Recent Power Outage in Land Park Produced Comedy of Errors

SMUD sent 3 trucks almost immediately to my street during a power outage in Land Park.

Absolutely, did not expect a power outage in Land Park yesterday morning when I slowly opened my eyes, mumbling. What’s going on? I could hear a soft intermittent beeping that had interrupted my slumber for the past hour. Sounded like a slightly open refrigerator door, improperly closed. Everything in the refrigerator could thaw for all I cared. Sleeping in a toasty warm bed makes one a bit oblivious to her surroundings.

It’s about 7:30, my husband answered. What? He should be out of bed getting ready for work.  It’s too cold, he said. Why? Why is it too cold? Because there is no heat. Why is there no heat? Because we have a power outage in Land Park. Well, he could have led with that statement. I bounced outta bed, and brrrrr. OK, so no internet. No problem. I can use my iPad as a hotspot with my laptop. My two back-up batteries produced the beeping, so I shut them down.

Checked the SMUD outage map because misery loves company. I do not want to be the ONLY household freezing her tush off in the middle of a rainstorm. Nope, all our neighbors need to be in the same boat with us, and they were. At least 36 households were suffering from a power outage in Land Park. My husband made me a cup of tea, which I couldn’t figure out. I could not light the stove. With a lighter, that’s how. Our automatic ignition doesn’t work without electricity but the gas still comes out . . . who knew? My husband, I guess.

Off to work with him, leaving me alone in the freezing house. I didn’t really want tea. Only coffee, really. Still hot from the stove, I carried the saucepan with a cup of hot water remaining over to the sink. I grabbed the coffee grounds and tried to position them over the cup of tea to pour water into the grounds. A coffee’d tea sounded good. Nothing seemed to work correctly, so I turned the coffee ground container sideways to look for the hole and accidentally dumped all of the grounds on the counter.

Even Ziggy checked out the fireplace, which we never use.

This is what not having any coffee will do to a person. Well, there was a little bit left, so I mixed the coffee and tea together and retired to the family room to work on my laptop. Ah, what joy. I spied two logs in the fireplace. These logs have been sitting in that fireplace for probably 10 years. Since the last power outage in Land Park when a 40-foot tree fell on our house. Grabbed the lighter and lit the logs.

Jackson stares at the fireplace in wonder.

You know what happened next, right? I mean, you can see this coming a mile away because you obviously are wide awake and alert. Not me. I’m typing away on the sofa, answering emails, oblivious to my surroundings, when all of a sudden, I hear a high pitch. Then another. And another. Oh, no! One by one, all of our smoke alarms went off, producing piercing shrieks. When I glanced up, I spotted floating pillows of smoke replacing air in the house.

Jackson enjoys the warmest spot in the house during the power outage.

However, the blaze in the fireplace was simply glorious. Except for the smoke. Shoot. The damper must be closed. I could not see to find the damper lever. Using my cell as a flashlight and a collectible back-scratching stick that comes with those Tropical Itch cocktails from Hawaii, I finally pulled the lever back to open the damper. That back-scratching stick came in handy to pull the batteries out of the smoke alarms, too.

All seemed peaceful and calm. I finished my emails, had a conversation with a seller from Mendocino about mailing listing paperwork to her. Which I would have printed and sent myself but I had no power to the house. Oh, wait, my office can do it. Yay for Pat Ali!! And almost as soon as I finished my phone call, the power suddenly came back on in a flash. Followed by a piercing alarm-like screaming. Originating from the attic it seemed; was it the furnace?

Jackson’s paws look like he walked around inside the fireplace.

Tried flipping the breaker for the furnace but that didn’t do anything. Well, if it sounds like an alarm, it must be an alarm, I reasoned. Sure enough, we do have an alarm system at our house, even if we don’t use it. Turns out my husband did not realize the plug in the cat-box room is for our alarm. He thought it powered our sprinklers. Mister-fancy-pants-lit-the-stove-with-a-lighter guy.

Ha, pulled the plug and plugged back in. Silence.