Santa Ana winds are no joke

Last Friday (Jan. 21), the Santa Ana winds we get in SoCal decided to come in earnest. Power went out around 10:30 pm and I hear a car alarm going off. Naturally wondering what was going on, I poked my head out the door to a horrifying sight. One of the Deodars (think enormous Christmas tree) had fallen and taken the two power poles in front of our house down with it. On the way down, one of the power poles fell on a passing car. Occupants were OK, but with live wires everywhere, they couldn't get out. I think every neighbor on the block called 911 and firefighters arrived to cut off power and safely get the people out. 

It wasn't 'til morning we realized the full extent of the damage. On our house, the 2 masts on the roof (the pipes that stick up to receive power wires), were at a 45 degree angle. Not good. Wires were on the ground after being totally ripped off both house and power poles. Again, not good. Further investigation revealed that the tree, which blessedly did not fall on a house, had smashed a parked car into oblivion. Again, no people hurt.

The City crews swung into action. They even partnered with a nearby City crew to restore power within 24 hours. That meant they had to remove the downed poles and erect two brand new poles. Yes! And they did this in ONE DAY. Good for everyone, right? Welllll, not for me. Because my mast was totally shot, I had to find an electrician to fix that before the power company could hook me up. And here's where it gets really lucky. The people across the street also needed an electrician. Being far better at behaving like adults than we are, they had scheduled an appointment within an hour of realizing their need. So what do you expect I did? Why, of course, I casually moseyed over and asked the electrician if he could come take a look. He cheerfully said yes and within 1/2 hour, he told me what needed to be done and when that could happen. And yes, he was happy to come on Sunday to complete the task.

Meanwhile, I'm bugging the poor supervisor of the power company team with questions about how I would contact the City to get power restored, and will they really come out on a Sunday, and what do I do if.... The poor man must have thought I was demented, but he was the soul of graciousness and patiently answered all my questions and said don't worry. 

So Sunday comes and the electrician is coming up on the end of the time frame he gave me to arrive. I try the take-a-deep-breath zen approach and decide to wait for one half hour before texting him, when suddenly, lo and behold, he shows up right on time and is in apology mode. Why? He had trouble finding one piece he needed to complete the job. I was so relieved that if it were at all socially appropriate to hug him, I would have. Only decorum and COVID kept me at bay. So I leave him to it. Three hours later he flags me down to call the City. Mmmm. What I thought was a direct line to a person was not. And it didn't want to understand what I was saying. Frustration and worry mode start to ratchet up. Try again. Better this time but I'm anxious that the City person won't show up before the electrician has to take off. Just as I'm about to go into full worry mode, a City truck pulls up. He hails the electrician (they have worked together before apparently), works his magic, listens to my praise for his help, and then tells me something that stuns me speechless: it was no accident he showed up when he did. His supervisor called him, told him to check on me in the morning and again in the early afternoon to make sure everything was good to go. The poor man was facing a 24 hour shift, and he still was gracious and fulfilled that request for service. 

With the internet finally back up 4 days after getting power, it's all good again. The devastation below is all cleared up and we are happily back to pandemic mode as usual.

If you squint hard enough, you can see the fallen tree in the background. The root ball is about 7 feet high and the tree itself crosses the entire street. 

So glad that whole adventure is over!