe Weather

[aephi alum]

We've been "enjoying" our usual summer weather: heat and humidity punctuated by the occasional thunderstorm.

CL&P's recent performance record (or lack thereof) has led us to buy a generator. Over the past couple of years, we've had several multi-day blackouts. (In one case, there was a severe thunderstorm just as we were about to leave for vacation. We were on just about the last plane that made it out of JFK. While our poor friends and neighbors coped, we were in Antigua getting our drunk on in blissful ignorance ... but I digress.) Now we just need to get an electrician in to install it. A couple of weeks ago, a microburst knocked out power overnight, and we tried to install the generator ourselves. We're lucky we didn't kill ourselves in the process.

Note that, when we lose power, we lose EVERYTHING. We're on well water, so if the well pump has no power, you have what happens to be in your water tank, and that's it - no new water from the well. We have an electric stove, so without power, we can't cook except on the grill. We're on VOIP, so we lose our landline, and must rely on our cell phones (and heaven help us if they aren't charged).

This evening, we were watching TV and deciding when to start cooking dinner when a thunderstorm rolled through and the lights started to flicker. We'd been planning to make an Indian curry on the stove and basmati rice in the microwave. We decided to prepare dinner early, while we still could! As it turns out, we didn't lose power (*knocks on wood*).

Did I mention CL&P sucks big fat hairy balls the size of Cleveland?