How prepared are you if something happens? For instance our power went out this AM and I got to worry.

I did find a good flashlight. Could use some more. While we have a wood stove and a fireplace there is no propane stove here for easy warming of food or cooking. Our son has a generator but it won't run a well pump.

We could have more firewood. I did find a fluorescent table lamp and it worked. Could use more batteries etc.

Here I am with more than one gun but I hardly know where the rest of the stuff is. Wake up time.

Last Christmas our "new" furnace quit on Chirstmas Eve. We have a woodstove so heat was not a problem for the few days it took to get someone there to fix it. I grew up in central South Dakota. Winter storms were common and we always had plenty of supplies to see us through. Still maintain that habit. Plenty of camp gear to cook with lanterns/candles/oil lamps/flashlights for light.

we have frequent winter storms here, and i used to rely on generators (welders) for power in the aftermath of storms...

i don't have the welders anymore... if i did have them, i would not like to run them continuously for 3 weeks or more in the event of a storm like what Arkansas suffered last year...

for emergency heat, i purchased some bulk kerosene and a free standing kero heater this week...

Have enough food, water. propane to last 3-4 months. The hard part is that if I ever really needed all that would be trying to keep it.
John

Have a fireplace in the house we only use during holidays/ parties. Wife has several oil lamps from her/my parents and grandparents. I have an 1800w generator in the shop along with 10 gallons of gas which I rotate into the truck/snowmobiles to keep it from going skunky. Also a small chest freezer in the garage full of meat and frozen stuff from the garden. Not too worried, but you just never know when chit will happen.

Well tank froze last night.

No showers today.

BMT

What do you foresee happening? A couple of days without power? Hang some blankets up over the doors and make sure your pipes don't freeze. Sorry, but I just don't see somebody who gets his panties in a wad about a little internet dustup as being one who would accept much responsibility for his own emergency preparedness. Maybe you could buy a couple of candles and some Spam. Call it good and turn the game back on. Go team. Rah, rah.

Central heating by wood. Lots of wood. Woods, axes and saws to get more.
Lots of game in the freezer - to barter of if the electricity goes. Lots of ammo, rifle and skills to get more.
A well on the property.
Lots of ammo, rifles and resolve to counter rats.
A loving wife, a son, two dogs...

Keep a flashlight around as well.

Living in Albuquerque we don't have a lot of storms or other natural disasters that would make us require long term preparedness. However, we do have over 6 months of food (mostly rice and beans), water (over 100 gallons), water purifiers (katadin pocket), kerosene (10 gallons), propane (20 gallons), and a [bleep] load of ammo. Don't really think we will ever need them, but with the world going to chit you never know. And for a few hunders dollars it doesn't cost much to have peace of mind. Of course, all family and friends think they will get their share of my stuff if anything happens.

We had our power go out for several hours one evening a few weeks back. It got me to thinking too. We'd be in pretty good shape for a while.

I've got about 4 chords of firewood, our water is on a well, and I have a pretty good sized generator that can run it plus lights and such. Usually have plenty of gas on hand. Plus, I've got a 600 gallon water tank that I could fill from the well so that I wouldn't have to fire up the generator every time we needed water.

Have an assortment of kerosene (hurricane style) and Coleman lanterns. Have a couple of the 100 lb and 5-6 20 lb propane tanks (they're all full) and a two burner propane stove for cooking (along with the BBQ grill). Have plenty of food on hand to last the family for a while.

One of the areas where being an avid hunter and camper pays off.

On the other hand, my in-laws would be coming to our house as they aren't prepared for anything.

Being in an area where the electricity goes off everytime it comes a clap of thunder so it seems plus living in tornado alley and also where we get the remnants of hurricanes helps to stay prepared.

Heat with propane and have a fire place and we don't usually deal with really cold weather. Can keep warm and cook food. Have a generator so can run essential appliances like freezers, refridgerators and a few lights.

There is a 500 gallon fuel tank on the place usually full or nearly so.

Have a supply of kero lamps and lanterns. Some battery lamps. Plenty of mag light flashlights and a supply of batteries are in the closet.

Might get a little funky from nothing but PTA baths but figure we could last a couple of weeks w/o power if we had too.

BCR

Couldn't we all.. I know there's 6-8 of 'em around here but it seems they run and hide when they're needed.. Bummer.. I can literally cook on my wood stove if I had to.. Yeah, water's needed for sure.. That's one area I'm not ready for either.. I have a generator big enough to run the pump but I haven't got the hookup for it, yet.. Going to tend to that little item soon.. In the meantime, I always keep at least 15-20 plastic gallon jugs of water on hand, just in case..

