Tomorrow the world may end, but today's not not looking to be any great shakes, either.
A few days ago I got a postcard from my
electricity provider, SCE, letting me know about a Planned Power
Outage for today (they, not me, planned the outage) that will go from
eight in the morning until about three in the afternoon.
In addition to useful tips (keep
refrigerator and freezer doors closed), they also included directions
to a website where I could learn about its status
(www.sce.com/outage) if I
typed in the outage number, 540379.
Which told me less than the postcard
did.
I have no idea how widespread this
outage will be, but I have a hunch it involves more than just my
property. That's what I thought at first, mostly because this little
house looks to be the only one with a line running to it from the
poles that line the main, paved road. Oboy!, I thought, they're going
to bury that cable and get rid of the telephone pole on my lot that
Minardi likes so much!
Then, a few days ago, I changed my
mind.
Early the other morning I saw what can
only be described as a convoy of vehicles heading down the main
street (toward the post office, right to left down the road, headed
east). Big trucks, long trucks, all lit up with more running lights
than a Christmas tree normally has, but it was too dark for me to see
what was on the trucks.
So, maybe, it's a real big deal, like
they're putting in a new sub-station or something. All that I know is
what they tell me on the postcard, which is that they're either doing
ongoing maintenance or upgrading the grid “with power materials and
technologies.”
I have to say that in all my life I've
never gotten or experienced anything like this from any power
company. I guess it's a desert thing.
Maybe the area is growing or maybe this
is a pretty common thing out here. As a newcomer, I have no idea, but
it isn't such a bad thing. I may take the opportunity of no power to
putter around the property and sort some things out, will probably
drive to town for awhile and do some last minute Christmas shopping,
and may even stop at a local taco place and get something to eat. I
might even take advantage of the only other working thing, my water
heater, and take a nice long bath.
They mention on the postcard that power
may (or may not) be going up and down throughout the day, also that
they'll do whatever the hell it is they're going to do as “quickly
as they can” while still doing it safely. Also, I shouldn't expect
the times to be necessarily accurate, but I'm guessing they got the
date right. They give themselves a lot of flexibility, I'll give them
that.
They don't give any details about what
it is they're up to, but that might just be because the postcard is
pretty general. Or, they don't want to bother those of us who get the
cards with a lot of confusing details that we wouldn't understand,
anyway.
Maybe I'll see some people working if I
drive to town and back and Minardi and I can watch and annoy them, or
maybe they will be right here in my yard and we'll have no choice.
What I won't be doing is keeping
up-to-date on budget or debt negotiations in Washington nor the
latest hand wringing on either side of the gun talk, though it's
always interesting to me to see how a “new” point is picked up
and then used as if it's the final, definitive point.
Once someone comes up with something,
everyone on that side of the argument repeats it like a trained seal
clapping for a fish. I guess that's because it's much easier to hear
and mimic than it is to think.
Except for me. I'm so accustom to
thinking that it's second nature to me, and instead of actually doing
anything, I just sit and think and watch the expansive desert view
outside my little home.
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