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How did you survive?? |
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Jefiner 
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Joined: March 29 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 153 |
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 Topic: How did you survive??Posted: May 07 2006 at 10:36pm |
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I would like to draw on our collective think tank here--I have lived through some pretty fearsome natural events, but the one that seemed to do the most damage was a truly wicked ice storm in upstate New York in 1991. That one taught me to chainsaw down fallen pine trees, use water from roof melt and the hot water tank, maximize my wood stove and kerosene heater, and manage an unruly four year old (and you wonder why I moved to AZ after that It looks like we have some hurricane and tornado survivors here--how did you make it through?? Whatever you contribute may truly help someone else out someday--whether it is avian flu, earthquake, or Boston hitting the World Series (just kidding!!!)
Inquiring minds want to know!
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Jefiner
Either you had no purpose Or the purpose is beyond the end you figured And is altered in fulfilment. T. S. Eliot |
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Posted: May 07 2006 at 11:45pm |
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Jefiner - I'm impressed! I wish I'd known last year what I know now. Our town was hit hard by Katrina. Things I learned: I had plenty of food but no recipes for making a decent meal from food storage. The heat and humidity was bearable in the day but unbearable when you're trying to go to sleep. A swimming pool can be a liability in everyday life, but a lifesafer when you need to flush the toilet. And, as I shared in a different post: the little "luxuries" that we are used to every day, while we may not need them for our physical survival, are invaluable for our mental survival. I may never use my solar shower or battery-powered fan, but if I'd had them when the hurricane hit, it would have put a little extra bounce in my step, if you know what I mean. |
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Karianne
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Joined: April 02 2006 Status: Offline Points: 40 |
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Posted: May 09 2006 at 12:56pm |
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Two hurricanes, one we were without power 3 days and last year without power, phone and had to boil water (but no electric to boil it) for 7 days.
The first hurricane, no generator. The second a generator and it was totally wonderful! Loud yes, but wonderful. For those who don't know it runs about 4 or 5 appliances. With a long cord it reached to our washer too. It's invaluable. Just don't run it all day like we did by mistake. That justs wastes your gas it runs on. Turn your freezer and fridge all the way up and just run it a few hours a day or long enough to keep things frozen. Leave it off at night. Buy extra gas cans as it runs on gas and you may not be able to get any once the SHTF. Best thing we ever bought! (FEMA paid for it later too much to our surprise since we were declared a disaster area). Sweet.... Oh yeah, test it first too.
Don't forget a clothesline but swing sets work for drying clothes too, lol. Just hang your clothes on hanger and hang on swing set bars. We put socks on down trees (on the limbs). Our sock tree, too funny.
A hand crank radio is nice. It runs on batteries but doesn't have to. You can crank it. It's a pain but nice in a pinch. By a pain, I mean you crank it and then a commercial comes on. You cranked for a freakin' commercial!
 . I probably wouldn't buy it if I had plenty of batteries though. Ours has a light and siren on it too. My husband likes his toys!Gettingready, somebody told me to keep cool sleep on a waterbed if you have one without any sheets on it. We have a waterbed but I didn't try it.
Kari
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Posted: May 10 2006 at 10:06pm |
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Karianne - good info - thanks! I'm curious about what kind of generator you got (how many watts?) and what appliances you used it for? I have yet to buy one, but know that as the hurricane season kicks in, more people will be looking. I'm trying to sort out all the power options - just got a 12 volt battery and inverter and I've got gasoline and propane in storage yet I'm still feeling like I have no clue what I'm doing!! I'd love a little personal experience, if you don't mind sharing!
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2ifbyC
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Joined: March 30 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 533 |
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Posted: May 11 2006 at 4:35am |
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I've been through numerous 'canes and power outages here on the Gulf Coast of Florida. The following is probably my best 'discovery' :
Pre-Y2K I filled enough 2 liter bottles with room for ice expansion to cover the bottom of my chest freezer. I placed them upright and cut a sheet of 1/8" panelling to fit on top of the bottles. This was to provide a heat sink in case of power outages. Works fantasticly!
We've had numerous outages up to a week long and by running my gen set for three hours three/four times a day we never lost any food to spoilage. Granted we did use some items that were on top of everything else to play it safe but never saw any spoilage. We did toss some items that started to thaw just to be safe. A side benefit is that you can have ice/ice water on hand for a long time after the lights go out. After a week long outage the freezer bottles did show thawing but still was at least half ice. Remember to absolutely minimize how often you open the freezer. A chest freezer will not lose as much cold air as will an upright.
For any outage over a week all bets are off. If in doubt, throw it out! |
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Survival does have an 'I'!
Dodging 'canes on Florida's central Gulf Coast |
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Karianne
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Joined: April 02 2006 Status: Offline Points: 40 |
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Posted: May 14 2006 at 8:23pm |
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Sorry, I didn't answer sooner. I thought I had this thread set up to send me an email but I guess not. I don't know much about this but our box says it's a Coleman Powermate 6250. My husband and son say 6250 means it has that many watts. They said it can run a lot depending on how many cords you have. The actual generator sits outside and the cord comes through the window. You can plug several things into the little box inside. We just had the cords it came with but I guess you can get more. We had the refrigerator, one lamp, a fan, the microwave all able to go at the same time. Oh and the t.v. Our Direct TV was out but we could play our own movies. My son tells me we could have hooked up a lot more. It cost about $650. It was worth every penny but then we live in hurricane country. Not so sure I would get one if I didn't. Kari |
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Posted: May 15 2006 at 11:33pm |
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Karianne - You sound like me! |
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Karianne
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Joined: April 02 2006 Status: Offline Points: 40 |
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Posted: May 19 2006 at 11:11am |
 Yeah and we're not the only ones. We were declared a disaster area so FEMA paid for it. Okay, that's good but a FEMA lady had to come out and check that we actually had one and make sure we weren't putting in a false claim. I didn't know she was coming out to look as we had sent a copy of the receipt and I didn't know they came to your house. So she shows up one day out of the blue. That's fine but the garage was kind of a mess. So she asks to see it and I was embarrassed cause the garage was so messy. She said that was okay cause she could see it from the doorway as I opened the door. I said "Oh good,yes that's it," and I really thought it was. It was something that looked similar a big air compressor I think. The generator was there but that wasn't it! Two girls, sheesh. Kari
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gettingready wrote: