I know its beautiful summer with nice, green things growing, warm temps, everyody getting a tan...but the seasons are gonna change...I want to hear what folks did or plan to do for a ice storm...when one looses the elec for  a couple weeks....those with generators are in good shape, if you can afford the fuel to keep them running....if you can find a station that is able to pump fuel.....I'm not talking about one city..I'm talking about several counties all without elec...what did you do when it happened....

its actually kinda  a mini test for the "big one"...the "big one" when food is scarce, fuel is out of sight, etc etc...

one usually has alot of warning for a ice storm that's coming, from the weather forecasters and such...but you would be surprized how many people totally ignore it...

we had one 17 years ago, but I was working at the time, and work had elec, so it was only at home, that thngs were right miserable..but this last one a couple years ago...not working...so this is what I did..I do not have a generator, can't see having one to use every 15 years, and can't afford it anyhow...and I live in the country..

went to Library, got lots of books to read...got 5 gal of kerosene, as I have 2 small kerosene heaters,  filled vehicles with gas, boiled up alot of eggs, to be able to make sandwiches....had a small portable radio that only took 2 batteries...Finally found my Coleman portable lantern and cleaned that off, (which I don't even know how to use, I've never been camping) bundled up the pipes in the well house, shut off the elec water heater

it started with rain, so I collected all the water I could, in every pail I had....for flushing tolet..yes, I thought about filling the bathtub with water for toilet flushing, but decided aganst it....

I have a outside wood stove, but it needs elec to turn that lil fan to push the heat in...so that was out of the question, once the elec was gone....but I did try to keep a small fire going in it, so at least I would have warmth coming out of that heat vent, instead of cold air....

put my frozen food in buckets and put them on the back porch a few hours after the refridgerator quit...as the temperture stayed below freezing forthe whole 8 days I was out of elec...food that neated to be cold, but not frozen...put inside the sliding glass door and covered them with foam

I slept in my clothes, on a piece of foam on the carpeted living room floor..with one dog on each side of me in   the living room, where the dogs are not even allowed normally..

I would listen to my lil radio every half an hour or so...to find out what progress the line guys were making...now remember these guys don't have elec at home either...eventually this store or that store had elec...and you could go there, but alot of good it did....everything I needed (not food) is gone...generators are non existant...even if I did want to buy one....

during the day, I would read, or write letters...I moved the table over by the window, so I would have more light to read or write by..I hated it when 5:30 pm came, cause then I would have to use a candle...but yes, I saved all the left over of used candles to try and make another candle....just an experiment, but it worked...

after I borrowed out the one kerosene heater I had to close off half of the house, so I was reasonable warm,  and because my floor is a slab, I didn't have to worry about any pipes freezing...I was some concerned about the wellhouse, so I put a jug of warm water next to the pipe, but after checking a time or two, and that water was not frozen, I didn't worry about that anymore....I could warm water on the kerosene heater...and I also had soup, even fried a egg on it one day...

or I would be out in the woods, taking pictures of the trees bend to the ground or broken off....(only after did I realize how really dumb that was)

you dont know what silence is until you stand  outside the house in the dark, and hear this giant "crack" as a tree comes crashing down, somewhere in the woods....its a very spooky sound....and I remember asking myself...what did the pioneers do?????  they musta been alot tuffer then me....

 then after 8 days, I would have elec for 15 min or so,then it would be gone...it came on in fits and starts this one day....and then was gone....the following day, more elec for several hours, so I'm sitting at the puter, at about 8 at night. and its gone....and there I sit....I don't have a flashlight near me..you shoulda seen me struggle to try and find a candle and match in the kitchen, and wind up in the bathroom instead....

 after that I didn't trust it...I always had at least a lighter with me when it got dark...and I slept on the floor for a couple more nights, just to make sure it was on..

 my mistakes.....I didn't get enough kerosene, batteries or candles....I did have some of those press lights, bought years ago,,,and they were very helpful and did you know that a white candle puts out more light then a colored one???  I didn't know that.....

