I’ve seen a lot of good suggestions and warnings for Hurricane Sandy, but one I have not seen is to turn the temp controls in your Refrigerator and Freezer(s) to thier lowest setting before the power goes out, preferably a day or two before. That should give you an extra hour or two for cold storage if the power goes out. Of course if the power is out for days, it won’t matter, but for those fortunate to lose power for only a few hours, it could make the difference between loosing some of your food and not loosing it.
When stocking up on provisions , be CERTAIN to have non-refrigerated foods and drink so as not to need to open the frige or freezer.
Prepare for a week long camping trip …in your powerless home.
( Daughter is in Woodbridge Va. )
We put a couple cases of bottled water into the freezer, and are rotating them into the refrigerator section just in case the power drops.
And we just settled the old question:
"If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a noise? A huge tree fell during the storm and we heard it - yet no one was in the forest, let alone outside the house.
I’m still thinking about whether to change out of my pjs.
I’ve heard that several times today already. I also bought 5 bags of ice just in case.
We’ve lost 3 trees so far. One in the middle of the yard. Luckily the way the wind is blowing there’s very little chance of a tree hitting the house. And wind is only about 35mph with gusts up to 50. I feel for those people in Sandy’s direct path.
They had Keith’s suggestion scrolling across the tv yesterday.
We lost power 5 hours ago. Several good sized trees down in the woods.
Bottled water: $50
Prepared food in advance: $100
Generator powering the house: Pricele$$
“I feel for those people in Sandy’s direct path.”
Thanks, Mike. We’re in the SW quadrant. It’s been raining heavily all day, and the wind is picking up. Our good fortune to still have power. TT, you are in NJ, right? We’re expecting up to a foot of rain. What, me worry? We’re also 150’ above the river. No floods for us.
JT…Good luck. Hope everything is fine. It doesn’t look good there. Stay safe.
Eh, I’m pretty well set. Have a 20Kw backup generator for the house, plus another 7500 watt gasoline-powered generator as Plan B.
Still hanging out, still have power, still in my pjs. The great thing about natural gas is that even if the power goes out, you can still cook. Light a match, hold it with tongs near the burner, turn on the gas, and you can cook anything. I learned that when a derecho storm went through a few months ago. It knocked down a lot of wood - dead or alive. Maybe that is why we still have power.
I looked at the weather map. Rain for hours, except for this hole in the clouds headed for Cape May and eventually Philly.
Best of luck to everyone in the big part of the country that’s impacted. Just think about all the questions about flooded cars you’ll be seeing over the next few weeks.
“Just think about all the questions about flooded cars you’ll be seeing over the next few weeks.”
NIMBY. People haven’t been allowed to build in the flood plane for decades. And the storm surge is not going to be much in the Chesapeake Bay. Now that the wind is coming in from the west, I just have to hope that the last dead tree standing will remain so. The Hawk is really flying now.
Yep good luck to you all out there. NYSE has 3 feet of water on the exchange floor. Good news and bad news. Good news is won’t lose any money, and bad news is won’t make any money.
As a previous CT’an, I can sympathize. Will be praying for the least amount of casualties & damage.
The great thing about natural gas is that even if the power goes out, you can still cook.
NH has so limited Natural Gas areas. Mainly just in the cities. Closest line I live near is at least 10 miles away. If it was near me I’d definitely be using it.
Yeah, I’d love the option of using natural gas. When I lived in the Midwest, they buried everything. Sure, you’d hit a boulder or two, gravel, stuff like that. Here, you can dig down 12" and hit ledge (or see it poking above the surface). That’s when the equipment operator looks at you with $$ signs in their eyes and announces, “the clock is operating!” and they call in the blasting guys. Pity the poor sould who wants to drill a well. Do you feel lucky? Well do you, punk?? No gas within at least 10 miles of me. Your only option around here is propane, should you choose to go that route and it’s not cheap…
Your only option around here is propane, should you choose to go that route and it's not cheap.
You don’t have Oil?
We have Propane or Oil. I have oil. The thing I hate about Propane in my town is that you can’t bury the propane tanks. Some towns allow you to bury the tank. So you have to have this HUGE WHITE (must be white) tank in your back yard. And you CAN’T put it behind a fence or any obstruction.
We have propane at the cabin in South Dakota and it works quite well. Some use oil but most use propane. Its not that expensive in bulk and refill the tank once or twice a year. They need to be white or silver but white looks better. You don’t want a black propane tank in the summer at 100 degrees-big boom.
Yeah, we have oil. I have a tank in the basement that used to feed a water heater. I meant if you want a gas burner, it’s got to be propane.