With the recent disaster of Sandy hitting the East Coast, I am sure it will be a wake up call for many to be more prepared. I am sure many, many people were not prepared for anything like this at all. Aside from loseing your entire house, God forbid, are you prepared to have to hunker down in your home for several weeks in the event of such a disaster? Suppose food supplies ran out like gasoline has in our area? No running water for an extended period of time? No more gas? I live on Long Island and work in NYC and I can see first hand how people have reacted to this gas shortage...but what if it came to a stop? What if the supermarkets shelves were all empty? I was fortunate enough to have my water running, but had no power for almost 8 days...no heat, no hot water..no electric. I am no serious prepper, but I have always tried to do my best to be prepared to take care of myself, my family and my home in the event of a disaster. I have food that will get my family of 5 through at least 2 months. Water I keep stocked also, and I am fortunate enough to live several blocks from a lake in a real emergency. I have water filters. I have a generator that I use to keep my fridge cold and charge my cell phones..and thats all. I would not power up tv and lights and waste precious gas as many have done. I have a small windup and solar powered emergency radio. I have a solar charger for small electronics and cell phones. I have a solar shower that I actually tested out during the last week. I have all of my backpacking and camping gear which came in handy. Plenty of spare batteries to last a few months with lanterns and flash lights. I have over 50 glow sticks to supplement some lights and not have to waste batteries on lanterns at night. Plenty of first aid supplies and 3 months supply of any medications. Paper products such as plates, cups and plastic utensils. I am lucky to have a fire place and plenty of wood to keep my house cozy on the cold nights. I have 20 gallons of gasoline stored for emergencies like this and both my cars i filled up a few days before the hurricane hit. I also have my rifles and shotguns, plenty of spare clips and ammo to go with them. I carry my daypack to and from work every day with all supplies in the event I needed to walk the 60 miles from the city to my house to get home for my family. I was stuck in the city on 9-11 and 3 days during the blackout, thats when I decided to be more prepared. There are other things also, but these were just some main things off the top of my head I could think of right now.
After getting by 8 days with no power and seeing the devestation and the gas lines, I wonder how many people were not even the slightest bit prepared for this. I also have decided there are plenty more things I need to do to get myself more prepared in the future. For isntance, I will have a total of 40 gallons of gasoline stored. I will be buying myself a chainsaw because with all the trees that fell, I missed out on lots of firewood. I need a wagon just in case I need to transport water from that lake to my home..or wait on a long gas line with my cans instead of useing my car and burning fuel. I would like to set up in my yard a rain water collection system. More food of course, possibly another 2 or 3 months supply. These are just a few of the things I have made a mental note of over these 8 days.
Well, as not to make this too long a post because i can go on and on about being prepared..are you prepared at all? I am not talking about doomsday senerio, but how prepared are you if something happened for an extended period of time and all things came to a halt?
survived 7 days wo power several years ago. What I didn't count on by being so prepared we had to take care of everybody else in the neighborhood. So you might want to factor that in. We had the generator, gas etc and we ended uphaving everybody over for sleepovers, moving the generator house to house to keep the homes warm etc. It wasn't a big deal but I guess it could have been.
haha..true. I didnt tell you where it is..other then my day pack that I carry. I just figure if more people were prepared, say in your neighborhood, then it would be less of a hassel for those that are preapred. Its kind of important to be on the same page.
Yes. I can survive and take care of my family without running water or electricity in freezing temps and could do so for several weeks. Strangely, it would be easier if I was not at home. I'd rather go stay near a source of running water up in the mountains. Mind you, my wife and her lack of shower would not be happy...but we'd live.
-------------- If I'm going to be lost, in the woods is where I want to be...
I was prepared for quite a long outage. It ended a few hours ago, about six hour short of 11 days. It was our third outage of a week or more in the last 15 months.
One big challenge for generator users is storing as much fuel on-site as most of my neighbors are eating (~6 gallons per day=66 gallons for that duration). We didn't use a generator. We lit with candles, heated (to some extent) with a small propane heater, and saved some refrigerator contents outside in a cooler.
Fuel would be an even bigger problem if I had been able to go to work throughout, which at 70 miles/day is a typical commute around here.
However, as I noted on another thread, water for flushing was the biggest issue we had in all those outages (all the municipal supplies dry up here when power is out). It's easy to set aside a big bunch of water for drinking. Washing is a little more, but not a lot. Even if you're really conservative, it's hard to get below 2 gal/person/day for flushing, and you can almost double that by skimping on the first try.
I think I managed in Wilma @ 4 gallons of gas a day for the generator. But I had a very medically needy son. Up here a lot have big lp tanks running their generators. So nice. I don't yet. Glad to here big load ya got your power back.
generator blah blah blah, solar shower blah blah blah ammo blah blah blab
You forgot the most important aspect. DID YOU RUN OUT OF BEER?
In Wilma, Palm Beach Co shut down all liquor sales. After a week, I figured they should have been handing it out for free. Everybody went 3 miles south to Broward co. and stocked up. Just what you need in a crises. A bunch of pissed off, detoxing crazy people.
I have plenty of Jack and Grand Marnier in stock..plus about 30 bottles of other miscellaneous liquor that I do not really drink, but keep on hand for parties and guests...barter anyone?? My neighbor happens to have a full bar with 2 kegs on tap..and it was ice cold..hehehehe.
One of our best Thanksgiving celebrations of all time was during a 4 day power outage in the mid 80's. Cooked on the wood heating stove which is big and our only source of heat except the sun and a Komada pot, windmill for water and a library of several thousand books for entertainment.
