Luckily, I have a Yamaha 2200 Generator which is very reliable probably more reliable than even the bigger generators I have owned before. Also, I bought it from a motorcycle shop within 20 miles of where I live on the Coast so I can get it serviced by the Motorcycle repair people that work there. However, trying to keep wood for the fireplace going (especially at night) is a lot of work for someone my age 75 and going outside to shut off the engine and to refill the gas tank every few hours is a lot of work too. However, it probably saves us this time around 300 to 500 dollars worth of food just in our freezer keeping the generator going.
In addition to no power there was no Internet, no Cable TV, No streaming no Cellular Data either so outside of our phone calls and texting there was nothing so we are basically completely on our own like most other people in California so it is literally sink or swim for about 40 million people the last few days.
I have had to turn around so many times now from fallen trees whenever I have gone out for anything in any of our vehicles. So, all the roads I normally travel on I couldn't at all on Sunday. Only because I know of alternate routes could I do anything at all.
My wife yesterday morning heard a crackling or buzzing sound like a down power line so we both went outside so if it was there we could report it so no one died from 1000 volts or even 220 volts in the rain. We couldn't see anything on our street that had lines down but two large trees had fallen down and luckily they missed our neighbor's garage. They were not able to remove these big trees until today so I hope no one hit them in the meantime and damaged their cars or themselves in any way.
Also, there were big branches off of trees blowing down the road in front of our house and one moved about 6 feet and almost got my wife so when the wind died down I dragged the limb over to a telephone pole down wind of our property so it couldn't blow into our vehicles and damage them. I also moved one of our cars away from a tree that could have blown down but luckily it didn't just the tree across the street that almost hit our neighbor's garage.
Finally tonight, the Cable TV and Internet and Cellular Data came back on all at once together which was a big surprise too so we at least could get some news about what it happening to our state of California. There are several places like Woodland Hills and Topanga in the Los Angeles area that got over 10 inches of rain so far. I was surprised how heavy the rain came down today sort of like Hawaii because it was supposed to be the storm heading south with very little rain here. But when it came down it came down in huge tropical drops like you see in Hawaii and other tropical places so you get drenched in about 30 seconds of you even go outside without an umbrella or full rain gear.
This has been likely the most surprising series of storms I have seen for the last week in a long long time and different in many ways from anything I have seen before and we have lived in this house now along the coast for around 25 years so far. But, after all it is still a level 3 Bomb Cyclone and has lived up to it's name in all ways.
I think I have discovered the crackling and buzzing my wife heard. There is a tree going all the way across the road on a main road nearby that they haven't removed because it is just too dangerous for a regular crew not used to doing high tension power work like special P, G and E Crews on the gas and electrical utility company that does most of Northern California. So, this road still isn't safe to go down because going out with a chain saw when it is all across the road and resting on wires could be the last thing you ever do if you don't know exactly what you are doing, especially if it is resting on a 1000 volt line which it likely is. This is likely the main reason we don't have power from this one tree going down. However, about every other street I have driven down has usually had at least one tree that has fallen across the road but I saw about 5 to 10 trees cut today so most of these roads you can safely drive on again. However, most of the trees are still by the side of the road and could be there for some time because that is often what happens as long as the road is open for people to drive.
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