Last night the lights went off in our farmhouse. I checked neighbor's lights and they were still on. I called the "0" number given by Rosebud Electric. The ND woman who answers lots of Electric Coop lines at night said to check the breakers. I did that and none of them were tripped. Then she told me to see if any numbers showed on the digital electric meter. Found a flashlight and checked. None showed. She said a man and truck could be there soon. I said the world won't end if he does not get here until Sunday morning. This morning I mowed a path to the meter pole and around 9AM the guy and his truck showed up. Sorry I did not get his name. He hollered at me and pointed into the grass near the pole and said, "There is the problem."
He pointed to a dead raccoon. The coon had climbed the pole and electrocuted itself and also burned out the fuse. The lineman got out a long fiberglass pole and replaced the burned out fuse. Power is back on. He told me that sometimes these coons will kill power on the whole line for multiple users. Last night it did not. He said there are more raccoons in south Tripp County, but they mostly climb cottonwood trees apparently. Here on the north end, fewer trees so they climb REA poles...he guessed mostly like humans climging mountains...because they are there. This is apparently a common problem which I had not heard about. Animals climbing power poles cause a lot of trouble. My son said a squirrel got up a pole in Rapid City and shut off the power in a six-block area a year or so ago. Maybe now the cat food will be ignored again. Another too interesting experience to make the night and day difficult.
*** Stay tuned even if interaction between nature and electrons is not your interest--- Doug Wiken
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