Homestead mailing list

[Rob <becida AT comcast.net>]

Nothing like having the power go away to make you appreciate it.
Friday morning was dark, lot's of trees down 
often the power lines kept them off the road.
Went to bed Friday night with it still dark & the 
kerosene heater keeping the place warm. It's 
funny, during the 6 years in Minnesota I kept a 
kerosene heater & 10 gallons of kerosene on hand, never used it.

I've had another kerosene heater sitting in the 
garage for a couple of years now (a neighbor gave 
it to me after he didn't sell it at a garage 
sale). On Wednesday I decided to buy some fuel 
for it, picked up two gallons of 'heater fuel', 
guaranteed no odor while burning. 1.5 gal lasted 
from 4pm until 8 am and there is no kerosene, 
propane (small bottles), "D" cell batteries or 
generators any where around here. I watched at 
Walmart as people were buying camping 
lantern/fans as that was all that was left on the 
shelves. All the kerosene heaters, camp stoves, 
battery operated lights, camp lights, Coleman 
(type) fuel and kerosene was gone by Friday night.

With no power none of the stores were open on 
Friday. The banks were closed, restaurants were 
closed & gas stations couldn't pump gas. This was 
over several counties. After the wind-rain storm 
freezing temps were expected Friday night. Expected and they did arrive.

Our emergency preps were mostly based on the RV 
we lived in while waiting for the house to close. 
Fueled up and ready to go we could live in it for 
at least a week with the furnace running. That 
was before gasoline went way up & before a grown 
daughter moved 'back home' with her two kids. 
Since fuel prices went to around $3 a gallon 
filling that beast takes major economic planning 
& without an at least half full main tank you 
can't run the generator. The house battery died 
too, I couldn't see buying another if we weren't 
going to use it. Without power for the furnace fan you can't run the furnace.
All this came to me Friday night <g>. Then again 
with my dd & her two kids living in the RV there 
really wasn't room for the rest of us anyway.

Time for new emergency preparations.

Some observations- It was fun to watch people who 
were way less prepared than I was down at the 
store. When a grocery store did open they had 
nothing that required refrigeration or a freezer, 
those shelves were either empty or 
covered/secured. At a Safeway in Olympia I 
watched people taking gallons of water as fast as 
they could open the boxes, cereal & breads were almost gone.
I mentioned all the 'D' cell batteries being 
gone, and all the kerosene being gone. I talked 
to a lady who went down to Vancouver, WA to buy a 
generator and was shopping at the Home Depot in 
Olympia for "wire & plugs" to get it to work and 
another guy who had his dad pick one up for him 
in Vancouver, he drove down to get it. I watched 
people buying a turkey fryer and trying to jury 
rig something with the fittings (the large 
reversed thread male fitting that goes into the 
bottle). I watched a salesman explain (or try to) 
'white gas', 'Coleman fuel' & 'regular gas' to a 
lady who had the last "Dual Fuel" lantern from 
the shelf. I listened to a lady mumble to herself 
about going to a shelter after walking away from the bare shelves at Walmart.
Lot's of gasoline was sold when the stations 
could open, I saw several people filling gas cans, many gas cans.
The night sky was great, it had been some time 
since I could walk out and see that many stars 
but the noise from all the generators in the 
neighborhood was distracting. The kerosene heater 
worked great at keeping the place warm & the 
'clean fuel' did not have an odor. It was worth 
the extra $2/gallon for the 'clean fuel'.

This was an 'unprecedented' wind storm but we do 
live in the land of earthquakes and I see a large 
volcano almost everyday. Two days and one night 
with no electricity, phone or internet was not 
the end of the world, even with the 31ºf 
night.  We had plans for this night too if 
necessary, not sure about a third night.
Thanks to a wind storm we have the opportunity to 
rethink our preparation plans.

FWIW we have phone & electricity but no internet 
yet, this will go out when we get the internet.



Rob

becida AT comcast.net
Western Washington State, USA