Okay. I don't look exactly like He-Man, what with being female and all, and brunette and 61 years old and such, but I'm pretty sure this picture is exactly how I felt when my electricity finally came back on!!!
I knew it was coming. I took the dogs on our nearly longest walk around the neighborhood today. I did the 2.5 mile version of our walk since the weather was so wonderful. Well, truth be told, it was more of a 2.5 mile stroll, as the dogs and I stopped and talked to everyone along the way.
Seriously, I have the BEST neighbors on this planet. I really love my neighborhood and will miss them all when I move. I won't miss Charleston summers at all though.
As I was walking one of the neighbors and I got into a discussion about whether or not the wire down on Ashley Hall Road was indeed a power line. I insisted, "It is a power line." The man thought it was just a stabilizer line that holds the pole in place. Another man had argued with me earlier that it was just a cable line. I asked the neighbor to come look at the line with me and let me show him why I thought it was a power line.
When he really looked and saw what I saw, he agreed. The actual power line was broken and laying on the ground on Ashley Hall Road. Not good.
As we were standing there talking, SCE&G trucks came. Yup. The actual power line was down. I walked across the street and talked with another neighbor who was equally excited to see SCE&G on the scene. He told me he heard that transformer blow. He said one of his neighbors called him because he thought his house had exploded it was so loud! When that transformer blew it broke that power line all the way in two and knocked off all our power.
What happened was there was a tree limb that hit the lines and transformer. No. There was no tree over the power line there. It looked exactly like the Jolly Green Giant somehow grabbed a big tree limb and plopped it down directly over the top of that pole on all the power lines and hitting the transformer. I have no clue how that limb could have done that on its own. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen, but there you have it. Crazy.
The SCE&G workers fixed everything and I saw them leaving on my way back from walking through Lenevar Park with my dogs. I walked all the way back to where the line was down to see if they really fixed it. They did!
The dogs and I walked on home. Still no power, but I expected that. I knew they'd have to test the new line before turning everything back on. Sure enough, just before dark...POWER!!!
I feel like singing and dancing!! But, instead, I went straight for my fridge and threw away all my food. Sad. I know, but everything defrosted and I'm afraid to eat it. Stouffer's good stuff. Costco meatballs. Hamburger. Hotdogs. Chicken. Veggies. All ruined. I think the cheese and butter will be okay. The milk was sour. The juice seems fine. Etc etc etc. I then made a run to the grocery store.
Wow.
You would NOT believe the grocery store.
On a Monday night there were about a gazillion people in there. Amazing. A good many of the shelves were still bare from the mad shopping before the storm. The grocery store people had thrown out all their frozen stuff and only had a small portion of it restocked. Plus, ALL the Chunky Soup was gone! ALL of it! I've never seen such a thing. The employees looked haggard and tired like they had been running all day long, which they probably had.
I found everything I needed to buy right now, and am now home with my dirty feet up typing this blog post. Do not worry. I will wash before bed.
Now I'm thinking about how everything happens for a reason.
A couple of weeks ago, I came home from work one day to find that one of my flood lights in my backyard was arcing. It had to be removed and replaced right away. I made a trip to Lowe's and ended up buying a head flashlight so I could see to replace the light that night.
That head flashlight was a godsend with the power off so long. I looked like a dork wearing it, I'm sure, but I could see everything and had both my hands free. It was great, and if my floodlight had not broken, I would not have had the head flashlight.
Also, if we were going to have a hurricane, this was the very best possible time for it to happen for me. It is October and in Hurricane Matthew's wake was such a blast of wonderful clear cool air that I was able to breathe with no power in my house for days.
I am truly blessed and I know it and I am thankful.
I am also very happy because I presently have my coffeemaker set to make me coffee right before my alarm goes off in the morning. Life is good! 😀
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