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Last night we had an official "Operational Prep Check" also known as a power outage. The outage was due to a snow storm so there was plenty of warning. What follow are a list of preparations specific to my family and the snow storm and a few observations at large.
Prepping for the storm meant:
Filling the gas tanks in the cars.
Making sure there was fuel for the generator.
Filling buckets of water. I leave them in the bath tub to use for flushing toilets.
Filling the largest stew pots with lids with water for drinking.
Telling the kids to make sure all the batteries in their electronic games are charged fully up.
It is husbands job to make sure there are enough useable batteries in the house.
Make sure the cell phones are fully charged.
Check the number of cooler chests. If the power goes out, with current temperatures, some of the things in the freezer and fridge can be safely stored outside here in the cooler chests and lower the demand for the generator.
Threaten the kids with denied access their computer games if they didn't help haul in enough fire wood for at least 3 days.
Make a run for feed and hay for the livestock. There is probably enough but more is cheap insurance.
Make sure the snow shovel is somewhere we can find it.
Yes a run to the food store, the pantry was stocked it was mainly for snack foods. If the family had to be forced in side together for a long period of time I wanted a lot of comfort foods available for them to munch on. Why not make it a party?
At the grocery store I noticed something. Reports from the food stores in cities preparing for storms have traditionally run out of milk, bread and eggs, Here in the country what I noticed were people buying lots of meat and vegetables. Lots equates to: 10, 20 or more pounds of meat at a time. The store I was in was somewhat crowded (it usually is) and they seemed to have no problem keeping up with demand.
During the storm:
The power did go out. Not much of a surprise given our location and the weather. The results are our home was life did change somewhat.
No internet access
The TV and computers were down. With the fire place heating the home and plenty of water there was no immediate reason to run the generator during the storm.
Lighting amounted to several lanterns fueled with liquid paraffin, candles in jars, flash lights and the fire place. Some of the wicks required trimming and some lamps needed more fuel. That will have to go on the next shopping list.
I taught the kids how to manually light the gas range safely for cooking. The electronic starter did not operate and there is no pilot light on my stove. They got to make and eat prep food, the cheap dehydrated noodle bricks that probably have the nutrition value of shredded cardboard and enough sodium to make a cardiologist nervous. The kids love them. DH promised my oldest three of them if he dug out the cars. There are some dehydrated veggies and canned meat to fortify these with if I was truly worried about the kids nutrition.
The family spent the evening watching a movie on a battery powered DVD player infront of the fireplace munching finger foods.
Looking out over the neighborhood during the storm, as visibility allowed, the only other lights were in the homes of my Amish neighbors. The homes in rest of the surrounding area were dark.
After the storm (lessons learned):
More fuel for the lanterns will be needed to replenish what is on hand.
Fuel for the generator should be stored in an safe and easily accessed place.
With the heat out a non-electric alarm clock needs to be set so someone can get up early and start the fire in the fire place. It was 57 degrees when DH got up this morning.
The clothes wash should be done before the storm hits. Hanging clothes on a line outside in winter in our climate is not an experience I am looking forward to. Having a clothes line with a pully system that I can opperate from the back porch has been added to the Prep Wish List.
Prepping for the storm meant:
Filling the gas tanks in the cars.
Making sure there was fuel for the generator.
Filling buckets of water. I leave them in the bath tub to use for flushing toilets.
Filling the largest stew pots with lids with water for drinking.
Telling the kids to make sure all the batteries in their electronic games are charged fully up.
It is husbands job to make sure there are enough useable batteries in the house.
Make sure the cell phones are fully charged.
Check the number of cooler chests. If the power goes out, with current temperatures, some of the things in the freezer and fridge can be safely stored outside here in the cooler chests and lower the demand for the generator.
Threaten the kids with denied access their computer games if they didn't help haul in enough fire wood for at least 3 days.
Make a run for feed and hay for the livestock. There is probably enough but more is cheap insurance.
Make sure the snow shovel is somewhere we can find it.
Yes a run to the food store, the pantry was stocked it was mainly for snack foods. If the family had to be forced in side together for a long period of time I wanted a lot of comfort foods available for them to munch on. Why not make it a party?
At the grocery store I noticed something. Reports from the food stores in cities preparing for storms have traditionally run out of milk, bread and eggs, Here in the country what I noticed were people buying lots of meat and vegetables. Lots equates to: 10, 20 or more pounds of meat at a time. The store I was in was somewhat crowded (it usually is) and they seemed to have no problem keeping up with demand.
During the storm:
The power did go out. Not much of a surprise given our location and the weather. The results are our home was life did change somewhat.
No internet access
The TV and computers were down. With the fire place heating the home and plenty of water there was no immediate reason to run the generator during the storm.
Lighting amounted to several lanterns fueled with liquid paraffin, candles in jars, flash lights and the fire place. Some of the wicks required trimming and some lamps needed more fuel. That will have to go on the next shopping list.
I taught the kids how to manually light the gas range safely for cooking. The electronic starter did not operate and there is no pilot light on my stove. They got to make and eat prep food, the cheap dehydrated noodle bricks that probably have the nutrition value of shredded cardboard and enough sodium to make a cardiologist nervous. The kids love them. DH promised my oldest three of them if he dug out the cars. There are some dehydrated veggies and canned meat to fortify these with if I was truly worried about the kids nutrition.
The family spent the evening watching a movie on a battery powered DVD player infront of the fireplace munching finger foods.
Looking out over the neighborhood during the storm, as visibility allowed, the only other lights were in the homes of my Amish neighbors. The homes in rest of the surrounding area were dark.
After the storm (lessons learned):
More fuel for the lanterns will be needed to replenish what is on hand.
Fuel for the generator should be stored in an safe and easily accessed place.
With the heat out a non-electric alarm clock needs to be set so someone can get up early and start the fire in the fire place. It was 57 degrees when DH got up this morning.
The clothes wash should be done before the storm hits. Hanging clothes on a line outside in winter in our climate is not an experience I am looking forward to. Having a clothes line with a pully system that I can opperate from the back porch has been added to the Prep Wish List.