Ruminations - 14feb2009

George Rebane

There’s only so much one can say for living in a winter wonderland.  And after a day or two, much of it is unprintable.  In our part of the country what adds to the sense of wonder and adventure is a big power outage.  Our power went out yesterday morning and PG&E’s recorded lady told us not to worry, their crews were working hard and power would return soon.  And about twelve hours later it did come on for about four minutes.  At our house a short burst of jubilation, and then ‘Oh s@#t!’.   Looks like someone made a boo-boo in bringing the various circuits back on line, and a distribution transformer (one of the big ones behind the chain link fence) blew.  That’s just my guess, but when we called back to the recorded lady, she was reading from a new page.  No more hope, no more ‘we’re working hard’, only that suddenly “equipment was not available” and that we should get ready for an indefinite outage.

Our house is rigged for these little interludes.  A couple of years ago we installed a propane powered Kohler 12KW generator, and after brushing off the snow, that little puppy started right up with the push of a button.  It has been making things bearable, consuming about 2 gallons per hour.  But given the dour warning from the PG&E lady, we did turn it off last night, went to bed early, and counted on our love to keep us warm.  Well, truth be told, we did ease the burden on that sentiment somewhat with a very large comforter filled with Canadian goose down.  The temperature in the house went down to 53F overnight, but in the morning the Kohler again responded to the ‘start’ button augmented with little silent prayer.  The PG&E lady was no more hopeful today.  I started up the fireplace before breakfast, and soon we’ll be huddled around the fire making Valentines cards for each other.  It’ll snow again later today, and tomorrow the real duzer is due.  So, how’s by you?

I see where Barney Frank and his congressional clowns committee took some bank CEOs to task for not lending enough of their bailout money.  It doesn’t matter that the banks are already lending all that they prudently can.  We have to remember that imprudent lending by GSEs (e.g. Fannie and Freddie) and the same banks was a big contributor to the current mess.  Now, when the employment situation and business environment is worse, Barney’s bunch wants more lending.  What this three-ring circus doesn’t reveal is that most of the lending they’re trying to push is done by the secondary lenders making credit card, car loans, etc.  These lenders are beyond the bailout pale, and are holding back because Congress has yet to define how their overall stimulus plan will define the risk landscape for them.  So instead of telling the country which way we will be going, the buffoons are doing what comes naturally, more political theater.

What really irks about all this BS is that these guys know we’re dumb and won’t look behind the curtain.  They also know that the MSM will either be equally dense on the matter, or unwilling to educate their public to the essentials of this farce.  A 23 second soundbite can only contain so much, and Barney is such a lovable character.

BTW, speaking of government shenanigans, a correspondent just emailed me a very interesting link to a website called ‘wikileaks’ (Wikipedia description here).  These folks make available to the rest of us the myriads of internal reports and statements (‘leaks’) that are only distributed to congressional offices and outfits like GAO, etc, and not intended to see the light of day.  Another of the many things the internet is making available to those who will take the time and care enough about what is happening to our country.

Happy Valentines Day!  

Comments

[Russ]

George,

I think you will find your little generator will be a very good investment. Now that we are in cool PDO phase there will be more heavy winter snow storms that take out the power. With the implementation of AB-32 Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, you will soon find opportunities to use the generator during the summer brown outs. As California is forced to give up coal and oil fired power plants, and we have to depend more and more on renewables with a weak transmission infrastructure, and no nuclear back ups, we will see more and more brown outs in the summer. With both winter and summer applications a home generator becomes a good investment. I highly recommend all those that can afford a generator have one installed. We installed our diesel generator over ten years ago and have used it both in the winter and summer when the power goes out. Trees fall on the power lines summer and winter.

[George Rebane]

Yes, and year-round governators also fall on the their state's economic and quality of life prospects.

[Martin Light]

As you know we live a little further out into 'the frontier' of Nevada County than you 'city folks'. We didn't lose PG&E yesterday but did for 5 hours earlier in the week. Our Honda generator that plugs into an outlet in the garage kept everything throughout the house humming that workday. Before firing it up we always throw the main breaker to off so as to make sure some dedicated lineman doesn't get a surprise jolt. In the near future we're planning to upgrade either to a propane or diesel with an auto emergency start to save the big freezer contents during the summer and the plumbing during the winter when we're away.

[Dixie Redfearn]

I can relate! We have power but at least 5,000 feet of snow..and more coming? Yikes!

[Account Deleted]

George, you have to be careful of what you read on Wikileaks. Some of it is as you say, but a lot is left wing propaganda. For example, there is an article I saw near the top that claimed that the GOP was contradicting or ignoring "non partisan" research. The research in question was from the Congressional research service. Hardly non-partisan. They faulted tax cuts as not being the proper choice for jump starting the economy because a lot of the folks who would get a tax cut would just save it! Oh - horrors! Saving money you earn? Why, we can't have that! This "non-partisan" bunch was quite sure that food stamps, and billions to the unions was just the ticket. The author of this bit of nonsense acted as if this research group was handing down the tablets from the mount and for any member of congress to not go along was just dishonest or worse. The author, by the way, normally writes for Mother Jones. 'Nuff said.
As to your lack of potential from the power lines, we were out for around 6.5 hrs. and are always thankful to have it go back on. Our (safety) hats are off to those who climb power poles in miserable weather and mess around with high voltage. I know it's their job and they are well paid, but a prayer for their safety is always the first thing that comes to mind when the lights go out. Immediately followed by "now where is that flashlight?"

[George Rebane]

Yeah, I saw that little lean in their coverage also. Gotta always be careful about what you read.

Power came on at 745pm tonight. We waited 20 min, and then I tiptoed out there in the slush and turned off our little Kohler. Good job!

[Russ Steele]

Glad to hear the power is back on at the Rebane House. Earlier this morning it was raining with a stong wind blowing on Banner, but now it is snowing gently. We seem to be near the transition elevation between rain and snow.