We had a storm. Not Katrina or Rita scale, but it did tear things up
some in Minneapolis.

95 hours down, but we're up and running again. YAY!

I'm impressed with how Xcel handled the aftermath of this storm. On
Wed nite they had over 200,000 customers without power.
They must triage things so the early work goes to fixing problems that
affect the greatest number, which includes safety matters like traffic
signals on arterials and perhaps businesses to minimize temptation to
loot. Smaller neighborhood pockets like us had to wait our turn.
Someone has to. We must have been near the end of the list, because
as of 10PM tonight they were down to 12,000 still without power.

Our turn came this afternoon. The crews were all over this
neighborhood like locusts. A tree crew from Des Moines, IA took
care of the tree that took out the 8000-volt line serving our end of
Hickory Dr. They (two guys with a cherrypicker truck) had that
tree cleared in 20 minutes. They didn't remove the tree, just cut it
well clear of the powerlines so they could fix the lines. Further
tree work will be (electrically) safe for neighbor Dan or whomever he
might hire. Dan is a metro guy, doesn't want any help. I tried.

An Xcel crew (another two guys with another cherrypicker) was right
behind them, had the line spliced and made taut with a new insulator
in another 20 minutes. Similar things were happening in several
locations around the neighborhood. The lights went on 20 minutes
after they were done here, just before dark.

These crews had undoubtedly been working dawn-to-dark since Thu AM.
They've probably been knocking down some serious overtime pay, but
I'll bet they'll be glad to be done. A huge amount of work got
done in 95 hours. Someone did a superb job of organization and
perhaps preparedness. The crews I saw working were pros, no wasted
motion and no hardhats loafing and watching. They get there, "get
her done right" and go on to the next job.

This being Minnesota, there were lots of examples of neighbors
helping neighbors. The sound of chainsaws (including mine) has been
about constant for the past few days. I sustained no damage other
than a lot of debris in my yard (cleaned up on Thursday) so I spent
a coupla days bucking and swamping for a neighbor with a problem,
big tree fallen on her garage. Neighbor Ms Lillian's rellie
Lester, no younger than I but a damned good tree man, kept the timber
raining down for me and some others to buck and swamp. We "got her
done". I'm not a strong young man, but I can work a little now and
then. I enjoyed working with those guys. Ms Lillian, about 70,
noted that Dan is a metro neighbor but "you guys are like small town
neighbors." I took that as a huge compliment. Ms Lillian says
exactly what she thinks when she says anything at all. She is one
neat lady. She had power days before we did, invited us to run an
extension cord from her garage for minimal needs e.g. freezer.
Gratefully accepted. I also kiped my 'puter on the feed to keep
meself from going nuts. I'd read three novels by flashlight, was
getting owly because I couldn't make chips.

I didn't like being without power for 95 hours any better than anyone
else would, but I think Xcel and its crews did an impressive and
thoroughly professional job of dealing with the aftermath of a storm.

I'll be buying a generator soon. Summertime outage is inconvenient,
nothing more. We do primitive just fine. But an ice storm causing
a similar outage midwinter could be serious. Frozen plumbing can be a
very costly mess. There isn't a genny within 75 miles of Mnpls
just now, but they'll restock eventually. I'm looking at a Honda
5.5KW per recommendation from Fitch.

Ig would no doubt find one for $9.99. I'm not that good at finding
bargains. I want something I can count on, bargain or not. Onan is
right here in Fridley and I recall from army days that Onan made
seriously good gennys -- but I just need a small one. Honda has an
excellent rep with small gennys.