Marveltone
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2010
- Messages
- 1,485
- Location
- Somewhere north of Roseau, MN
- Tractor
- Fordson Major Diesel, McCormick Deering W4, Ford 1510, John Deere L111
Okay, where do I start? We've been in drought conditions, along with much of the country for a couple of years. About 14" below normal rainfall at this time. Wild fires have been sprouting up, endangering forests and towns alike, with no relief in sight. Well, it's not over, but we did get some much needed precipitation in the form of 14" of snow in mostly one day! It helped put out some of the fires, but threw another little issue at us: Power outages all over the place! At the time of this writing, we're going on our third day without electricity. We're glad we've made preparations for such an event, and now we have a chance to see where we've done our homework and where we've missed the mark.
Here's what we've learned so far:
1. Water is your friend... No, it's your source of life! My wife had the presence of mind to run the bathtub and fill everything she could get a hold of as soon as the lights started flickering. I brought some more from town on my way home from work. We'll be fine, but need work on this to avoid the scramble.
2. We really like LP and wood heat! 'Nuff said.
3. Kerosene cook stoves are your friend, but practice is essential. We bought a kerosene cook stove a couple years ago in case of such an emergency and have made it a point to always keep several gallons of fuel around. Our only flaw in this was failure to use the stove when it wasn't critical, so we could fall back on electricity if needed. Fortunately, no food was ruined, so all is well. Still, practice can make it a much more pleasant ordeal.
4. Kerosene lamps only work if they have wicks. We have lots of lamps, but only three of them have serviceable wicks. Make a shopping list!
5. Freezers and refrigerators are only good for a couple of days without power. I made a trip into town to get our generator from the other house to run a couple hours every day just to keep our frozen food frozen. Perhaps we'll can more and freeze less in the future.
6. Contact with the outside world helps to cure a little cabin fever. A little internet can bring a whole lot of relief to the psyche. Run laptops and router when running the generator for the freezer.
7. Coffee. French press is a good thing. Why slum it just because there is no electricity?
8. Everything is going to be okay! In spite of our lack of preparation in some of these areas, we're warm and well fed. Much better off than many.
Joe
Now for the pics:
Here's what we've learned so far:
1. Water is your friend... No, it's your source of life! My wife had the presence of mind to run the bathtub and fill everything she could get a hold of as soon as the lights started flickering. I brought some more from town on my way home from work. We'll be fine, but need work on this to avoid the scramble.
2. We really like LP and wood heat! 'Nuff said.
3. Kerosene cook stoves are your friend, but practice is essential. We bought a kerosene cook stove a couple years ago in case of such an emergency and have made it a point to always keep several gallons of fuel around. Our only flaw in this was failure to use the stove when it wasn't critical, so we could fall back on electricity if needed. Fortunately, no food was ruined, so all is well. Still, practice can make it a much more pleasant ordeal.
4. Kerosene lamps only work if they have wicks. We have lots of lamps, but only three of them have serviceable wicks. Make a shopping list!
5. Freezers and refrigerators are only good for a couple of days without power. I made a trip into town to get our generator from the other house to run a couple hours every day just to keep our frozen food frozen. Perhaps we'll can more and freeze less in the future.
6. Contact with the outside world helps to cure a little cabin fever. A little internet can bring a whole lot of relief to the psyche. Run laptops and router when running the generator for the freezer.
7. Coffee. French press is a good thing. Why slum it just because there is no electricity?
8. Everything is going to be okay! In spite of our lack of preparation in some of these areas, we're warm and well fed. Much better off than many.
Joe
Now for the pics:
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