The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
QUESTION: When was the last time your power went out for more than 10 minutes? Also, do you think you’re prepared for an extended outage if PG&E is forced to turn your power off due to the high winds/fire danger?
Talk about it….
I’m not prepared and how can I be? I didn’t buy a house so that I could be camping out in WC. If the whole town is out then what about: my job, the school, the traffic lights, the store, my phone, etc. etc. This idea is totally stupid. I refuse to have my life ruined because some people have built houses in dangerous areas. They took the risk, I didn’t why should I be punished. I hope all you PGE haters are happy, we’ll see what you think if this really goes through.
@JoJo Potato I hope you’re joking, but if you are not then you are a self centered person. I had a lot of friends lose houses, all their belongings and their lives in the fires last year and here you are worrying about your phone and not having to “camp out” for a few days. It’s people like you who are ruining this country.
Do you really want the millions of us living in fire prone areas to leave and move into your city? It’s not just about you. It’s about all of us together.
Oh my! I don’t really remember, but I think it’s been a couple of years, and NO I am not prepared – despite having candles, lanterns and non perishable food and water I am not psychologically prepared for losing power for more than a short while. I hope I’m not in one of the affected areas!!
Last month here in Martinez for 2 and half hours. Turns out it should have been 5 minutes because it was bird caused at the substation and normally it would have switched to a backup in 5 minutes. But the backup gear needed an upgrade which hadn’t been done so it had to be done manually. It effected over 5000 households.
We were at Ruth Chris Steakhouse for a birthday when power went out downtown Walnut Creek the might of the Festival Parade.. We had to leave without eating after waiting for order 25 minutes already. Kitchen went kaput.:(
It was earlier this year,…I think twice or three times.
Could survive without power for a bit, but Hubby would miss his T.V.,…LOL! But we do have a generator if it goes too long, and grill for cooking, plus extra water/food/supplies/flashlight,…etc.
A few months ago around the beginning of Summer, during the first heatwave of the year. It was out for about 3 hours. Prepared? Nope, when the power goes out I really don’t have anything to do. No TV, no computer, no lights, no nothing. Just sit and be bored unless there is somewhere to go. One thing I will have though is a phone. While most landlines these days rely on electricity and cell phones can be charged in a car, I have an old rotary phone in my closet that I take out and plug in when there’s a power outage, so I will have a reliable phone. During the day I can go outside and read or go somewhere, but in the evening when it’s dark there won’t be much to do except to sit and ponder about how much I despise PG&E.
Most phone systems are digital now and rotary phones wont work. They do make a converter for but they cost a bit.
Dawg,….My Hubby would feel your pain too.
Plus, yes, we have old style push button phone for the same reason.
Wizard, rotary phones still work in my home. I know, because I’ve used it during the last power outage about 4 months ago.
Dawg, I got Wave and the phone plugs in the modem. Does your phone dial ok? I had to buy a converter for mine to covert rotatory to pulse. I got some great 402 phones from the late 30s and early 40s.
About 10 years ago for about 3 days. Just our street from a blown transformer. I don’t know why it took them so long to fix it. It was very, very hot outside. The cat was suffering. I put the cat in the car with the air conditioning on full blast. We took a nice, long ride to get cooled off. I stopped at a drive thru on the way home and bought something to eat. It was the only time the cat ever rode in the car without audible protests.
I’m only semi-prepared, at the moment. I would like to feel more secure about how I’m going to handle it, for sure. It wasn’t fun 10 years ago, but it wasn’t a complete disaster, either. It was the sitting around in the dark that was the worst. It was so hot, burning candles really wasn’t an option.
@ The Wizard ~ we have Wave,….our push button landline phone has a little switch for dial, either TT or DP and it works on the TT.
@ Gittyup ~ We uses to have a lovable neighborhood outdoor cat that would visit us,…for about three years ( missing in act now), but on the hottest days, I would wipe her down with a wet towel and then she would lay on the trunk outside with the towel on her back for hours. She always came to me for her cool down day-spa treatments.
About 10 years ago we lost power for 3 days in the summer. And it was HOT! People who lived up the hill behind us had power, but our street didn’t. Ended up sleeping with all the windows open and ran an extension cord to the neighbor’s house so we could run a box fan.
16th of September last, in Walnut Creek, near the downtown Whole Foods. The power went off and on a few times and then stayed off for about an hour or so.
Nobody could do any work except for me. Being ancient, I still know how to do hand calculations on a yellow note-pad.
It’s been a couple of years since we lost power for a while.
If power were to be out for more than a couple of hours, I would start the RV generator and plug in the freezer and refrigerator.
Back in about 2005, we were in a 100+ heat wave for several days. The power went out for about 24 hours. I went and got the motorhome and did the same thing, ran an extension cord to the house for the fridge, and slept in the motorhome.
One year ago I was without power for almost 24 hours. I was up in El Dorado County and PG&E turned it off due to what they considered heavy wind.
I was trying to get rich by using my charger until the power went out so I lost my shock market
The new norm; inconvenience millions of people instead of performing any kind of commonsense risk management and containment.
I think the last time my house was out for a few hours was for PG&E repairs, but it was during the work day and I was not home. We are a little prepared with some water, canned goods and flashlights. I am stopping for gas and some cash on the way home today. My biggest fear is losing the food in our fridge and driving to work with no working traffic signals. Having no electronics might be a good lesson for the kids.
I am surprised at how many say it has been years since an outage. Near Four Corners we lost power for around 3 hours in August. I called PG&E from my landline and their recording estimated power to be restored by 2 AM. I went out to eat and tried for a movie but the timing was off.
Why would you need electricity to get water from the sink? Many media outlets are suggesting that you keep bottled water on hand.