Category Archives: POWER

Electricity production and storage, Heating / cooling and air handling could go here.

SNOW and supplies

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Blog SNOW and supplies

 

 

 

In March 2021 our area had a bit of snow….   The weather service had been forecasting this  bit of snow for well over a week. So this was or at least should not have been a surprise. We ALL knew it was coming and the projected amounts. Hummm   OK by the time the snow stopped our area had OVER 30 inches of snow. The storm lasted a few days. During this time we monitored the area’s communication systems. At one point our lights flickered and came back on. A few blocks over the lights went out for about 36 hours.

 

Some of the calls for services made good sense. In the areas that lost power people were calling for oxygen supplies because their oxygen concentrators were not running at home. Most folks have enough bottled oxygen to last 12 hours and then they are gasping like fish out of water. Trust me this is NOT fun!  SO, people were out on snowmobiles and snow cats getting bottled oxygen to those in need.    Many home bound people were stuck as their care givers could not get in to tend to them. Others who had 24 hour care, the staff were stuck there as they could not get out and relief staff could not get in. in at least one case someone died at home and the family had to wait with the body for …. Too long.

 

Like I said, I CAN understand this.

 

What I can NOT understand are the people who did not have even a weeks worth of insulin and other life sustaining medications on hand. Many types of insulin are available over the counter in most states.  Generally you can refill your medications a few days early and over time build up a small stockpile of you life sustaining medications. DO NOT ask for CDS/narcotics early nor extra.

 

People were calling EMS because they were out of insulin and other things…    SAD that people don’t or can’t think ahead.

 

My building was literally snowed in for many days, even the post office was closed. Of course we did not expect to get deliveries anyway we could not get out and they could not get in. one of the tenants has a life alert button and some how it accidentally got activated. It took EMS almost 2 hours to travel what is normally a 10 minute drive. They had 2 snow plows clearing the roads for them to get in. only to find that it was a false alarm. This sort of thing happens.

 

Crime was WAY DOWN that week.

 

There was still snow drifts 3 weeks after the snow stopped. Many roads remained closed for over a week and many that were ‘open’ only had one lane of travel. Only the main roads were  mostly open.

 

Neighbors helped each other.  A friend after shoveling out her driveway, cleared the walkway for an 80 year old woman who lived down the street form her and then she dug out an old couples vehicle because she knew that they had doctors appointments to get to later that week. She did not have to help those old folks BUT she is a good person and wanted to help out.  The next day there were 6 missionaries who had cleared the walks in their neighborhood and went to the senior apartments and cleared their walkways and dug out their cars.

 

Lessons learned.  Many times you are on your own IE YOU are your own first responder. That is just life. Plan ahead.

 

When the weather people tell you a storm is coming- get ready!

 

You do not have to be a weather man to tell which way the wind is blowing stay alert to what is going on around you!

 

Talk to people and make friends. Get to know those around you – what their strengths are AND what their weaknesses are [and how YOU can help them]. Lone wolves are NOT normal and will die early on.

 

Remember ARK – Acts of Random Kindness are good in and of themselves. Be nice.

 

Cross ref

 

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/re-hydration-drink/

 

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/journaling/

 

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/comms-part-1/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/general-preps/

http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/stockholm/

 

#ARKtime

 

 

Kitchen Tools nonelectric

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Kitchen Tools needed have handy when electricity goes out

Go to your kitchen and look at the tools that you use to cook food. How many use electricity? In this blog I want you to think about which tools you could use if you did not have electricity and what foods you could make. The number 1 kitchen tool you will need is a manual can opener. Whether that be a P38 that is used in the military to open one can at a time, or one that your grandmother had on the wall, that can open large cans. It would be beneficial if all pre-teen to adults had a P38 or P51 (these are different sizes that the military uses) on each person say on a keychain or a lanyard and then a larger one for the kitchen area this can be one of the ones that is called a hand can opener or one that you put on the wall. Either way they are easier to use when opening more than 1 can at a time. Also, if anyone carries a P38/51 they should know how to use it. Put this on your list to teach everyone how to use one and especially the pre-teen to adults to be able to use easily. If anyone is going to be cooking in the kitchen make sure they know how to use the larger one.

How do you mix your cakes and cookies? If you use an electric mixer start learning now how to use something that does not require electricity. There is a handy device that grandmother use to use that was called an egg beater. It has two mixing blades like an electric mixer but uses a crank wheel to beat the eggs, not as hard on the hands as a fork. But, whichever you use get it and start practicing, then make sure that it is handy for when the electricity goes out.

