Who's Got the Power?

We're having a scitzophrenic weather day.

Halfway through November in New England it's over 60 degrees outside, the heat is off, and the door n windows are wide open! The clouds are whipping by at a rapid clip, windy and gusting near 30 mph. It's alternately been cloudy, pouring rain, then suddenly stopping, clearing, and sunny a few minutes before repeating the same cycle over again three times!

The weather dude predicts the temp will drop under freezing again by tomorrow night, where the normal zone's supposed to be this time of year. Guess it's in the 20's in Chicago right now, n here it comes!

They said the air over us today is the same weather system which caused at least 35 tornadoes, damage n deaths yesterday, some on the news in Davis County Tenn.

Am I supposed to feel the evil in this wind?

I actually dashed out to the store n got a new wiper blade during a clear weather patch. It was already overcast lookin like rain again when I got back five minutes later n installed it.

The local power company is warning the public that this winter in deep cold temps we may be subject to "possible rolling black-outs" when natural gas supplies get strained, as they've been since Katrina. The power will be shut-off one to two hours at a time in certain areas. What will that do to the business economy, info systems, n never mind the heat?

Most systems rely on an electric thermostat to fire-up the burner. I have electric heat up here, while down-stairs is propane. That power-out time represents a lot of heat loss here, which'll make it difficult to maintain above freezing in here with no wall insullation. The temp is only on to keep it above freezing on normal days, due to the high cost n lack of funds.
It's enough to make a wood or pellet stove very appealing. Of course those have to be approved by the town inspecter, n there'd have to be a stone or brick area three-feet away from everything, and flew-pipe hook-up to safely have one. This Apt. is out of the question for a wood-stove.
I usually use hot water bottles, layers of clothes, n turn on the electric oven n bake food to get warm. That would be a big bummer not to have without power. Say I had to be somewhere but the power was shut off so I couldn't warm it up in here to take a shower n dress when I need to. This could really ruin a whole day! Not a pleasant thought, so I'm hoping it doesn't get as bad as the past few winter seasons.



Toyota just came out with a one-person concept car shaped like a leaf n powered by photon-radiation-light. Looks like more fun than a segway, n operates like a video game. Cute lights. Why can't that be funneled to heat homes? Something needs to be done with the "normal' power problem situation, quick!