Hundreds of Midwestern Power customers and two squirrels were very unlucky one day last fall.
Apparently a squirrel came into contact with an overhead transformer and knocked out service to 177 customers. Power was restored in just under an hour, but naturally the squirrel lost it’s life. The remains were found by repair crews.
Just 40 miles away in Ironwood, Mich, another squirrel got into a substation and caused a temporary power outage that affected 1400 customers.
The power company is now thinking about what kind of steps it can take to keep curious animals away from the lines as they, along with weather, are one of the leading causes of power outages.
“We kind of liken it to anyone who’s had a bird feeder and tried to keep the squirrels out,” said the power company spokesperson. “They find a way.”
Good luck!
We’ve had some bad weather here in Toronto recently, but luckily it hasn’t been bad enough to do this!
Can you imagine being the owner of this van?
It would probably take a week to get it free of the ice! How would you get it off anyway? Pots of warm water? A fire thrower? Any other ideas?
Wordless Wednesday
I’m trying to figure out just what these penguins might thinking as they look down at the little stuffed penguin? To me they’re either saying ” I don’t know who he is? Do you?” or maybe as I suggested in the title “Who know’s CPR - do you know CPR? I don’t, uh uh”.
What do you think they are saying to each other?
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Odd Sport Cancelled:
The 30-year-old traditional festival of eel-“bowling” in the fishing village of Lyme Regis, England, was canceled in July after complaints from an animal rights activist that it was disrespectful to eels.In the ritual, teams of anglers stand on platforms and swing a giant (but dead) conger eel, attached to the ceiling, to see who will be the last person standing.
Said a spokesman for the charitable event, which raises money for lifeboat crews, “But it’s a dead conger, for Pete’s sake. I shouldn’t think the conger could care one way or another.”
How on earth do the English think up these crazy “Sports”?
Creating a new crime to do the time:
Leon Howard Matter was arrested in Sandusky, Ohio, in August for sending a letter containing “anthrax” (though it turned out to be harmless powder) to the local FBI office.
He told agents the reason he did it was because he was facing earlier child pornography charges and didn’t want to go to prison for that because he’d get beaten up. Threatening the FBI, he reasoned, has a better cachet.
