A famous comedian’s routine was titled “Never Challenge Worse.” No matter how bad things were, they always can worse.
After 2020, people said, “this was a bad year. It can’t get worse.”. Or, can it?
Unintentionally, I’ve been disconnected from the grid for the past seven days. Here’s my story.
As 2022 starts, COVID-19 cases are rising, and my morning run was in the rain.
I ran my 6-mile route through Chatham, Pratt Park, to the bottom of the switchbacks and back. There was light rain as I headed out of the door. So, I wore my old Nike Pegasus. On my way back. I ran into the start of the New Year’s Day 10km race. For them, the rain got heavier and worse. So, what’s a little rain.
My January 2nd run went well, a little slow, on my 6-mile loop crossing the Chatham Bridge. Later in the day, the Philadelphia Eagles eliminated the Washington Football Team from the playoffs. So, my teams can’t win them all.
On my way to work, for the first time, I heard a snow forecast for later that evening, 3 to 6 inches.
I covered a closing shift and didn’t get home until 11:30 pm. It was still in the mid-50s, and it had not started raining. I looked at my cell phone’s weather app, forecasting rain beginning at 2 am changing to snow.
The following day, having worked late, I was lazy and slept until 7:30 am. There were sizable water puddles in my yard covered with about 3 inches of snow. The forecast had changed to 8 to 12 inches of snow.
By the time I got out at 9:15 am, the snow was steadily falling, and I was wearing tights, my GoreTex jacket, and Nike Pegasus Trail shoes. I tried my new Nathan gloves with the mitten covers. The temperature was in the high 20s with 15 mph winds. Two of the first three days were terrible weather running days.
I wouldn’t say I liked running into the wind. I bargained with myself to at least run across the Chatham Bridge before returning. Tree branches were blocking the roads, and snow was about 6 inches deep in spots. Other patches were almost bare to the pavement and runnable.
Approaching the Chatham Bridge, I saw one stuck cabby who didn’t know how to get out of the snowbank they had hit. There was no traffic on the bridge. So, I tried my luck to run the car lanes and finish before a car got to me. No luck. A vehicle was leaving the city as I got halfway across, and I moved over to my right. The car lanes were runnable, packed snow.
That little extra hard push convinced me to continue with my usual 6-mile city loop. Overnight, the storm started as rain turning to ice and then to heavy wet snow. The trees were losing.
Through the city, branches were falling off the trees. You could hear the cracking just before a limb fell, mainly from the pines.
There were sections of a 9-inch snow cover and others with no snow at all. It was challenging to run in the tire ruts. So, I stayed in the virgin snow when I could.
I passed a woman walking her dog, and I joked, “do you believe people are driving in this?” As I passed Trench Hill, the kids were out on their sleds in mass.
Trees were blocking Caroline Street in three locations as I turned from Charlotte Street. City crews were behind me, clearing the road. The blockage stopped cars for the three blocks I ran as more limbs fell.
I used the 10-inch deep snow-covered pedestrian lane to head back across the Chatham Bridge. Some tracks went halfway across the bridge. I don’t know how they got back.
Heading back up Chatham Heights Road, 3 inches of new snow covered my outbound footprints. I ran in the road a little to avoid the sections of snowplowed bricks thrown on the sidewalk. It took me 90 minutes to complete the six miles.
When I got home, I noticed my power was out. So much for the things I wanted to do. I had no power, no internet, no noon poker tournament, no amazon, no porn, no heat, and no hot water.
I pulled out my portable radio that uses 6 D cell batteries. I had to replace five.
WFVA and WBQB were off the air. I could not pick up any local news.
I called Virginia Power and reported an outage. Initially, they indicated their computers were down, and I could contact them online. I was able to make an outage report via the automated phone system. They did not indicate an expected restore time.
In the afternoon, I walked up to Chatham Heights Road. All traffic signals were dark. CVS and Wawa were closed. I’m assuming Virginia Power did a complete grid shutdown rather than waiting for failures.
I called Virginia Power three more times to get an expected restore time.
What else to do? I finished a book I was halfway through and dozed off a couple of times.
I used my Ryobi batteries and portable light. I only have two batteries, and one ran out the first night.
I wrapped up for bed at 10 pm using extra blankets and clothing. Overnight, the inside temperature got down to 48 degrees.
Tuesday, without an alarm or clock, I got up at 8:45 am. Something was beeping at 6:30 am,
I called Virginia Power again for an estimated restore time. There was nothing yet.
