So, what did this winter storm teach me about my preps?

[Spanky46151]

I learned that if anyone desires to conquer our nation, simply interrupt the power grid. I believe we'd surrender to the French if they could turn our lights on.

 

[SaintsNSinners]

I learned my battery was salted with pure water and has since cracked and is toast.... time to find a new battery

 

[actaeon277]

I ask because I already have an outside grill with a burner. But in the event that the actual air temps are sub-zero, I don't want to be trying to cook food outside. We have an open box fireplace, plenty big for a dutch oven or skillet. I've just never done it before.

I forgot the dutch oven option.
Couple charcoal under, couple over, and wha-la.
You could still do the dutch oven outdoors. Most of the dishes I'm familiar with are low maintenance.

And you could do the skillet in the fireplace, but it depends. How comfortable is it? Do you have a grate for the skillet to sit on.
And a lot of people overdo the wood in a fireplace, because they want a "roaring" fire.
But cooking fires tend to be smaller.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

I learned that my remington 3 plaque heater was a GREAT investment. Uses grill tanks. On low one tank lasts 2 and 1/2 days or so. On high with all 3 plaques It'll put out an advertised 18000 btu ' s for 1 day.

I also learned that my instincts on Bronco II, purchased last summer, we're spot on. It's gonna take a LOT of work to be dependable. Starting with a new tranny.

Also learned my decision to purchase a 94 Chevy from INGO member Paintman was spot on. It's a jewel. Thanks to it, I haven't missed any work. Thanks again, Paintman.

I learned that there is, indeed, no such thing as too much firewood.

I learned that I need to check on Pop more often and not just assume he's ok.

 

[churchmouse]

We learned our prep system works. We need to get the water supply replenished after rotating and using. I let that slip down to scary low level if we lost water. Gennys fired right up when we needed them. If you cycle them monthly they will most likely start when you need them. My sister lost power and neither of theirs would run so they sat in the glow of kerosene lamps and a wood stove for 2 days. I am going out there today to get the gennys back to my shop and repair them.
We learned our Battery/inverter back up is good to go. It could use more reserve for long dark and cold nights. 4 battery's are good, 6 would be much better. I plan on adding battery's this summer as funds become available.
We learned that wood can be burned at an alarming rate at -16*

 

[88GT]

I forgot the dutch oven option.
Couple charcoal under, couple over, and wha-la.
You could still do the dutch oven outdoors. Most of the dishes I'm familiar with are low maintenance.

And you could do the skillet in the fireplace, but it depends. How comfortable is it? Do you have a grate for the skillet to sit on.
And a lot of people overdo the wood in a fireplace, because they want a "roaring" fire.
But cooking fires tend to be smaller.

How comfortable is what? Not sure I follow ya there. We have a grate. I'm good with the fire size. Spent plenty of girl scout camping nights cooking over fires to know that the bigger the flame, the harder it is to cook....unless it's marshmallows and you like them blackened. We could have made it work if we'd had to these past few days. But there definitely would have been a learning curve.

We learned our prep system works. We need to get the water supply replenished after rotating and using. I let that slip down to scary low level if we lost water. Gennys fired right up when we needed them. If you cycle them monthly they will most likely start when you need them. My sister lost power and neither of theirs would run so they sat in the glow of kerosene lamps and a wood stove for 2 days. I am going out there today to get the gennys back to my shop and repair them.
We learned our Battery/inverter back up is good to go. It could use more reserve for long dark and cold nights. 4 battery's are good, 6 would be much better. I plan on adding battery's this summer as funds become available.
We learned that wood can be burned at an alarming rate at -16*

This. My mom has been without power since about 1pm Sunday. She has a fireplace/stove thing with an electric blower. Obviously, no blower function without the power, but it can still generate some heat to the point where she doesn't have to seek shelter elsewhere. The only problem: she operated the fireplace so as to keep the inside air temps her usual 70. Which meant she used the firewood up more quickly than she had anticipated (doesn't help that she didn't account for the lack of a blower to disperse the heat so her calculation were based off of normal winter usage and not emergency usage). So she's going to have to trek out to the main racks today to replenish the porch supply. At least today is warmer. But the deep snow will be a problem for her.

 

[churchmouse]

How comfortable is what? Not sure I follow ya there. We have a grate. I'm good with the fire size. Spent plenty of girl scout camping nights cooking over fires to know that the bigger the flame, the harder it is to cook....unless it's marshmallows and you like them blackened. We could have made it work if we'd had to these past few days. But there definitely would have been a learning curve.


