Satan was on the attack around here today! Phew! I woke up as the fan I use at night to keep the air moving just shut off. I came into the living room and the light I leave on all night was out and would not come back on. And the computer was out. And the Keurig was of no use but I did manage to manually light the gas stove and make some instant coffee.
Stroke of luck: i had called the power company a few days ago so I had their phone number readily available in my phone. Called them and spoke to Customer Service. She checked and said there was no outage in the area, so it seemed to be my home.
Finally managed to get a phone number for the company I am paying for use of the solar system (my bad, I hadn't put their # in my phone.......). They went and checked and their system showed I was still generating solar energy. The tech guy I talked with told me to go check the fuse box. Good idea, but first I have to get the gate open. And then, I am faced with 4 fuse boxes instead of 1. And, in truth, at this juncture I don't know the purpose of any of them any more. I flipped a bunch of switches but I was unsure whether I was turning stuff on or off. Tried to contact my salesman but he was in a meeting a good 30 miles away. He promised to come as soon as he was done there. But, I haven't found his promises of a personal appearance reliable. He's great at returning phone calls and e-mails, just not on coming by as promised.........
So, I called a guy I know who works maintenance at one of the big casinos. He happened to be at home, but he was babysitting his kids and couldn't leave. He referred me to his cousin Jaime who also works maintenance at a casino and supposedly knows more about electrical. Jaime promised to come by at 3:30.
By the time Jaime got here, I was sitting in the van, running the engine and recharging my portable oxygen concentrator and my phone. He showed me the problem and got the electricity back on. He also fielded the phone call from my salesman when he called to say he was on his way. He explained that he thinks I still need some service to the system. Then, God bless him, he fixed my kitchen overhead lights and put a new filter in my heating/a/c system return. He didn't want to take any money, but he'd spent his time and his gasoline so I paid him anyway. The chores he performed for me were a great relief. My sense of balance is no longer good and I abhor trying to do anything that requires climbing, realizing that a fall onto a house with a concrete slab would not go well for these old bones. It's been hard working in the kitchen with just the light from a lamp on the sink and stove area. So, all is well here at home.
And, just to probe an old dog can learn new tricks, here are some things I've learned in the last 30 days. 1) You can make mashed potatoes, using an old Mennonite recipe, ahead of time and freeze them for future use! 2) You can can potatoes dry, no liquid added and supposedly they don't taste "funny" like those canned in water. 3) You can freeze cream for future use. I regularly freeze milk but I didn't know about cream. 4) You can bake sweet potatoes/yams in a crock pot, thus saving on electricity versus heating up the oven. 4) You can freeze baked sweet potatoes/yams for future use. In that I live alone, I frequently have things that are going to go bad if I don't find a way to preserve them. These will be valuable lessons and will save me money. Love that!
Okay, that's it for now. Stay safe, head-on-a-swivel.
