October is Here; Do You Know Where Your Lantern Is?

After a beautiful Indian Summer, I knew October finally decided to hit Ketchikan when I found debris outside of my house this morning. John has not put up his weather station yet, so I can not tell you exactly how high the wind gusts were last night, but they were pretty impressive. In fact, a barge blew into a ferry at the ferry terminal today:

(disclaimer: I did NOT take this picture. Someone sent it to my husband. I have no idea who took it, but all credit goes to this unknown photographer ;) ) So, Ketchikan, count your lucky stars those containers didn't fall onto the dock or spill into the water. See just how easy it can be for our shops to have empty shelves for a week? So far, we've had only one power outage a few weeks ago. Of course it struck right when I was on the toilet and I stumbled to my lantern (yes, I know exactly where all my lanterns are this time of year), only to mess up the glass and ruin the wick. I have since re-stocked on lanterns, marine grade glow sticks (the yellow ones are the best and actually provide lots of light) and other supplies. That particular power outage was caused by a telephone line that rotted through and toppled over. We used to replace our telephone lines every ten years on this island (because that is a smart thing to do when you have at least two months worth of hurricane-force winds each year), but the City Manager decided that cost too much money. Yes, never mind how much it costs to have to send crews out to fix those things when they rot through at midnight on any given day. I'm sure it's more important to pay the City Manager's juiced-up salary (which is more than the Governor of Alaska's salary, btw) than it is to replace those telephone poles routinely every ten years. Oh, do I sound bitter? Well perhaps that is because I now have to expect power outages because of lack of maintenance on a regular basis in Fall. Our Fall weather is so foul that it would make headline news if it happened in any other State. I would love to have Anderson Cooper here for a few months a year (yes, I know he is gay. I knew before he officially came out, but a girl can dream and swoon over his perfect, platinum hair, can't she?). Alas, this is just all part of the life Alaskan, so grab your lantern and be prepared ;)