We're playing a new game show: (crowd chants along) Wheel of Outage!
Over the past week, it has been something new every day. Power, water, cable TV, internet. I got out our generator to keep the fridge and some heat on. We listened to the Today Show on Sirius satellite radio for yesterday's morning news and entertainment. Yep, just like the olden days: the family sitting around listening to the radio. Around the electric fireplace. The cable TV came on last night at 8:14 and went out again at 9:05. Along with the internet. Joan felt confident enough to dump the buckets of water we had in each bathroom (to use for flushing) last night. Shoulda known better.
And, back to today's show...
"Hi, I'm Jim, your host for (crowd chants along) Wheel of Outage! This is our lovely hostess Joan, wearing her flannel jammies."
Joan: "Hi, everyone."
Jim: "Joan, will you spin the Wheel of Outage and we'll see what today's fun outage will be."
Wheel spins and... "Water! Those of you playing our home version will want to turn your water heater off and remember to not flush your toilets! Rufus, tell us more!"
Announcer Rufus: "Yes, Jim, today we woke up to... no water! You and a guest will get a no expense paid trip to the bathroom, where you can look at you toilet, tub, and sink, and try to remember when they had functioning water flow. You'll be treated to a bucket of water where you and a guest can play 'If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down!' But, that's not all, Jim. As a special bonus, the weather weasels, who yesterday said today will be 'gradually warming' lied once again, and have pushed that off another day. And, for the sheer fun of it, this morning's temperature at wake-up time is 33º with a never-ending cold north breeze! Back to you, Jim."
Jim: "Will the fun never start? Thanks, Rufus. Well, that's all the time we have for today's game. Join us tomorrow for another episode of (crowd chants along) Wheel of Outage!"
Joan: "Bye-bye"
Cut to a commercial for Xanax.
2 comments:
Is the sewage lift system working? I have a C-Head from Cap, it uses gallon water bottles for the urine diverter and the "compost" tank is a modified five gallon bucket. They went up in price but are superior to my mind than the Nature's Head or the Air Head toilets. You can flush with sea water, not good for the treatment plant but it works. A 250 gallon water tank under the house with a 12 volt pump ala RV water system gets the rest done with a switch over valve on the water system. Better yet, go where it is warm!!!!! See ya.
Bob Jarrard
PS: When we lived near the San Andreas fault in Kalifornia, our plan for the aftermath of a bad earthquake was a trip to a nice resort and a beach!!! BJ
Hi Bob. We're good. Power has been back on for the last day and a half and the lift pumps are doing their job. The only think not up to snuff is the water, and that is an issue with the Water District. Looks like we'll be boiling water for a week or so. If we were living on a boat again, I'd consider something besides a traditional marine head, but standard plumbing works fine in the house. Normally, we have water in the motorhome and can be heading there in a moment's notice, but no place to go right now... since everything north of us for nearly 1,000 miles is worse off than we are. We had gas for the generator (for heat, lights and the fridge), plenty of food and water, and most importantly: each other. Well, and big furry Rufus, who is very comforting and provides some warmth. We ARE where it is warm... well, except for this last week or so. Freak winter storm; we won't be changing our life base on this one storm. We stay prepared, but this was different. We dealt.
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