The Blackout
Well I said I would give you a run-down of the power outage at the reserve, so here it is (I had an suspicion that something was going to happen as my clock started to run around a 1/2 slower each day):
Around 4:20 pm Sunday, Dec. 5: Power goes out. I walk from the school over to my bosses. I know he has a wood stove and since it is -23, I also know it is going to get cold fast. At this point I think the power will probably go back on soon, because it usually does. I just don't want to sit in the dark in the school or at my house.
Around 8:00 pm: Phone calls have told us power is gone. My boss goes and picks up my roommate, drops her off at the other teacher's house and turns all the water taps on at my house and the school. I pick up my bedding and prepare to sleep on the couch.
Around 8:00 am Monday, Dec. 6: Power still not on. My boss starts calling around. The Band is sending up electricians on the plane that day but there is no way we will have power before they electrician got there.
Around 2:00 pm: Power comes back on for an hour, then goes back off again. Continues to do this for some time. It is realizes that, at around -20, the whole village cannot receive power or it will continue to blow our back-up generator, the one the whole village is running on. The main generator had been sent out for re-building. Why they didn't decide to re-build the generator in the summer when the pull on it was less is beyond me but typical of how things operate there. It is decided that everyone has to turn everything off, except for their furnaces, because heat was the most important thing at the moment. Fridges had to be unplugged. Everything that drew power had to be shut-off. Power still won't stay one. At some point, that night or the next day, they decided they would run power in 3 hour shifts, so that the north end would receive power for 3 hours and then the south end would receive power for 3 hours, to keep houses somewhat heated and people from becoming popsicles. My roommate decides she is going to stick it out at home, alternatively madly watching TV and drugging herself to sleep when it is freezing. We are also told to conserve water, as the pumps for our water are run by electricity and they have had to shut them off. We only have the water that is in the tower.
Tuesday: Other teacher sends child on play date and does laundry all day because of extreme lack of civic awareness and princess syndrome. Boiler's at school malfunction. Roommate gives her notice to boss that she is quitting over Christmas.
Wednesday: More sleeping on boss's couch and returning to my house to get new underwear and feed my cats. More listening to my roommate grype about how we should be flown out of here because of conditions like this because we aren't from here (with rascist overtones which were not well received by me). Roommate tells Dev our hot water tank is broken and she can't live in conditions like this (right after I had a short, but hot, shower).
Thursday: Boiler guys arrive to fix up the school's boilers. Temperature rises to around -10.
Friday: Received word that the real generator will be up on Monday. Meanwhile, parts have arrived to extend the abilities of the back-up generator. These parts fail miserably and the whole village is down again. Then, they can't get the north side up again. Everyone living on the north side has to flip off their main breakers. I go home to start to pack. Carpentar comes to trailer to survey damage and see what he needs for repairs because of the constant break-ins. Roommate starts harping on him about hot water tank and everything that needs repairs. He tells her he has a list and will only do things on the list the band has given him. I don't really pay attention and try to stay out of his way. I place packed boxes in the corner of the living room. My roommate has a fit and tells me I can't place them there, which eventually leads her to say she is going to throw my stuff out in the snow. I finally lose it at her and yell at her.
Saturday: Roommate apologizes to me (which I barely acknowledge) and starts to clean the house, something which she has not done since September. Other teacher freaks out because she opens mail from last week saying she has to be in court in PG on Wednesday to deal with custody issues. Gets an additional 2 days off to attend to that.
Sunday: More sitting around boss's house. I spend some time at the school packing my stuff up.
Monday: Boss leaves to go to conference in Vancouver. Main generator arrives. Both other teachers leave. Psycho roommate cries at the air strip and one person hugs her, but says if she knew that she threatened to throw my stuff in the snow she wouldn't have. She also makes some accusations against boss. With some false starts, we have power.
Tuesday: I go to school to find water cascading out under the kitchen doors into the daycare and down the hallway. I close school for the morning.
Wednesday: School and power! Only a slight water leak from a closet in the hallway.
