Storm damage

Fallen oak tree took out power lines, dog run and goat barn with two goats inside.

We are hoping by the time this column is published we will have our electric back. The storm last Friday broke the top out of an oak tree next to our house that took two more limbs off the tree as it came down, all of them landing on the power lines and our dog run and goat barn.

There were two goats in the barn at the time and we thought they were goners. Everything except for part of one wall was flat under the fallen tree parts.

First we called 911 as the warnings we have heard say if we had downed power lines to call them first. They patched us through to the California Department of Forestry. The CDF person said if there was no arcing and sparking they would not come out.

So we went to take a closer look. If CDF was not concerned we decided to find out if the goats survived. By then one had made it out on its own. The other we had to remove some of the debris to find. It appeared unhurt so we got it out and put both goats in with our other goats their fenced area.

After checking all our other animals we set about hooking up our generator. We know automatically that we will be on the bottom of the repair list for Pacific Gas and Electric. It only took two days to get us placed on the repair list with no estimated time of repair in sight!

Even though we are only three to four miles from the edge of town, we might as well be 100 miles when it comes to emergency or repair services. If we can not take care of something ourselves it most likely will not be taken care of.

Equipment we have found that is essential to have ready at all times include: generator, backhoe, chainsaws and fire extinguishers. Extra supplies we keep on hand are: gasoline, diesel, flashlights, batteries, first aid kit, water and food. The only things we have run short of are fresh bread and hot showers.

Our generator is not big enough to run our stove and oven so baking is something we have to do without. We do all our cooking on top of our wood stove. It takes longer but it works. Also the hot water heater is too big for our generator to run. We have to heat all water on the wood stove.

Cleanup and repairs are still ongoing. We have cleared the access road along the power line so that when the repair crew finally arrives they can reach the power poles. The limbs directly on the dog run and goat barn will have to wait a few more days. We built another temporary dog kennel to make due until the other can be rebuilt.

Other storm damage we still have to get to is replacing shingles on our garage and carport; cleaning up broken limbs in the walnut orchard, then repair the and clean up all equipment to make it ready for next time.

We thought five days was a long time to be out of power in 1995. This time we have passed that. For all the improvements for quicker responses we hear about we sure do not see it. Even the times there are no storms to blame, response time has proven slow.

Update: Late on day six PG&E workers pieced the wires back together. There are many splices but the power is back on.