Are You Ready For A Blackout In Your Area? (Vanity - Poll)

Aug 15, 03 | SLB

[SLB]

How many FReepers feel they would be ready for a blackout right NOW? What do you do that makes you feel like you are or are not? How about personal safety.

[archy]

I'm ready for anything, but nothing ever comes.

Hey, up in the sky...Meteors!

[from occupied ga]

Are You Ready For A Blackout In Your Area? (Vanity - Poll)

Yes - food, water, fuel for two day and ammo for one day.

[archy]

I lived at Ground Zero where Hurricane Andrew hit. One week with no power, 2 weeks with questionable power. 90+ Degrees, very high humidity. I've always got flashlights around the house. The worst part of it all is trying to sleep with no A/C, that was tough...

I believe I'd have thought about installing the smallest windowshaker airconditioner I could find on hand or obtain in advance and install it either in my smallest room in the home, or possibly, in the storage building in the back yard once I'd cleared the lawn mower, motorcycle and other miscellania out of it. I believe I'll soon be thinking about another such *garden shed* building, and having one underground with another atop it might be workable, too.

But in your situation, it wouldn't have been the loss of A/C that'd be my biggest gripe. It'd be mosquitos.

-archy-/-

[CholeraJoe]

I have a bug-out kit packed for fires and the like. Interstate 15 is 5 miles away so it would have to be a pretty big toxic spill to bother me. The Union Pacific line is about 8 miles away.

[archy]

Okay I will go into the other equipmnent.

You know you're always welcome around my place.

-archy-/-

[MainFrame65]

We are prepared for a short-term power outage, because we, along with most of the Memphis area, lost power for 4 days on July 22. This was a "microburst" storm that produced straight-line winds of near hurricane strength over the entire city and immediate surrounding area, then disappeared about 20 minutes later. It took out 3/4 of the local utility customers, some for as long as 3 weeks, and you still see giant trees uprooted all over town. It was devastating here - actually, an official federal disaster - but did not make the national news because the magic word "tornado" did not apply.

I have a 5500 watt generator that can run my refrigerator, freezer, furnace, fans, lights, solar water heater, and TV, along with several computers and a home network. I have propane for the grill, but enough gasoline on hand to run the generator for a single day, since it gets stale after a while.

I also have flashlights, battery radio/TV, and bottled water, plus means to defend myself. If we had another long outage in the summertime, I might get a window AC unit to keep one room cool - but that would burn more gas.

[Slip18]

After a major earthquake in CA (Whittier Narrows), I loaded up shotguns and handguns. Always kept extra one, five and ten dollar bills in a safe spot in the house. There was a law in CA that no store could price gouge in an emergency. I always had extra water for earthquakes. That was a habit. Always changed off dry dog food in the earthquake kit -- dogs get really hungry and thirsty, too.

When I moved to AZ to marry Cyber, I asked Cyber why he didn't bolt things into the wall, such as mirrors, hutches, et cetera. I forgot there are no earthquakes here.

I still keep a spare bottle of bleach around. You never know when you're going to need bleach. Also keep on hand those throw away plastic gloves. You never know when you're going to need to give first-aide to someone. Bandages are a big thing in this home. With a teenager around, you always need them.

Cyber has about 100 MREs around here. Some are tasty; some are awful. The crackers and strawberry jam in the MRE packages would keep me going for a few days.

I also always make sure there are enough cigs and Scotch to last a week! LOL!

With a small child, Gabz, you need some reading material put into your kit. Also puzzles, crayons, paper and stuff to keep their minds off of the catastrophe after you've explained to them they are going to be all right.

[blackie]

I have an auxiliary generator!

Be Well ~ Be Armed ~ Be Safe ~ Molon Labe!

[dead]

Nah. If we have a black out, I'll just bitch and wait for the government to save my sorry ass.

[Slip18]

LOL!

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Who? Jets? Is that hockey? Oh wait, "Benny and the Jets". Named after the song by Elton John, right? Is that a mud diving team?

[azhenfud]

Best reply yet!
LOL!!!

[jmc813]

Who? Jets?

You might recall them as the AFC East champions and the only team from that division to make it to the playoffs? Sound familiar. ;-)

[MrLeRoy]

Dolphags suck. Go Jets.

Half right.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Oh boy! Meteors!

Now I get a chance to use my new Galaxie 500 Anti-meteor Particle Displacment Reverbaritory Plasmic Shock System. (APDRPSS)

Been dying for this chance.
Wish me luck!

[archy]

Well, we have oil lamps, my 12V jump start battery, and my .22LR rifle, bunch of police scanners and shortwave radios, and my 2M walkie-talkie. That's about it for me. B-P

You've got an adapter for that 2-meter handheld to let you run it off the portable battery well beyond the life of a charge of the radio's internal battetry pack, I hope. And a 12-volt trickle charger solar panel for your jump starter, or that which you hope to jump start with it, would be a useful addition.

Some Aladdin or PETROMAX kerosene pressure lanterns would make a nice step up from your oil lamps and use the same fuel; likewise a kero-sun or equivalent space heater or two can double as both a wintertime heat source and a cookstove. It's nice too to have an old woodstove around, in my case an old cast-iron caboose stove, but an outdoor barbeque grill can suffice.

Backing up your .22 with a good shotgun would seem a reasonable upgrade step, but .22 ammo is light and compact and discrete. And my own .22's muzzle flash won't *bloom out* the optics of the admittedly obsolete night vision scope I've gotten to upgrade it. In hard times, even the worst of night vision gear is better than none- and mine can be run on rechargable AA batteries, just like my little handheld GMRS pocket walkie-talkies.

[Prof Engineer]

Nah. If we have a black out, I'll just bitch and wait for the government to save my sorry ass.

You forgot to blame George W.

[Paradox]

I believe I'd have thought about installing the smallest windowshaker airconditioner I could find on hand or obtain in advance and install it either in my smallest room in the home...

Thats exactly what I did. After the debris had cleared enough, I had a family member buy and bring down for me a small AC unit and gasoline generator. Installed the AC unit in the wall and used plastic sheets to seal off areas of the room I didnt want to wast A/C on. It worked well enough to make the rest of the week livable.

But in your situation, it wouldn't have been the loss of A/C that'd be my biggest gripe. It'd be mosquitos.

It was horrible, but once the AC was up and running, we could retreat to that room and avoid them.

[NerdDad]

Man, I didn't know you were in Memphis. I'm gonna sell all my stuff and just hike up from Columbus and stay with you next time.

Note to self, invite Archy to the ballgame when the Falcons go to Southaven.

[archy]

Now I get a chance to use my new Galaxie 500 Anti-meteor Particle Displacment Reverbaritory Plasmic Shock System. (APDRPSS)

Been dying for this chance.
Wish me luck!

When you're ready, just yell *pull!* REAL loud....

-archy-/-