I've got enough wood to last the year and could literally never fire up the furnaces.. I only use them when it's well below zero and the wind's high; and then just as a backup..

All are good points.. I know that we take so much for granted like, flipping on a switch or, turning on a faucet.. Those of us in the country should always have something figured out when (not if) the power's interrupted for some period..

We're faily lucky up here.. Longest power outage to date has been 30 hours.. Some places south of me can go without power for days, weeks even.. That's a genuine bish... You can bet I'll be even more set up for power outages after the move to SD..

lived off grid for 13 years allways prepared . now in town nice to have elec lites gas furnace ,not prepared .
guess you could call me dumb ass now

We have 72 hour kits stocked with food that doesn't require preparation, plus a supply of freeze dried meals. We have the tiny folding stoves and a large supply of triox tablets, plus a camp stove and plenty of gas. Kits include flashlights, AM/FM radio, handy-talkies, toilet paper, one change of clothes for each of us, and water purification bottles.

We have a generator and enough gas to run the freezers and fridges for a few days.

I have ham equipment and a license for communications. Usually there is a charged RV deep cycle battery on hand, and I have a 600 watt inverter.

I don't see a firearm as being terribly useful in most cases, but the kit does include a cheap 380.

My main issue would be water, and food preservation if the freezers went down. There's about a 4 year supply of wood stacked outback. The real killer though would be the survival of my son. Without text messaging, the web, and instant messaging, he would go ballistic. I probably have a year's supply of books to read.

heat is my weakness, it get's cold here.

we have two fireplaces but that don't cut it.

was looking at getting a pellet stove insert for one and wood insert for the other but am leaning towards two wood inserts once I found the pellet stove needs electric to work.

also talked about moving to the log house next door that we rent out and putting a wood stove in it. I screwed up by not putting gas stoves in either place. But I don't care much about that, I have cookstoves, both white gas and propane that I can use if need be.

but that house is too small for my needs right now, only 1200 sq. ft. whereas we live in 2800 right now, and I have too much Bullchit, though lots of it is outdoor, sporting goods related

sides where would I put my weight set, and heavy bag and speed bag.

food we got,

guns and ammo, does anyone on this site really need to ask....grin
like most of you I have a .22 rifle and a 12 ga. and 5-6 rounds of ammo for each, give or take

water, we've a well, but an electric pump, but there's enough snow I can get by for awhile, my 15 gallon water jug is at the cabin, but we have lots of fivers here and keep them full with a few drops of bleach in them.

I've got good flashlights, headlamps and batteries out the wazoo, and just bought two more headlamps, plus propane and white gas lanterns.

I've always kept a well stocked larder, both freezer and dry goods.

have a 500 gallon farm tank on the place so gas to last for awhile.

need to get a bigger generator and be able to hook up the well.

but if stuff really got bad, we'd head to the cabin, it's off the grid though we have a generator there, but you're already set up to live like that and for us it's good living though it adds chores to keep going.

My preparations right now are plenty sufficient for the run of the mill stuff (black-outs, storms, etc.).

If SHTF, my first priority is to GTFOOD (get the **** out of Dodge) and get somewhere I know the preparations are already in place and the "environment" is far more conducive to survival.

Fortunately, I know of such a place...................

I have a Bic lighter around here somewhere...........


Mike

We run on solar but could go without any electricity if needed. In fact we wouldn't even notice if we didn't have electricity except for tv and computer. Our lighting, fridge, cooking, heat and hot water are all taken care of by gas from our own gas well. We also have a gravity spring for water which we love.



We still try to be redundant where we can. We have a woodstove as backup heat. Lighting and other electric needs can be run off battery bank(charged by solar) or generator(efficient Honda Eu200i, the best there is).

We also just built some heavy duty shelving in the basement to start with food storage.


There's just a comfort in knowing no matter how bad the situation, we're taken care of.

We live rural, and have learned our lessons over 22 years in this house. Main panel is wired for backup generator (12K watts), and will run pretty much everything- well, furnace (natgas), fridge, freezer, lights etc. Two generators here onsite. We live on a large river, so water never a problem if well went down for some reason. 250 gallons of gas kept topped off as well as 150 diesel. Kerosene heaters, lots of firewood. Every tool I'd ever need, including guns and ammo.
Lots of dried and canned goods plus freezer full of food and meat.
The lodge in Canada is offgrid, even more equipped. I don't like relying on anyone for anything. My grandfather pounded that into my head at an early age.

