I changed a few of the words since this place is a bit more Grandma friendly 
. I didn't feel like retyping the whole thing, so I just copied/pasted from my online game...
-----------------------------
Ok, in part I am sorry for the language above... but this will probably be a long rant-ish post that I just need to get off my chest. Links to pictures below! I'll post links instead of the pics themselves due to size. (Btw, xmas will be used in this post just to save time typing. No disrespect intended).
----
Ok, those of you who know me know that last year, on xmas day, a mere 30 minutes before Lisa and I were to leave to go to relatives, a pipe burst in our kitchen. It took the landlord 30 minutes to get there, in the meantime 2" of standing water was in the kitchen, and 1" of standing water in the living room... after the wonderfully absorbent berber carpet soaked up literally gallons and gallons of it.
This year our luck has run no different.
A little history:
In October I was sitting in Lisa's Nissan truck, warming it up, when I noticed the electric pole in front of the driveway swaying violently. I heard a big truck rumbling past. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a logging truck, loaded with logs, driving by the house. The topmost log had caught on the powerline and though the line was intact, it had snapped backwards, thus the swaying poles. I was pretty sure it was the power line and not the phone line, but several calls were made.
Phone company, after a tech came to look at it: "That's not our line, it looks like a cable tv line."
"Uh, I don't have cable. I have satellite."
"Well, it's not our line. Besides, it is as high as it will go on that pole."
Electric company, after sending someone to look at it: "That's a cable television line. The power lines are the higher lines."
Satellite company: "Our lines don't even run to the power pole. They run directly from the dish on the house to the box on the house."
----
Ok, I had called all the possible people, just to let them know about this problem. Pop (Lisa's dad), even called the logging outfit. He knows everybody in town. They said they would keep an eye on it.
Fastforward to yesterday morning, about 10-10:15am.
A resounding crash, preceded by snapping lumber and breaking glass... wtf?! Then, a few moments later, another crash and loud scraping. The whole house shook both times... the power and phone immediately went off.
I look outside. Neighbors are already coming out of their houses.
The powerpole had come down. On both sides of the street. Snapped, their lines across the road... which had then been caught by a passing UPS truck.
Sure enough, a logging truck had caught the line, bringing down both poles. I didn't see the accident, but how do I know?
He hit with enough force to break the straps holding down the logs on the truck, and lost the topmost log in the street, taking out the neighbor's mailbox as well. He drove onwards, going all the way back to his yard.
So, with no power, I cannot cook, have no heat... don't even have water since electricity runs the pump in the well. I ran to town to get Lisa since I had no phone, neighbors called the cops and the power company, and Lisa called Pop, since he is actually the homeowner here.
So, we all converge oon the scene, talk to police, the power company shows up, puts in a new, higher pole (also planting it 8' in the ground), the phone company shows up. Now, all of this is done very fast. Why?
Because of Pop. Remember, I told you he knows everyone. They initially told him it would be next week. After xmas. Huh-uh! With no heat, and no place else to go, that just won't do. He calls up a personal friend, and they have trucks out there within 30 minutes.
The mast was ripped off the side of the house, scraping the siding, and the meter was ripped off the house as well. Those took longest to fix. We didn't have power back until about 9pm last night.
I'm just glad nobody was hurt, or standing outside in the yard. There is a small rock garden with an angel statue. This statue weighs about 20# and is freestanding. One of the steel cables that holds the poles in place, snapped across the yard fast enough and hard enough to cut the statue in half and shatter... without knocking over the bottom half.
Now, the guys with the logging company, they have insurance and according to them they haven't had this happen before. They are very nice and very cooperative. The guy who came up here looked like he was going to throw up as he looked over the damage that was done.
So everything is back to normal. Just about anyways.
----
Oh! One more thing...
... it fell on my car.
----
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/statue1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/neighborpole.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car2.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car3.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car4.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car5.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car6.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car7.jpg
A little note about the last pic: the pole hit the car so hard the numbers on the plate that identify the pole... those are what is in the pic. As well as a distorted reflection of some guy.