We had a total of 4 families in the house, with 8 children and 2 elderly. Had great food and great fun, got tiresome hauling water for the toilets, but the girls refused to pee out in the shelter belt.
We also have a backup supply of 30 pounds of wheat, 25 pounds of pinto beans and 25 pounds of rice. Lots of meat in the freezer, but much would be wasted.
Could shoot an antelope or deer if need be, at least for a while. We can live almost as well as they did 150 years ago, until invaded
Up here a lot have big lp tanks running their generators. So nice. I don't yet. Glad to here big load ya got your power back.
Thanks! I think LP-fueled generators are the way to go. The LP supply chain was more robust than gasoline or heating oil, at least in this storm, and it's not as much of a problem to have a big LP tank than it is it have a big gasoline tank.
Up here a lot have big lp tanks running their generators. So nice. I don't yet. Glad to here big load ya got your power back.
Thanks! I think LP-fueled generators are the way to go. The LP supply chain was more robust than gasoline or heating oil, at least in this storm, and it's not as much of a problem to have a big LP tank than it is it have a big gasoline tank.
Yea I am going to convert mine to lp. It's always scary driving with that much gas in the back of my truck. I have gas water heater and stove so it's not too bad when the power is out.
someone mentioned to me about some sort of converter kit for a generator so you have the option to run it on propane, gas or gasoline. I think its costs about $150. I may look into that, as I have a few 20 lb propane tanks for my bbg that I would be able to use. I was told a 20 lb propane tank is equal to approx 5 or 6 gallons of gasoline in the generator. Mind you, I only ran the generator about 4 or 5 hours a day to conserve fuel..and its all I really needed. Other people were running their gennys all day and night...that ended after 4 days of no power and gas, as the obviously ran out of gas..
someone mentioned to me about some sort of converter kit for a generator so you have the option to run it on propane, gas or gasoline. I think its costs about $150.
I don't know how much it costs, but one of my buddies did that. I wouldn't want to keep it going from the little tanks, though. I'd get a big tank and get it filled from a truck. Mrs. big_load was already complaining about my stockpile.
I should also mention my favorite addition that finally arrived in time for my last night of darkness. It would have made a big difference if I had it last week, but it took a hurricane to get spending authorization.
someone mentioned to me about some sort of converter kit for a generator so you have the option to run it on propane, gas or gasoline. I think its costs about $150. I may look into that, as I have a few 20 lb propane tanks for my bbg that I would be able to use. I was told a 20 lb propane tank is equal to approx 5 or 6 gallons of gasoline in the generator. Mind you, I only ran the generator about 4 or 5 hours a day to conserve fuel..and its all I really needed. Other people were running their gennys all day and night...that ended after 4 days of no power and gas, as the obviously ran out of gas..
I'll look into that. We have a big lp tank And it's easy to have another delivered and filled. So conveinent. I have the dedicated plug/switch to the house already.
Yes, Big_load...that would be the way to go..even a 200 lb tank would be suffice. I dig the lamp..I have a hurricane lantern, I think its a Dietz? It lights up entire room, but lets off a little smoke and kerosen smell, so I hardly used it. That one you got looks nice. How did it work? What is it called?
Badknees..I think its a good idea. Ex since you have the dedicated hook up and tank already. I am gonna ask him tomorrow what its called and I'll post back and let you know.
I dig the lamp..I have a hurricane lantern, I think its a Dietz? It lights up entire room, but lets off a little smoke and kerosen smell, so I hardly used it. That one you got looks nice. How did it work? What is it called?
It's from the Aladdin Mantle Lamp Co., and if you use the fancier fuel it doesn't make any smoke or smell. It gets 10-12 hours on a quart of fuel. I like it a lot so far. I'm mainly worried about storing it without breaking the mantle or drying out the wick.
Aladdin sells stuff that's clear and practically odorless even when you spill it all over where you shouldn't have been pouring it in the first place. It's about $12/gallon, although you can get it cheaper in a little more quantity.
Yes, Big_load...that would be the way to go..even a 200 lb tank would be suffice. I dig the lamp..I have a hurricane lantern, I think its a Dietz? It lights up entire room, but lets off a little smoke and kerosen smell, so I hardly used it. That one you got looks nice. How did it work? What is it called?
Badknees..I think its a good idea. Ex since you have the dedicated hook up and tank already. I am gonna ask him tomorrow what its called and I'll post back and let you know.
Since we are more likely to be hit with an earthquake--no warning--I mostly worry it would be one of those times when we've let the gas tank hit empty. Then we'd be well and truly stuck until some stations reopened.
Otherwise, we're good for upwards of a week for food. Probably more like 4-5 days for water.
-------------- Bits of writerly thoughts and random short fiction found at The Ninja Librarian Blog
Good to go, not comfortably and I just do not want to, thank you.
-------------- It never hurts to do good – Eek the Cat
The quest for adventure is a never ending pursuit, an all consuming way to live life, it is a deep feeling that will never go away, embrace that feeling and have fun with your adventures.
City Dog – 70+ pounds, a good 20 to 40 pounds of meat, some good eating
Sammy the bullet – 8 pounds, a good 2 maybe 4 pounds of tender meat, some good eating there.
Neighborhood Kids – Some nice plump ones running around, a little sautéing, some good eating.
If all else fails, City Woman, 102 pounds, a good 30 to 50+ pounds of good meat, again some good eating.
Just some sweet and tasty munchies all around me. Yup, got it covered.
-------------- It never hurts to do good – Eek the Cat
The quest for adventure is a never ending pursuit, an all consuming way to live life, it is a deep feeling that will never go away, embrace that feeling and have fun with your adventures.
Survival Skills 101 • Eat Better