In late December before Y2K my neighbor asked me come down and look at his breaker panel he was having trouble with. In his garage was shelves full of food water and other supplies. More food than could be ate by a faimly of four in a year. He asked me if I was prepared. Said no, got guns and will been down here for supper, have it ready at six!

However, I am well preped for waht may happen.

I only have a 4 KW generator, but it can run the fans for the gas heatser and a few lights.We keep about 10 gal of water handy in bottles as the generator will not run the well pump. We have been here 35 years and so fa , we make do.
I have only had the generator two years now.

Power outage wouldn't be much, I fear an earthquake. The wood stove burns all the time. In the event of a collapse, it could get really warm.

Where do you live??

L.W.

Our powwr outages, here in Florida, are usually in the warm months due to hurricanes. We have a generator that will run the freezers and frig, fans,lights and microwave. Feed thru the dryer breaker in the panel.

We keep food on hand that can be eaten cold or warmed in micro or on the grille. water always on hand.

Of course hunting equipment and supplies aplenty.

Litchfield, CT. The power went out at about 9:30 AM today and back on an hour later.

I have to find out more about the generator my son has, a Husky 5000/6200W. If it will run the oil fired boiler and the well pump and how to hook them up.

Then there is all the noise such a machine makes, etc.

Not sufficiently prepared, but we'd get by. I think I'll pick up a small genset to power the pump on the heating system. We have gas fired baseboard heat. So a small genset to keep the hot water circulating would do the trick.

Probably down to 1/2 a cord, and with a fireplace vs. a real woodburning stove, most of the heat goes up the flu vs. heating the house, not to mention you can't cook on a fireplace.

We have enough camping gear to stay warm and handle cooking. The pantry isn't as stocked as it could be, but we could certainly get by for a few months.

Flashlights are here and there, the boys seem to always pick one up to play with it, and who knows where it ends up. We have lanterns and candles, so light isn't an issue.

I've got 10 gals of water in jugs in the garage, plus the 50 gal in the hot water heater. There is snow to melt, and an artersian well within walking distance.

There might be a 22rf and a couple rounds of ammo.

I don't have one myself and power back though the welder outlet in the barn, but most places that is not legal unless you have an automatic cutout switch,so that you are not shipping power back down the line and electricute some poor guy working on the power lines .
I can turn my power off at the meter and still run generator power through my service panel

One thing a lot of people don't think of:

Take a few hours and scan your ID, your insurance policies, birth certificate, passport, driver's license, and your most precious family photos. Put all of this on a thumb drive, plus a backup.

In case of disaster, people often have a hard time establishing who they are and that they have insurance. If all that stuff goes up in a fire, you can have a dickens of a time getting it all put back together.

Of course you can!!

Just load up your 12" Lodge Dutch oven -- the real deal D.O., cast iron, three legs pot with rimmed lid -- with a good roast of elk, moose, venison, pork or beef, throw in some potatoes, onions, carrots, a cup of red wine, and place it in the front of the fireplace. Rake some hot coals underneath and shovel a bunch on top of the lid, and soon you'll have food better than anything you've ever set tooth and tongue to!

When I was a kid growing up in north central Arkansas, it was not unusual for the power to go out in the winter due to ice storms. We were "all electric." We had a fireplace that was always burning in the cold weather so my mother would use her Dutch oven, cast iron skillet on a rack from her electric oven, etc., to make fine meals for us.

In my firm opinion, anyone who believes in "prepardness," should have at least one good, real cast iron Dutch oven and know how to use it, both with charcoal and regular wood coals. Lodge D.Os. are best. Stay away from those el cheapo Chinese D. Os., as the lids quite often don't fit and the shoddy iron causes "hot spots" and irregular cooking.

Be prepared, I say.

L.W.

EDIT: 458 LOTT, drop down to the "Cooking/Recipes" forum and take a look at Whelenman's picture of a fine dish he prepared in his fireplace. Shows how it is done.

L.W.

If you already have a generator, great. If you don't, DO NOT get one of the China cheapies. Honda, Yamaha, Mitsubishi, TroyBilt, Generac good models. Stay with the Jap or USA models only. Make sure the unit has a 220 output.

A 5500 should be plenty to run an oil fired boiler and 220 well pump, plus the fridge and some lights. If your freezer is a small one, it will probably handle that too.
Hookups are not a problem. Just about anyone can hook one of these up, and if they can't, a decent electrician can in less than two hours.
http://cgi.ebay.com/6-CIRCUIT-EMERG...emQQptZBI_Generators?hash=item3a55b7797d

Don't worry about the noise. The Hondas, Mits, and Yamahas are EXTREMELY quiet running. The USA made ones may not be, but a power outage is not exactly the time I worry about offending someone when I have my family's needs to take care of.

