[StiffLegged]

Very true, and you’d be wanting some after viewing the blast shadow of the guy who blundered with the high-voltage switch. Changing his mind halfway through pulling the lever he tried to return it to “OFF” and the flash-over killed him. His outline on the wall behind was ultimately varnished to preserve the warning to other workers. Most effective health & safety poster ever displayed.

[Racer X 69]

Indeed. Years ago a man who built and maintained high-voltage lines and systems in Interesting Places Abroad told me there were no accidents in his work. Only fatalities. Comes of working with 33, 66 or 100 thousand volts…

The BPA (Bonneville Power Administration) is the regional power authority that operates the hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and other rivers here. The transmission lines they send the power out on carry 250,000 volts.

The Snohomish County Public Utility District (the utility I worked at for 30 years which provides the electric service in Snohomish County) has a transmission system that carries power at 115,000 volts from several BPA substations through a network of their own substations. From the PUD substations the power is sent out through a distribution system (the wires that run along the roadsides) at 12,500 volts.

During the 30 years I worked at the electric utility there were a few of fatalities.

One was a couple of teenagers who ignored the warning signs and climbed the fence into a substation. Their parents sued and were awarded a few million dollars.

A lineman was working in an underground distribution vault, and his legs contacted two of the three 12,500 volt bushings on a transformer. It didn’t kill him outright. He died a few months later.

Another fatal accident wasn’t an electrocution. We were having a wind storm, and a 150 foot tree had fallen against a transmission line but didn’t break the wires. It was dark, windy and raining, around 2 in the morning. One of the tree trimming crews were trying to remove the tree without causing more damage. The power had been shut off the the power lines. One of the arborists put on his climbing gear, and went up an adjacent tree, to cut the leaning tree in sections. He cut his climbing rope and fell nearly 150 feet. He left a wife and two children behind.

There was a substation worker who was cleaning bushings on the top of an electric switchgear building in a substation. He didn’t notice his leg touching one bushing, and when he touched the one of other bushings (phase to phase at 12,500 volts each phase) the arc blew him off the roof of the switchgear. He survived but spent years healing from the burns where the current cooked the path it took inside his body.

A warehouseman died when he failed to follow safety protocols and fell from a mezzanine in the warehouse.

A groundman lost a finger when the leather glove he was wearing got caught in a rope. It pulled the glove off of his hand, taking the wedding ring which skinned the finger.



I knew all of these people except the teenagers.

[robtcorl]

We had a little wind storm today. The power went out just a little over three hours ago. I went out to assess the situation.

Strong storms were predicted for us yesterday evening, thankfully we missed the worst of them.
Not so a few miles south where a tornado hit a small town pretty hard. No fatalities being reported.

[StiffLegged]

Skimmed through some of the posts I missed and did not see the mention of bacon. I'm sure I must have overlooked it.

We were rather busy replacing the garage roof at the weekend, so I’m afraid there was no time to photograph the bacon and egg banjos eaten at Saturday lunch.

But we enjoyed them!

[savoche]

Honey is amazing stuff. If stored in a cool and dry place it will keep for many, many years. Truth be told, the pails are likely to degrade before the honey!

I've read that earthen jars filled with it were found in the Egyptian pyramids, and was found to be quite tasty once returned to a liquid state.

Yes, honey keeps forever (or at least a few thousand years, which should be enough for most of us) under the right conditions. It's acidic from being half digested (it's bee puke, after all), it is anti-bacterial, and it has a high sugar content. As long as it's kept away from moisture it will not go bad.

An interesting read: Science Monday: Why Does Honey Last (Literally) Forever? | by Sam Westreich, PhD | The Startup | Medium

[savoche]

Condensed milk... one of the main ingredients of tablet - a Scottish sweet sort of like fudge. Very tasty stuff - though there's a bit of technique involved in making it.

What is the full ingredient list? One tin of sweetened condensed milk, one kilogram of sugar, and 1/4 lb of butter.

Pretty healthy if you ask me

I don't know... I'm not sure I like this low carb, low fat trend...

[savoche]

I use one of the dark themes/skins.

I have searched everywhere and can't find it.

Like this?

[savoche]

The livE hociR will not be denied.

[Racer X 69]

Like this?

Yes.

But it only shows liked posts, in descending order from most recent.

It doesn’t sort them by most liked.

[Racer X 69]

Strong storms were predicted for us yesterday evening, thankfully we missed the worst of them.
Not so a few miles south where a tornado hit a small town pretty hard. No fatalities being reported.

Two people were killed near Seattle yesterday when a tree fell on their car, crushing them.

[Racer X 69]

Strong storms were predicted for us yesterday evening, thankfully we missed the worst of them.
Not so a few miles south where a tornado hit a small town pretty hard. No fatalities being reported.

Two people were killed near Seattle yesterday when a tree fell on their car, crushing them.

Our power was out about twelve hours yesterday. It came back on just before I got out of bed to get ready for work, so I had water for shower, and it was hot, I was able to fix breakfast and coffee, all by modern electric light.

[Parallax]

Yes.

But it only shows liked posts, in descending order from most recent.

It doesn’t sort them by most liked.

Are you clicking Recently Liked or Most Liked? Most Liked should sort them from most liked at the top in descending order without regard to date.

[Racer X 69]

Are you clicking Recently Liked or Most Liked? Most Liked should sort them from most liked at the top in descending order without regard to date.

I’ll have to take a look when I get home and can access the forum on a proper computer.

Don’t recall the choices in the drop down.

[normhead]

We had a little wind storm today. The power went out just a little over three hours ago. I went out to assess the situation.

A couple of miles from the house, going towards town, a cottonwood tree had fallen through the main circuit from the substation, the circuit that serves the entire river valley we live in.

The number of customers involved, and the fact that the tree is blocking the only road that serves the valley, means the power utility should have it fixed soon.

What escapes me is the idiots who think it is OK to move a tree laying across power lines. Having worked for the utility that serves our power for 30 years, I know better.

The lines that the tree fell across is a three phase 12,500 volt circuit. I could see that only one wire was broken, the other two phases, the ground, and the telephone and cable TV underbuild were still connected.

The linemen have a saying.

“If it isn’t grounded, it isn’t dead.”

These well meaning morons have no clue, and wouldn’t know a hot phase from a dead one.

Still, a couple of them managed to move the tree off the road.

Without getting killed.

Amazing.

I've done the same. There only 6 houses on our line. Waiting for the repair crews to arrive is silly. Mind you, our lines are much lower voltage. However I usually just wait. A repair crew has to reset a breaker before the power is on again anyway. We probably spend 48 hours year without power.

[Racer X 69]

Waiting for the repair crews to arrive is silly. Mind you, our lines are much lower voltage.

Even the voltage in the outlets inside your house can kill, given the right circumstances.

I leave the lineman’s work for the linemen. They get paid very well to take the risks.