I walked up to Chatham Heights Road. The traffic signals were still out, and I roamed toward the fire station to see if they were setting up shelters. On the way there, I saw a Virginia Power truck going along Butler Road and Chatham Heights Road inspecting the power line. So, I walked back home.
I started shoveling the snow away from my car parked on the street. I did not clear off my car in the driveway.
There was a downed large tree branch crossing my street and a Cox cable wire under the limb. VDOT can’t plow my road without the branch being moved.
With the help of a neighbor, we sawed the smaller branches off the tree and were able to pull the big chunk off the road. Driving nails into a tree, we lifted the cable off the roadway.
I removed the rest of the snow away from my car. Knowing the main roads were clear, I backed out to Willow Street and headed to Chatham Heights Road and Route 3.
A little time in my car can get me warm, and I can listen to WTOP out of DC. Their main report was about the backups on I-95. Nothing about power outages in the area. People have been backed up on 95 in both directions for the last 24 hours, including Senator Kaine, who left Richmond at 10 am on Monday and was somewhere near Fredericksburg 24 hours later.
The traffic signals on Route 3 are all out. We need to teach people how to drive and know that a dark light means “4 way stop,” not keep going, especially those driving the large SUVs.
It looked like the Sheetz was open. I kept driving east on Route 3.
The first operating signal was at the King George Post Office. I pulled into the Food Lion. The parking lot was too messy, and I did not get out. While at the lot, I got a call from Virginia Power that my electricity was back on. I headed home, hoping to get a hot lunch.
Some of the traffic signals were back on as I went west on Route 3.
When I turned back onto my street, I saw a fire burning on one of the poles. I called 911, and they told me they had already received reports of the fire. I’m less than ¼ mile from the fire station. No one was here yet.
The transformer had blown, probably from everybody’s heater kicking on simultaneously, and started a fire on the Verizon cable.
We watched the cable and parts of a nearby tree burn for about an hour before the fire department arrived. They probably were out helping get people off I-95. The fire was under control. So, they let the fire burn out on its own.
Some live electric wires dropped to the ground as part of the transformer issue. I called Virginia Power to report the downed wires. I talked to an actual person as this was an urgent issue.
When I got back to my house, I still had power in several receptacles. So, I had lights for reading. Still no heat. I was able to run a space heater from one of the receptacles. I also used a blow dryer on my wet wool socks.
I recharged my cell phone and both Ryobi batteries.
The fire had burned out my Verizon connection. I called Verizon to report that my service was down. They gave me an appointment for 9 am on Friday.
I listened to the message Virginia Power left on their call around noon. They asked if my power was back on. So, I called back to report that some lights were on and others were not. I talked with an actual person as this was an urgent issue.
I received a text from Verizon that my issue was part of a more extensive outage that would be fixed by 8 pm on Friday.
I had cereal and Oreos for dinner.
It was another night without a shower. Little did I know, my hot water heater was working. Oh well. After starting a new book, I got to bed around 11 pm.
I had an interesting dream about a blonde and almost happy ending.
The inside overnight low was 43 degrees.
My alarm clock did not display any digits. It did go off at 6:30 am. I can’t figure out why.
I got up around 7:30 am on Wednesday. This night is the most sleep I’ve had in quite a while.
I called Virginia Power again, and they indicated the restore is scheduled for 6 to 11 pm on Thursday. I called Verizon to update them about Virginia Power and asked when they would be here to repair, Friday at 9 am or later. I told them about the Virginia Power schedule.
I headed out. Some traffic signals were still dark. I hit Home Depot first to see if I could get a Ryobi radio with a digital display or some C cell batteries for my other radio that had a digital display. Home Depot had about ten employees in the store. They used one set of doors and one checkout line feeding three cash registers. I could not find the radio. I did pick up 8 C cell batteries.
Next, I went to Walmart to get more cereal, rice, and Oreos. Wal-mart was running out of change, one-dollar bills, and pennies, and they were out of disposable plastic and reusable bags. On January 1st, the city instituted a 5 cents tax on each disposable plastic bag.
Now we have COVID, snow, traffic, and a new tax. Some irritated customers were taking it out on the Wal-mart employees.
I went over to Barnes and Noble to get another book. They were closed.
My gas tank was down to 3 gallons, so I stopped in a Sheetz to fill up. I headed over to work to see if we were open. I dropped off the car topper and hot bag I used on my last Sunday delivery. I asked if we needed any day drivers. No need.