I wouldn't be running my entire house off the genset, just the pump for the heater. And yes, the pump would have to be taken off the house circuit that feeds it and run solely off the genset.

If a person lives where somebody is gonna take offense at a little noise from somebody trying to keep their family warm and fed, they are probably already [bleep] anyway.

true. I live rural, so I could care less if anybody hears the big one running. My guess is that if someone piissed off their neighbors with a generator, their neighbors are cold, hungry, and in the dark because they don't have the faintest idea how to fend for themselves. I've actually seen folks with a generator not have the hookups, cords, or the gas to run the damn thing when the power went out.

Not enough if it got serious bad.

Our power went out at about 11:30 yesterday morning and just came back on about half hour ago. So about 25 hours certainly not a big scare but it did get bout 0 last night. We did have some pallets to cut up in the garage and we were able keep the fire place going all night and the temp in the house only dropped bout 10 degrees.

Dont get part of this, you have a wood stove and fireplace yet you can't warm up food because you don't have a stove... WTF there for sure.

We are continually upgrading at home. I have solar and wind in the future. We are wired for a generator and have a small one but am looking hard into one that I can run PTO with the diesel tractor, all kinds of good things there.
Plenty of food to last a while. Keep cases of water on hand but have 2 wells,rural water and a hand pump well too. AC could be an issue but not with the tractor run generator if needed. Though the small one will run lights/fans and freezers if needed.

We keep all our records and food and lights and such in a tornado proof shelter built into the house. With vents, a way to lock ourselves in or out and the cell phones work from inside there. Being that the walls are pretty thick its pretty much fireproof too, only issue would be breathing air. May keep an airpack handy for that in the future.

Beyond that what more could one really need? We have land, septic system etc.... can grow our own as needed and so on.

Can make biodiesel if it came right down to it too.

I do feel for the folks stuck in the city though, they generally don't think of these issues until its too late and then panic. Just look what happens when a hurricane heads our way. I dont know that we've ever gone to town to buy anything when one is coming. We stay prepared.

To my way of thinking, the noise that a gen set makes would/could become critical in a long-term type survival situation due to opsec concerns. Just as light/noise discipline is important in a fox hole/front line scenario, I would think that drawing any kind of attention to one's place of refuge during difficult times such as Katrina/Rodney King/OJ's trial riot type stuff, should be avoided if at all possible. My gennie is in a wood shed looking bldg, which is well insulated (as much for sound as temperature considerations) and the exhaust is run through an extended tail pipe and additional muffler and out through the side of the wall. The area where the exhaust finally exits the system is shielded from view by a wooden fence and garbage bin holding area. When it is first fired up in cold weather, there is a little exhaust vapor visible, but after a few minutes of warming up, this vapor dissipates so as to be un- noticeable. I can't hear it running at all when the door is closed and I am standing within a foot or so of the building. It is quieter than my car and trucks. I also don't want to have my house lit up like a Christmas tree when others are in the dark. Covering the windows to black the light out is a good idea. Marauders will strike at any time, and someone should be awake at all hours on a revolving basis for security purposes. Everyone should sleep in a state of readiness to defend at a moment's notice. I sleep quite well fully dressed and with my boots on. A rifle nearby, ready to go, and I can wake up quickly and be ready to lend a hand.

If things get difficult and then stay that way for long, it is best to appear to be going without just as others are going without. While I believe in helping neighbors if necessary, I also encourage them to get prepared as well. If they don't, then ultimately, it is their own fault for going without. My concern is being noticed by people who feel that they should be able to take what is mine without asking. That is when the other tools become needed. I don't care if they come under the color of law or in the name of the "general good", they can kiss my grits. I care about my family's general good first and foremost, and I am called to care for them above all others. If the gov't cannot get prepared without my paltry preps, then they should have spent our tax money in better ways.

Remember the Koreans with the AK's during the LA riots? They were left alone, weren't they? They were ready to take care of what was theirs.

We have a lot of time in prepping. There is always more to be done, but we have been at it for a long time. Suffice it to say, we have as many bases covered as we could think of over many years.

VERY!

If the world as we know it ceased to function tomorrow, I would be ready.

Mind set, skill set, preps, gear..............

