I feel so bad for our local utility crews.

[MissB]

Power went out recently- probably in the last half hour. Not exactly surprised as we are on the edge of the ice storm. I’ve been hearing crashes all night- it’s either trees giving way or ice falling. Not sure and I’m not going outside to find out.

Anyway, the utility company says they should have power restored to our house by the 16th. Yay.

[yankeepants]

1. Where are you?

[MissB]

2. Portland

(Oregon)

I’m sure the whole city is absolutely a mess after this ice storm on top of all the snow.

[yankeepants]

3. Maine or Oregon? I have close relatives who are Utility workers. Tough job!

[Laffy Kat]

4. Same here in Colorado.

Our power went out for about an hour-and-a-half tonight while it was below zero outside. Xcel called my cell phone three times to give me updates. I was impressed. The linemen are greatly appreciated.

[MissB]

8. That's awesome that your power is back on so quickly

Folks in cities near the state capitol (Salem) are being told it could be a week before they have power.

Our local utility says 48 hours. Totally understandable- much of the city has ice everywhere plus snow underneath. Tomorrow should be interesting in terms of damage assessments.

Just had two fire trucks on the road, plus heard a chain saw. No idea what happened but again not going outside.

Pup had to pee- I put him on a 20 foot lead and stayed on my back porch.

[LeftInTX]

10. The scary part is below zero

It's a 11 down here. If the power goes out, I will survive.

[634-5789]

5. We spent the big bucks on a home generator...worth every penny!

It was like war-torn Bosnia here ( central Illinois) , in one year we had 23 outages. Spent the big bucks, got that Generac whole house generator and is def one of the best investments we could make. Power out yesterday for 2 hours, we never missed a beat.

[MissB]

9. It's an idea.

Quite a few folks have them in our neighborhood.

The utility company upgraded the power lines a number of years ago so we rarely have an outage.

On the street behind me this evening, a small branch fell of a tree. I’d say it was maybe 3 and a half feet long, maybe an inch, inch and a half around. It got snagged in the power lines and was pointing directly up and down.

Smoked, sparked, caught fire. Fire department couldn’t make it before it blew the line. And that was just one small branch.

[mwooldri]

13. I'm leaning towards going solar with battery backup.

Investment outlay seems to be big but if we can make it pay off in the longer run we might do it.

[MLAA]

14. I just added solar in December.

I love it for the peace of mind. I’m 60 so I’d need to make it well past 90 for it to pay off financially.

Good luck!

[634-5789]

16. Looked into that, but the money vs. value is not there yet.

[catrose]

7. First thing I think of when power goes out. Somebody has to go out in this weather & fix it.

[LeftInTX]

11. Yes, thank you for them...

Stay warm!

[sarge43]

12. Yup. Everyday heroes. Blessings on their house.

[Chainfire]

15. As someone who used to fight the cold to make repairs

I can tell you that many of us enjoyed the chance to make overtime pay for our families. When you take service jobs, you know what is expected, if you find it too much of a burden, you change jobs. On the other hand, of course, service workers enjoy the praise and the recognition that they are valued members of society. They don't get a lot of that on sunny days.