Eyes that see the good in things: June 11, 2018

The wind was playing havoc with the electricity at my house last Friday. I was watching television and checking Facebook (multi-tasking two mindless chores) when the lights flickered on and off repeatedly. I finally gave up and unplugged the television and computers before getting ready to go run errands. Just in time, too. The power went off (and stayed off) just as I got done drying my hair.

In retrospect, I guess I’d have to say it was a good thing I got a little push to get moving that morning because I didn’t expect that one of them would take me four hours to complete. In any case, with my grocery and Wal-Mart lists in hand, I headed out the door. Once I got out on the road, I noticed the familiar white Northern Plains Cooperative truck and knew they were already working on the repairs. After spending the entire day and too much money in Devils Lake, thunderstorms were already brewing, and by the time I got home, the rain had started. It wasn’t long before we were in the middle of the storm…and we lost power.

It was actually kind of nice, there was no noise from the television or radio. There was no internet. We lit candles and talked to each other. As the lightning started to fade off into the distance, I heard a vehicle on the road and looked out the window, to see the truck stopped at the same place it had been earlier that day.

Once they got there, it didn’t take long for the power to come back on, but it made me think about all the times when I have been out of power over the years. A few of them are more memorable than others. I was new to country living when we moved here.

One of the first real snowstorms we had that year knocked our power out; I called it in, but fully believed that they wouldn’t come out until the storm ended. I still remember the surprise I felt, upon seeing the lights of the big truck in the yard lighting up my otherwise dark kitchen. It was a good surprise; but I still feel guilty for bringing them out in that storm.

However, what’s most memorable to me was the April blizzard in 1997. That was the one where the rain iced up the power lines before the snow and winds hit. We didn’t realize how bad it was that year, until we were able to clean the yard out and drive to town. The trip into Fessenden that day revealed mile after mile of power lines snapped and toppled. This was not going to be a quick fix.

The power was out for over a week that time, but the work they were able to do in that amount of time was nothing short of amazing. At least at my house, we take our electricity for granted. We walk into a room, flip the switch and expect the light to come on. When it doesn’t, we realize just exactly how dependent we are on electricity.

Friday night, after the electricity came back on, I started thinking about the number of times that crews have left their families and gone out in the worst of weather to perform dangerous, physically demanding work. They are called out in the worst of weather to work in cold and wet conditions. So, it was interesting to me that after some searching on the internet, I was able to find an article written about families of electrical linemen.

 he article, called "Linesmen’s Wives Have Tales to Tell," tells the story about a woman named Paula. Paula says her husband, Sam comes from a family of five brothers, who are all linemen. She says that one of the things that Sam loves best about her job is coming in to repair what nature destroyed.

Paula worries when her husband is out working in storms and bad weather but said that she deals with it by becoming a “weather wife.” Her job as a weather wife has become easier with the advent of the internet but she’s done it for awhile.

“I used to track the storms on paper before the internet came along,” Paula said. “In fact, my weather wife habits saved my husband’s life.” There was the time that her husband’s crew was working out in the woods when she was watching a storm and knew that they were in the path of a tornado. The sky turned green, the winds picked up and it started hailing. Her husband called and said her warning allowed them to take cover before the storm hit.

Because her husband enjoys repairing what nature destroyed, he has traveled a great deal as part of his job in storing power after storms. He has worked on a variety of storms, including hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and ice storms. Paula shared that her husband has boxes of cards made by the children in the communities where he has served.

“When the crews come into a town to restore power after a storm, there are usually a bunch of people lining the highway, cheering as the trucks come in,” Paula said. “They have a big party and a send-off for the crews when the work is done.”

So, although my thanks are long over-due to the Northern Plains linemen, you are deserving of a party. You are responsible for the reliability of the electricity that we’ve come to take for granted. I’ve witnessed your great work as a team that April in ’97, when nature stepped in and created a pile of work for you. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten. And even though I am 20 years late, I just wanted you to know that we haven’t forgotten either!

We would love to share local stories about the good things your eyes are seeing.

Stop in to share your stories with us, give us a call at 947-2417 or e-mail us at [email protected]. Or send a letter to Eyes That See the Good in Things, c/o Allison Lindgren, The Transcript, 6 8th St N., New Rockford, ND 58356.