Back in 2005, when we lived in Miami, we were hit back to back with Katrina and Wilma. My mom called to check on us, and my wife said "don't worry, I am married to the ultimate Boy Scout"

I was the only person in our gated community with stored gasoline, water, food, generator, ice.......... Wound up helping all the elderly and those with nothing.

Cell phones only work to the next tower.Then they are land lines unless they are satelite.Take away all the power and cell phones willdie evenetually die also.

I've done enough "primitive" camping in the last 35 years to cover me as far as cooking and keeping warm would require. We went through the ice storm in Arkansas last January and got a 5500 generator that would take care of the creature comforts until lack of fuel might become a problem. I have a freezer full of wild game and other foodstuffs that would keep for an extended period of time (especially with the temps we've been having) and have lots of canned goods on hand. I have plenty of longguns and handguns and ammo for all should it get real bad. I DO know how to use all of the above and I WILL if necessary . . .

Pretty prepared. Living in hurricane country you have to be. In the last 15 years I've been without power for 21 days, 5 days and 7 days..two of those being hurricanes and the 7 day a regular storm.

Just a fact of life around here. 500 gallon tank that I try to keep pretty full to run a generator if needed plus I keep a pretty good stockpile of essentials.

If it went south just as I filled up my tank I'm guessing I could last a month easily before I would have to even think about getting something. Having a water well is nice becuase you always have water if you have power and gas/diesel. I have two small gas generators that are portable and a permanent diesel attached to the house in an enclosure that you pretty much don't hear...not that anyone is around to hear it anyway. I couldn't run it wide open 24/7 but I could run it enough to keep the freezers frozen and pump water out of the well etc...for a long time on 500 gallons. Plus if you own multiple vehicles you can always pull gas out of a full tank for a generator if needed, that adds up if you have 3 vehicles or more like a lot of families.

The killer here is not winter but summer. I keep 2 small window ac units handy that I can stuff in a room and shut it up in case it's July and a 105 out and you just need to cool off for a while. I use them in the shop office so it's easy to just tote them over to the house if needed and I've done it a fair amount of times even when I know the electricy is coming back on the next day just because it's much easier to sleep when it's cool.

The limiting factor for me would be medication and I normally try to keep at least a 2 month supply on hand in reserve and just rotate it out with newly purchased stock. This is not just for power outage emergencies etc...but every once in a while I run to town to get insulin and all pharmacies are out and considering there's a limited number of companies who make what I take (one) you never know when the smallest hiccup occurs and your SOL for a while till it gets fixed.

My uncle has a neat deal in his home. He has a heat box for his AC/Heat built behind his fireplace. When the power is out or he just feels like heating the house with his fireplace he turns a damper and it heats the house. When the power is on he just runs the fan unit...when the power is out he runs it with a generator which takes almost no power to run the fan unit as opposed to running a full heating system.

For lights in extended periods I go out and take the solar lights off my gate and bring them in. I leave the solar panel outside and just take the lights back out during the day and charge them up. Because you unplug them from the solar panel you just wind up with a light you can stick pretty much anywhere. Come night time I bring them in. They run all night every night just like they do at the gate inside the house and are enough to get around the house or read by if you sit right under one and I don't have to run the generator just to see.

This brings up my pet peeve about Katrina. Being born and raised in LA the number one thing they always tell you on TV/Radio/Newspaper prior to a hurricane is to pull up plenty of water. You can store it in the bathtub if needed/pots/pans etc...A lot of those people in New Orleans that were from the housing projects that were made so famous on TV came from multiple story projects that flooded knee deep on the first floor....but they didn't have water AT ALL once the tap didn't work....water is free or near free in the projects how hard is it to fill up some pots/pans and a bathtub and be prepared. A lot of those people you saw were not people whose house was washed away or flooded up to the eaves.

When the power goes out here they normally only last about 24 hours before they stop working. I assume they have some sort of battery backup and when that goes it's done for till the power comes back on.

Land telephone lines are great especially if you live in area where they are buried. In all the time I've been without power I don't think I've ever lost my regular phone line for more than a day total.

That brings up a point to remind people. Cordless phones are great for day to day but one should always keep a cheap $10 CORDED phone for emergencies. If you have limited or no power during an emergency, a corded phone should still work.

So many people nowdays don't even have a land line. One thing I'll remember is during Katrina my best friend was working at Charity hospital in New Orleans and everyone's cell phone died because they couldn't charge it regularly but the hospital did have one land line in/out they could talk on the whole time.

Don't chew worry. I got enough skin mags to keep me busy until FEMA saves us.

