Just came off 48 hours of "no power" after a vicious windstorm. This is at my parents' rural home. Big tree took out the 15KV feeder line and ripped out the anchors and the top right off the transformer. They were out of town, so I was on call. Saturday night.

The big worry was three big freezers and a fridge full of meat and other good food. I knew the freezers would hold for 12 hours for sure, probably up to 24, but I wanted to stay on the safe side.

It was well past dark dark by the time I got my place set up and went over (my power was off too, but only 11 hours luckily.) High voltage wires on the ground got my attention; probably dead, but had to stay well clear of the metal fence they were lying on.

Starting an unfamiliar genset past midnight, when tired and groggy, is a hassle. Found gas, double-checked it wasn't diesel or 2-cycle mix (healthy paranoia), double-checked the genset did in fact use gasoline, double-checked oil, double-checked for any fuel spills, made sure two extinguishers were within reach.

Luckily the transfer (isolation) switch had just been wired in with a cable and compatible 220VAC plug; I was expecting to have to run 12 gauge extension cords right to the freezers and plug them in directly. I still opened the case to confirm the wiring looked right. Again, healthy paranoia in an unfamiliar setup.

Moved the transfer switch to off, plugged in the cable and fired up the genset, a big worksite DeWalt. Away she went. Flipped the transfer switch and she went from idle to full roar.

Power in the house - now we're in business. Kept a close eye on the generator a while, then made sure all the freezers were running. Called in the outage to the wires provider - no surprise, they were swamped.

Now I was on an 8-hour schedule - drive over, run genset for a couple of hours, secure everything and leave. Had to reposition the genset the next night when rain started splattering down. Should have thought of that beforehand. Found some planks for ramps, and rolled it under an overhang with some rain and wind cover, but still far enough from the house for fire/carbon monoxide safety.

Crew showed up this morning (Monday) to fix the wiring. Power on my mid-afternoon. Freezers survived - nothing lost. Parents showed up an hour after the mains came back on.

Other random thoughts and learnings FWIW:
- Some corded telephones have an internal rechargeable battery that runs the keypad. This will konk out after a day.
- The information by the phone is vital when friends/family are helping out. I.e., legal land location, first call numbers for utilities, stuff nobody else knows off the top of their head.
- Thou shalt not forget thine headlamp at home (idiot).
- Thou shalt wear shoes inside a darkened house.
- Know how to turn off (disable) the alarm system; they freak out when the internal battery runs down.
- CO detectors will cuss at you after 24 hours off line power. I just yanked out the batteries. If I'd have been sleeping over, I would have kept one in operation just in case.

All is well, but I'm beat. My bed is calling me.