Blizzard of 2010

Townhall.com ^ | February 12, 2010 | Linda Chavez

[Kaslin]

I'm the kind of person who always has candles, extra matches and batteries on hand, as well as canned goods in the pantry, in case of an emergency. But I was far from prepared for the Mid-Atlantic Blizzard of 2010. We lost power for almost five days -- which is bad enough if you live in a city, but if you're out in the middle of nowhere, as we are, it can be life-threatening.

Rural folks are usually better prepared than city people, but for those of us who are transplants, it's a challenge. With 35 inches or more of snow on the ground and an 89-year-old mother, a 20-year-old parrot, two dogs and a husband to try to keep warm and fed, I'm worn out. But I learned a few lessons along the way, and maybe next time, I'll be better prepared.

First lesson: Buy a generator. When electricity goes out, so does heat and well water, which requires a pump to get to your house. If you hook up a portable generator to run your furnace and pump, you'll be a lot more comfortable when the power fails.

Second lesson: Next time a guy comes to your door offering to sell you a cord of wood, take him up on it. Those Presto logs they sell at the store work OK to create a romantic mood, but they don't throw off much heat. And a box of them lasts for about a day if you're burning them 'round the clock.

Third lesson: Don't give away old books; they burn better than artificial logs. I was glad I had a few left-wing tomes to throw in the fireplace, along with my collection of reports from the Center for Immigration Studies. I'm not sure which threw off more hot air, but they kept us warm for a few hours.

Fourth lesson: You can heat your house with snow. Since I have a propane stovetop (though, unfortunately not oven) I was able to boil enough snow to keep a small portion of the house warm with steam, that is if you consider 50 degrees warm. You can also use the boiled snow for drinking and cooking. I made a pretty tasty pot of black-eyed peas and a mean chicken and wild rice soup with snow, though we had to be careful to avoid the twigs that found their way into the mix.

Fifth lesson: Don't count on the government to rescue you. After several days of no heat or water and food getting low, the Virginia Department of Transportation did manage to plow our country road to within two-tenths of a mile from our house; though, in the process, they blocked all access to our drive with a 6-foot mountain of snow. Thankfully, we were able to hire a private operator to dig us out with a Bobcat.

Sixth lesson: If you're finally able to get out, stay there. Once the Bobcat cleared our drive, we were able to pack up and leave in our four-wheel drive truck. We took mom to a hotel and the parrot to our son's house. But when the power company notified us that the electricity was back on, my husband and I headed home with the dogs. Bad idea.

Now, snow is falling again, the wind is howling at 50 miles per hour, the house still isn't warm, and who knows how long the power will stay on. But we'll tough it out. We bought more logs, filled up every pot in the house with water and stacked more books near the fireplace -- giving all new meaning to the phrase "burn after reading." I'm actually looking forward to the challenge now that the most vulnerable members of the household are safe and warm. But as soon as the snow melts, I'm headed to Home Depot to buy the biggest generator they sell.

[Renegade]

When you are the only one with a gen. in your neighborhood its not long before you are the ONLY one in your neighborhood!

[1_Rain_Drop]

"Fourth lesson: You can heat your house with snow. "

I steam potato(e)s instead of snow. Keeps at least the kitchen warm.

[almost done by half]

When you are the only one with a gen. in your neighborhood its not long before you are the ONLY one in your neighborhood!

lol! Well, I have had neighbors asking me to offer extension cord service to their homes too. It is also good idea to chain the things down too! :-)

[almost done by half]

Wow is that thing great!

[almost done by half]

if you feel you need to throw the snow out of the county

ROTFL!!!!!

[Eye of Unk]

Yeah what would be really cool is one with a Volkswagen Rabbit diesel that runs on leftover McDonalds french fries oil, you mow your snow on the go with the aroma of fries as you go!

[woodbutcher1963]

You should have an electrician install a GENTRAN switch box. The biggest problem power companies have during electrical blackouts are generators feeding electricity back into the mainlines.
A GENTRAN switch box makes this impossible. They are only $250

Also, make sure you run your generator once a month throughout the year. This will ensure it will start when you actually need it.
The most important thing to remember is to run your generator outside atleast 20’ from your house and preferrably down wind. Everytime we have a power outage here in NH, somebody dies from CO poisoning because their generator is too close to their house or they ran it in the garage with the door open.
I am not lecturing you specifically. Just giving years of experience dealing with blackouts. People think they can buy a generator and just hook it up. Sadly , some of
those people end up DEAD.

[almost done by half]

I was a little surprised it didn’t show a mower like platform for the operator to ride along on.

[almost done by half]

I remember one snow storm as a kid when the snow was so deep and hard people actually bought and use pitch forks to move the stuff!

[almost done by half]

Good point about the fumes. I wouldn’t be able to stand the noise of it running in the garage but I could see how that could be a problem.

[almost done by half]

I keep some around as well. I also keep a siphon around to access the car tanks if necessary.

[fatnotlazy]

I don’t think my local stores stock pitchforks...could probably find them in the country though.

[almost done by half]

I never cease to be amazed at people who attempt to buy things when they are needed instead of before they are needed. When you need it, so does everyone else.

People also think they can buy generators and return them after the need has passed. Not so anymore!

[almost done by half]

They probably have them. It is about the last thing left on the shelves in a major storm event! lol

[OregonRancher]

Small diesel generators (12.5kw) use about one gallon an hour under a constant 9.3 kwh load.

[TSgt]

LOL! My neighbors know when I’m running mine and I live in a rural area!

[TSgt]

It felt like a lecture but okay.

FWIW I use to work for our local power company and worked with much higher voltages in the military.

Safety first.

[EEDUDE]

I get it! The water will just stay in the ball fields and the parking lots when it melts.

Very clever! ;O)

[EEDUDE]

You, sir, have a bad attitude! ;o)

[firebrand]

Some urban friends went to live in Vermont for the winter one year so they could ski constantly. When the first big snow came, they were outraged that the snowplow skipped their driveway but was plowing everyone else's. They found out soon enough that everyone else had hired a private snowplow. They felt stupid but the people there were very nice.

We went up to visit them one weekend and had trouble finding the house. The local store owners told us where it was and than said, "If they're not home, go on in. The door's open." They had learned that much at least.