Our power was out for about a week last year (maybe it was the year before), and the only thing we turned out to need that we didn't have was a fuel fitting for the generator (I took the 5-gallon generator tank off and used the 1-quart tank from the lawn mower) and a decent supply of Cyalume light sticks (we had barely enough, but I bought a 100pk when the power came back on).

The light sticks are great for hanging on the bedroom wall during the night so that you have enough light to find the flashlight without cracking your shins, but not so much light you can't sleep.

That was in the summer. I'm pretty sure we could do it again in the summer with no problem at all; if we did it in the winter we might turn up a few more minor issues.

the first day i walk into a room and flick on the light switch...
by the second day i dont care if it ever comes back on.
i have a gas fireplace and water heater. what do i need light for. when the sun goes down i go to sleep. when it comes up illl wake up. As long as i can take a shower every few days and cook my food i am happy to ride it out.

Good advice. Everybody in the family is getting their standard socks, under garments and pj's this year. But in addition a small but effective emergency preparedness kit to include a cheap $10 wall phone that does not require power.

Corded phone is a good idea.

Question, I do need a generator for my pump so I have water. I'd just need it for the pump or the electric blower on the fireplace. What's the smallest I could get by with?
I have no idea on the amperage on my pump and I'm not going out in the cold to find out but it's not anything extra large.
Fireplace blower is just a small electric motor.

Didn't I see a generator at the tarheel blue neighbors house? Just get a long extension cord.

It's likely that you could run your well pump off a 12V battery.

There's a generator thread somewhere but the 1000 series Honda or Yahama series should do. You can even get the Yahama in a tri-fuel setup.

We have used the little Honda generators in salt water conditions for hours on end, days and days. If I get one it'll prolly be a little Honda. I can't imagine the pump drawing that much amperage.
Oh and the neighbors in the Carolina Blue hovel, they don't have ac/dc. They run cables from their cars into the trailer and go out and crank the vehicles from time to time.
Not kidding, got the pix.

Thus...

I understand poor and grew up with it. BUT that is over the top.

Makes me feel very fortunate for what I now have and had growing up.

These folks are sorry. Can't seem to pick the trash up outta their yard.

I'll be coming down 95 South next week. Want me to stop off with the leaf/trash blower?

Actually, call WildBill59!!!!

well, first we need to set some parameters. how long is the power expected to be out? i've seen power out in local areas of NE Georgia for 9 days or so, after a "massive" icestorm.

ya wanna see some dancin' then just look at the poultry farmers, some with 100,000 chicks per super-house. water is the name of the game. heat and food are close seconds.

deep wells require 2hp or thereabouts, and can remain down until electricity is restored.

so, are we planning for 1 day of distruption or 14 days disruption? after that, all bets are off.

getting the distribution system back up and running is where all able-bodied men should be focusing their attention, imho.

Tough to answer without knowing the amperage and volts on the well pump. My deep well pump is 8 amps at 220, or 1760 watts. Most fireplace blowers aren't going to draw more than a box or oscillating fan, so maybe 100. If your well pump is 110Volt, you may be able to get by a with around a 2000 watt, and if that's the case, I'd STRONGLY recommend the Honda EU2000. It's absolutely the best generator out there in the 2000 watt size range, your wife or kid can carry it, and it runs a long time on one filling. They can be had for around $800. You can barely hear them running.
If you're going to need a 220 source, get something a little more substantial that has 220 output, but you still shouldn't need much more than a 3000 for just those needs.

I've got an electric blower, I'll just need 1500' of extention cord.

Stop by, we'll burn some animal flesh and shoot some guns!

Think of it this way:

They're not poor. They're just getting a head start on learning to live without...

Scott

yep. funny, but true. we use to fill the "scald the hog" from the black pot. we'd draw the water from the well, and pour into the pot, and heat it with firewood. we'd throw up some rusty tin around the fire, to keep the heat from being blown away by the gusting northwestern winds as a strong cold front moved through.

it's hell being poor, that's pretty much a military certainty. but, with plenty of salt to help cure the meat, we were well=fed through the winter.

dried peppers, salt pork, canned beans, etc, and a bunch of cornmeal. sorry, we're talking about living comfortably when the EMC power goes out due to a "disturbance." A disturbance, you say??

I have a freezer with enough food for six months. I have enough wood for a year and a half. I have a propane stove with a 400 pound tank that will last about two years. I have a 6500 watt Honda Generator, and a 30 foot deep dug well with 25 feet of water in it. My pump is a submersible 1/2 horse -- runs good on the genset. I got deer in my back yard and enough guns and ammo to keep the family fed for a while. I live 1/4 mile from a good fishing lake as well.

