How do we handle issues back home while we’re out cruising. The answer is that sometimes we have to ask others to do it for us. Case in point…
A snow and ice storm hit NH January 22-23. It took down trees and power all over our area. A neighbor walking their dog on the 23rd noticed that a limb from the neighbor’s tree behind us had fallen onto our laundry lines. They told another neighbor with whom I’m friends, Cyndie, who texted a picture to me and my sister (who also texted me, just in case). We got our neighbors, the Bracketts, to check to see if it also took down the power line to our house. It had. No power. Troy alerted Eversourse and started a ticket for us.
Our neighbors the Bracketts and the Berry/Arcouettes are kind enough to keep tabs on our house while we’re cruising. They drive our cars occasionally, walk through the house, plow our driveway, mow our lawn, tend our plants, make sure our heating system is working (we have sensors, but when the power goes out, so do the sensors). In this instance, my cousin Bob also helped out. He and Troy coordinated their efforts, keeping tabs on Eversource’s progress, preparing to rescue some of our venison from the deep freezer, and my cousin plugged our heating system into his truck to keep the temperature up enough to prevent the pipes from freezing. Both kept us informed along the way. My sister stopped by to check on things too and to send additional pictures of the downed tree limb and line, and she was on standby with an additional house key should it have been necessary.
Eversource did reach us by phone on the 24th to ask for details about the downed limb. Thanks to the pictures various people had sent us, and the information we got from Troy and Bob, we were able to give them a pretty specific description of the issue. Thank goodness we are able to keep our phone number while traveling (and we don’t even pay exorbitant fees to use it, which I may explain in another post someday).
The power was back on just after noon on the 25th. The deep freezer stayed frozen, so nobody had to rescue our venison. The driveway was plowed. The pipes didn’t freeze. Many part-time cruisers like us hire property managers in their absence. We are very fortunate to live in the neighborhood we do where neighbors watch out for each other, and we are fortunate to have family who do the same. I know some of them will read this, so thank you, thank you, thank you! We owe you all a debt of gratitude and we will find a way to repay you in kind!
That’s all for now. Until next time,
Stay safe and take care of each other!
Life on Lady 