How do you make bread, or do you make bread? If the electricity goes out you will not have a bread machine, but you can bake bread in a solar oven. This should be something you practice on a bit, because it takes practice to make bread for different areas. Where we live, we are over a mile in altitude, but there are places that are below sea level, and these and the areas in between require slight differences in making bread. Also differences in humidity require slight changes. Start with simple recipes and go to the more difficult ones. This will also make help make your diet healthier not to have so many preservatives in it.

Choppers and blenders are other electrical appliances, but the way to get around using these is to chop items up very small and stir a lot. If you don’t know how to chop or need a good knife or cutting board put this on your list and as soon as you get them start practicing. This is the way baby food can be made by chopping food up real fine and adding liquid to it and stirring real well.

Are there any other kitchen tools that you use that are electrical that you would need to change your way of cooking? If so, let me know and we can add that to this blog for future use. We will talk about how to cook without electricity in another blog.

Fire starter insert

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Fire starter www.PrepareSurviveThrive.US
Gather tinder in a pile next to where you intend to start your fire. Use the driest material available. You should have 5 times more tinder and kindling ready than you think you will need. Unless you have extra hands available and foraging for fire wood – gather 5 times more of that than you think you will need for the night.

Lay your fire.

Pare a small pile of magnesium shavings – at least enough to cover a quarter. Use a sharp knife or other metal tool held at 90 degrees to the magnesium block. The magnesium shavings will burn extremely hot [over 3,000 degrees] and fast.
When ready strike the Ferro rod [flint] aiming the sparks toward the magnesium shavings.

To prevent serious injury and property damage: keep away from children, wear ANSI-approved safety goggles and heavy-duty work gloves during use, use as intended only, inspect before every use. Magnesium in solid form is safe do not pare shavings until ready to use. Clear ground of flammable material 5 feet around fire site. Do not leave fire unattended and be prepared to extinguish fire completely

lighting

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Lighting is a very good thing to have anytime and especially during an emergency situation. check out http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/lighting-low-power/
There are other low power lights that can be of use too. I have some LED Christmas lights that run off of 2 double A batteries. With rechargeable batteries they will run for 60 plus hours.

full time RV

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Can you give me some input on RV full timing?  Your opinion on best type of rig, size, must haves, etc.?  I’m thinking Class A or 5th wheel — but no experience

Our Response

Currently we have a Winnebago type 20+ foot camper because that is what was available when we needed it and in our price range.

The up side for the driver compartment being connected to the cabin portion is that you can spread out a bit and still be able to talk with each other. Your co-pilot can get cold drinks from the frig without stopping or make you a sandwich too. In the morning if you want an early start, you can get up and just start driving without the hassle of going outside to the truck. You can, depending on how you have the thing configured have a bread machine making bread for you while you drive. Others can sleep comfortable while one drives.

The down side is that your whole house goes with you to the store and if /when you have mechanical issues or need the engine serviced your whole house is in the shop for however long and you have to figure out where to live and how to get around during that time.

PULL behind

I like the bumper hitch type over a 5th wheel. A 5th wheel interrupts the use of the bed of the truck. I would want a camper shell for ‘extra’ hauling or to put stuff from the store or lumber whatever else you may want to haul. Several people that I know have an external gas tank mounted in the bed. I have seen 100 gal tank as a single and with 2 of the tanks- so 1600 – 1700 lbs of fuel. One guy that I talked with at church this summer has 1 – 109 gal tank and his range is from here in Wyoming to south Florida without refueling.

Generally the other up side to a pull behind is that it can be parked either at a park or free standing and left behind when you go shopping or to the movies or appointments ect, when the truck needs serviced you can still use your home on wheels. Also when the miles build up and you switch out the truck for a newer one the house stays the same, which is cheaper.

The down side is that everyone has to move from the camper to the truck when you are on the road. Given your situation ¾ to 1 ton crew cab may be a good choice.

POWER issues

We have 4 [I would like to expand this to 8] deep cycle marine batteries wired into the camper along with an 800 watt power converter so that it charges while we drive. The o2 concentrator and C-pap [s] run off the same system and we can set up stationary for 2 days before the batteries need to be charged again. We do have solar panels that help extend that time. We plan on adding a couple of 600 watt wind gens at a later date. We do have a 5,000 watt gen set as back up. At some point I would like to change that out for one in the 800-900 watt range as it will use less gas and will be easier to move around.

With some of the newer security systems out there you can alarm the door[s] and windows along with the truck & perimeter with wireless motion alarms and even have CC with a recorder.