Powerless

Literally. We woke for the fourth day in row to a home without electrical power. Sure, there were signs of hope on day three, like the seven power trucks in our driveway early last night, but in the end, we are powerless.



The electrical company was hard at work yesterday, trying to restore power to us and hundreds around us. They were successful in fixing the downed power lines just up the street from us and next to our house. They had everything ready to be restored as we departed for Drew's Sister's dance class. We were happy, energized and for the first time in days, hopeful.

We returned home to no power. We couldn't understand what the problem was until we were told that a neighbor, and I use that term loosely, had failed to report the chopped-in-half electrical pole in his yard. Moron. The electrical company could not restore our power, as it is supplied through that pole area, and would knock off the transformers again. So, they have to bring in a new electrical pole, which could take days. We've even been told power won't be restored until next week!

Laurie left an interesting comment on my last post, Ike Came and Went, wondering what people with hearing loss do in these circumstances. In our situation we are very fortunate. Drew is too young to need to listen to weather reports or communicate on the phone; we are doing all of that for him. He doesn't rely on closed captioned television of use a relay system with the telephone. Many of the assistive devices for the deaf and hard of hearing are either not age appropriate or not needed.


We have, however, had issues with battery power for his implants. We used our two sets of rechargeable batteries on Sunday and Monday, but by Tuesday morning they were all dead with no way to recharge them. So, we are now using disposable batteries. We are very fortunate to have a full box of batteries, enough to last about ten days. From now on I will always have on hand a full weeks supply of disposable batteries, just in case this situation happens again. Batteries are in high demand right now, and very hard to find. While I'm sure it is not impossible to find them right now, there were points when stores were without power to sell them and there were points where the shelves were bare. I could not handle the stress of trying to find power for Drew to hear, so we will always maintain a supply large enough to last one week.


Hopefully we won't need these in the future, but who knows?