What I learned from the last four days without power

[Hinotori]

We just got power on a few hours ago, here just west of Mt Rainier. The snow, more snow, inch of ice did the power lines in out here. For two days, if you stood outside you could hear "pop, pop, pop" every few seconds as the trees broke.

I learned some stuff, but my DH learned MUCH more. Like to listen to me when I want to get a few things just in case because they will be damn impossible to get later.

We had 15 gallons of drinking water set by. That was plenty for drinking for our few days. I wouldn't use it for anything other than food or drink.

I learned we need to get some 55 gallon drums and store some water for the animals and for washing. We live on the edge of a pond, but with the weather, couldn't break through. I was melting ice and snow for washing.

Hubby learned that without water the toilet doesn't flush and that he should have let me get the bucket toilet lid. We lucked out on finding one at a store.

I learned that more meat and veggies need to be canned. Would make meals so very much easier to fix on the wood stove.

Hubby learned that me nagging about getting a small portable generator wasn't because I'm a pain. He wouldn't get one because he wanted to save up for a whole house generator. It only took him a few days of living in the dark and me not letting him touch a freezer for any of that food to learn you should have something generator wise. By some miracle we got a generator at a small local lawn and saw shop even with everyone looking for one. They had two come in and we called and went in very early on shipment day. They didn't even charge more than going price for it. It's a nice small one. Runs the fridge, freezer and TV for about a day on one 3.4 gallon tank.

Listening to the poor people without heat because they couldn't run their pellet stoves made me so very, very glad we didn't opt for one of those when we got a new stove last year. Lopi says on their website that the surfaces are good for cooking on and they are right. Worked very well for boiling and frying up stuff. We have propane and a grill and a two burner outdoor stand stove, but it was just not very comfortable to be outside enough to cook on them.

I learned I need to get a few more metal cans and keep more animal food stored. We had plenty for them, but we would have been hurting in a couple weeks if it stayed snowed in. The chickens wont step foot out of their shelter with ice. If they can't go range and eat grass and weeds, they eat a lot more food. The alfalfa hay we got right before the storm really helped. They scratched through and ate a bunch of leaves.

We need a battery powered lamp for inside. That's on shopping list. Candles and flashlights are nice, but it's easier to read by a better lamp.

Thank goodness for books and a few games, and my new favorite object. The little camping radio that uses batteries or hand crank. I'd forgot we had bought it so didn't have the batteries for it. Only thing here that uses AAs. It did very well on cranking.

 

[Denim Deb]

Hubby was talking about getting a pellet stove instead of our wood stove. I told him I don't want one for just that reason.

 

[Beekissed]

Nothing like being without power to pinpoint needs, is there? I've finally convinced my mother to put a deep well hand pump on her well to augment her electric pump in times of extended power outages. Everything else we pretty much have on hand but you can only store so much water if you have limited space.

 

[Hinotori]

Hubby has been adamant that I'm just paranoid about wanting a hand pump for the well. I think I may be able to get it without issue after this. He was mocking me about it when I brought it up last summer. It's less money that gets thrown away on other crap and it could be very useful.

 

[terri9630]

We loose power here a lot and I would love to get a hand pump for the well but don't know where to start looking for one.

 

[Jamsoundsgood]

I'm up outside of Olympia and still without power. Thank Heavens I have a husband that fully believes that this will happen every year. The first year we lived here we were without power for over a week. So now we have a wood stove we can cook on, and a generator that can keep things going. I really miss the hot water though. It takes a really looooong time to heat it up on the wood stove. This time has been really fun! I've been learning to make a lot of things on my stove. Last night I even made pancakes. Lots of different soups. I'm usually a slap and dash cook, so the slow cooking is difficult for me. I've probably got several more days without power. I might get brave and try a roast in my cast iron dutch oven. I'm thinking though that the next big thing we need to get is the hand pump for our well. And more oil lamps. They have come in very handy as well.

 

[Hinotori]

I got bored one night and twisted cotton balls together then wrapped with thread. Then I filled a glass pop bottle with olive oil, put my wick in and wrapped the top with aluminum foil to keep the wick where I wanted. It made a rather decent lamp with a bright light. If I could have found some wire, I'd just have made a small wick and had the flame in a mason jar.

It had said on the PSE website (love my phone) as of last night that we wouldn't have power until Wednesday. I about jumped through the roof when I was cleaning up in the bathroom and the water in the toilet started running. This nasty wind has me skeptical that the power will stay up.

I'm just really glad now we don't have any trees around the house. Last owner cut them all down up here according to our neighbor. All the trees I'm planting up front are dwarf or semi dwarf fruit trees.

I learned bird netting sucks in winter. The inch of ice that collected on it was just to much weight and pulled my chicken run down. We can fix the wood and are going to reinforce and put stronger fencing on top or an actual roof. I let the birds free range most of the time anyway, so it's not a situation for us. The chickens have been living in their coop and the big shelter I built for them for the last week.

 

[terri9630]

I'm up outside of Olympia and still without power. Thank Heavens I have a husband that fully believes that this will happen every year. The first year we lived here we were without power for over a week. So now we have a wood stove we can cook on, and a generator that can keep things going. I really miss the hot water though. It takes a really looooong time to heat it up on the wood stove. This time has been really fun! I've been learning to make a lot of things on my stove. Last night I even made pancakes. Lots of different soups. I'm usually a slap and dash cook, so the slow cooking is difficult for me. I've probably got several more days without power. I might get brave and try a roast in my cast iron dutch oven. I'm thinking though that the next big thing we need to get is the hand pump for our well. And more oil lamps. They have come in very handy as well.

For hot water I bought one of the zodi camp showers. Coleman also makes a hot water heater. They run on the small propane bottles and I know they say not to use them indoors but we do. We just leave the bathroom door open for ventilation and if it is warm outside we open a window. If it's cold, the bathrooms are away from the living areas of the house where the fire place is.

 

[Joel_BC]

Some years ago we had a landslide in my valley. Took a bunch of power poles out, and we were without power for several days. We were not too badly prepared. It happened in late spring, so evening heating was not an issue. Put blankets over our freezer, which is situated in the cool of our basement, anyway... that worked out okay. But we can and dry, as well as freeze... and we buy grains, lentils, and other stuff in bulk. We always have about a year's worth of food around our place, though over a year's time the diet would get monotonous in certain ways. Our main water supply is a gravity-feed system from a spring. We were cooking with propane.

We could not drive to the big town (normally, 50 minutes drive each way) - due to the landslide.

For evening/night light, we have flashlights, kerosene lamps and candles, battery-powered radio. But...

We need a battery powered lamp for inside. That's on shopping list. Candles and flashlights are nice, but it's easier to read by a better lamp.

I throroughly agree with you on that. We had a bit of a discussion here about this. There were some speciic brand names and models assessed in our thread. Here's the link:
http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11535

 

[Bettacreek]

I guess I'm all for an outside campfire for cooking. Still need to find a good dutch oven, but I have some other cast iron pans I've picked up on the cheap ($3 for a big pan, heck yeah!) that I could use on the camping frame. That, or just toss some wood into one of the little camping grills, then I could cook on the porch. The only thing is, we never get to play with this stuff d/t power outages, only during camping. Guess that's a blessing, lol.