Power Grid

The excavator was at the Farm again last week, which we now understand translates to “Uh, oops.”
This time, instead of uncovering a wayward water line, he was able to locate a barely buried electrical line someone with a desire to see the property go up in flames had used to run power from the pole at the trailer to a shed located on the property. Since the shed had a breaker box and I had tried to use one of the plugs to run a table saw several years ago with little success, I was aware of the presence of some weak and waning electrical current but have to admit I was unaware of the etiology of the electricity. I had warned the contractor a while ago about the possibility we should give the “call before you dig” number a ring, but since (like the water line) the burying of bare Romex© to create a power source is not what one would call textbook, the “call before you dig” people were unable to help us.

Under ordinary circumstances, I do not believe locating the line with a piece of heavy machinery would result in dramatic consequences. Let me stress: under ordinary circumstances.

In this case, the uprooting of the line caused a power surge which was not appropriately thwarted by the breaker at the power pole. The trailer, and more significantly, its four canine inhabitants, lost power when the surge popped a fuse about the size of my forearm located on the transformer.

The trailer lost power around 9:30 a.m.Demonstrating keen intuition, K came home after her morning appointment, arriving at 11:30 a.m. to a slightly stuffy trailer with four dogs who were more than ready to clamber into the car for some air conditioned relief. On my way home at around 1 p.m., I called Steve and asked permission to use his house as a canine staging ground so K and the kids could get some air conditioned respite that was not fueled by unleaded gasoline. Of course he quite graciously agreed. To thank him for his tremendous act of charity, only one glass figurine hanging just outside his front door was shattered (sorry, Steve! – I promise to replace your glass hummingbird hanging thingy soon as I find a suitable replacement).


By 4:00 p.m., the big guys in the big trucks had come to replace the big fuse and we were back onto the power grid.