Nestled in-between drilling a hole in the stone facade of the house and running the wires inside is the power company coming to run the underground line from the transformer at the pole to the board that Brad built. I didn’t get to see any of this first hand as I was at work and Brad was able to take off to be present.
If you ever watched Green Acres you’d remember Eddie Albert’s character dragging out his soap box and giving a patriotic speech, out of nowhere a fife started playing. When OEC, the power company, arrived Brad expected to hear the theme of Green Acres to start playing. Don’t get me wrong, OEC is great. Brad and I have both dealt with the big corporate power company our entire lives. OEC is a much smaller cooperative. In our first dealings with them we couldn’t believe the difference. OEC has been wonderful to work with and so personable; something that you just get used to not having with big corporate.
The day started as three guys showed up just before 8am. Cue the music. Thing is all three arrived in their own trucks.
First task – boring a hole under the road. The machine hammered inch by inch a 4 inch diameter hole under the road.
Second task – running the wire from the transformer to the panel. The crew needed to pick up the really big spool of wire. Music. Problem – the crane on the truck decided not to work. So everyone stood around waiting for the company mechanic. Cue the music again – the mechanic arrived in an electric car.
Bad news – the crane couldn’t be fixed without going into the shop. Good news – another truck was on its way. Truck number 4 arrived – to lift the great big spool they sent the truck that normally lifts poles to install them. So after waiting around about an hour everything was back on track.
Once they pulled the line through the hole under the road it was time to bring it over. The machine put a slice in the ground, inserted the wire, and re-covered the slit all in one smooth motion.
It was definitely time to go. The overhead wire at the transformer was fried. 
Time for to make the magic happen. Music again. It was way back in spring when we filled out the paperwork to go underground and to increase from 100amps to 320amps – now in October the 320amp meters were out of stock. (Somebody didn’t plan ahead.) Now what?
The simplest thing was to pull our existing meter from the dilapidated doghouse and put it in the meter pedestal on the board Brad built. When the right meter came in, they would come out and swap it. The crew disconnected the existing power. With all the hiccups of the day, there was success and the power is now underground with the overhead lines abandoned.
In case you’re wondering about the title – Can you count to 7? – on Green Acres all the appliances had a rating, Oliver and Lisa couldn’t turn on more than a total of 7 without blowing the generator.
Lannon on the Hill 