Surviving Any Storm

So, today things are warming up and starting to thaw out; snowbanks, ice dams, car locks and I even found my snow shovel!

In retrospect, I never thought I was very prepared for a storm, just common sense items that I had thrown together, and put in the "you never know" category of mindless storage.

The power went out at around 1:30 PM a few days ago and did not come back up until a few days later. I was prepared, and truthfully didn't know how well I was prepared until the lights went out. Things like: "Why did you buy such a stoopid (I know - I just like writing it that way) radio"? My wife asks when viewing my latest online purchase. It was a hand-crank am/fm weather radio that was able to supply it's own power by a small solar panel on the top and a hand crank on the side. My response, "We don't have one, and you never know."

In October when all my neighbors were packing up their barbecues I cleaned mine, and put a fresh tank in the storage compartment. MY neighbor asked if I was going to barbecue this winter. My response; "You never know."

While at the liquidation warehouse I noticed a huge package of candles and holders for $5 - with no one with me to question the purchase I bought them and brought them home, stored neatly in the garage.

Ok - you are starting to get the idea I'm either a pack rat, noob or a controlling preparedness freak. All of the above maybe - but the story continues and allows me to laugh in the face of my wife and neighbors. Here we go.

It wasn't really the storm of the century - we had had a good snowfall like this before, but I guess things turned out differently when someone slammed into a pole taking down a chain of wires that apparently had never been out-rightly protected as maybe they should have been. In doing so, a lot of transformers had blown and form what I understand, was not supposed to happen. In order to work on this they decided to mobilize the block while waiting for the repair items to come through. But due to the storm this was going to be tricky and slightly hazardous. A number of wires and a couple of transformers had to be replaced.

So there I sat, while still daylight I made ready some items that, just maybe, we might need. I called on my cell phone (cable service is also out - so no phone) I called a friend with public utilities to see how long the power would be out. Friend stated power will be back up in the morning. Yikes. Quickly thanking him I hung up to conserve battery power and began the process of storm preparedness, here is what I did:

Decided the central location where we would hang out would be the lviingroom.

I went to the garage and grabbed the candles I had purchased and set them in place within their holders.

I placed one of these candles in the bathroom in the sink - just in case, you never know, yada yada yada, besides, I believe porcelain not to be too flammable.

Having quit smoking some years back I was still able to find an old lighter in the junk drawer (mental note: Get one of those long stick lighters)

Got some board games from the basement and put them into the central area where we would hang out while the power was off. Battleship is the favorite as is monopoly. Livingroom worked well.

Got the sleeping bags out and put them and other items (pillows, comforters etc) in the livingroom.

I always shovel an area for our dog to go outside and make his business. I think sending a wiener dog out into a foot of snow is just cruel. The shorter fellas reading this will agree! So I then made sure I shoveled a path to the barbecue as this will be the cooktop of choice this evening. Remember the extra propane I had? It came in handy.

So I am outside making Penne Ala Arrabiata, no lie. Cooked up the items that were handy and we could all eat while relaxing by candlelight. Was really nice.  My twit of a neighbor  is standing in his house looking at me with burning eyes, I could hear his wife bitching in the background. I would let him borrow my BBQ but did I mention he was a twit?

Dinner cooked, gas turned off, I'm back inside. Battleship has to be the number one game to play when stuck indoors - I don't know why this is? Maybe because it's so easy to play and hunting is sort of fun? Just a great game.

The Refrigerator

The biggest rule in the house is very simple; No one goes in the refrigerator, unless absolutely necessary. In the winter it is not usually a problem as most items can be stored outdoors or in the garage. Summertime is a different story. Its just better not to open the refrigerator at all. I normally will place a chair against it to remind the grazers and gazers not to open the fridge door. Any last remnant of cool should remain inside.

Quick Fact: Having a stocked freezer not only cuts down on your grocery bill (dependant), buit also on your electricity bill. The more you have stocked in the freezer the less it needs to kick on to cool things down. Just so you know.

Thats all for tonite - if anyone would like to contribute, feel free! Cheers!