In the Northeast, an invasive species called the Emerald Ash Borer has killed virtually every Ash tree. This year, it was clear in the spring that hundreds of thousands of Ash trees were dead. This fall, the root systems as well as the major limbs began rotting, and with each passing storm, the trees or major parts of the trees would come crashing down, taking power and communications lines down with them.

In November, there were three "wires down/tree in road" fire company calls in front of my house alone (I know, because I called 911 to dispatch myself...)

Now multiply that by the thousands of ash trees up and down my road and elsewhere, and we're getting to 3rd world levels of power and telecom infrastructure every time there's a windy storm that blows through. The utility crews are great people, there's not enough of them though, and it takes anywhere from 12 to 72 hours to get things back up and running.

At least we're getting good use of that generator I bought and we're testing the upper limits of "unlimited" data from AT&T.