So, once again, Merry F'in Christmas!
. I didn't feel like retyping the whole thing, so I just copied/pasted from my online game...-----------------------------
Ok, in part I am sorry for the language above... but this will probably be a long rant-ish post that I just need to get off my chest. Links to pictures below! I'll post links instead of the pics themselves due to size. (Btw, xmas will be used in this post just to save time typing. No disrespect intended).
----
Ok, those of you who know me know that last year, on xmas day, a mere 30 minutes before Lisa and I were to leave to go to relatives, a pipe burst in our kitchen. It took the landlord 30 minutes to get there, in the meantime 2" of standing water was in the kitchen, and 1" of standing water in the living room... after the wonderfully absorbent berber carpet soaked up literally gallons and gallons of it.
This year our luck has run no different.
A little history:
In October I was sitting in Lisa's Nissan truck, warming it up, when I noticed the electric pole in front of the driveway swaying violently. I heard a big truck rumbling past. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a logging truck, loaded with logs, driving by the house. The topmost log had caught on the powerline and though the line was intact, it had snapped backwards, thus the swaying poles. I was pretty sure it was the power line and not the phone line, but several calls were made.
Phone company, after a tech came to look at it: "That's not our line, it looks like a cable tv line."
"Uh, I don't have cable. I have satellite."
"Well, it's not our line. Besides, it is as high as it will go on that pole."
Electric company, after sending someone to look at it: "That's a cable television line. The power lines are the higher lines."
Satellite company: "Our lines don't even run to the power pole. They run directly from the dish on the house to the box on the house."
----
Ok, I had called all the possible people, just to let them know about this problem. Pop (Lisa's dad), even called the logging outfit. He knows everybody in town. They said they would keep an eye on it.
Fastforward to yesterday morning, about 10-10:15am.
A resounding crash, preceded by snapping lumber and breaking glass... wtf?! Then, a few moments later, another crash and loud scraping. The whole house shook both times... the power and phone immediately went off.
I look outside. Neighbors are already coming out of their houses.
The powerpole had come down. On both sides of the street. Snapped, their lines across the road... which had then been caught by a passing UPS truck.
Sure enough, a logging truck had caught the line, bringing down both poles. I didn't see the accident, but how do I know?
He hit with enough force to break the straps holding down the logs on the truck, and lost the topmost log in the street, taking out the neighbor's mailbox as well. He drove onwards, going all the way back to his yard.
So, with no power, I cannot cook, have no heat... don't even have water since electricity runs the pump in the well. I ran to town to get Lisa since I had no phone, neighbors called the cops and the power company, and Lisa called Pop, since he is actually the homeowner here.
So, we all converge oon the scene, talk to police, the power company shows up, puts in a new, higher pole (also planting it 8' in the ground), the phone company shows up. Now, all of this is done very fast. Why?
Because of Pop. Remember, I told you he knows everyone. They initially told him it would be next week. After xmas. Huh-uh! With no heat, and no place else to go, that just won't do. He calls up a personal friend, and they have trucks out there within 30 minutes.
The mast was ripped off the side of the house, scraping the siding, and the meter was ripped off the house as well. Those took longest to fix. We didn't have power back until about 9pm last night.
I'm just glad nobody was hurt, or standing outside in the yard. There is a small rock garden with an angel statue. This statue weighs about 20# and is freestanding. One of the steel cables that holds the poles in place, snapped across the yard fast enough and hard enough to cut the statue in half and shatter... without knocking over the bottom half.
Now, the guys with the logging company, they have insurance and according to them they haven't had this happen before. They are very nice and very cooperative. The guy who came up here looked like he was going to throw up as he looked over the damage that was done.
So everything is back to normal. Just about anyways.
----
Oh! One more thing...
... it fell on my car.
----
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/statue1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/neighborpole.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car2.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car3.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car4.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car5.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car6.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a72/Aurken/car7.jpg
A little note about the last pic: the pole hit the car so hard the numbers on the plate that identify the pole... those are what is in the pic. As well as a distorted reflection of some guy.
So, once again, Merry F'in Christmas!
