More later.
Nastional news seems to have reported this as a 20,000 household power outage.
We were hit with near hurricane force winds (71 mph) and trees went down on the power lines. ours stood, but the news services forgot a zero. It’s 200,000 people in Spokane, a city of 500,000, including police, fire, and hospitals with no power, and a total of 300,000 out of power including widespread damage to trees, houses, roofs, and cars.
We just got power back on.
We’re surviving, but now our basement drain quit working.
And on a slightly more cheerful note, a Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating it today. Getting ready to stuff the turkey and slam into the oven; one of our friends asked, “Hey, do you want a turkey? We got one from work, and have no room for it.” I promptly said, “Bring it by; I’ll cook it, you help eat it, and I’ll send you home with leftovers.” Six for dinner, with trimmings. Free turkey is nothing to sneeze at.
We lost everything in our fridge, had to go restock, and Safeway had a free 14 lb turkey if you spent x amount today. We have a free turkey!
Jane and I were so far from remembering what day it is that she sent me after a paint mixer and I went to four hardware stores, two of them twice, trying to figure why they were closed, and thinking maybe it was giving their employees relief from the storm hours—but all of them at once? Doh!
I finally got home to report failure, and Jane was apologizing for sending me out on a crazy errand on Thanksgiving! 😉 Now we’re just going to have our Thanksgiving breakfast for lunch!
I’m very gldad to hear from you. I hadn’t realised what was going on, just thought you might be taking a break after finishing the book.
Something to be grateful for, amidst all this mess, that at least that was done and safely in the hands of your publisher before all this trouble hit.
It’s quite miraculous if you’ve managed to save anything in the aquarium, after such a long outage!
Horrible. We got hit with that same storm, but were only out for about 10 hours. But several years ago, we were out for >3 days (with no heat!), and Stanley Park lost thousands (!) of trees. That was the year we broke down and bought a generator. Not one that would run the whole house — we just couldn’t afford it. But a 3000 KVA Yamaha generator that was reasonably priced, had push-button start, produces a clean sine wave, and runs off gasoline. We can keep the pellet stove working, watch TV, keep stuff from spoiling, and keep the servers up and running.
As the effects of climate change continue to affect our weather, at least a minimal generator is a really good idea for anyone. I realize you live in “the city”, not out in a rural area such as we do, but it’s still a part of basic preparedness. A whole house generator is a wonderful thing to have, but when financial reality intrudes, a decent gasoline or natural gas generator of a sufficient size to save your food and keep the basement from flooding is essential.
Horrible. Where I live we had a freak storm in October, 2006. The city lost 10,000 trees and many people were without power for anywhere from a week to a month. I only had to put up with it for 4 and 1/2 days and that was bad enough. Many people got together and began to replace the trees, so we once again have a green city. A generator would be a good thing to have, yes.
Sympathies for the chaos, discomfort and expense of the power loss.
Also of concern: Joe how is the monitoring going?? I would think that the act of being wired up like that would be enough to negatively effect the experimental animal.
I took the monitor off last night, it was 14 days to the hour since I’d put it on. About a half-hour after I took it off, I got a call from the company to remind me that I needed to send it in to them as soon as possible. It’s all wrapped up and ready to go, I just need to take it to the Post Office in the morning.
The sleep I got last night was good, I didn’t get tangled up in wires, have a big lump under my chest when I turned over, and didn’t feel any adhesive patches pulling on my skin to wake me up.
Once I get the results, I’ll let you know what they tell me.
Jane’s pleco catfish has shown up fat and healthy.
I wonder who he ate?
Plecostamus are algae eaters, I thought…..
Heh, plecostamus are opportunistic eaters. Algae just doesn’t move fast enough to escape them, so its a staple. Sluggish or dead fish, yeah, they’re pleco chow too. Healthy fish, not so much.
BTW, the cataract surgery is a go for December 14th, right eye only. Left one on Jan 6th, if all goes well with the first one.
Good luck! It could be “worse”–I go in for my 4th colonoscopy in 15 years Jan 11th. I’m hoping for luck! 😉 (Dad died of colon cancer.)
I recall my last cataract surgery, January 28, 2011, from the time they wheeled me into the OR until they wheeled me out, 18 minutes….the doctor and the surgical team were discussing how to say “drops” in Spanish….
Results of the surgery: I have 20/20 vision in that eye. I would expect you’ll have very good vision afterward, too. As Paul said, you’ll probably need reading glasses, but perhaps they’ll be the kind you can buy on the cheap. I buy the ones off the shelf at the Dollar Tree (Where Everything’s a Dollar!), so if I break or lose a pair, I’m not out a ton of money. The ophthamalogist said those are fine for my use….
Paul, I do not envy you on your C-scope. I had one year that I had a C-scope, then a barium enema, and then another C-scope, with the first C-scope less than a year after the previous one…..so 4 procedures in a year was not fun. They can’t do them on me now, unless there’s a real good reason to do it, as my ascending colon doesn’t ascend quite vertically. That’s why the barium enema, but even that wasn’t successful. Even if they do have to do a C-scope on me, I have to be under a general anesthetic – doctor’s orders……
Last time I said “Nighty night” on the table, then woke up thinking it was over. Someone came in and told me to “Go home and do it again. It wasn’t complete. You’ve got another appointment tomorrow morning.” I acquired diverticuli–one in the transverse, one all the way over in the ascending. Medicare required me to pay my share for each.
