Flower Friday. : : Grevillea

The grevillea by our kitchen window is a delight. It needs to be cut back a bit as it is covering the path by the pond, but the hummingbirds love it so I hate to cut it. The last time I cut it I developed a rash, so I'm happy to just enjoy it and let it run rampant.

The power came back on yesterday and I spent the morning dumping buckets of water and resetting various things  that don't take power shutoffs in stride and reset themselves. This includes two Bose radios, the floor heater in the bathroom, the hot tub and the irrigation system. I leave the irrigation system to John, but I do most of the other things except for the bathroom floor heater which neither one of us can figure out.

The gas fireplace has its own backup battery system which is supposed to turn on if the power goes off, but all it does is make a ticking noise, so the fireplace guy has to come fix it. He thinks it's a 'bad' controller. Shame the only way to find out that we have a 'bad' controller is when it doesn't work when we need it....

The sound of generators around the neighborhood (most of them are really loud and need to be installed outside) has been replaced by the sound of leaf blowers and chain saws as people clean up after another windstorm. I spent an hour sweeping the porch and picking oak leaves out of the grevillea, having put on my gloves and a long sleeved shirt. John has a battery powered leaf blower which is considerably quieter than the gas ones.

Heaven help us if something ever goes wrong with batteries. We are acquiring more and more things that require a backup battery if the power goes out or even to run at all....I think my own batteries need a charge as I can barely keep my eyes open long enough to write this....