On Friday, Virginia Dominion Power had to come by to remove and reattach out our powerlines to the house. They come in on a trim board on the garage side of the house, the siding guys had to replace the wooden trim board with the new vinyl board. Here's how it went according to Steve.
At 9:30am VA DOM Power arrived in their cherry picker truck. Steve said they removed the power from the house at about 9:45 - 10am, (Steve ran a power cord from our 'fridge in the camp kitchen to our neighbors', The Infelds, outdoor socket, with their permission of course, thank Providence that they were home....or we would have had a major mess on our hands). At that point the siders attached the new trim to the house and their bit was done. VA DOM Power then told Steve that they had to run new wire from the street to the house. Steve said it wasn't necessary, but whatever. So they ran new wire, then they said that they couldn't reattach the house to the Power Grid at the street, because they didn't 'do that'. They said that the 1:30pm crew would have to do it. At this point all the trades guys left, what's the use of being there if they didn't have power for their tools? Luckily the Plumbers were able to finish before the power went out, so the sink works, the Powder Room works, and the 2 gas lines (fireplace and cooktop) are extended an operational. Grandpa Munster, from Hawkins' Electric, was able to do a little finishing of plugs and switches and hang the brace for the light fixture in the dining room. Then he left to terrorize the countryside. That left poor Steve, to spend the day calling VA DOM Power to check on status of the dispatch. Steve had told me that he needed to leave early, by no later than 3pm because he had some errands he needed to run (Steve is getting married this Friday, and prep stuff to do).
At around 2pm, Steve said that he noticed a VA DOM Power van with cherry-picker cruising up and down Beachway Drive. He said he counted at least 3 drive-by's. Finally the guy stopped, surveyed the job, and told Steve he couldn't do anything and he'd pass the ticket to the 3pm crew. Steve was livid.
M and I were able to get off work a bit early, and we got home around 4:15pm. Steve filled us in on the events of the day. We'd planned on a quiet evening of pizza and a Netflix. Alas it was not to be.
We puttered around until about 6pm, and then our stomachs started to growl. We tried to get Steve to agree to let us go pick up something but he wouldn't let us, said he already had something to tide him over in his truck (probably an energy bar or something). M and I went to the Dogfish Head Restaurant, and had delicious but wholely unhealthy meal of burgers and beer. But what a way to go!
Steve called me on my cell and said that VA DOM Power had arrived at about 7:45pm and were just finishing up. He was on his way finally...6:45am t0 8:05pm is a long ass day.
I think these guys were playing Friday afternoon union tricks, especially the guy that cruised by at 2pm and couldn't be bothered to do anything. Thank goodness we didn't have any bad weather on Friday, or I am sure we would have been at the END of the line for power restoration.
This is why the Right fears a Single-Payer National Healthcare system. Just sayin'.
Anyhoo. The whole Commonwealth team was there this morning. As well as Hawkin's Electrics Grandpa Munster, freshly rejuvenated from a weekend of feasting upon the blood of virgins, carping at poor beleaguered Steve about this or that or the other.
The GE Monogram wall oven appears to be too large to fit into the wall oven cabinet. Steve assured me as I left that it would 'just' fit. I'll trust him.
Well that's all I got today. Hope everyone has a great week.
cc
The count down is on for 7/31!!
ReplyDelete