Power restored!

Ahem.

When I tried to write yesterday, I thought all the bugs had been worked out.

Maybe they had, but not the “bear.”

To begin again: Dimmis had come up with a planl to generate more power.

Dimmis works in our bicycle factory. He’s a painter there. He does a very nice job.

Dimmis also helps out with the bicycle testing.

The way we test is for elves to pick out bikes at random after they are built, and to ride them around on a track.

One day, Dimmis wondered if there might be some way to harness all the energy that’s expended on riding the bikes.

Then he came up with a plan.

Instead of going around the track, the bikes could be ridden on a treadmill. The treadmill would be attached to a generator, and would create power.

Dimmis and his friends Elmoey, Larrie and Kerlee, actually built a small treadmill in their spare time, and had tested it.

It had worked fine.

If at that point they had told one of the research elves what they were doing and had tested their system further, all would have been well.

But they decided to surprise us on Saturday.

They had run a line from their generator directly into the main power supply.

Then they rigged some lights on the village square that read WE HAVE THE POWER.

While many of us were outside for quagnog and other games, they began riding their bikes. Then Dimmis flipped the switch to transfer it all to the main power source.

Dimmis is a fine painter and a good bike rider.

He is no electrician.

He should have guessed that there might be a problem when the sparks began to fly out of their generator, or the lights in the buildings began to flicker.

He just thought that they needed to peddle harder. So they did.

That’s when the generator blew up, and all the main circuits blew.

Luckily, they were not hurt – though Larrie’s hair was left in curls and Kerlee lost all his hair! – but we had to replace many of our power lines and repair many of the circuits.

We had no power all day Saturday – except from a few small emergency generators so we could see to work, and to keep the freezers operating so the ice cream and the popsicles wouldn’t melt.

Fortunately, all the buildings have fire places, so we were able to keep warm and cook food.

We also used candles for light. I forgot the feeling of sitting in room with just a crackling fire, and going up to bed by candle light.

By Sunday, we were able to restore all the power.

That lasted about one minute.

But when the power had first gone out, the North Polar Bear had been listening to some music. When the music stopped, he thought it was his cd player or a circuit breaker in his house, so he had turned on a few other things to see if there was any power.

By the time he was done checking, he had turned on every electrical device in his house, in the laundry where he worked, and in the pretzel factory that he likes to visit.

Everything at full power.

And he forgot to turn them all off.

So when the power came back on, everything he had left on caused a power surge that blew out parts of the system again!

We had to shut everything down once more.

Today, everything is fine. We think.

Ah well, two good things came out of this.

The dwarves are very good when it comes to technical matters, and they were a great help in repairing the electrical system. I think even some of the reluctant elves appreciated that.

And both nights, the gnomes put on concerts to help pass the time and keep spirits up.

They did a fine job, and I think their efforts were appreciated as well.

Truth be told, I actually enjoyed the powerless evenings. It was like the old days, with people gathered around the fires and doing things by candlelight.

That brought back many happy memories.

Now I’d better file this, just in case.

You never know when the bear is…







Just kidding.