Apparently, they are still having issues with the power going on and off even though they are back on their main generator.
Around 4:20 pm Sunday, Dec. 5: Power goes out. I walk from the school over to my bosses. I know he has a wood stove and since it is -23, I also know it is going to get cold fast. At this point I think the power will probably go back on soon, because it usually does. I just don't want to sit in the dark in the school or at my house.
Around 8:00 pm: Phone calls have told us power is gone. My boss goes and picks up my roommate, drops her off at the other teacher's house and turns all the water taps on at my house and the school. I pick up my bedding and prepare to sleep on the couch.
Around 8:00 am Monday, Dec. 6: Power still not on. My boss starts calling around. The Band is sending up electricians on the plane that day but there is no way we will have power before they electrician got there.
Around 2:00 pm: Power comes back on for an hour, then goes back off again. Continues to do this for some time. It is realizes that, at around -20, the whole village cannot receive power or it will continue to blow our back-up generator, the one the whole village is running on. The main generator had been sent out for re-building. Why they didn't decide to re-build the generator in the summer when the pull on it was less is beyond me but typical of how things operate there. It is decided that everyone has to turn everything off, except for their furnaces, because heat was the most important thing at the moment. Fridges had to be unplugged. Everything that drew power had to be shut-off. Power still won't stay one. At some point, that night or the next day, they decided they would run power in 3 hour shifts, so that the north end would receive power for 3 hours and then the south end would receive power for 3 hours, to keep houses somewhat heated and people from becoming popsicles. My roommate decides she is going to stick it out at home, alternatively madly watching TV and drugging herself to sleep when it is freezing. We are also told to conserve water, as the pumps for our water are run by electricity and they have had to shut them off. We only have the water that is in the tower.
Tuesday: Other teacher sends child on play date and does laundry all day because of extreme lack of civic awareness and princess syndrome. Boiler's at school malfunction. Roommate gives her notice to boss that she is quitting over Christmas.
Wednesday: More sleeping on boss's couch and returning to my house to get new underwear and feed my cats. More listening to my roommate grype about how we should be flown out of here because of conditions like this because we aren't from here (with rascist overtones which were not well received by me). Roommate tells Dev our hot water tank is broken and she can't live in conditions like this (right after I had a short, but hot, shower).
Thursday: Boiler guys arrive to fix up the school's boilers. Temperature rises to around -10.
Friday: Received word that the real generator will be up on Monday. Meanwhile, parts have arrived to extend the abilities of the back-up generator. These parts fail miserably and the whole village is down again. Then, they can't get the north side up again. Everyone living on the north side has to flip off their main breakers. I go home to start to pack. Carpentar comes to trailer to survey damage and see what he needs for repairs because of the constant break-ins. Roommate starts harping on him about hot water tank and everything that needs repairs. He tells her he has a list and will only do things on the list the band has given him. I don't really pay attention and try to stay out of his way. I place packed boxes in the corner of the living room. My roommate has a fit and tells me I can't place them there, which eventually leads her to say she is going to throw my stuff out in the snow. I finally lose it at her and yell at her.
Saturday: Roommate apologizes to me (which I barely acknowledge) and starts to clean the house, something which she has not done since September. Other teacher freaks out because she opens mail from last week saying she has to be in court in PG on Wednesday to deal with custody issues. Gets an additional 2 days off to attend to that.
Sunday: More sitting around boss's house. I spend some time at the school packing my stuff up.
Monday: Boss leaves to go to conference in Vancouver. Main generator arrives. Both other teachers leave. Psycho roommate cries at the air strip and one person hugs her, but says if she knew that she threatened to throw my stuff in the snow she wouldn't have. She also makes some accusations against boss. With some false starts, we have power.
Tuesday: I go to school to find water cascading out under the kitchen doors into the daycare and down the hallway. I close school for the morning.
Wednesday: School and power! Only a slight water leak from a closet in the hallway.
Apparently, they are still having issues with the power going on and off even though they are back on their main generator.
posted by Muss at 8:41 pm
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