By the grace of God, I'm set up pretty good. When the genset is running, I have phone, lights, heat, and internet as well as a cell phone I can charge.

It hit 57 last night and I was a might bit skeered that I'd have to find a fat woman for heat.

Long as it wasn't a fat woman IN heat.

laughing out loud.


the question, if there is one, is how long should one be able to survive, even uncomfortably, while waiting on the resumpton of "distributed" power?

at some point, the kerosene, diesel, gasoline stored up, begins to run out. a horrible idea!!

so, in a very practical sense, should we (95 percent of us) prepare for 3 day outages, or more like 9 days, and/or even more?? the question remains, how much resources are enough prior to the re-establishment of distributed power??

water seems to float to the top of the list, time and time again.

Or need a tee shirt.
Just remember, the colder it gets the slower the reptiles get.
Fakkers scare me sometimes.

Been following this , on the heels of some Wind and cold from hell ( for "puszy" Az.)

"if something happens? "

Quantam of all fears, ....that.

"SOMETHING",.....happens,

The proud and exclamatory "self sufficient / off grid" might just sneak up and bite most anyone in the azz.

Realizing that you're at the mercy of some "grid" is something else, again.

I'll not beak off,....about how "Ready" I am,

Nice to have a home,.......

Nicer to have fast horses to get one to the other one,
....the one you set up as option 2.

Than there's the tinfoil hat registry unit,

I hear that one of their qualifying questions this year will be,.....

Iz Joor Azz punched, bored, or ate out by a Magpie?

Remain Humble, in one's "Preparedness" would be my best advice.

Pylgrims abound.

GTC

You know horses are a good idea. Had not given that thought any consideration.

Yes, and they taste good, too. It's called French Steak.

L.W.

there's no way in the world, imho, we could go back to a Horse drawn carriage existence.

too many people, not enough grasslands/hay to feed the horses.

but, horse steaks, now there is an option. some would be tough and some tender, and priced accordingly.

is there a horse processing industry in the US, or, are they all in Mexico and Canada?

Europe is another subject, but shipping of product can become excessively expensive??

how much biomass does a pleasure horse consume, annually? i don't know.

Horse is served in Swiss restaurants.
What the heck is a tarheel?

Did you see Red Dawn? I'll take a horse over a no gas available ATV any day.

http://www.generatorjoe.net/html/calculations.html

so, , we're speaking of a possible descent, and a bottoming, and then a ascent, right?

is the bottoming a U shaped bottom, or a V shaped bottoming?? we all hope it's not a W type double dip pattern or structure.

on the other hand, there's a tragedy with our American Horse inventory. there's not a meat-processing facility in the US that allows sick, endangered, or poorly care for horses to be converted into biomass?

Mexico, and possibly Canada have means to deal with the issue. but, the economics of shipping is limiting our US solutions, as we struggle to deal with the issue. starving horses, is not the solution.

maybe this thread is off-tract, and if so, please ignore my responses. but, horses should not starve just because someone has no market for the animals that they can't afford to feed. it's sad, for sure.

Real Buckaroo,....you ?

Or sick African?

GTC

I just looked,

a great bunch of ROWDY friends,

and a wee bit of grub,...put by ,

on an "Old School" outfit.

God Bless / Keep the cannibals.

GTC

No one here own a propane barbeque????
Maybe I just missed it but I didn't see any one suggest dragging the old barby inside for a bit of cooking and hey, add some heat to the house too? Oh I'm sure someone will think this will somehow kill all the occupanse of the house but I doubt it. My cabin has an old propane cook stove and I simply fail to see any difference between that oven running safely all day in the cabin and the barby runnin a while in my house. If there is a difference please explain it to me like I'm a 2 year old.
It is interesting how we all set different priorities depending on our circumstances. For some, access to water is the highest priority, others need to keep cool or need to keep from freezing to death. I'm the later. We just went througha 1 hr power autage near dark on a 20 below afternoon. Daylight is pretty short now so first the flashlites,(new diode style are great) then dragged the little propane camping 2 burner stove into the kitchen so the wife could start supper. Our water maintained preasure so we filled a few pots. Lots of snow outside to melt if we needed water. I was contemplating dragging the snow covered barby inside if we were still out after 2 hrs. We have an oil furnace that requires a 110 vlt jot for ignition and fans. I was bussy making up a short jump plug..........male both ends to supply the furnace from my 2000 watt honda Jenny.
Also thought I could boot the furnace on the old camper if it was too cold for he kids tonight. I have several of those booster/jumper packs that are great...some even come with small inverters for AC power.
If power off for longer ....................will pack everyone up and head to the cabin............propane cookstove, lights and wood heat...........even could run the sat TV off small power supply. Can use vehicle to recharge batteries if necessary.

