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  • From: Rob <becida AT comcast.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Power
  • Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 19:43:18 -0800

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





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