Cause: Squirrel

[Packard]

At 11:00 the morning, while home and painting interior window trim, the power went out.

I checked with the power company’s website and they were aware of the outage and a team was dispatched.  Estimated time to restore power:  3:00 p.m.

At 2:10 I got an email:

Dear Central Hudson Customer:

The outage at 16 EDGE HILL RD is believed to be restored.
Cause: Squirrel


I really wanted to have someone or something to vent about.  A squirrel hardly seems worthy of my wrath. 

It’s going to be hard to generate my enthusiasm to finish painting. 

Packard

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I have several I can send you along with a chipmunk or two.

 

[Packard]

Thanks for the promise of assistance. 

The power is back.  But Internet service is not.  Verizon was not able to restore service remotely.  A service tech is coming tomorrow afternoon. 

I just received email confirmation on the service call:

Thanks for contacting us in regard to your service issue. A repair ticket NYEG0WZFR8 has been created and your appointment is scheduled for 05/07/2024 between 02:30 PM and 04:30 PM.  Repair charges may apply.


Unfortunately Mr. Squirrel does not have a permanent address to send the repair bill to.  Hopefully it is something minor—like squirrel damage.

 

[rmhinden]

Given what happens to squirrels that cause power outages, I suspect the squirrel wasn't too happy about it either

Bob

 

[Packard]

Verizon had me reboot the system and the the box.  The error message said that it was unable to get the correct time.

I repeated that process an hour later and then again at a little past 8:00 p.m. and then the TVs and the Internet were restored.

Squirrels were forgiven.

And I was able to continue my colonoscopy prep sandwiched between various amounts of TV or web surfing.

I would say all is well, but the prep is putting the kabosh on that thought.

 

[Sparktrician]

And I was able to continue my colonoscopy prep sandwiched between various amounts of TV or web surfing.

Be sure to check that the roto-rooter is from Festool...  [scared] 

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Given what happens to squirrels that cause power outages, I suspect the squirrel wasn't too happy about it either

Bob

His partner might be disappointed, but I doubt he even knew what happened.  [eek]

 

[luvmytoolz]

In OZ we occasionally get possums getting into the power pole transformers, not pretty, brings a lot down!

 

[Cheese]

Here's a roll of EPDM sheeting, it smells a lot like licorice. I found this when I cleaned out the rafter area in the old garage. You can see there is a considerable amount that was eaten. Within about 18"of this roll of EPDM, I also found the skeletal remains of a squirrel...it truly was his Last Supper.  [smile]

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

 

[Packard]

My mother walked into my bedroom when I was 10 or 11 years old.  A squirrel had managed to get into the room through an open window. 

Startled by my mother’s entrance the squirrel attempted to exit by the wrong window which remained closed.  In a matter of seconds it had nearly chewed through the bottom rail of the lower sash. 

It probably compromised the sealing of the window, but we made no repair prior to selling the home 50 years later.

Squirrels have an amazing capability for destruction, as noted in an earlier in this thread.

They make up for that by having an amazing capability at avoiding being hit by moving cars. 

 

[Packard]

Mr. Squirrel’s cousin was the new culprit.  He knocked out 84 homes’ electric from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Unfortunately, when the power returned, the Internet and cable TV continued to play hooky. 

Tomorrow they are coming to replace the old “main box” and the battery backup, with a newer version that uses no battery and is “not as fragile”.

They wanted to have me do more stuff using my camera on my phone to guide them. But I have metal lath in plaster walls and by the time I made it to the basement the signal would cut out. 

So, tomorrow, and “less-fragile”. [eek]