I got a power cord and my portable low-powered microwave from my garage.
Looking outside, I saw four people in yellow vests looking at the wires. I roamed out and talked with them. They were the inspection crew, looking at what needed to be done to restore power.
I gave up and opened my refrigerator. It was warmer inside the fridge, 60 degrees versus 45 degrees than in my house. It appears that my milk and yogurt, along with some meat, were spoiled.
I made a sandwich for lunch.
At about 2 pm, my power went out. I looked outside and saw a couple of bucket trucks. They had Texas plates. By 6 pm, my electricity was restored. I raised my heat in 6 degrees intervals, resting my furnace for about 10 minutes between intervals.
I ate a healthy hot dinner and took a warm shower.
I called Verizon to tell them that Virginia Power finished a day early. So, they did not have to wait until Friday.
I called Cox to tell them they might have a line crossing my driveway.
I finished my second book by 10:30 pm and had another 8 ½ hours of sleep.
Thursday morning, my Free Lance-Star was delivered. I was disappointed by not getting the Tuesday and Wednesday papers, too. Later in the day, I got mail for the first time in the week.
I got out to run around 9 am. I ran in 6 miles in town loop. It was just below freezing, but temperatures were rising quickly. I took it easy on the slick spots that melted before I finished. It took me 77 minutes for 6 miles.
There were trees down in a couple of spots. Sunken Road was still snow-covered. On Monday, there were a lot of trees down on Sunken Road, and the plow probably didn’t get through.
Were the three trees were down, I guess the residents on those streets are waiting for the chainsaw ferry to come around.
Trench Hill was still snow-covered, which is abnormal for three days after a snowfall.
Now with power, I needed to replenish my refrigerated stuff.
I headed to Barnes and Noble and bought two books and a wall calendar
There were no shopping carts, plastic bags, and cash-taking self-service registers at Wal-mart. I got what I needed and had to pay with a credit card.
Wegman’s had shopping carts, paper bags, which are not taxed, and reusable bags to sell. I got what I needed and paid with cash.
At Giant, they had shopping carts, plastic bags, and no reusable bags for sale. I got what I needed and paid with cash. While there, the Coinstar machine was unavailable for use as it was full of coins.
I did take the many reusable bags that I got from participating in local races. Wasn’t that a concern in spreading COVID-19, reusable bags?
I was able to have my usual low FODMAP hot lunch.
Around 1 pm, Verizon showed up. They did some work. Around 3 pm, I did not have a dial tone. I saw that they were packing up, so I headed out to see if they had finished. The splicer has to come back to complete the repair.
Later that evening, I called Verizon for updates on both work tickets. Both are still active. I should expect a call from Verizon before my 9 am technician appointment.
Friday morning, the Verizon splicer arrived just after 8:30 am. He worked out of his truck most of the day, which shielded him from the cold and the wind. Once he finished, I might have service.
The overnight snowfall was a little less than one inch. It was enough to make my morning run a little slicker. I ran about 3 miles to get back before the 9 am technician appointment. Verizon canceled this latter appointment until the new wires were complete.
Saturday morning, the Verizon cable looks complete but not hung on the poles.
I did my usual across the Chatham Bridge 6 Mile loop in 64 minutes. There were some slick spots, the worst on the leads to the bridge path.
I wondered how snow would impact the new bridge layout. The snow plowed from the travel lanes did not get thrown into the pedestrian path, which made that path easier to run. However, the railings kept the snow cover in the shade, and very little had melted.
Sunken Road and some other streets in the city still have light snowpack. Those with houses blocking the sun were the worst. I was surprised to see that Trench Hill did not have any bare spots and, at 9:30 am, no sledders.
By 3 pm, Verizon had not arrived to hang the completed wires. I checked on their app to see the work was marked as completed. So, I called them.
I should expect a Verizon to arrive at 10 am on Sunday to reconnect my service and hang those wires.
On Sunday at 8:20 am, I was about to head out and run when the Verizon tech arrived to complete my recovery. I decided to hang around and run when he finished.
By 9 am, I had dial tone, TV, and internet. Now, I need to go through 7 days of emails and reconnect with the world.
Some say they would rather have an internet connection rather than power. I need electricity to connect to the internet. I would rather have internet and power than heat.
I could not post this blog entry until Verizon reconnected my internet.
With this interesting start to 2022, the rest of the year can’t be worse.