This. My mom has been without power since about 1pm Sunday. She has a fireplace/stove thing with an electric blower. Obviously, no blower function without the power, but it can still generate some heat to the point where she doesn't have to seek shelter elsewhere. The only problem: she operated the fireplace so as to keep the inside air temps her usual 70. Which meant she used the firewood up more quickly than she had anticipated (doesn't help that she didn't account for the lack of a blower to disperse the heat so her calculation were based off of normal winter usage and not emergency usage). So she's going to have to trek out to the main racks today to replenish the porch supply. At least today is warmer. But the deep snow will be a problem for her.

My wife is cold nature so we keep it steamy in here as well. We have a sizable lean too shelter outside the back door and we went through that in 5 days. Had to get into the main stack ourselves.

I truly hope she gets power soon.

 

[88GT]

My wife is cold nature so we keep it steamy in here as well. We have a sizable lean too shelter outside the back door and we went through that in 5 days. Had to get into the main stack ourselves.

I truly hope she gets power soon.

Me too, but only because she's becoming a headcase due to boredom. Frankly, I'm a little bit pleased that she's had to "suffer." I have been trying to impress upon her the importance of being better prepared for failures of utilities and whatnot since she moved out there 6 years ago. She has appeased me with token efforts like extra jugs of water, matches, etc. But nothing that would make a real difference. And she lives isolated enough that access is difficult when snow levels reach 4-5". The county doesn't plow in her area. She needed a wake-up call. Another few days of primitive living might be enough to convince her to take me more seriously. But I'm not holding my breath.

 

[churchmouse]

Me too, but only because she's becoming a headcase due to boredom. Frankly, I'm a little bit pleased that she's had to "suffer." I have been trying to impress upon her the importance of being better prepared for failures of utilities and whatnot since she moved out there 6 years ago. She has appeased me with token efforts like extra jugs of water, matches, etc. But nothing that would make a real difference. And she lives isolated enough that access is difficult when snow levels reach 4-5". The county doesn't plow in her area. She needed a wake-up call. Another few days of primitive living might be enough to convince her to take me more seriously. But I'm not holding my breath.

Moms seldom listen. Mine did not. She thought us a bit whacky for prepping. We have been very comfortable even when the power was down for 10 hrs.

 

[the1kidd03]

We just moved to our home late this summer. Until then we weren't really able to get much into the "stocking up" side of prepping. We specifically bought a house with a wood burning fireplace for this reason however.

Things I learned:
1. The fireplace doesn't do much when temps reach this low due to the layout of the home. I need to invest in large blankets to close off doorways and keep most of the heat in a confined area.
2. On that same note, I need to invest in some temporary ways to better insulate windows around the home.
3. I need to stock more firewood next year than I did this year.
4. I need to invest in some kerosene heaters. More than one small one in order to keep in areas where pipes may freeze.
5. It wouldn't hurt to invest in one of those camping stoves and some small propane tanks as part of our stock items for cooking and boiling water in times like this. I could rig a way to make the fireplace work, but the stove would be more convenient.
6. I need to get some serious water storage going. Had a pipe truly froze and busted a line we may not have had water afterwards. Also, I need to positively identify where the main is located. Easy enough, but hadn't done so prior to the snow fall. Didn't think I'd need it quite honestly.
7. I am considering maybe replacing the fireplace with a wood burning stove much more seriously now.
8. My dog LOVES snow and cold....but even he has his limits



Really, most of this stuff is minor. I could have made due with most of it other than the water issue. My list is really sort of a "convenience" list. Now that I've finished the garage I can build some storage racks for emergency water and such. So, that'll be my 1st priority. Thankfully, it wasn't needed this time around.

 

[LtScott14]

During the storm, my BOB was in the trunk of the car. Need to move either in the house, or, in the car. Keep couple sleeping bags in the car, (not trunk), and of course watch not to freeze your water carrier. I am adding semi full other bags to avoid buying 4 of everything.

Had good food supplys: Snacks, heat up stuff like pizza rolls, pizzas, lasagna, chicken nuggets all winners with the kiddies. Had beverages also, hot choc mix, beer, soda, Gatorade, and water.

Batteries: Only low draw was AAs. Had 4 packs of 4, down to 1 remaining. Xbox eats them on wireless controls.

Clothing for outdoors: All covered, only glitch was a balcava for kiddies and Wifey. They all pitched in to help clean cars, and got all vehicles started. Store a little more fuel/ oil mix, went through 2 gals in 2 days snowblowing. My 2 cycle oil was stored in garage, was like molasass (frozen) .

Didn't really suffer due to advance planning, and electric stayed on. Glad for a change as kiddies have cabin fever to the max.

 

[churchmouse]

During the storm, my BOB was in the trunk of the car. Need to move either in the house, or, in the car. Keep couple sleeping bags in the car, (not trunk), and of course watch not to freeze your water carrier. I am adding semi full other bags to avoid buying 4 of everything.

