The Northern Neck has really gotten pounded in the last two weeks. I can not remember any other time over the last 25 years when we had to deal with so many tornado warnings when we needed to tuck ourselves away in the safest room in the house. Just like many houses on the Northern Neck, the great benefit of vast windows everywhere takes on a completely different feeling when you want no glass to be near you just in case of a tornado. We didn't have anything major happen due to those tornado warnings but we did find we joined a great number of people with other woes due to thunderstorms.
Last Friday was my volunteer day at the Rappahannock Art League. This is something I do once a month and it relates to my having work shown on the wall there (photographs infused in aluminum). All of the artists whose work is there do some sort of volunteer work, mostly contributing a day or a half day to the overall operation. While there (in Kilmarnock) I heard a multitude of tales of lost TVs and down trees, and various other systems not working. This because a number of the storms that we've had mostly marched down the Rappahannock River. Little did I know that just twenty-four hours later we would be in the same boat and able to recount all sorts of system problems at the house.
Saturday afternoon brought another storm. The thunder in the distance at about 4 p.m. sounded more like one of the bases around here was testing artillery....the thunder was almost constant. We don't hear anything like that very often, but earlier this spring Bowling Green was up to something and so you heard more than you would want to. It was a short term exercise, so don't think that is normal. Anyway, lots of booms. Lots of thunder and lightning. We watched the descriptions of the extreme weather and where the tornado watch was until we lost the DirectTV signal. I pulled the plug on all my computer equipment fairly early in the game and we sat in the living room waiting out the storm except for a fifteen minutes tucked away with the dogs in a big closet (we have one of those little weather radios so we continued on with the information for our area). At one point before we went to the most sheltered part of the house, there was a lightning strike very close to our house. After that I pulled the plug on the TV.....too late, obviously. When the storm was gone we regrouped and looked at what was and wasn't working. What we found was no TV, no electric in part of the house....just one floor of the new addition was out, no AC so the heat pump was somehow affected and most odd of all was the water issue. No pressure....hmmm...we share a well with three other parties. That well was put in not so long ago and is great and we've been very happy with it. We assumed that all four parties on the well were affected. But no. And although it wasn't figured out immediately, within an hour or so the water was able to force itself up into a small geyser where the underground pipe had broken and so where all of the water that was coming from that was making our backyard into a marshy, soupy mess, could be identified. Off goes the water. Got to do what you got to do. We were thankful that that geyser appeared (not huge....only a couple of inches above the lawn) since we could have thought that there had been so much rain already recently that the water was part of that saturation.
Sunday we were in a bit of shock and knew who we might call and how this could be managed. What I am most happy to report is how it has been handled. For years I have heard comments about this being the "promise land," and I can agree, I have experienced this kind of outcome when I ask for assistance. What this phrase really means is that you get promises but you don't get action. Oh yes, it happens and I have to think it happens in a lot of rural areas. What happened yesterday shows that that isn't really true if you know the right people, and also perhaps the Northern Neck economy has developed over the years. My husband went to see the man who had done our electrical work just at the start of business. This electrical work at our house had been a side job for him so he has a "real job." He came at lunchtime and fixed the problem and also told us he couldn't help with the heat pump problem. I made a call to a recommended party at 12:30 and asked for some assistance. That gentleman came at 2:30 and determined the problem and has ordered the part that will be installed Wednesday morning. The water issue...well I called a recommended plumber at 8:30...left a message....got a call back 5 minutes later. He came after his job and worked for three full hours to fix the pipe that had burst underground. In all of this attempt to get back to normal the only party that has been a bit questionable has been DirectTV. My husband called on Sunday and they said they'd be by on Wednesday. In talking to our nextdoor neighbor who also lost his TV reception and perhaps his TV as well, my husband found out that their DirectTV visit would be on Tuesday. He called DirectTV back and trying to get us scheduled along with the nextdoor neighbor it was learned (quite a number of times since my husband is tenacious and of course this doesn't make sense) that no, they couldn't put the appointments back to back. Corporate America??
My basic thoughts about going through this event is that I am very thankful for the hardworking and capable people who do the various trades work around here. Couldn't have asked for a better response from the local people....and we'll be all set by Wednesday noon....with or without DirectTV!!
