Seems that most here are home when the power goes out & are able to start weaning the load?

I've not found that to be the case here. Seems we are sometimes not home when the power goes out. Then what?

Re. the air compressor....we have a 7 hp compressor @ the farm that's on the same service as the standby generator. However, I wired a relay into the box for the compressor hookup. When power "blips", compressor disconnects from service. Generator doesn't have to deal with it. I didn't want generator to have to start compressor. If it's absolutely necessary to have air with a power outage, we have ICE compressors we can connect to the air line. Downside is we have to remember to reset relay after line power comes back on.