HOUSE ARREST!

"We did nothing, Your Honor!  Nothing!"

Southern California Edison gave us fair warning though.  First a big notice in the local paper, then a robo-call warning us and, finally, a poorly-xeroxed notice on the door mat that alerted us:

YOUR GARAGE, STREET, AND/OR ALLEY WILL BE BLOCKED BY EDISON EQUIPMENT.  PLEASE MOVE YOUR VEHICLE OUT OF DESIGNATED WORK ZONE PRIOR TO CREW ARRIVAL.  In all instances we were warned that we would not have electrical power from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This is not the end of the world as we will have finished our coffees by 6:30 a.m.  We weren't planning to wash clothes or dishes.  My laptop has an 8 hour battery; the PC has 3 hours and the iTablet and cell phone were both fully charged.  They were made to run off of battery power fa heaven's sake.

What I forgot is:  all of the above used at home are Wi-Fi users and the tower plugs into a surge strip.   Which from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.. would be deader than vaudeville.

So much for printing labels for the envelopes to post the books which I don't have yet anyhow.  It's all good. 

The workers arrived promptly and our short street (three blocks) filled up quickly with trucks and gigantic cherry pickers.  New wiring was on the way!

Intermittent "brrrrrtt!" sounds rose and fell all during the day.  It sounded like perhaps the Jolly Green Giant's drill might have been borrowed. 

When it became apparent that they wouldn't be finished by 5 p.m., Richie began to grow restive about the probability of dinner at 7 or 7:30 p.m.  He proposed we go out and I eagerly accepted this idea.

The vehicles (theirs) had moved down the street and our driveway was free and clear.  What we both forgot, of course,  is that the garage door opening is powered by ... electricity.  Yesterday, it was Richie-powered.  But by the time we returned, electricity had been restored and all was well. 

Just in time for "Jeopardy," too.