When the power goes out on Gabriola, it’s nice to have some items of comfort; this is one of mine. It’s a candle lantern. A spring inside pushes the candle up automagically, as needed. A glass chimney prevents wayward breezes from blowing out the flame. It’s altogether splendid. I bought it on the interwebs, of [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,weather 10 Comments so far
Now that Gabriola’s power is back on and your neighbours have stopped gloating about how wonderful their generator is, there’s time to noodle around on the interwebs and see photos of a BC Hydro power crew at work on Gabriola, presumably up in that bucket thingy to restore your power. They were at the intersection [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,weather 3 Comments so far
Next time we lose power on Gabriola, will you find yourself wondering how much of the island is affected? Here’s how you can find out. Select some streets that are on various parts of the island. You might go for Easthom, Derksen, Coats, El Verano, Shaw, Degnan, Coast, Peterson, Colleen, Barrett, Lochinvar, Taylor Bay, Berry [...]
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Some of Gabriola spent 12 hours without power today, starting about 3 am this morning. Anybody happen to know what caused this outage? BC Hydro says just due to snowstorm. But what took the line down, and where? Curious folk would like to know.
Filed in Gabriola Island,weather 4 Comments so far
Were you up when Gabriola’s power went out this morning? BC Hydro says the cause was a motor vehicle accident, though the Gabriola grapevine — ever more specific! — says car crashed into power pole in Cedar. BC Hydro says that 3,260 BC Hydro customers were affected, and that power was out from 5:10 am [...]
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Having just had a rather long power outage, I’ve had plenty of time to compose this list. These are the good things about a power outage on Gabriola:
Filed in Gabriola Island,weather One Response so far
Gabriola’s just had a monstrous storm and a 29 hour power outage, which has made life more interesting on all sorts of levels lately. One can never have too many beeswax candles, that’s what I always say. Fortunately our emergency kit includes both candles and vodka, so we fared well. I read Food Security for [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,weather Comments Off
We have lots of power outages on Gabriola. Power was out for 8 hours last week, 7 hours last night, and several times today. When I’m prepared, the power never goes out. When I’m unprepared, then it happens. So, based on my research, the key seems to be this: if I have a candle lit [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island Comments Off
There are lots of things I hate about power outages on Gabriola. Not being able to flush toilets or run water is a big one, and a nasty surprise for city visitors. Having my internet access cut off is not a good thing, either. But the thing that disturbs my sleep and my equilibrium is [...]
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What better than a blanket of snow to add magic to a Gabriola morning? And what better than snow — with more on the way, apparently — to make the washing machine repair guy cancel his visit to Gabriola today? The septic system repair guy phoned last night to cancel, too, so our fixit day [...]
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I wish our house had been built like this one. From the New York Times: No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’. … these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island 2 Comments so far
Look what the Shingle just published: Local accommodation stymies Hydro’s power outage response. If you think Gabriola’s power outages are too long, you may want to invite a BC Hydro worker home for supper and a nap. A lack of suitable island accommodations means Hydro (BCH) probably won’t send repair crews to the island until [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,weather 2 Comments so far
It turns out that a Prius might be more practical for use on Gabriola than you’d have guessed. From Green Inc, a New York Times blog: Prius: It’s Not Just a Car, It’s an Emergency Generator. The Prius has a new use, and it does not involve driving. The Harvard Press — which serves the [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,weather Comments Off
This showed up in my email this morning: The problem for Gabriola is that it is more vulnerable, for equipment reasons, not more wasteful than other communities. Gabriola has a single-feed connection from Cedar (in most other communities, load imbalances can be much more easily evened out). BC Hydro says part of the Okanagan is [...]
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So apparently that power use warning is for real after all. The Nanaimo Daily News has the story. Gabriola Islanders are being asked by B.C. Hydro to reduce their power consumption, and/or shift the times of the day they use more power, over the Christmas season. The best line is attributed to BC Hydro spokesman [...]
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I’ve had several versions of this email today: BC Hydro phoned our RDN rep Gisele Rudischer and said that they are trying to stabilize our power today and would like us to cut back our usage. They are worried that we will lose our electricity. It is especially important to conserve during the peak hours [...]
Filed in Gabriola Island,Nanaimo Comments Off
Oh, man, wasn’t that frustrating: no power for 19 hours. I spent the whole time thinking about the warm shower I was planning to have when the power came on. (People from elsewhere, note: we can’t run water when the power’s out here, because the pump that brings water from the well or from the [...]
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