So Wifey left for Mah Jonng in our old neighborhood, and I watched the latest episode of "Bad Monkey." And then I figured I'd watch the Weather Channel to see where my man Norman's favorite, Jim Cantore, was hunkered down. At about 745, the lights went out.
Our 'hood is currently (Ha) undergoing an FPL conversion. At first I thought that meant the lines were becoming Jewish, but then I learned it's the term for undergrounding our cables. The job was supposed be finished by May. Ha. As if! Now hopefully the job gets completed by the end of the year -- we've been living with construction, street closures, and the occasionally broken water line for quite awhile.
Hopefully, it will prevent the frequent outages we now have, due to our jungle tree canopy. Ironically, FPL trims the lines each Spring -- I have a feeling they avoided it this year, since the lines were converting, and so that caused last night's incident.
The APP said power would be restored by 5 am. I called Wifey and told her -- I left the gate open, and be careful walking into house since it would be dark. I lit some candles, and pondered existence, and Wifey made it home about 11 -- still no power.
Our room was uncomfortable but not untenable, and we brought up the special needs Spaniel and joked about "Body Heat." I assured Wifey she looked more like 1980s Kathleen Turner than current Kathleen Turner, to whom the years have not been a friend. We fell asleep, and I heard the AC go on in the wee hours -- turned out it was around 330 or so.
I got two suggestions from people -- Norma, and my strange neighbor Riva -- get a whole house generator! I have given it thought, and decided against it. For my house, it's a nearly $50K undertaking, because Pinecrest requires the gas tank to be not only buried, but on a reinforced slab underground. And, my good friend had one, and it crapped out after a day, during, I think, Irma. Turns out generator repair guys don't rush out to fix them during the aftermath of cyclones -- that scared me against it, too.
The truth is, less than a day without power is fine. If it goes longer -- stay cation time! And if a storm is a-comin' Cat 3 or more -- I'm taking my whole crew and getting out of Dodge. Andrew taught us that.
With the money I DON'T spend on a generator, I can take my fam to an amazing hotel somewhere out of the cone of death. So no generator.
I actually have a pretty good portable one, and had a box installed -- it can run the Bonus Room, with AC, and my fish aerator and some lights. I let the thing fall into disrepair -- maybe I'll find my 'round tuitt and get it fixed. The 5 gallon tank runs about 8 hours. Nah. Come to think of it -- I'm sticking to my outa here approach.
Meanwhile, I had my yearly retinal check, with affable doctor Andrew, who looks just like McLovin from "Super Bad." He's super smart, and married to a gorgeous woman, with 3 beautiful kids. His boss is a guy named Pedro, a Miami Med grad who trained at The Brigham in Boston while Eric was there.
In the waiting room, an older patient was talking to another. "I used to see Dr. Lopez -- great doc -- but he's getting too old. I switched to Dr. Andrew." Pete is our age!!!!!
I get it -- would I prefer 48 or 63 year old surgical hands on my eyeball? A man's gotta know his limitations, as Dirty Harry sagely said.
So tonight the Full Squad, as Joey named us, are meeting for a comedy event - Rosh Ha Ha Ha. I'm looking forward to it -- sans fruits and veggies. My prep for Monday's colonoscopy said to avoid them starting today.
Eye doc. Stomach doc. Yeah -- this aging can be annoying. But I still hope the lights stay on.
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