"1 hr power autage near dark on a 20 below afternoon. Daylight is pretty short now so first the flashlites,(new diode style are great) then dragged the little propane camping 2 burner stove into the kitchen so the wife could start supper. Our water maintained preasure so we filled a few pots. Lots of snow outside to melt if we needed water. I was contemplating dragging the snow"

It's what we love about being ready for "autage",....

filling a few "pots"

Hey,...I mean Like WOW, Man,....

....that's AWESOME

GTC

I can't help thinking about the ice storm in the early 90's that knocked out the power for much of eastern Quebec, upstate New York, and part of the maritimes. Several hundred thousand homes were without electrical power for 3+ weeks during cold winter weather. Could that happen again, say, in my area? You bet it could.

As such I think it's a good idea to have enough backup supplies to last our household a month or longer. Jugs of water are high on the list, along with firewood for the fireplaces (don't have a woodstove), propane cookstove and lots of propane, canned & frozen foods, lots of potatoes. I've got a generator, but probably would use it sparingly as fuel gets to be in short supply in a hurry when there's no power to run the pumps.

I worked on phone cell sites around WI and most have a battery backup,(ups) and we were installing 200A generators, most were diesel. The new sites were two room with one being the generator room.

I'd note, at this point in this strictly "Philosophical'
discourse,....

there's few that I'd rather be stranded with, and hungry, than those tossing out lines here.

"Prepared",....yup, than reality got right up behind , and bit me in the azz.

We're the BEST,.....run with that, bush apes.

GTC

Don,

Quite well prepared. We heat with wood; I have about 4 cords sitting out there. Our stove is propane. Our well would not work without power, but in a real emergency we do have a year-round creek on our land. We keep about 2 months of food on hand. Plenty of firepower <grin>.

I'm a good diesel generator away from being truly set up.

If SHTF, my first priority is to GTFOOD (get the **** out of Dodge) and get somewhere I know the preparations are already in place and the "environment" is far more conducive to survival.

Fortunately, I know of such a place...................
==============

Holiday Inn?

Lee's house

...I've got a shotgun, a rifle and a 4 wheel drive....

We just got power back on today about 4:00pm. Keeping warm wasn't any problem, a fire place and kerosene heater kept it toasty. We have a small propane cooking stove with plenty of propane. A hand dug well provided water. Might have been a little short on food if the power was out more than a month or so (it was only out about 77 hours) but the hills have plenty of food scurrying about. Only real concern I had was the phone was out about a day and with my wife being disabled that is her life line to me or anyone else while I'm at work. She was too stubborn to go to her moms house for a few days and the cell phones are "iffy" at best here. Had the phone been out any longer I may have fought her to get her to her moms but.

Dave.

Aww.........you don't have anything to worry about libtard.

When they see all those Obama-Biden stickers you have on your car and the white flag flying over your house, I'm sure you'll be safe!

I live in Florida, I'm ready for anything. Have to be!!

No worries when the power goes out here.

I go to work and turn it back on, Our golden rule is that when we have a storm we will not go home to a dark house

I work for a power company too, and I was out for 8 days during Hurricane Francis in 04. Too far from the feeder, off a backlot line that had a bad CSP transformer that kept blowing the fuse. Wouldn't trip the internal fuse, kept blowing the branch-line fuse.

Well water with no power when your working 16-18 hour day just plain sucked!!

Used to loose power every winter. 7 years ago I bought a 3000W generator. Sure enough the power company did some work on the sub station by me, and we haven't lost power since...

Do have a wood stove and over a chord of wood for back up heat. Have food on hand and a propane stove. Lanterns, candles, flashlights, etc. Also keep two 5 gallon cans full of water for re-filling the pottie tank.

Have more than one gun and LOTS of ammo, and the Wife and I know how to use them. (grin!)

Virgil B.

I went to Lowes yesterday to get another opinion. The sales clerk was some giant old guy who did not even like my Jack Benny joke.

He rebutted another guys claim that a collector or whatever it is does not to be wired to the panel in the house by an electrician. He said to get one for $150 at the local wholesaler. The well pump and furnace in particular are the reason for this need.

Then I have to get a generator with a large surge of maybe 12,000 watts.

Considering all the noise they make and all the gas I would need I agree with my lovely wife. We would move into a nice resort or hotel or the camp or the boat and live there.