Weather In Your Garden # 108

I vote for the stewartia, Bill. I'll have to try staking some of my trees. My hydrangea trees look especially pitiful. One definitely needs staking. My 'Ace of Hearts' redbud is also suffering - and it was looking so great a few weeks ago! Still no power - at home or work. I'm really surprised we don't have power at work since it's not a remote area. Fortunately, we have a large generator that powers the whole building.

i am also leaning stewartia

Stewartia, or 'Stew' as I know it, is one of my faves! ^_^

I've never grown a Stewartia, but the blossoms are heavenly. Dogwoods are nice, but I suspect less effort and maybe less special too. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how much snow Bill, and some other areas have just had! Foxboro and Wrentham are still reportedly a mess on the southern end of Massachusetts, too. And then there's farther west like the town of Orange, then Connectucut, New York and NJ, oh my!

Going forward, we just don't want people flipping out! Thank goodness for sanity and kindness.

stew it is - about time i moved it out the container it has been in the last three years anyway - will wait for the spring

Incredible amount of downed limbs along the Palisades Parkway. Great day. Just back from a short hike with the kids. Saw a nice waterfall. 54 and clear.

Interesting read on what may be coming our way this winter. The Capital Weather Gang blog also had a post comparing this storm to Irene. During Irene we lost so many mature oaks that there may be a run on Shitake mushroom culture. Also, interesting to note that at least one county down here has put a GPS system on all of their trucks so residents can track in real time where the crews are and how soon they may be in one's neighborhood. Hope utility companies will follow suit since power retoration seemed to take so much longer than with comparable storms in recent memory across the state. Love the meals without wheels!

Link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/extreme-precipitation-in-a-warming-world-big-increases-already-in-northeast/2011/11/01/gIQAVxRdcM_blog.html

here is the chart of extreem precipitation events that accompanies CPG blog above

Well we delivered jumbalya to everyone last night.. Feel like it is Christmas bringing gifts.. Power is still out .. We bought a small extra generator just to run the fan on wood stove .. It is a heck of a lot quieter than our big one

Good morning, everyone.

Bright and sunny in WNY heading towards 60 degrees.

Have a blessed and wonderful Wednesday, friends. ☺

-Dave

Allison are they giving you a timeline when the power will be back on?

NIce sunny day

cold last night and still no power

mid 50's and sun. Hope the power gets back to those of you with out it soon.

just filed a complaint with the AG's office on Nat'l Grid - they had the _____ to tell me my town was at fault for the downed limbs and electric being out becasue they did not give permission to allow Nat'l Grid to trim the tree limbs.

sunny & 50°. No main power loss here. Individuals might have lost it, but we had only 2" of snow as we are farther east.

Well if they could prove the town wouldn't let them prune the trees around the lines they have a point

jen they can't because it isn't true - i've spoken with the town adminstator about this and getting the power back on, they lied - utililties in MA are highly regulated with no competition and thier CEO's are some of the highest paid in the country at $8M/yr - they just had a 20K person layoff - it is cheaper save on tree trimming and reduced work force and deal with the backlash of a storm like this - all to pad the bottom line - this did not happen in the past

Ah, I see

Yeah, Wha, that happened down here big time with Irene clean up...not with Natl grd but the utility crews and "outside contractors"

Reminds me of that old camp song:

Oh, the bear went around with his foot on the ground,
Oh, the bear went around with his foot on the ground,
Oh, the bear went around with his foot on the ground,
The bear went around with his foot on the ground.

Second verse, same as the first.
Could be better, but it may be worse.

Repeat

However, this part of the state didn't have much Irene damage, so there is no excuse. A couple years ago in Feb. it was mighty cold here & we had to use the fireplace. the crew fixing our street was from Ontario.

I am so hoping everyone will have their utility service restored soon.

I can't quite believe the main lines aren't underground. I grew up in MN and underground is the only way to go up there.

Too many rocks in NE?

That may be possible, Lord knows we have plenty. :0 I do hope they get moving on the lines...Maine has all back to working order. Maybe some of our crews will be sent south to help out, I know they do it often.

People on my street are pretty mad at National Grid, too because we have had terrible power outages over the past few years, even before Irene. Since there is a monopoly we haven't known how to do anything about their excesses. There are still a lot of people in my town without power.

