28 May 2010 headlamps, flashlights, thunderstorms

28 May 2010 headlamps, flashlights, thunderstorms


About 2100 yesterday the thunderstorms that had been threatening all day started rolling in. They came over the mountains out of N. Carolina rather than from the west as they usually do here. There has been a lot of thermal lifting along the eastern divide and the result was powerfully evident.

We sat and watched the storms progress on radar; blowing up, anviling out, dying back as new storm foci took their place. When the power started flickering we began to power the computers down. We lost power before we could complete the process. Fortunately both systems are UPS/surge protectors so there was sufficient battery to shut things down carefully and properly. The fascination with the storm progressions and the opportunity to look at radar views the public doesn’t normally see tend to overcome my usual reluctance to allow any chance of power flux to endanger the computers. I do have backups done on routine basis of all the documents and data I consider critical.

When the power went Gloria already had her flashlight. I was about ten steps from my good one. I have a headlamp but it is beginning to fail due to age and use. Gloria’s headlamp, from the old hurricane kit was an AAA cell incandescent bulb rig that she thought at the time to be adequate. She changed her mind last night as we sat in the living room reading by headlamp.

We went into town to the library today. The first stop along the way was at a local outdoor outfitter store to buy her a decent headlamp. She is now the proud owner of a Petzl Tikka Plus. We would have bought her an XP-2 but they were out of stock. This will be a thousand % improvement over her previous lamp.  We're all set for Scrabble in the dark!

The hike with Mike today was hot and muggy. Clouds were already building in to bring more thunderstorms. We spent most of the hike discussing flashlights and other gear that we both use. There is no such thing as having too many flashlights, particularly living where we do.

We left home at 1215 and escaped any rain until we were having lunch. Then the skies opened and we dealt with rain during the rest of our in-town errands. By the time we started home the line of storms had rolled through. I can’t say whether or not we’ll see a repeat of last night. We had 0.46 inches of rain last night in 90 minutes followed by 1hour 50 minutes of no power. Today, as of 1800 we have had 0.33 inches of rain.

Blackened grouper for lunch, pulled pork for Gloria. We had a coupon for a restaurant we’ve never tried before. It saved us half the price of lunch.