19 December 2009 Gate won’t close, the railing’s froze

Not only is the “railing frozen,” the weather station is snowed in. The anemometer, wind vane, solar battery extension panel, and rain gauge are all buried under several inches of heavy, wet, snow. Still, the system is transmitting as it was set up to transmit. The current set of batteries was installed in late February, ’09. I’m planning on replacing them as soon as I get a dry calm day. This personal weather station has really performed well and I’d recommend it to anyone wanting their own local weather station.
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Best estimate this morning is that we received 4-5 inches of snow. All the trees around us are heavily bent under the load. They’ve started shedding the weight and returning to a more normal position. So far, we’ve been very fortunate and have cable, phone, and power. We know that the power is out in Limestone. Gloria’s stained glass class is taught in a studio in Limestone. The owners called about 0930 to report that they had now power, heat, or water; and that the Christmas party scheduled for this afternoon was canceled. Gloria offered them our house for shelter. They declined, not wanting to chance the roads today.

Our road has not been cleared today. Traffic in both up and down directions has cut ruts. There was no newspaper delivery this morning. In my opinion, a wise choice on someone’s part. No newspaper is worth running icy roads on a snowy night. Mail delivery is questionable. Interstate 81 is closed in Virginia. We’ve been told that the county has been on Cassi Road with salt and a blade. We may go out to eat tomorrow if we can. Most likely the three miles closest to home will be the worst stretch to negotiate.

We’ve had a couple power flickers this morning, probably un-weighted branches causing arcing along the transmission routes.

The cable feed has just failed. At 1205 we have no cable, no internet access.

Change in plans: We wrapped in many layers and took the dog out to cavort in the snow while Gloria dealt with bird feeders and some maintenance chores and I shoved snow off the rear deck and the front steps. I took advantage of the relatively warm temps to clean as much snow as I could from both vehicles. At least the door channels and windows are cleared and blowback from the hoods will be negligible. It’s becoming apparent that I need a longer scraper for the Pathfinder. I’m not tall enough to reach all the areas I need to reach.

As of 1400 we had no mail. I doubt they delivered today.

Power failed at 1245 and was off until 1430. As of 1530 we have power but still no cable and no internet access. We were able to call in our power outage using a cell phone. We called in the cable outage prior to losing power on our land line. If we had allowed either cable or land-line provider to have both services we’d have been further up the creek. With cable providing internet and phone, we’d have had no way to call in any outages. With land line provider providing phone and cable we’d have been unable to call in any outage. Some of our family members wonder why we have three separate carriers for cable/internet, land line, and cell phone. Redundancy pays off sometimes. If you have to ask, you don’t live as far off the beaten path as we do.

When the power came back on line it seemed to be below standard voltage. At 1600 it dropped out again for about 5 minutes and came back up, seemingly at full voltage. I guess the repair folks opted for some voltage ASAP and then a follow-on return to standard. I’d applaud that choice today. Comcast is still down at 1630. There is a new Dr. Who tonight that we’d like to watch. Time will tell.

2220 and still no cable.

Dinner – halibut steaks with lemon-dill sauce, steamed Brussels’ sprouts in a Dijon-mustard sauce.

Plan for 20th, Buckwheat pancakes.

Cable/internet outage still ongoing at 003 20 December 2009

This is one of my favorite shots from about 0800 today.

This is another. Looking south, up valley, on Cassi Road. Just where the road bends left, the name changes to Fish Pond Road and the Green County line crosses the road into our property on the left.