Been there and done that every 3 years for the last 16 or so years. Dad had it twice but died 10 years after his 2nd surgery of old age.
And I came to half-way through one & the doc slapped my butt & said to keep still. Very disconcerting to feel him rummaging around in there. These days they make sure I’m well & truly out of it although it’s not general anaesthesia.
That happened to my sister the time before, but this summer they put her out good. 😉
Cataract surgery today is wonderful. In, out and after about a weeks worth of drops you’ll be seeing better than you remember. I’ve had both eyes done. Due to pervious problems one was very long-2 1/2 hours- and difficult but the other was a piece of cake. I was 20/400 in one eye and now I see perfectly fine. I still wear glasses for protection-I have very limited vision in one eye-but if not for my special problems I wouldn’t need to wear glasses.
Oh good luck and I hope everything goes well. It’s a very common surgery. I was recently told I am developing cataracts at age 58. That was a bit of a shock. Hadn’t noticed anything. Of all things that happen as you age, that news made me feel old!
Happy Thanksgiving to all our salads. Our critters wish you and yours a marvelous day. We’re glad that the damage was less than it could have been. Sorry you lost some of the tank inhabitants. How are the koi out in the pond?
We’re also glad that the cataract surgery is scheduled, and hope your eyesight is improved so that you don’t need glasses at all.
Unlikely. She’ll probably need “reading glasses” if they correct her to 20/20 as they did my sister.
I always ask for a particular prescription, and once quit an ophthamologist office because they wouldn’t comply. It has to do with depth of field. “Reading” glasses have a focal length at about 18″. Modern “Computer” lenses at about 30″. “Driving” lenses at infinity. I always ask for a focal length of about 6′. I find it’s acceptable for driving, form filling-out, puttering around the house, and keeps my presbyopia from getting too much worse.
These days they frequently do one eye for close, one eye for distance when you have cataract surgery. And thus the phenomenon of old old people who don’t wear glasses. My DW had hers done that way, and the result is _I’m_ the one wearing glasses, and she needs nothing. Ah, well, cataracts can’t be far into my future.
Good luck on the cataract surgeries. They generally go well and quickly these days. My grandmother had eath eye done separately. She said her color perception changed somewhat after, but it did improve her vision and eased her mind about it. I understand now they’ve made progress with the procedure and the lenses.
I’ll be 50 in March, so this could be a future concern for me, though neither of my parents had cataracts.
Joe, I hope your test results are good, and show what the problems are so they can help you.
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I had a stuffing fiasco: I added too much water and might have mis-measured the brown bread and cornbread, though my veggies and spices were fine, I know. So last night and this morning had a long, extra bake time to take care of the excess liquid. I didn’t want to add flour to the stuffing after cooking it last night, but I considered that, or putting it in a ~frying pan~ to condense out the excess water.
However, it turned out fine eventually, just took way too long. Tastes good, looks good, so all is well. I’m glad it was just me; I would’ve been embarrassed if I were cooking for guests and was delayed too much. The chicken turned out great. Veggies were good. Cranberry sauce was store-bought. But I need to see if they have fresh cranberries when I go next.
With all that, I didn’t fix the wassail yet. I’ll do that either tomorrow or Saturday…and be careful not to guesstimate measurements. I didn’t fix the mince pie either, but I’ll do something with the filling (probably fill flour tortilla bowls) this weekend.
The two cats have been very entertained by all the activity.
The thermostat Joe mailed should get here tomorrow or Saturday. Looking frward to getting it put in.
I’m relieved to see that you and Jane are “alive and kicking.” (Well, maybe not “kicking” with that foot injury.) So sorry for all your troubles, though.
Sorry to hear about the storm, etc., but glad you and Jane are safe and did not lose any trees. Sharon and Steve recently got a generator because Maine and living in the country. It might be something to consider. Also that Prius thing somebody mentioned bears looking into.
I can commiserate with you on the plumbing issues. They were rootering it out about once a week. Since I was the one closest to the drain, I was the one whose toilets all of a sudden ran over. They finally got the big guns to come out with the camera, discovered there was a bad tree root problem and had them run the industrial strength rooter and we haven’t had any problems since (touch wood) until the toilet in the apartment upstairs got it’s float valve stuck open while they were gone all day and I came home to dripping ceilings in four rooms (both bathrooms and both bedrooms.
In the tornado we had in 1970 the power was off for 10 days where I was. I had a gas stove, so could cook and heat, but at least I had an oil lamp so I had light enough to read, but no music.
I wonder if tree losses damaged the sewer lines and that was causing your issues. If a tree’s got roots around water/sewer lines, and the tree goes over . . . .
Oh, and yes they have made big advances in cataract surgery these days. Am told I’m developing them in both eyes, but worse in my left eye, which is my better eye, wouldn’t you know. The one that’s 20/400 is the one that would benefit from the vision correction of the lens implant. (I’m 66) Am told everybody will get cataracts if they live long enough. The genetic difference is how fast they develop. Glad your surgeries have been scheduled — you or Jane please keep us posted on how things go.
I’ve been told for years that I will eventually need cataract surgery, but with my 77th birthday coming up in a couple of weeks I haven’t had it yet. The advantage there is that every year the surgery seems to get better; I remember it being quite a big deal 50 years ago, now it seems to be just a minor inconvenience.
And on another topic entirely, I’m glad I moved to a 55+ apartment complex a few years back. Rent is a significant part of my budget, but it’s predictable; no repairs or appliance replacement costs surprising me at inconvenient times.