AlleyGator said:~patches~ said:We live in an area where the power goes out quite often during storms.
Yesterday a storm blew up and I knew it was going to be a dilly. I was
planning a pot of chili for dinner 🙁
Sorry you had to go through the mess, but it sounds like you made the
best of it. After a couple of past disasters and before the y2k
scare, I became a sort of "survivalist". The main reason the power
It really wasn't all that bad since we had full tummies, entertainment,
and supplies. Funny thing was I could use my laptop if I really needed
to for music or internet but no one in their right mind would connect
with lightening in the area. We chose not to. I was ready to read a
Harry Potter - my latest interest - ebook on my PDA but thought the
company with DH was better time spent. I have to say that we are more
of the survivalist type.
Quoted message said:issue came to be number one is that my house is built over a spring.
(Kicks self in butt a thousand times). We keep a large supply of food
and several hundred gallons of water available at all times (spent 2
weeks without water - not fun). Anyway, the spring issue forced me to
commit funds that I really didn't want to let go of. I installed a
How do you store that amount of water?
Quoted message said:fairly large solar system to power auxilary water pumps, amateur radio
gear and I wired 12 volt fluorescent lighting fixtures throughout the
place. I have inverters in case the need for 110 arises (charging
batteries, etc). Besides the normal flashlights and candles and
We don't have inverters yet. DH was leary of the battery blow-up
problem and needing an extra battery shed but we have a lot of things
solar including batter chargers even for AAA, D, and C size. They sit
in the sunny windows charging up the batteries. For most lighting we use
the coleman florescent, candles and oil lanterns. I like the lanterns
myself. We have a solar powered/windup radio so we can get local radio
stations.
Quoted message said:whatnot, I felt the need to further supplement lighting. I got a
baygen windup lantern, the solar powered lighting and a number of
Krill electroluminescent lightsticks from www.kriana.com. Go for the
Standard green 180. Once your night vision is going, it will
illuminate a 30 by 15 foot room with ease and run 180 hours on 2 AA
batteries. For the heat and cooking needs - there's the fireplace,
gas grill, charcoal grill, 2 Kerosene heaters (great for heating
soups, beans etc as long as you leave the lid on to keep the kerosene
taste out). Coleman style backback stove, coffee-can chimney stove,
standalone propane burner. If all else fails, I could dig a pit and
build a plain old campfire. All I'm saying is, yeah, you're right,
Yep we don't have a fireplace but we have a coleman cookstove, gas
grill, wood, and a firepit. We have a tripod for the firepit to hang
heavy pots, a grill, and a sandwich maker. We won't starve that's for sure!
Quoted message said:cooking without power in winter is no fun - on the other hand, I hope
any disaster happens in winter because the issue of food storage
becomes a non-issue. So far it's all been in hot weather and it was a
real pain. The other point is that you'd be amazed how resourceful
That is the truth! When the power goes out in the summer is when I
worry the most. I'd hate to think of my freezers ending up with rotting
food.
Quoted message said:you become when you're forced to do so, even if you haven't planned at
all. I think most people (as long as some sort of "home base" is
still intact and not completely washed away) have sort of an inate
problem solving and survival capability. BTW, if you DO happen to do
the planning and preparing like we did, you absolutely MUST do test
runs on everything. I found some huge problems in the original setup
Yep did all that which is why we don't get too hung up on *you can't get
out of the driveway for 4 days because the snowplow hasn't cleared your
driveway* or even like yesterday. I knew I could easily put a meal on
the table and quite frankly thought most around me could too if they
used a little imagination. I don't need to cook to feed us.
Quoted message said:we had. OTOH, you can live a long time with extra clothes, a few
2-litre bottles of water and some canned green beans if that's all you
have available. The worst aspect of huge disasters like the one we
just witnessed is that no matter how much people planned, it was all
washed away and useless. You can only"do what you can do and no
more".
I thought of that too. I am prepared way more than most but if God
forbid it was suddenly washed away what would I do? Well, I think I
would turn toward intuition and get myself out of the area. With the
y2k I learned a lot about survival as to edible weeds/plants. I'd
gather whatever important items I would need for survival - matches,
candles, flashlight, solar battery charger, dried foods (I have a ton of
these), water container, and that type of stuff. A change of clothes
would be nice but not paramount. Being a gardener I might grab a few
seeds but then I would hit the road.
Quoted message said:
--
The Doc says my brain waves closely match those of a crazed ferret.
At least now I have an excuse.
