and people were remarkable, going way out of their way to help each other. Of course, they were all a bunch of Commie Pinkos. I wouldn't have very high expectations from teabags.

We have PEPCO. Our power was knocked out after the storm, but this afternoon it miraculously came back on for most of the people on our street. We couldn't believe it. We thought we'd be out for a week or more like last summer.

Unfortunately the folks on the next street over are still without electric service, because a transformer exploded on their street after their power came back on.

Good luck to you and Sparkly and your neighbors.

that is what we used to do when power came and went in Mexico City.



My last power outrage in Tijuana led to a small time riot. I would not recommend that one.

We were lucky that it was September already but it was still hot.

It took almost 3 weeks for everyone to get their power back.

We lived for 2 weeks without power.

I will never forget walking around Kroger's looking for something to buy, just ice to keep things cold.

Driving was fun, lntersections all 4 way stops.

Everything pitch black without street lights, that is why I have lots of solar yards lights now.

Life just comes to a halt for awhile.

I really don't know what to tell you.

I do feel for what y'all going thru this, hot and sticky and no way to cool off.

It is amazing how dark it gets without the street lights, pitch black.

I am worried about those 100 plus temps.

Hope the power comes back soon.

If you have ice and zip lock bags make a cooling pillow and but it behind your neck.

It will help cool your blood, and make your cooler.

Stay safe.

No electric, no cable for about 2.5 weeks. It was a totally different world, and in some ways better I think.

I was lucky because my step-brother's electric came back on after 8 days, so he brought his generator over so I could use it. Snaked lines to three neighbors (all good, fox-watching republicans), and they helped me monitor the generator, keeping up the gas supply when I was at work during the day.

We're all gonna have to get better at dealing with these things, because they will become the norm.

Angel in Texas

and put it on your wrists .. cools the blood ...
as a EMT we use em all the time ... keep a cooler of
ice in the truck just for that ...

Probably a good idea if you can (regardless of where you live) to stockpile necessities including gasoline and a generator.

Have you heard of the massive ice storm that hit western NY in 1991? Parts of the area (I lived in Rochester at the time) were without power for two weeks--some even longer. It was freezing cold and power lines were down all over the area--across roads, which essentially made traveling impossible because it was so dangerous.

Like the current storm and outages you're going through (you have my deepest sympathy), some locations had power, some nearby didn't. In fact, sometimes one side of the street never lost power, while the other side was stone cold and dark and people were sleeping in front of their fireplaces (cooking on them and on their outside grills) too.

So when did the chaos and mayhem ensue? Never. Utility power cords started snaking across streets and through yards, so people with power could give some to people without--on their own dime. People shared food. Those with power cooked for those without. Neighbors who barely knew each other let people without power into their houses so they could do some laundry and have a hot meal and a hot shower. Businesses like health clubs and YMCAs (and schools) let people in whether they were members or not, so they could have showers, too. Some people who had to get back to work used the gym showers every day till their power was restored.

I have never seen such generosity before or since. It was truly inspiring. Don't sell these crazy humans short, Stinky. When push comes to shove, they'll surprise you, pleasantly, every time.

everyone lost power .. we have propane hotwater and stove ...
so folks around us had showers and hot food ...
for course it was summer so grills were used alot too ...
but we had a old coffee pot ... the ones you put on
the stove .... we were VERY popular ...

I have a French press, and there's a tiny espresso pot in our camping gear in the garage. There shall be no caffeine deprivation in this house; nay, not even come the apocalypse!

when the gas guage hits 1/2, I fill up, always, without fail. I treat it like it is empty.

2nd thing was to buy a chest freezer and keep lots of ice in it, also clean water in gallon jugs, frozen.

Our closest neighbor has a gas stove and a standing offer for us to use it if needed.

Hurricane Ivan left this town without power for 3 weeks.
A movie company was filming here at the time, and lent the town 3 huge generators.
Ice donations almost always arrive quickly in situations like this.
Power trucks always show up, assess, leave but return when they can fix the lines, which is usually pretty quickly.
And people usually know who the drivers are, often because they are related to them somewhere along the line.

I love the security of a small town, of knowing all the neighbors in a 2 block radius, of knowing even more people who will come and cut a tree off my roof, whatever is needed.
In southern small towns, there are no strangers, usually.
It's a good feeling.

since we moved to Texas. The stories I hear are miserable. It makes me grateful that all I had to do was replace the food in my fridge/freezer when we got back last time after a week away. And we were lucky - we waited until we saw on the Yahoo homeowner's board that our neighborhood had gotten power. Of course we still had to deal with the empty stores/gas stations.

Stay safe.

Society still holds together. Traffic lights that are dark become defacto stop signs. Businesses open on generators. People come outside or sit together over candle lights and talk/bitch about the power companies and other topics. I boiled water on a single burner camp stove and made coffee for my neighbors and sweetened it with condensed milk while we killed time chatting in a quiet living room.

My entire town was out of power for 7 days last summer (thanks Irene ), with many on well water and needing to fill buckets at fire stations so that they could flush toilets. We survived. DC will as well.

as soon as its all back to normal

Anyone who has visited third world countries knows that there is FAR more that their residents live without.