yes, it was a eye opener....I am addicted to computer, and the t.v. puts me to sleep at night...well,I had none of those...and I found out I could do without them just fine...as long as you have enuff clothes to keep warm, water to drink and food...you do just fine....the rest of it is just fluff.....I had running water, because I used the pails of water I collected to flush my toilet, so as long as there was pressure in the pressure tank, I had running water...it wasn't hot, but it was clean enuff to drink, and wash my hands types of thing....the phone went out right at the start, and I didn't have a cellphone...well, the phone came back on a little later, but I had just  assumed it still wasn't working....

alot of folk dashed out and got generators...and then found out, they didn't have enuff money left to buy fuel for it....

did I get back the kerosene heater that Ioaned out?  Yes, I did...and it was clean and full of fuel...but I don't know what they did to it, because it no longer works...

 and I'm curious what others did...and Iknow what I am going todo....

I'm have  cut a hole in the side of the house....and it is lined and ready for a stove pipe....I need to find a barrel stove, for inside and have it ready....so the next time that happens...I will have heat inside the house....that's been my usual heat anyway thru the years...but I reallylike my outside woodstove...all the mess outside, but for an emergency, I will gladly put up with a mess for abit....

 hmmm, probably should of waited to post this closer to fall....oh well.........

ebunni, we've talked about this on and off before, so I bumped up an old thread for you to read thru.  It's over in the General forum and is about preparing for disasters.  See what you think and add your own advice and comments...Liz

Well, living in Southern Louisiana we don't have to worry about ice storms but we do have hurricanes in the summer. For Rita (the hurricane that hit us right after Katrina) we were out of power for a little over 2 weeks. And I know those of you up north may disagree but I think going without AC in the humid Louisiana summer is worse than the cold. At least the cold you can bundle up and have a fire going but with the heat there is no escape (except Walmart!!! LOL). Anyways.... so I think anyone on this board, regardless of location, has to think about these things. We have to have an idea of what we would do in "what if" situations, have an emergency plan and always have supplies on hand.

My biggest preparations ahead of time is to always (throughout the year) have a good supply of canned goods. I shop sales and stock up so this is just normal for me. I am a candle freak LOL so I usually have enough lying around the house to get us by for a while BUT if it's summer you don't want the added heat so I try to avoid using them. Also, we always have wind-up flashlights in the house. If you don't have any of those INVEST NOW! They are only like $10-20 at Walmart and are totally worth it. You don't have to worry about batteries and they are easy to crank. We have 2 of them and I would like to get a couple more.

Our biggest issue when the power goes out is the freezer and food going bad. We don't have a generator but our neighbor/friend does. For Rita he had 3 houses runnig off his generator trying to keep all of our food from going bad! Down here people stock up the freezer a lot with deer, other game and seafood. So, if we lose the food in the freezer it's really expensive.

When we have a hurricane watch (meaning it's heading our way but don't know yet where it's going), I try to get prepared quick because if you wait till the last minute the stores are wiped out. I always get a few of those small propane bottles for my Coleman stove (which is such a blessing when the power goes out). I also get cash out the ATM and keep it in the house. I fill the bathtup up with water and we fill up every bottle, jug, whatever that we have with water. We fill up the cars with gas. Now that I have kids (one now and one on the way), we'd also have to make sure we are stocked up on their items.

If I was up north (or even down here I would like to have one some day) I would get one of those black iron stove things. My grandparents had one when I was growing up and they really put off some heat without using a whole lot of wood or coal. Plus, you can cook on top of them. So, if I lived up north I would definitely invest in one of those and make sure ot always have a good supply of wood cut or available on your land.

Great topic! It's something that we can all relate too no matter where we are!

God bless,

Julie

thx Liz...I really didn't know where to put it,,,at first  started to put it in general...will go and check it out..thx again...bunni

We get blizzards and power outages.

We have a generator and the house is wired for it so we can throw a switch and run the house on it.

We have gas lamps, gas stove, wood fireplace, water, and a stocked canning room by winter. If things got real bad, we have a large wood cookstove and oven in the shop.

It's kinda like camping full time.