36 Hours +

[LovelyLadyLux]

As I mentioned on a couple other posts there is a major snow storm with hurricane force winds happening on the east coast of the USA around the District of Columbia - Washington DC. Everything is now stopped - no flights, no public transport, roads closed. State of emergency called and ALL PEOPLE ordered IN and OFF the streets for a minimum of the next 36 to 48 hours. They're anticipating there is going to be about a 1" layer of ice on everything which means tree branches will be falling. Probably power outages.

If this happened to you - are you prepared? If you suddenly lost electricity and heat are you set to cope for the next 36 to 48 hours and perhaps even longer?

Can you cook? Do you have food in to eat without cooking? Keep warm? Have communications? (although communication lines might be down anyway) How would you pass the time?

[Robbo70]

I lost my electric last month for 12 hours and that was enough. My only worry during all that time was my exotic pets who all rely on heat mats. When i rebuilt my house, i added a gas hob in the utility room just to counter such cuts so we wouldnt starve. I also keep enough tinned food in to get us through a weekend, as well as cereals. my biggest problem would be keeping warm as i have raynards and my fingers and toes would be white and i would be useless withing about 6 hours of loosing heating

[Horus]

I have a gas cooker and it is almost unheard of for the mains supply to be turned off unless it has been pre-arranged. I also have a gas barbecue that could be dragged into action if I was desperate, My freezer is always full, I have a cupboard full of candles and several battery radio devices and a portable gas heater that I use in my garage/workshop which I could easily move inside. So the worse case scenario for me would be to stay in bed all day reading a Kindle or listening the the radio and living on Corned Beef and Cornflakes while drinking canned lager or wine

[Jayway]

From previous power cuts here I have found the freeezer will be ok for 4/5 days if I dont open it. The small fridge icebox has 8 dinners in that can be cooked up, and plenty of dried food. I have the logburner to cook on if the gas runs out, the oven and the hot water is from bottle gas. I have a box of candles and a whole lot of books, and a battery radio. There is always a supply of animal food, I have a horror of running short.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I do have a gas fireplace and it would have to be something pretty devastating for that to go off. It would keep the main room warmish although without electric the fans would be off. I've got sufficient books to read that if the Kindle went off I could read for a week or so. I have bought but it isn't delivered yet a solar charger. That is an "optional" thing cause it means we have to get sufficient sun to charge it so it could charge a Kindle or phone but the $$ was low to buy it so I got it for the emergency box. I've got candles, lamp oil and matches. Freezer is also full of food and I have a BBQ plus an old propane cooker.

I've been thinking I've got to get all my emergency supplies into one central place so if I did get snowed in for a week I would save myself a possible run about the house in the cold collecting everything.

One thing I bought the grandkids, dtrs and son in law + me was a reflective harness. I'd noticed lots of people around here wearing reflective gear lately and it really does make sense to do so given we live half our lives in foggy misty semi-darkness. These harnesses look like suspenders 'cept they CROSS at the back and go about your waist like a belt. They're big enough you can put them over your winter coat or you could wear them over a jogging outfit. The dtr opted to keep hers in the car just in case of a night time breakdown where you had to walk. You would be much more visible. I've got mine in the car now along with a blanket (but I need to remember to put a couple candles into the car along with some matches too).

The news is that this storm on the eastern coast of the USA has people being requested to stay indoors totally. It is pretty severe and 10 States have declared states of emergency. Definitely hope people are prepared. There has already been quite a few deaths being reported but the causes have not been articulated.

[Jayway]

Just watched a US TV report, a bus full of students and chaperones stuck on the freeway. What sort of idiot would drive when they have been told not too?

[LovelyLadyLux]

In my experience there has never been a shortage of idiots in the USA and/or elsewhere in the world.

@Robbo - you know for cold fingers in the case of an electrical outage - I made myself one of those survival heaters out of 2 different sized clay pots. On the smaller clay pot I affixed a heavy steel bolt with lug nuts screwed on. You put a candle underneath this that heats the steel bolt that radiates heat out. Over this you put another clay plant pot that traps the heat and lets it radiate out.

I actually tried this. Used 2 tealight candles which last about 4 hours each. They do sufficiently heat up the steel rod to give off heat. Wouldn't want to heat an entire house this way but it DOES WORK!!! And if you had absolutely nothing else for heat this would heat up a small closed room. Holding your hands over this clay pot would keep you from freezing to death. I've got this set up just incase of an emergency.

[Horus]

LLL, your post brought a smile to my face just imagining you in your reflective 'suspenders'
I should of course point out that over here in the UK 'suspenders' take on a different meaning. I know you are meaning those strap things that men use to hold up their trousers instead of a belt, (I wont say 'pants' because here again those also take on a different meaning as 'pants' here would tend to be ladies knickers. The thing you call 'suspenders' we would call 'braces' over here, suspenders hold up ladies Nylon stockings
"I say Tomato, you say Tomater"

[Jayway]

Robbo, years ago in UK I had gloves with a battery on the back under a flap. I had slow circulation and my fingers would go white and useless working in the cold. Do they still sell them ???

[LovelyLadyLux]

LLL, your post brought a smile to my face just imagining you in your reflective 'suspenders'
I should of course point out that over here in the UK 'suspenders' take on a different meaning. I know you are meaning those strap things that men use to hold up their trousers instead of a belt, (I wont say 'pants' because here again those also take on a different meaning as 'pants' here would tend to be ladies knickers. The thing you call 'suspenders' we would call 'braces' over here, suspenders hold up ladies Nylon stockings
"I say Tomato, you say Tomater"

Actually now that you say it my dad only ever wore braces so I must have adapted to a switch to suspenders over the years. I usually wear jeans and slacks and panties are ladies underwear here. Pants gets thrown in now and again in my speech and I know the daughter uses it exclusively to describe what her boys wear. They wear pants. Interesting how language changes.

Just watched a US TV report, a bus full of students and chaperones stuck on the freeway. What sort of idiot would drive when they have been told not too?

Sadly on the news so far the storm has taken 18 lives. Still a state of emergency. Lots of snow falling fast.

[Horus]

As they say LLL, we are both seperated by a common language

[Robbo70]

Robbo, years ago in UK I had gloves with a battery on the back under a flap. I had slow circulation and my fingers would go white and useless working in the cold. Do they still sell them ???

I dont know to be honest. I have little plastic hand heaters. You snap the little metal button inside and they heat up and stay hot for a few hours. When they have gone cold, you can boil them in a pan of water to make them soft again and re click the little metal button and off you go again. They are good for about a dozen re charges.

[LovelyLadyLux]

@Robbo - you've got the things I've got here. Little square packets with a metal snap thingy that heat up. Definitely worth keeping in your car for an emergency. And yeah - just plop them back into boiling water and they go liquid again.

Dunno what they are but they do work well.