They claim today or tomorrow but we have snapped power poles and have not seen any work or trucks .. So I doubt it

Good luck with the waiting!

Still have many here in Rockland waiting. Crazy.

Good morning, everyone.

Hoping power is restored soon. I know this is very frustrating.

Currently 51 degrees in WNY with partly sunny skies. Nice.

Have a blessed and thankful Thursday, friends. ☺

-Dave

5 days and counting.........................

Sorry you guys! Praying for power to be restored ASAP!

Onewish, what's on the "wheels" menu for tonight?

Replacing a power pole(s) takes a whole different set of work crews and equipment than tree/branch removal or downed wire repair/replacement. My experience with snapped pole replacement is that it took three days and many different work crews to replace the one in my front yard and this was when there was no heavy demand for same. FYI the order of work seemed to be
1 Utility notified that elect service out (in this case by fire dept after 911 call)
2 Small truck sent to evaluate
3 Crew sent to disconnect electric service by turning off power at the feeder line if it is live. If feeder is not live, that crew if equiped (bucket truck) or another crew traces back the problem and turns off power leading to downed pole .
4 If branches/trees are touching or entangling wires or access to same, yet another crew (often outside contractors/separate contract within utility consortium for out of state crews specifically designated to do tree work/trimming are dispatched.
5 Once line confirmed dead and safe and work area cleared (but not necessiarily removed as those who cut do not always chip and remove what is left) a pole replacement is performed. This involves at least two crews and a borer truck that pulls out the damaged pole after everything has been detached and inserts a new one if old hole ok or bores a new hole for pole. If a new hole necessary, any thing that may be impacted by drilling new hole (sewer/water/gas lines etc) must be checked with various authorities for their ok which they may have to come onsite to give.
6 If utility pole carries other than elect wires, each company like cable and phone must send out their own crews to remove and then reattach same after pole replaced as elect co cannot touch anyone elses wires.
7 If snapped pole has a transformer depending on type and age of transformer and local laws, a haz mat crew must be called to remove same and clean up any leakage.
8 Crews of all the above are required to stop work if wind is gusting over a certain amount.
9 Many utility companies no longer stock pile poles/ transformers/ wires, etc locally so much of this has to be brought in as weather and road conditions locally and at suppliers permit.
10 Of course, all necessary repairs/restorations from power source prior to my utility pole had to be addressed and corrected before my service pole could be replaced/restrung and service turned on. If my power outage problem was repaired before a wider outage was addressed, when the powre was turned back on, the surge could blow out those repairs.
It took three full days and one night (fire dept/ county road crew) and 28 vehicles with their various crews to replace one pole and restore electric service to my house. Learned a lot by talking with many crews when in area restoring service after storms, too.

Judy

This message was edited Nov 3, 2011 8:52 AM

This message was edited Nov 3, 2011 9:03 AM

reminds me of the old joke "how many _____ does it take to replace a light bulb"

55° sunny

hee hee


looks like it's going to be a glorious day!

56 and cloudy

After posting earlier I googled "how do power companies restore power after a storm" and found the PR sites of many utility companies across the country...The first one being National Grid. Forgive my ignorance Wha , I thought you had filed a complaint about the National Guard! lol

I live a mile from the Governor's mansion and the Mayor's home here in the state capital., a dense area of business and residence...Irene took down a lot of huge old trees locally and power was out for days. Just saying that huge trees were removed from private property by companies with heavy duty equipment long before those same contracted with companies began their utility contract work. Same happens with snow removal services.

Also wondering why some communities, areas, get serviced more promptly than comparable others? Just talked to a neighbor in the supermarket and she asked if I had heard about the phone lines being ripped down along a street we share access to. Seems that a hugh, high,wide "truck" came through and tore out telephone lines to three houses. No branches down, just lines. Curious she said that the three homes involved were ones who did not opt for the phone co new service of phone, internet and cable....

And why does my phone service stay on when "lines are down everywhere"? Are telephone wires stronger, stretchier? Do the power lines break the fallor some how protect the phone wires?

we are back baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good question, Coleup.

HOORAY!!! Glad to hear it Allison.

Very nice day here.

Congrats! Now don't pay your next bill!

Glad to hear that the power is on. CT sounds like many still in the dark.