Snap, Crackle, Pop

That’s what it sounded like around our place yesterday, and no, I wasn’t eating Rice Krispies. Our neighbor Jennifer from across the street came over to tell me that a power pole was making a loud buzzing sound, and she kept seeing a blue light on it.

I walked outside, and it took me a minute to figure out what she was talking about. One of the white connectors on the bottom right arm of this power pole was shorting out. We didn’t hear anything for a moment or so, then there was a loud crackling sound and I could see a bright blue spark that looked like it was coming from a welder’s torch. It would stop for a minute or so and start back up, and several times it actually put out a large flame.

Jennifer had tried to call Florida Power and Light (FPL), our local electric company, but she got caught in voicemail hell, saying it would be at least 90 minutes before someone could answer her call. That’s nonsense, so I called 911, and a few minutes later, a fire truck arrived. I showed them where the problem was, and just as I did, there was another big flame that came out of the connection, and then little pieces of burning insulation or something started falling down. The fireman said he would call FPL and tell them to get out here. I told him the recorded message Jennifer had got when she called and he shook his head and said, “No, I’ll make sure they’re here soon!” Apparently, his dispatcher or somebody knew the right number to call that we mere mortals don’t have because less than twenty minutes later, an FPL truck showed up.

The worker looked at the pole and confirmed that it was a short in the wires and said he would call for a bucket truck. I asked if we were going to lose power, and he said there were three lines coming from that pole, and he didn’t know what feeds what, so we had a one in three chance of going dark for an hour or so. Fortunately, even though we didn’t win the MegaMillions jackpot the other night, we lucked out this time around and our power stayed on.

That’s a good thing because I spent the entire day making corrections to chapters in my new John Lee Quarrels book so I can get them printed out and off to the proofreaders. I still had a couple of chapters to go when I knocked off about 7:30 in the evening because my eyes were just too tired to do anymore.

Terry and I spent the evening watching a couple of episodes of Aerial America that I had recorded on the Smithsonian Channel. These are great documentaries with some amazing videography. They have one for each state, as well as special episodes covering things like natural wonders, man-made wonders, and such. Check it out. I think you’ll like it.

I don’t know how much work I will get done today because Terry has an appointment with an audiologist in the early afternoon to see if they can do anything about her annoying tinnitus, and then we have some errands to run. Hopefully, I’ll find time to get at least something done to earn my keep.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Give me coffee to change the things I can and wine to accept those I cannot.