As I got out of the shower this morning, around 5:10 a.m., the lights flickered. Out. Back on. Out. Back on briefly. Then out.
Quickly ascertained that the power had failed. Margie and I chatted about it for a moment (she’d been awakened by the fan in the room going off). I figured out how to dress myself passingly well in the darkness (particularly that within my walk-in closet).
Peering outside, I didn’t see any lights in the neighborhood, nor street lamps, so presumably it was more widespread than just us. I had noted that our a/c was still running this morning — the house interior was actually a lot warmer than the exterior (78 vs 63), which, if extended in pattern to others in the metro area, might be part of the problem.
Figured out the number for Xcel’s power failure hotline, called it, discovered that it works best if you call of a land line (since it uses Caller ID in its automated system), and finally talked to someone to report the problem, which they already knew of and were estimating about another 90 minutes to repair.
At any rate, with the help of the emergency flashlight downstairs, I got packed up, released the drive chain on the garage door and opened it, and headed on my way. Pretty much the whole neighborhood, over to Quebec, was out; saw at least one traffic light out, another on red-blinking, and onto the freeway saw that all the retail on the south side of County Line was dark.
At the very least, tonight, I need to bring up the big house fan to get the house cooled off by bed time.