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Emergencies begat emergencies ... cold is bad enough... but.. no water?? I was impressed with how many Texans were standing in line with coolers and 5 gallon water jugs...that started me thinking how wonderful it is that I have so many coolers and five gallon jugs around here I certainly would have no problem if you didn't mind mixing the water with a few mouse poopies or whatever because mine are not stashed away clean and if all those people are lying to get water in those containers they must have put them away clean----so now I can see that as a way of providing for an emergency a four inch square piece of tinfoil at the top of those water jugs could be part of an emergency system then at least the jug would be clean.. and that started me
My life with generators is a very convoluted topic we now have automatic generators--- two of them---- but I was along time getting there .. along the way I certainly saw the need for a generator and I did buy one or two or three but they all have to be started up regularly and make sure they have gas and oil and things like that ------if somehow by the time you have an emergency with one of those it's been so long since it was started that you pull that rope for four hours before it finally chugs on .. and then I found out I had a better generator already ready to go always ----if I just bought a very inexpensive “inverter “ for my car .. doesn't produce a lot of electricity but enough to run one or two things at a time and the car is already always ready to go .. The inverter I now have in my car is about the size of two packs of cigarettes and plugs into the what was known as the cigar lighter and it has a place to plug in one extension cord... I do have a semi emergency plan around here to always keep my car full of gas . All the other generators that I have owned and still own it just cannot keep up with everything like to make sure you start them every week or something so the car to me is a fine solution – without bud.. those generators are 100% useless.
now As for water ----that's a whole new ball game ... not very long ago we did not have city water here and we had a well which means when we lost electricity we lost water so I’m very familiar with that .. but seeing as we live across the street from a Lake, water was always around I could get it by the bucket if I had to to water animals or flush..... but some of these people in Texas who live in suburbia really hard pressed to find water -------you do have some in your house namely your hot water heater is I believe full of clean drinking water at least it was when he started and every house in New England has the ability shut off the water and drain the pipes ------- in a reasonable size house you'll get a couple gallons of water out of the pipes .. One of the very first things you have to do with an emergency like Texas is plan for your general sanatation ... and where they lack water flushing is a luxury.... maybe they are lucky it is soo cold..... If they had a few plastic bags and the three gallon size plastic buckets .. .. that would mean that to keep the place sanitary -- they could just bag it and put it outside let it freeze .
which Started me on it making a mental list of things I take for granted they might suddenly be without ... from experience I have realized that there are damn few smokers anymore .. so when you turn around and ask for a match .. nobody has one .. it takes a very long time rubbing sticks together( so they tell me) ----- there is very little substitute for a match .
so that would be the first thing in my emergency bucket -- Closely followed by a week's worth of pills -- they would have to be monitored and recycled .. there's no way I can go a week without dilantin... ----
As for trying to stay warm in this house , the best way is to use the iron stove in the kitchen becausw by dropping any kind of a tarp on one side you have a small confined area with a ceiling .. the fireplace opens up into the cathedral ceiling which makes the fireplace a bit of a joke .. that stove in the kitchen has been known to keep the kitchen toasty .. however at the moment ...it provided a horizontal space for people to put things... microwave dog food.. plasticware fluffys In paper goods .. People in the good old days would never build a house with a cathedral ceiling .. and these kitchen stoves we're responsible for warming many families I'm sure .. while cooking food and baking bread.....if I could just get mine cleaned off .
yikes i better go plow.....
