(#5089) Make up post for electrical outlet yesterday

     Yesterday I couldn't write a blog post on my page because the night before the power went out. We had winds up to 70 miles an hour and we here in the Sacramento Valley are not used to such wind force. Well as you can imagine many trees and fences were blown about contacting power lines and generally making a mess of the electrical grid. Our local service provider SMUD, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, a non profit electrical utility here in the city of Sacramento had it's hands full. 300,000 accounts were affected by this storm and getting everyone their lights back on was a Herculean chore. We were expecting our power to be out for at least another 3 or 4 days. Yet earlier this evening our lights powered back on.
     I can tell you that it wasn't just the power to our homes that was a major problem. The old growth Oak trees that didn't withstand the forceful winds also took a hit. Many streets were impassible all over the city with many of those trees taking out power poles. But what I saw yesterday and today was uplifting. The people came out of their homes and got dirty trying to clean up their little section of the mess. Even I was out doing whatever I could yesterday and today to make it safe out there for those who had to be out. This morning I even got to be a voluntary traffic control man who guided traffic up the road to a detour around a large Pine tree the was laying across Del Paso Blvd.
     It only took the city work crew an hour to clear the mighty tree from the road and clear up all the debris so that traffic could continue. Since I have nothing much to do when it is dark outside so I sit in my recliner chair that I have put at the front window so I can see out into the night. So when the people across the street suddenly had their string of holiday lights come to life I immediately perked up, geared up, and went outside to Del Paso Blvd. There I saw a SMUD work crew working a on a power pole and then within minutes I looked back at my house and the lights were on. All of us standing out in the cold on this dark evening spontaneously broke out into a clapped filled Woohoo outburst. Good stuff my friends. :)