Had good food supplys: Snacks, heat up stuff like pizza rolls, pizzas, lasagna, chicken nuggets all winners with the kiddies. Had beverages also, hot choc mix, beer, soda, Gatorade, and water.

Batteries: Only low draw was AAs. Had 4 packs of 4, down to 1 remaining. Xbox eats them on wireless controls.

Clothing for outdoors: All covered, only glitch was a balcava for kiddies and Wifey. They all pitched in to help clean cars, and got all vehicles started. Store a little more fuel/ oil mix, went through 2 gals in 2 days snowblowing. My 2 cycle oil was stored in garage, was like molasass (frozen) .

Didn't really suffer due to advance planning, and electric stayed on. Glad for a change as kiddies have cabin fever to the max.

We have re-chargeable batts in the controllers for the Wi. Saves a but load in the cabin fever times.

 

[BigMatt]

The one thing that got me thinking was electricity. It flickered a few timed on Sunday night and that was enough for a little pucker factor.

I have a geo-thermal heat pump and I would be SOL it the power went out aside from our propane stove and fireplace.

Just a little more incentive to get that backup generator I have been eyeballing.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Other things I learned:

That guy on the news who said not to lift the snow with the shovel, but to "use your shovel like a snow plow and push the snow", obviously has never shoveled off a gravel drive.

My dog does not resemble any of the dogs Jack London wrote about, in either body or spirit. (She may hear a call, but that call is not of the wild.)

Its nice having lots of vacation and sick time saved up. (It's amazing how little I've done and yet I'm still not bored.)

If the birds get hungry enough, by golly they will eat that home made suet cake made from lard and cornmeal crumbs.

A 15 foot, extendable water sampling pole can, in fact, be retrofitted with a 2-foot board at the end to drag deep snow off the roof.

 

[Zombieman34]

That arcing electric lines at 2 am can be seen about 6 miles away. Lucky power was only out for about 4hrs and only got to 58 in the house.
Need to get a secondary heater of some sort, and a hair drier will thaw out a water line.

 

[bdybdall]

Ya know, every time I went out in a car I thought I was prepared to walk to home/safety if my car broke down or slid off the road. I would have been warm but possibly invisible in my browns and greens and denim. I'm going to start carrying a safety vest with blaze orange/ reflective stripes in case I need to be outside the car. At least my wife would be able to sue if I were hit and killed.

 

[Turf Doctor]

Loss of power when it is bitter cold could be a problem with no generator.
I have seen a lot of good comments here to make me think of a few things to do.

My neighbor is 75+, has a garden in the summer months. I talked to him Sunday morning when it started snowing and he told me he had plenty of food and fire wood. He called me Tuesday and said he is ok, and not going out. My point here is that he is more prepared than some and did not have to leave to house in bad weather.

 

[Somemedic]

You can have all the ammo, all the eoTech sights, new MREs, generator, chainsaw, M35A2, food stocks for days....

But one assbag in a stuck buick will shut down an entire neighborhood.

Lazy, inconsiderate fools will leave their stuck vehicles and thus plows can't come down the road. The fella got stuck in the evening of the first night of snow and wasn't wearing anything that would be considered appropriate for conditions. He tried to move it but quit after a half hour.

He left it overnight and until the next afternoon.

He returned with his father who's truck had apparently lost its 4wheel drive capability. They tried and after 3hrs got the car out of the way.

By then the plows were elsewhere, not returning for that day.


If you wish to bug in for the first few days while the unwashed masses tear the ingredients for french toast from the shelves, you should either have a very capable 4 wheel drive or a small dirt bike to move around. Make sure the batteries in your vehicle are good, in my case the deuce won't fire in this cold. That will be rectified.

New to me... FACEBOOK was an indespensible tool for reporting real time conditions of roads and weather. Consider your sources of course. Cell phones will only work for a short time without battery back up. Cell towers worked well but a PD/FD scanner with NOAA and short wave reception would be a very useful back up when carriers/towers/electricity fails
.

 

[Somemedic]

Also...

Chainsaws, generators, snowthrowers, propane heaters will be plentiful at the pawn shops this spring. Keep your eyes open and save a little now for when folks turn them loose.

2 way family radios should be on your list

 

[JollyMon]

Something I learned over this weekend was I need to reprogram my radio scanner so that I could block out certain talk groups that I wasnt interested in. When programming my scanner, I didn't separate talkgroups according to PD,FD,EMS,Jail,Highway Maintenance, etc. I just lumped them all together because I like being able to turn off whole counties at any given time, and its usually not a big deal because I like to listen to all ofthe radio traffic...... But, Because they were all lumped together, I was stuck listening to highway and street cleaning crews blabbering on for days non stop. While useful, I was somewhat more interested in the PD and FD reports during this time frame and was unable to listen.