This is a public service I am undertaking due to an experience I had recently when an electrical substation went down at Bunker 109 here and myself with my neighbors were not in the best of moods in trying to figure out what the heck was going on.It gets very old when electrical parts running millions of volts of electricity heat up, shut down and then automatically switch on again. It makes one appreciate auto draft save to entire blogs do not disappear.
So to get to the point of why this matters if Obama's tan buddies in Chavez, Castro and Hu, have been rationing electric power this winter. Due to the nuttery of Obama blow hard wind power and solar Star Trek power which does not employ anyone, America's electric grid is facing the same production shortfalls the 3rd world is.
Last evening while finishing up here, the lights went out again, to which I was sitting in the dark frowning, when the lights came back on, but the server here did not, and I started noticing some of my lights were not on, but my television was popping on.
I immediately thought something had tripped in the breakers or some fuse had blown. So off I went checking things, and the lights did not come on, or all of them did not.
So I started digging further with the large amp fuses, installing them..........still no lights.
So more checking, rechecking, and switching fuses to circuits that worked to test their viability, and they worked.
Getting frustrated, I noted my surge protector was on for the computer, but no computer. Hmmm, I ignored it, flipped it off and on, but still no computer. The radio was still fine, but then that had back up battery power, so I discounted that circuit too.
So back to the relays in trying to figure out if my wires had burnt out.
About this time information from the neighbors started flowing in as the Holy Ghost was telling me, "Light is on the surge protector. Look at the lights and see the filament in the regular bulbs and how dim the other Al Gore bulbs are".
It started to dawn on me that we had a massive brown out. Our lights have been dimmed for days, and I missed how low the power was.
With the lights going off in my brain, and hear the furnace fan turning slowly, I pulled the plug and made certain the refrigerator was unplugged too as brown outs will burn out electric motors.
My neighbors were noting the same odd things in the high watt florescent lights refused to work and the low 75 watt Al Gore curly bulbs would function, provided they were in heated locations.
It is always nice to be confused and turn on a 3 way switch in a supply room and the light does not work, but when you flip a switch in another room the light glows dull.
I have lived or existed with brown out conditions of 50% power and it is like existing in a fog, but one manages. This brown out though was about 25% power and it reflects the information I desire to share.
There are now solar panel grids which are finally plug and play, unlike the previous ones where I had to build the entire grid. Battery power though is finite and as last evening reminded me, people should have tested and on hand spare lights which will function if power reductions happen.
Power reductions can be from storms, and they can be from solar flares, nuclear bomb emp or terrorists blowing up parts of cities. It is vital that people ascertain in these quiet times what will work and what will not work, as nothing in this life is worse than sitting in the dark for days in the cold. It will bring on depression like you can not believe.
Having lived through a power outage in 20 below weather for a week which almost killed me several years ago, I can attest that candles, lamps, even propane lamps and heaters, really make your head dull as you suck in all of those toxins, and I was using olive oil lamps I created, and it still was toxic.
That is why those Cathedrals all have sooty artwork as all of that pollution is what you breathe.
It is much better to have low light and an emergency battery to run a furnace fan keeping one warm, than candles and blankets, as the cold will creep into your body and after a few days you will not be able to get warm no matter how much you wear.
From experience, I tried the old playing games to pass the time, and after a few days, it literally wears you out more than work. Reading is horrid in Abraham Lincoln light as print is so small now, so boredom, fatigue, does not make anyone a happy camper in a short time.
One bright light with warm feet is better than a thousand candles and thinsulate boots on.
So please check your lights and make certain you have a few lamps or at least a few overheads which are capable of producing some light if power rationing occurs for any number of reasons. If a tan out occurs, make certain your appliances which have motors are not slowly churning away burning out. Do not burn your homes down or burn yourselves with emergency propane heating which with carbon monoxide will suffocate you in your sleep.
I learned the hard way about propane heaters in brushing one which branded me a decade ago. I can still feel that burn, and it is why I am more careful around them.
In not meaning to turn this into a survival lesson as I have posted them previously, a few cast iron and metal pots with a coffee can set outside, away from buildings, and wind, on something which will not burn, with a church key punching some holes on the bottom and top for draft will make a suitable stove for charcoal, newspapers rolled into 2 inch logs or sticks to cook on.
Coffee cans though soon rust out in the high heat, but having some on hand will make you more cheerful in warm meals uplift spirits and the old timers used to cook supper, and what was left over from supper was usually breakfast in a pinch.
So that about ends it, except for noting that Hugo Chavez is dark compared to white skinned Obama. It must be photo op editing making him look black in America, as Obama is white as white skinned Hu, and Castro is plain ruddy pink in his skin tone.
All the tan men of rationing producing brown out, but in honor of all things of historical Obama, this has been a Lame Cherry public service announcement about electrical tan outs.
God bless
agtG
