On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 18:33:36 -0500, Shawn Hirn
wrote:

In article ,
Jonathan Grobe wrote:

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?

Another than having a flashlight, nothing. If I lost power for that
long, I would simply read by flashlight if I was stuck at home, or if I
could go out, I would just go to my parents' house, my office at work,
or visit with friends. Heating where I live is by oil, so I don't need
power to have my heat, and even if I did, I would just go sleep at my
parents' house in their guest room.

Of course, everyone's situation is different.

I'm willing to sleep at your parents' house. What are the odds you
and I will have power failures on the same day?

BTW, my parents too kept a flash light and a spare set of batteries.
Good for blown fuses and looking in corners that don't get any light,
or outside at night.

I keep plenty of canned (and frozen) food in the house because I like
to have a variety available at meal time.

For 20 years I kept powdered condensed milk for emergencies, but
there's never been a time I couldn't get to the store within 2 days,
which is often as I go anyhow. So I tried the milk and it was
terrible, and I don't think it was because it was 20 years old.
Canned condensed milke might be better. My mother used that for
custards or something.