One simple example: Places where the only 'toys' for kids to play with...are cardboard boxes.

Stay as hydrated and cool as possible.

Duh!

I was thinking about you all yesterday when I saw the numbers for DC/Balto. It's worse than I thought, though. I hate heavy heat.

Take care, take care.

ROFL

You can actually use that cigarette lighter to start a fire

Since you asked i
f it were literally possible, it is. But a more contemplative person would have seen the phrase for the literary device it was and moved on.

when people have no food because of an emergency

looters aren't always starving people.

If they were well they'd also be idiots considering how many steal consumer electronics. Not many usable calories in that flatscreen buddy.

...it won't be all at once at 3:35 PM on some Thursday afternoon. It will be like a sweater unraveling, first in one place and then in several places. It starts as one little "exceptional" event in one place, and then spreads, sometimes quickly, sometimes gradually. Fires out of control in one place, heavy tides flooding an ocean-side community in another place, and storms knocking out power in still another place.

Of course the damage gets fixed, but then the next crisis comes a little sooner than they used to come, and after a while there's not enough time to fix the damage from one crisis before the next one arrives and as the crisis events start to overlap, the damage starts becoming cumulative. A forest fire followed by heavy rains and mudslides, or a storm knocking out power in a second location before the first location gets its power back up.

When the effects start overlapping we are witnessing the "gradual" onslaught of global warming and the "gradual" collapse of civilization.

back to pre-electricity days!

imagine DU... paper based.. with everyone's posts going through the mail and each thread gets updated once a month in a newspaper...

my spouse. Just know that those guys bust their tales to get
it done as fast as possible. If you're burning up in your shorts,
they're burning up in protective clothing and gear...Please give
them all a big salute! They are really trying...

Good on your husband.

That doesn't stop some people from taking out their anger on them. Which is what I was talking about. The same thing when mobs attack firefighters spending to save their houses and neighborhoods. It has happened far too often.

I just wanted good people to be even gooder.

My husband and crew were taking a break in southern KC--midday
is the hottest, so they take 1/2 hr lunch (plus a few). Some jackass pulled
up and asked "ARE YOU UNION???" My husband didn't quite hear him
and approached and asked if he could help him..."ARE YOU UNION??"
I don't remember the conversation that happened, but late in the
afternoon at the showup, the same clown actually came in and wanted to
talk to the supervisor. When he left, my husband went to the super
and asked "ARE YOU UNION???" and they both cracked up.

There are some pretty crazy, angry people out here. I finally took my
DU bumpersticker off because of some road-rage guy. I'm considering
taking my Obama 2012 sticker off now. It's depressing.

AEP Ohio was predicting outage until July 8.
The lines at the gas stations were unbelievable. My husband waited 2 hours yesterday. We drove 15 miles to find ice and an internet connection (I had a deadline).
I've offered my home to friends who will likely not see power for days. It's brutally hot here

And I've lived through tornado and blizzard aftermaths. This was much, much worse.

It only went out for a couple minutes a few times. We're only a fiew miles north of Montgomery Co., and if anything, there are more trees here. So something must be wrong with those power companies with a lot of outtages. The conditions are no different.

I've noticed this same thing before, that our power goes out less and comes back quicker than PEPCO or BGE.

panel array that took care of itself and sent power back into the grid when needed.

Wouldn't that help out a whole lot of people looking at downed power lines, no refrigeration and

no running water.

Do you think anyone will ever come up with something like that?

I really want a small wind generator. We'd have one if we could.

Even tropical storms can knock out power for days.

After TS Fay in 2008 we lost power for four days. The big advantage was that the entire area was not completely knocked out, just mostly the rural areas. We lost the freezer full of food that we had just stocked during the end of the summer sales, thinking that the storm season was pretty much over and it would be safe.

It wasn't until the third day we finally broke down and went to a motel so we could get showers (no water if you've got your own well and no power!) and one night's sleep without sweltering.

I hope the power comes back on for you before any looting or other problems start.

I cannot imagine being without power right now, it's hot and muggy here too!

I hope this gets fixed soon. How are the babies? Handling it okay?

Keep a wet washcloth handy to rub yourself down and drink plenty of water!

*hugs*

All we can do is give them lots of water

Tomorrow I may try to hose them down, but really there's not much to do. We also talked about taking them to Petco for an hour or so.

Ice in their water bowl helps too. Maybe wet a towel and let them lay on it?

Ugh. How horrible. I hope this gets resolved quickly!

I wish you ......

Never mind. You clearly missed the whole fucking point.

Bless your heart, though.

Edit to add: here's a homework assignment. Research the word metaphor.

And again, bless your heart.

Edit again: I figured out what I wish you. I wish you a whole lifetime of literal interpretations of every word you read.

Have a swell rest of the weekend.

There were several people in this thread that made a similar point to mine but I guess you didn't see them. If my "shitty reply" gets you to see how absurd your "metaphor" is, then I'm damn glad I posted it.

I shall think of you as nothing more.