The Neighbourhood 7.30 am.
A solitary gull chasing his friends.
Yesterday we had a 3+ hour hydro outage. We were both downtown, me having coffee with my buddies and Mrs. F.G. at a Quilters Guild Christmas lunch. Arriving home we had to get the garage door open, and me up the lift into the house. Two of the neighbours happened to be outside and quickly came to Mrs. F.G.'s rescue.
Little did they know that she didn't need rescuing. She went in the side door and popped the garage door open, and then we treated it like a dry run for using our generator (even though the first thing you should do is wait an hour to see if the hydro comes back on). We have a fancy, if expensive 'Generlink' system since I depend on hydro both to get in the house and into bed.
So I sat and watched while Mrs. F.G. went through the steps on a list I had prepared back when we had the system installed, plugging the very heavy duty power cord into the unit behind the hydro meter outside. Then she turned on the generator. So far so good, but the lights in the house didn't come on. At this point another neighbour was brought in for advice, and he had the very same model of generator that we have. There was one more switch to be turned that no-one had mentioned to us.
We ended up with four neighbourhood gentlemen coming over to make sure we were ok, and we had normal power for the duration of the blackout, of course not using any of those heavy drawing things like the stove or dryer. Turned out to be a great dry run in case this ever happens during a more serious storm in the middle of the night. And a neighbourhood full of helpful men is reassuring for both Mrs. F.G. and myself.
So nice to have the back up power when needed and some neighbours to help glad all works for you and are good to go..
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you have such helpful neighbours - and a back-up generator. The sunrise pictures are beautiful. We had similar skies here a couple of days ago, though by the time I got outside the best of the show was over.
ReplyDeleteFriends at good times and those like these are invaluable. we had a generator at another home many years ago, the whole system was hard wired, and all we had to do was turn off the mains, and turn on the other switch.We lived quite a long way from a town, and could be a day or so without power. Loved the sunrise photos, Mrs F.G. Do you have those special gloves for photographers, with a different fingertip, so using the shutter button is so easy.They are windproof too.
ReplyDeleteIt looks beautifully cold and quiet there.
ReplyDeleteIt's always good if you have helpful neighbours …
ReplyDeleteLovely photographs.
All the best Jan
Nice to be able to have a dry run like this one, and to find that it all works just fine, with a little help from your friends. :-)
ReplyDeleteMrs. FG takes great pictures. C
ReplyDeleteThe sky pictures are beautiful. Nice to have all those caring neighbors. That is a blessing.
ReplyDeleteGood to have a realistic test run.
ReplyDeleteYour neighbors are great samaritans! I'm so glad they stopped to help. Mrs. F.G's wonderful purple photography! I love it.
ReplyDeleteThe generator is a wonderful item to have on hand and a Few Good Men in the neighbourhood are always a blessing!
ReplyDeleteOne never thinks of a generator until a power outage reminds one they should have thought of a generator.
ReplyDeleteThe generator is a great idea. I am glad that both of you can get it figured out and get it up and running.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous colours in those skies.
ReplyDeleteWe had a brief power outage here some days ago.