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

[Hohn]

I learned that my 2002 Dodge Diesel will Start in -15F without being plugged in.

I also learned that, yes, premium AGM batteries are worth EVERY penny. It took a lot of cranking to get my Old Goat started Monday morning, and the batteries gave and gave and gave. I must have cranked for 90 seconds total across 6-10 attempts.

The Diehard Platinums are actually re-branded Odyssey batteries. Odysseys are the best on the market-- even better than Optimas. They are AGM, but flat plate instead of spiral-wound.

I've been a fan of RedTops for awhile, but these Odysseys (branded Diehard) are, imo, the cream of the crop!

 

[MiNDRiVE]

I learned that the power at my place didn't go out once. I also learned that all of my vehicles will start with no trouble in -15f cold. The other thing I learned is that my car with a ground clearance of about 2 inches will not be moving in this weather. I didn't prep for it but a lot of people tried and went completely psycho over milk egg's and bread. It was just a little bit of snow and some cold weather. I still don't understand why people lost their marbles over this. My wife lived in Fairbanks Alaska as a child and she brushed this off like it was nothing.

 

[Manatee]

1. I should have bought that gas fireplace insert that I wanted.
2. A house built in 1892 only loses 1 degree per hour when the electricity goes off. Pretty stunning for a house with no exterior wall insulation but built with real lumber, real siding and lath&plaster interior walls.
3. A Coleman propane lantern can keep a room toasty if you have a blanket covering the doorway.

 

[Cldedhnds]

Heavy blankets covering sliders and drafty doorways work wonders.

We heated our whole house with two small space heaters upstairs and a 23,000 btu kerosene heater downstairs. We ran them for 12 hours of the day Mon & Tues and the furnace never turned on once during that time set to 69. Easy to test when the power is still on...

Our "ornamental" wood burning fireplace would be ok at best for the absolute last resort. No blower means it would likely suck more heat up the flue than put back into the house.

Ran the generator Sunday before the cold but should have garaged it instead of leaving it in the shed. Had I needed it would have been a b***ch to drag in and warm up to start.

If you don't currently have at LEAST a weeks worth of supplies at any given time you will be SOL the way people raided stores. Not every situation is gonna allow a few days of heads up to prepare and things will get real scarce in that type of event.

 

[eldirector]

1) Peapod doesn't deliver in this stuff
2) We didn't really need the groceries anyway
3) Should have ordered the wood stove BEFORE Christmas. It hasn't been installed yet.
4) Snowblowers are AWESOME. Even at -10* it fired right up and had the drive cleared (enough) in about 30 minutes. It only used about 1/2 gallon of gas clearing the driveway twice this week. The 15 gallons on-hand is overkill (until I get a generator)
5) 30 minutes is a LONG time to be outside at that temp! I need better cold-weather gear.
6) My little girl's cold-weather gear is perfect for her. She played outside the entire time I worked, and begged to stay out longer. Was toasty warm inside her snowsuit.
7) I need a second phone line if I'm going to work from my home office this much
8) We need some cold-weather hobbies! My wife has cabin fever like you wouldn't believe.

 

[dukeboy_318]

That although we were lucky enough not to lose power, we were completely unprepared if we did. Going to do some serious research into a small but efficient generator.

Same here. Never was concerned at our old house cause we had a wood burning stove so we could stay warm during power outages, not so much at new house without the stove.

I also learned that people are totally nuts, even in something like this snow storm. I saw 2 ladies, easily in their 40s, get into a fight at the local Kroger over the last gallon of milk. Also saw people pushing and going nuts when the store stock boy wheeled out another pallet of bread. Good thing I was only in the store to buy a couple bags of chips for the work pitch in we had. That was nuts.

Also, learned that the pink foam insulation really works well. I cut it to size and put on my windows. I bet my furnace ran 25% less on Monday than it would have.

 

[dukeboy_318]

8) We need some cold-weather hobbies! My wife has cabin fever like you wouldn't believe.

I can think of a couple activities........... haha

 

[churchmouse]

Same here. Never was concerned at our old house cause we had a wood burning stove so we could stay warm during power outages, not so much at new house without the stove.

I also learned that people are totally nuts, even in something like this snow storm. I saw 2 ladies, easily in their 40s, get into a fight at the local Kroger over the last gallon of milk. Also saw people pushing and going nuts when the store stock boy wheeled out another pallet of bread. Good thing I was only in the store to buy a couple bags of chips for the work pitch in we had. That was nuts.

Also, learned that the pink foam insulation really works well. I cut it to size and put on my windows. I bet my furnace ran 25% less on Monday than it would have.

And to think this was a short term...end in sight situation. Let the S really HTF and stand back cause it gonna get nuts up in here..............

 

[dukeboy_318]

And to think this was a short term...end in sight situation. Let the S really HTF and stand back cause it gonna get nuts up in here..............

Yep, my thoughts exactly.

 

[Jenny B]

I prepared rather well. Made sure we had a sufficient supply of emergency wood, a good solid food supply (including no power needed stash), a mostly accepted entertainment supply for the kids crafts, "antique" games (in their words) and lots of books (thank goodness they are book lovers like mom)...

After power was restored (Thank you Duke boys for getting us back on in less than 6 hours!) we took the 410 and new 20ga out and my 9y/o daughter showed her brother what snowmen were really for. That girl makes me proud!

Things I learned I need before the next big storm: a stronger stomach... Just because I can shoot it, doesn't mean it's ready to cook.

 

[.356luger]

I found that my stores were good enough 8 days kerosine food camp stoves ect.

