hurricane irene

Shedding some light on the subject.

The homestead remains without on-the-grid power since Saturday night. After driving through town it seems pretty obvious that our area won't get lights on before the weekend, if not longer. Smashed transformers, trees and limbs still resting - with some delicacy - atop power lines, and roads that even today aren't really passable.

Our town was hit badly with regard to power and internet outages. Right now I right this some twenty miles from home, and not at a private site. Fortunately, I don't know of any hurricane related fatalities in my town, though I known the same can't be said of other places, especially in Vermont and the Carolinas.

Now that I am briefly online, I find it ironically amusing that the CL+P website, the state website, and others, blithely recommend that people check other websites, FaceBook and Twitter for repair updates. Given that I know I won't have any electric, or cable or digital satellite service, much less land line and cell phone reception, I find it a grim twist of unintended humor. Perhaps the corporate execs should get out of their (presumably) still well lit and phone linked work sites and find out what the rest of us are doing.

I'm not complaining mind you; after all I consider myself only inconvenienced, but it's a bit obtuse to suggest one goes online to find out what is going on to get online services restored.

FULL DISCLOSURE TIME: I am one of the few in my area to actually have some electricity, thanks to a most efficient, if modestly powered, generator. So the contents of the freezer and fridge are safe, though there is certainly no need to turn on the TV set or computer. Instead, I am reading Norman Mailer on Picasso, and actually talking to people that stop by.