I have been doing some thinking. OK, I have shamelessly stolen (borrowed) an idea from a new Facebook friend on survival. None the less, it is something we should all be thinking about. Now that winter is almost here, we need to think about the things we need and don't have, or need to improve upon in case of a major winter power outage. A few years back, we had a killer ice storm go through and we got the chance to test our abilities. One good thing is that you not only get a chance to see where your plans have succeded, but you also get to see your shortcomings. Ours was with water. We planned ahead, filled the bathtub and all the jars we could find with fresh water. But, should we have a sustained outage, we would be without water, so I discovered that lack there. No, I haven't rectified that yet (shame on me). We did very well with solar lighting, kerosene lanterns and wood heat. We raise a lot of our own food and keep a well stocked pantry, so we were good there. We were fortunate, we lost power for 27 hours. Many of our friends lost power for a week or more. I did buy a small generator that will run a freezer, so that took care of the frozen meat stores.
Now is the time to think on what we need to do in case it happens again. This is vital for you and your family and the manly thing to do, not to mention biblical. So, give me some suggestions. What do you do to be ready in case of a winter power outage?
2 comments:
We were one of those people without power for thirteen days. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that I was seven month pregnant, I would have just considered it a camping outing!
We were fortunate enough to just have put in a woodstove the year before, had a small generator that kept the freezer running (of course, we just got 1/2 a steer two weeks before!) and I filled everything I could imagine with water. But we were still lacking. There wasn't enough water for the livestock. We were lucky to have a place just a mile up the road that had city water & as soon as cut a path through the road we were able to fill up buckets there.
But what would I do differently to prepare?? If I knew ahead of time, I would bake cookies, bread & easy meals ahead of time, do all the laundry, wash all the dishes and take a nice HOT SHOWER!! I'd probably also invest in one of those small battery operated camp shower things you put in a bucket so I could wash my hair easier. It's no fun washing long hair in a bucket. I'd also buy paper plates, paper towels & cups & plastic utencils. We're out right now, so better get cracking!
Thanks for the reminder!!
Good advice, Carolyn on the paper plates and such. That was a nasty ice storm wasn't it?
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