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Not sure if this should go here or in Campfire Tales. Looks like the eye of Hurricane Irene will be passing within 75 or 100 miles from my doorstep. Power outage for 12-72 hours is almost a given. We don't have looters here, too many people are law abiding gun owners. Looters wouldn't last long here, I think.
We've got the yard picked up and are getting extra gas, sandwich fixings, beer, and lantern fuel. Lots of folks here still keep 'hurricane lanterns', the oil burning type. They last for generations if you keep wicks and fuel on hand. Try that with propane and mantles. They also don't hiss when I read.
5 gallon buckets by the edge of the porch will catch rain water to flush with. We'll put some tap water in clean stew pots for drinking and cooking water.
We'll be putting milk, beer, soda, and the like in a drink cooler full of ice. A larger cooler will have sandwich meats, cheese, condiments, eggs, and breakfast meats. (This keeps the fridge from being opened 30 times a day and makes a difference). Maybe a pack of hot dogs or shrimp too, as they both cook fast in boiling water. (Everybody here catches their own shrimp, and the shrimp may thaw out anyway). When the power is out, and the temps are over 85* and humidity is 99% you don't want to heat the house up doing a whole lot of cooking. Imagine living in a sauna, you get the idea. Steaks on the grill work too. Paper plates, disposable plastic cups and utensils come in handy. We rarely use them normally, but you don't have as much dish washing to do with the power (and water pump) off.
We'll play card and board games with the kids, tell stories, watch outside, and read books (those things with the pages). With any luck, the wife will bake some goodies before the power goes down so we have home made cookies or the like to nibble on.
And a lot of this might have been avoided if I'd only taken the generator to the repair shop in the spring when I should have!
We've got the yard picked up and are getting extra gas, sandwich fixings, beer, and lantern fuel. Lots of folks here still keep 'hurricane lanterns', the oil burning type. They last for generations if you keep wicks and fuel on hand. Try that with propane and mantles. They also don't hiss when I read.
5 gallon buckets by the edge of the porch will catch rain water to flush with. We'll put some tap water in clean stew pots for drinking and cooking water.
We'll be putting milk, beer, soda, and the like in a drink cooler full of ice. A larger cooler will have sandwich meats, cheese, condiments, eggs, and breakfast meats. (This keeps the fridge from being opened 30 times a day and makes a difference). Maybe a pack of hot dogs or shrimp too, as they both cook fast in boiling water. (Everybody here catches their own shrimp, and the shrimp may thaw out anyway). When the power is out, and the temps are over 85* and humidity is 99% you don't want to heat the house up doing a whole lot of cooking. Imagine living in a sauna, you get the idea. Steaks on the grill work too. Paper plates, disposable plastic cups and utensils come in handy. We rarely use them normally, but you don't have as much dish washing to do with the power (and water pump) off.
We'll play card and board games with the kids, tell stories, watch outside, and read books (those things with the pages). With any luck, the wife will bake some goodies before the power goes down so we have home made cookies or the like to nibble on.
And a lot of this might have been avoided if I'd only taken the generator to the repair shop in the spring when I should have!
