We lost power here in NH on Thursday evening. Half the state was dark, due to very high winds. The airport nearest to me recorded 68 mph (100kph) winds. My home is on the slope of a mountain, at 800' (250m), so the winds here are higher, probably exceeding hurricane force that night. Friday AM, 50 State highways and 100 town roads were closed due to felled trees. many of the tree falls took down power and comm lines with them. The cleanup is taking days. I have no electricity, phone or cable at my house. Cellphones still work. I'm using my emergency water supply, as my well pump is inoperative without power. Fortunately, it hasn't been that cold (although it's snowing like crazy right now). I have a generator to periodically power the refrigerator, and my kitchen stove is propane, so it's not at all an episode of Survivorman. It's a dangerous situation; just massively inconvenient. Let's just say: I don't exactly feel fresh as a daisy. Spongebaths just aren't the same as a hot shower. Functioning public wifi hotspots are packed, and some are overloaded to the point of uselessness. This is coming to you from the parking lot of a McDonald's. (In the US, most McD hotspots went free in January; prior to that, you had to sign up and pay.) I typed this at home, wearing fingerless gloves, a hat, and full outdoor clothing indoors. I'm here at the hotspot to gather main and try to do a little online research for a column that's due Monday. I did the prelim research yesterday, here at the same McDonald's, and wrote the text back at home. New questions emerged, and there's more fact-checking to do, so here I am again. Anyway, that's the scoop, and why there haven't been any posts in a while. Best, Sergeant Preston
Please take care!
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