"Jonathan Grobe" wrote in message
...
We just had a ice storm and I had no electricity for 22 hours. I
was mostly unprepared and didn't like the experience at all.

What are you doing to prepare for this?

Thanks.


There's a wealth of info on this site and other 'preparedness' and
'survival' sites (the later being a bit hardcore but having some useful
tips). Check www.ready.gov for some tips too. If you have any LDS (aka
Mormon) neighbors, they have literature on preparedness at little or no
cost.

I like the suggestions about flashlights and would add one more along that
vein. Keep one under your bed at easy reach. We started keeping camping
lanterns (use the big 1.5v battery) under every bed in the house. The kids
liked the security and we didn't mind that they played with them
occassionally. That's the best time to learn that the battery is getting
weak. If your water comes from a well it's not an inconvenience to keep
water in used juice jugs and 2 liter bottles in the crawl space or under the
beds. Use an eyedropper-full of water per gallon of water to maintain
purity. Avoid plastic milk jugs. I have had several split on the seam and
drain into the crawl space. Imagine if that happened under your bed. Buy a
little more of your usually consumed canned foods than you need each week,
date them on top and rotate them - oldest to the front are the first used.
That way you at least have 'something' to eat if the roads become impassable
for a while. Read up on the proper way to install a generator and a Gen-Set
(I think that's one of the names) so that you don't accidentally electrocute
a lineman with backfeed amperage. OK, I'll shut up. Sorry 'bout all that -
got a bit carried away.