George Rebane

Our house guests went home yesterday afternoon after sampling a bit of winter in the Sierra foothills.  Shortly after Gary and Vicki arrived, we had a big dinner with Christmas music in the background and a roaring fire while the snow was blowing outside.  After dinner we were relaxing around the fireplace when the inevitable overloaded branch somewhere over a power line came crashing down and the world turned black.  We had just been talking about blackouts and now we had ours.

Not to worry, I told everyone and tiptoed through blowing snow around the house where my piece de resistance for the occasion was quietly waiting in the deepening snow.  Clearing the intake and exhaust ports of the white stuff, I opened the panel cover and pushed the red button.  Instantly our little Kohler 12KW propane generator leaped to life and I hustled back into the house, and threw the master switch to let there be light (and heat and water and …).  We all felt pretty smug as we bundled off to bed with visions of determined and dedicated county and utility workers out in the cold night doing their best to clear the roads and fix the break.  Civilization is nice.

At less than two gallons per hour I let the generator run for the full 17 hours that the power was out.  Our big propane tank could take the hit, and I wanted to check out the system in a continuous demand situation.  It performed flawlessly.

We woke up to a scene that is best left for the nearby picture to describe.  I quickly built a big fire and we continued our catching up, plotting and scheming, and reliving our years together in southern California.  Great way to spend a day indoors with the gals doing their thing and bringing Gary and me puu-puus to fortify ourselves against the cold weather out there somewhere.  And you could barely hear the Kohler chugging away in the cold.

And, of course, we also did the normal things that we mountain folk do with out-of-town guests.  We took them on the usual local tours.  Our routine is that I take the male guest(s) on a ‘guys tour’ that includes places like the rifle range and airport and industrial parks.  Jo Ann takes the ladies on a ‘gals tour’ that involves more genteel locales like theaters, shops, and art centers.  And then we all go out to eat again.

Another wonderful visit to Nevada County’s winter wonderland.  Now I’m going outside to hug my generator and talk to it quietly about the next storm that is on its way.