It's cold, it's blustery, it's Saturday night. The winter storm watch is in effect for the foothills. Fire is rolling in the wood stove and the cats (2) are comfortably spread out in front of the stove, both to my touch, uncomfortably warm. Of course, I remember the insulating effects of a fur coat and realize they are probably just fine. As night and slumber arrive, I notice a brief flicker of AC power. Not enough to trip the clocks, just a momentary dropout. I go to sleep content knowing that UPS systems protect all the online computer equipment.

I think back to earlier in the day and the trip to the two train stores down in Auburn. All this cool stuff and another visit to a big store in Roseville, where I purchased another HO scale, GE Dash-9 locomotive for my soon to be model railroad, computer enhanced. Also found out that in Sacramento, not that much further down the road is the largest train store in the Sacramento area.

But before this great journey began, I was thinking that I should get diesel fuel to top off the reserve tank which I've been using for testing. I also should top off the truck also. That would give me a grand total of 45 gallons of fuel, enough for 5 days of continuous, normal operation. I can power down the computers and associated equipment and just run the fish tank pump and compressor which consume less than 50 watts of power. This will allow the genset to drop into idle mode and only operate at speed when the refrigerator or freezer or a light it turned on. That mode of operation would extend the run time quite a bit. During my regular maintenance, I run with a 3Kw load and this equates to about 5 gallons per 12 hour interval.

At 3:30 I am awakened from my railroad slumber by the incessant, repetitive beeping of the fire alarm. But alas, just as I am awakened, the power is restored. Then seconds later, the power goes out again. I remember my talk with the electric company technician, the circuit breakers are automatic and will try to clear a problem three times before going off line and requiring manual intervention. I am puzzled when after a brief moment, the power doesn't come back on. Alas, in the past, when this has happened, within 2 minutes, power is restored. I can already feel the chill as the electric blanket is now also offline.

The excitement mounts. Power is out. I get the flashlight, put on my robe and prepare to step outside. It is then when I assaulted by the violent fury of mother nature. The storm is raging outside. Here I've been sheltered by the noise insulating characteristics of the house from the violence outside. OK, it wasn't that bad, it was pouring rain and it was snowing. The ground was white and there was about a 1/2 inch on the cars. Added some oil to the engine prior to operation and made a mental note to be sure and recharge the flashlight if a storm was expected. Went into the house for another flashlight.

Good, 10 minute elapsed and still no a peep of power or a light visible except starlight. It's cold out but not terribly so. A 10 second preheat and the diesel sputters to life, billowing clouds of white fog. Then promptly settles into a contented idle. Meantime, water is streaming out of the sky drenching my hair and robe. Should have used the umbrella. I hope when we build the barn, I will put this inside or under a bigger overhang. Important future construction detail to file away. Also should get started on the 1997 tax return, need to gather up all the deductions for improvements on the old Livermore homestead. Inside, switch over to genset power. Rabbits are puzzled they don't understand all the noise at this hour of the day.

A connection is made with the $100 cord to the house power outlet and the genset and the switch is flipped to provide power. The lights are one, commercial power is still out. I go back to bed, thinking on average, the last two outages were for 55-60 minutes. Figure as soon as I fall asleep again, content from the warm of the now operating electric blanket, the power will be restored. I wake up 90 minutes later, power is still out.

Power is still out after we awakened and I stoke up the wood stove. Not really needed since the furnace makes sure the temperature never gets below 60 anyhow. JAL is content making coffee in the electric coffee maker. Hah! She says could have done it the old fashioned way. Also wants to do the laundry. Remember this as the same person who said, the generator, my toy, wouldn't have to power all these household appliances when the power was out. Matter of fact, we didn't need it at all since the wood stove would heat the house, or at least keep the chill off and propane powered the hot water, we'd be set. Hah.

Also turns out the gas station in town has a small generator to run the store and the fuel pumps. I did confirm that when I got more fuel, I didn't check to make sure the diesel pump would also be powered. I also got a length of tubing to be able to siphon fuel from the truck. This is easier than catching the fuel coming out of the fuel filter drain.

Also took a walk around the block. Of 9 houses, only 2 had generators running. Our next door neighbor had the outlet put in but traded his water-cooled Honda generator to someone else. This is confusing to me since his house is heated by propane and a pellet stove. Pellet stoves don't work with out power. Must have been chilly in that house after a few hours.