What a winter it has been in California! (Sorry to the rest of the world where this kind of thing is normal). We were still cleaning up the flood damage when the winds hit us. The power went off with the first gust, and stayed off for four days. And with a well, no power means no water. I had to dig out our trusty generator.
Confidently, I rigged up cables for it to power the house, just as the sun was setting. But to my dismay, it wouldn't start. I tried everything, and finally decided the problem lay in the carburetor. It was freezing in the driveway, and I had to completely dismantle the carburetor to find a gummed-up float valve. After much effort, I got it back together and it started right up, but my hands were shaking, and my teeth were chattering.
Back in the house, we sat down to a late dinner, but the lights started to flicker, then seemed to be getting very bright. I pulled out the voltmeter and saw the reading: 206 volts. Yikes! By the time I got outside to turn off the generator, the power was already off, but the trusty motor was still running away. The output was now zero.
I cursed the inefficient county building office. Six months ago, I had ordered three Tesla batteries and a solar installation for the garage roof, but they were still waiting for permits to be approved. We were so close, but all was dark and cold. We went to bed by candlelight, listening to the rare thunder as it rumbled in the stormy night.
The next morning, I rigged up the small generator in the RV to the key circuits of the house. The refrigerator and freezer were working, and both gas fireplaces were blazing away. Most importantly, my computer and monitor were up! Although the water pump could not be run, enough water trickled in from the storage tank to occasionally flush toilets and brush our teeth.
I squelched any complaints. We were blessed to be dry, warm, and able to save our freezer full of food. Life was good, and I was thankful. That day, a huge Monterey Pine crashed down across the street, completely blocking our neighbor's driveway. I did not know them, so I rushed over to see if they needed help. He was a retired engineer but did not even own a chainsaw. I sent my son for my saw, and we went to work as others joined us.
As the power company's estimates continued to slip, my next-door neighbor lost hope and asked for my help getting a generator and setting it up for his house. We bought the biggest one Home Depot had and I wired it into their service panel. We tried to run his water pump, hoping for a shower, but it was too much. With the rest of his house running, we resigned ourselves to no water for a few more days.
On the way back from a friend's home, where we showered, the power came back on two days before the final prediction. Typical!
In the aftermath, I restored power to our house and our neighbor's, but we found burned-out appliances and lights from our generator's failure. The neighbor called and said all was good, but still no water. I checked and found the fuses at the pump blown. Another Home Depot run, and they just blew again. The low voltage of the generator burned up the pump motor. But at least we had water, so I ran a hose from our house to theirs, and finally, all was good.
Then I noticed the itching. Poison oak from the neighbors tree all over me. Insult to injury.
As I hear more reports of snow and storms come in, I am just waiting to do it all over again. We certainly take much for granted in our daily lives.
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