Well, the news kept forcasting that this tropical storm was going to affect the west coast of Florida. What the news didn't predict was that a small "cell" would break away from the storm and go along the east coast.....which ended up downing a single (sad) tree and it fell on a main power line at the entrance of our dead end street.
Around 3:00am Monday morning, I awaken to NO fan, a/c, no lullaby playing to keep The Dude asleep. Immediately, my inner voice says "Oh crap." Right afterwards, the "oh crap" is vocalized. Mind you, my sleep schedule is soooo off the wall lately; falling asleep at 1:00am, waking up between 7:30-8:00am, and falling back to sleep until 9:30am. On this WONDERFUL Monday, I fell asleep at 1:00am, awoke at 3:00am, did not fall back to sleep until 6:15am, and awoke for the day (with no coffee to look forward to!) at 9:00am. Needless to say it was a ROUGH day.
Around 11:00am, the Fire Dept. sent a truck to tape off the entrance with the stupid yellow police tape "Do Not Cross" kaka. And they had a small pick up truck from the Fire Dept. "guarding" the entrance/exit so no one would leave. In a display of "overkill" they even taped off the entrance/exit in to the WHOLE neighborhood. (In my neighborhood, you turn right from the main road, then come to a stop sign- my street is to the left & a dead end, to the right is another portion of the neighborhood which has 4 streets connected to it, with 2 alternate entrance/exits). So at this point between communicating with my Hubs, I charge my phone in the car to 40%. It was breezy since the rain bands kept coming through.
Being an adult, we know how to acclimate to heat better than my 14 month old son. He was soo sweaty and just grumpy and uncomfortable. He fell asleep in his pack n' play in front of the opened living room window, with hardly any breeze since the rain had subsided for the moment, to wake up 25 minutes later drenched in sweat. My mother suggested I charge my cell phone in her car (Since she had a full tank of gas, and I was at 1/3) and bring The Dude so he can enjoy some a/c. This was around 2:30pm. Almost 12 hours after losing power
Around 3:00pm, the Fire Dept says anyone who "snuck out" would NOT be allowed back on to the street until power is restored/the tree is cleared. UM, really??! My HUSBAND won't be allowed back in? Or my elderly neighbors, one of whom is going through chemo?? At this point I am LIVID!!
Around 3:15pm I contacted our local news station, with a photo of the downed tree along with explaining that they were not letting us leave our street. Also explaining their cockamamie plan to have the street patrons that "escaped" to park at an abandoned buildings parking lot at the front of the street & they can walk back to their homes. Never mind that these officials haven't mentioned if the cars would be protected from being towed!!
At 5:15 the sound of a chain saw fills the air, and a service truck can be seen at the entrance of the street! **Happy Dance!** The Dude and I take a stroller walk down to see the progress! In the skies, there is a cherry picker on the horizon! After 20 minutes the same Fire Truck that was babysitting the entrance is driving down the street....anticipation crawling, I step outside to see if we are released from our temporary prison. As soon as the door clicks shut, my mother hollers "POWERS ON!" Cheers are heard throughout the neighborhood!!
Aaaaaaannnnnnd that was my Monday. Considering we live by the major International Airport here, the fact that it takes soooooo long normally for the power to come back on (During Katrina, we were out of power for THREE WEEKS!!!) less than 24 hours was a RECORD since it was one sad tree that fell. It wasn't a large tree, just an unfortunate placement to where it fell.
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