I did learn that you get weird looks when you by pass the grocery and head to sporting goods for a chili Mac mountain house some 9mm, lantern, tp and stop to get v8 it was two bottles for 2.88 that's a good price blizzard or not.

 

[Giddaltti]

I scored about a C+ B-.I ordered an addition rick of wood at the last miniute, my hand held mini LCD TV was not digital and could not watch weather reports. I need a small ax to chop wood indoor. Will look into Kerosene heaters. I did not have cash on hand an vehicles were @half tank. Food was plentyfull however could increase meat storage. Never thought of using snow or outside patio to keep food cold.

 

[Somemedic]

Shovels, lanterns, heaters, snowthrowers will go quick.

This was only the first week of January, alotta time left for more

 

[BehindBlueI's]

That I should retreat to the basement earlier. It stays pretty warm even if you don't run a heater. With a heater, it stays pretty balmy.
That I should cycle the generator less often. 1 hour out of 6 let the sump pump catch up and the heater work.
That sitting in the basement is boring. Especially if you cycle the generator. So I end up running the generator to run the TV, wifi, and charge some toys.

And most importantly: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Could I survive at my house? Yup. Did I need to? Nope. Several friends offered to put us up, including the use of an empty condo, but I ended up just moving in to the Best Western for two nights. $140 well spent. They cooked breakfast (surprisingly good sausage gravy and biscuits, who knew?), they cleaned up, cable television, comfy beds, plenty of hot water. Life isn't just about surviving, and if you aren't willing to spend money to be comfortable, what's the point of having it?

 

[IndyDave1776]

That I should retreat to the basement earlier. It stays pretty warm even if you don't run a heater. With a heater, it stays pretty balmy.
That I should cycle the generator less often. 1 hour out of 6 let the sump pump catch up and the heater work.
That sitting in the basement is boring. Especially if you cycle the generator. So I end up running the generator to run the TV, wifi, and charge some toys.

And most importantly: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Could I survive at my house? Yup. Did I need to? Nope. Several friends offered to put us up, including the use of an empty condo, but I ended up just moving in to the Best Western for two nights. $140 well spent. They cooked breakfast (surprisingly good sausage gravy and biscuits, who knew?), they cleaned up, cable television, comfy beds, plenty of hot water. Life isn't just about surviving, and if you aren't willing to spend money to be comfortable, what's the point of having it?

Good thoughts regarding localized events. Either a general breakdown in 'normal' (i.e., not just in a very limited area) or not being able to leave (like some of us rural dwellers with 1/4 mile or so driveways with places where snow drifts deeper than 4/4 trucks can handle) can bring problems.

 

[Spinaltapls1]

I learned that i dont need to prep. i push snow in the winter I was out for 48 hours straight. So no need to prep i was not at home to enjoy them. Side note i need to get a better seat for the backhoe i was running

 

[CindyE]

I'm not sure I learned much, but I was reminded of some things! We always have enough to get by on for at least a week, it wouldn't be ideal, but we'd be ok. Went to Walmart for a few things Saturday, I was surprised at how empty the water aisle was. The place was crazy. We had water, I just wanted to replenish some. Our local Martin's had plenty of water, did people think only Walmart sells it? I didn't care much about milk, but the hubby drinks it. We usually get organic, there was still some of that. I wonder if all the people freaking about water ever thought about melting snow if they ran out of water? I also heard someone fretting about losing electricity and food going bad. It's freezing out- most food would be ok if you put it outside. I guess going outside would let cold in the house, but still doable. We needed to pay more attention to our gas fireplace, it went out and needed a little TLC.

 

[eldirector]

Speaking of milk.... I was reminded how much my little girl drinks! Almost 2 gallons in a week, and she isn't quite 4 yrs old. Its that spendy organic whole milk, too. We keep about 2 gallons on hand, but stopped at Kroger on Wednesday (just because we could) and grabbed another gallon - their last. Their bread, milk, and eggs/diary were pretty picked over. The rest of the store was stocked as usual. We grabbed some odds-n-ends for variety (lunch meat, cookies, snacks).

In a week w/o a grocery run, we hardly put a dent in our pantry or freezer. Other than my girl's milk habit, it is nice to know we are covered food-wise for this type of event.

I'm also learning that our north-facing roof creates a HUGE ice dam. I need to find a way to clear it a bit, before it comes crashing down on the deck, or springs a leak in the roof. It also freezes our back door shut, which I don't like.

 

[churchmouse]

My 7 year old G-daughter has serious food related allergy's. We have a lot of her food on the shelf in the prep pantry. Gluton free/egg free and so on. She lives next door and spends a lot of time with us.
We learned to put more supply's in for her.

 

[BobDaniels]

I learned that "knowing" you filled that can of diesel is not good enough and you need to get out and actually check the can. I also learned that siphoning diesel in -10 weather sucks rocks. With 2 to 4 foot snow drifts over most of my 1000 foot driveway, digging out by hand was not an option.

Otherwise, we were more than good on extreme cold weather clothing, but I do need some warmer boots for temps below 10 or so. We were good on food, water, french toast, heat, etc and were lucky enough to not lose power. If we had lost power, cooking and heating would not have been an issue. We had no need assist with clearing the shelves at our local grocer.

Things to improve: Fuel storage. I want my own tank and pump for diesel and gasoline, but so far have not convinced the other half of "having that damn eyesore" at the barn. Larger propane tank. Oddly enough, she is good with 1000 gallan propan tank, but not a couple hundered gallon diesel fuel tank. Generator. Stove insert for the fireplace. More water storage, wouldn't mind an underground cistern for rainwater collection. Lean-to.

After that much time at home, i was ready to go back to work.