BK7 saved my butt

sqoon

sqoon

Joined
Jan 1, 2010
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As I think some of you may have experienced, or heard about on the news, Southern California was rocked by some pretty rough winds. Perhaps not as high as many of you may know, but given decades of favorable weather, high winds of this kind did a real number on trees that suffer from shallow roots due to over watering and not enough time in the wind. Some of the largest trees around were toppled over. Thousands, including myself, were without power for days (80 hours in my case to be exact). For my neighborhood, power was restored about two days ago, but my house alone was left without power. A main breaker was damaged. 80 hours without heat and light with a wife and two small kids (2 and 5) is no joke. While there was wood everywhere, most of it was too green to burn.

My BK7 was never far from my side to help clear up what lumber and branches had fallen in my yard to burn for fuel. While I hate to admit it, at several points I had to rely on store-bought firewood. The lightest, cheapest crap you can imagine, but it burned and kept us warm, albeit not for very long. I tried using an axe as much as possible to break down wood for the fire, but cold hands and failing light weren't helping the situation. While I don't like batoning, I found that it was the safest way for me to break down wood and keep my limbs safe. The BK7 did an awesome job. I couldn't have been more happy to have it by my side, and with the cold weather and no decent gloves, the micarta was really nice.

I learned a lot during my quasi-survival situation, although I never feared for my life or my safety. Comfort of my wife and kids was my biggest concern and having the right equipment is very important.

1. Bic lighters fail. If you have them in your kits, toss them, get decent matches, a zippo, or something non-disposable.
2. Batteries die. Quickly. Candles are your friend. They provide warmth and comfort. The UCO Candle Lantern was AMAZING. They will be my #1 x-mas gift for sure.
3. If you have a fireplace, but no wood ready on hand, buy some now. $175 for a half cord of wood is worth more than any $5 bundle or balsa wood crap you can buy at the supermarket.
4. Soup. Beans. Nuts.
5. For $10, a little 100W inverter for your car helps keep your cell phone ready to go. Invest.

While my indoor temps didn't go to any life-threatening lows (high 40's at the lowest) unplanned "roughing it" blows. I'm sorry to preach, and I know a lot of you have had it a lot worse than me, but my point is that I wasn't prepared for the unpredictable. Given the usual climate, wind and cold are the last things I ever thought I would have to deal with. Earthquakes and Fire are my biggest threats. If you've been dragging your ass on preparing yourself for an extended stay in your home, don't do it anymore. Being stuck inside is not the same as camping. Buy what you need now. My wife gave no nothing but crap when I bought my candle lantern, inverter, multiple flashlights and $50 headlamp. I got a free pass right now to buy a lot more.
 
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Excellent post! There is a lot of wisdom here for the most likely type of survival situation. Great job
 
Wow, glad you got thru it ok..... I'm gonna get my stuff squared away asap. Stories like this inspire me to quit procrastinating.
 
We went through an ice storm back in the 70's. We were without power for a week. As a young person, I actually thought it was pretty cool. My dad was a lineman, so we hardly ever saw him, with all the wires down. I remember using the kerosene heaters, and camp stove to cook on. I always have a tote full of those small propane tanks around. I can heat a room, cook, etc. with them. But anywhos, good to see you got through it okay. Freakish winds...
 
Ice storm of the '09 and '10 winter was the worst we had in my area, worst on record for the states around us, and us. Some had no power for 5 and a half weeks, wood to burn was frozen, could not get ANYWHERE without chains on your tires or crampons for shoes. Out here in the sticks where I live, the sound of a gunshot going off was a pretty common occurance, that was dinner.Restaurants were literally empty, and employees were sleeping on the tables. Faith, luck, knowledge, a Remington 870, and my Ka-Bar F/U was all that kept us from going hungry and quite possibly freezing that month and a half.
Moral- Prepare when you can, it may seem like a waste now, but when the fecal matter hits the perpetually rotating blades, every little bit helps.
 
Glad you and your family are safe. That's all that really matters in the big picture.
 
Hey brother sorry to hear you guys went through this, and good for you for having what you needed at hand to take care of your family.

I hear you about getting crap from the wife. I'm in the same boat but it doesn't bother me because in the back of my mind I have a plan for who gets eaten first if SHTF :)
 
The 09 ice storm knocked us out for nine days. At the time, we lived 2 miles from a paved road and 20 miles from a town. It wasn't fun, but we had a cistern to dip water from and camping gear. When the (much worse) one of '10 hit, we had a kerosene heater, lamps, 25 gallons of fuel, batteries, plenty of canned goods, and fared quite well for the three and a half weeks we were stranded. Like the OP said, if you don't have enough stuff to see you through at least a week, go get it.
 
I'll never forget the storm I lived through outside of Boston in '78-79!!

No school for 10 days so that was cool but still had to do my paper route!

Glad you're ok everyone.
 
Even in socal you have to be prepared... who would've thought?? being native californian myself you never fear wind/flood/tornadoes etc, its always the earthquake's and the what if the big one came scenario.. Wind can blow your mind :D

Really glad to hear you made it through, but I'd like to throw another scenario at you... how well would you be equipped to survive your neighborhood after about 2weeks plus of chaos?? I know your area and the surrounding communities so I want you to wrap your mind around that just for a minute.. You found yourself scrambling to get by, and you are way more prepared then your neighbors believe me, you need to be prepared if all else fails, in any urban area your biggest threat in disaster is the predator(s) that lives around you..

I'm in the country now, so my predator will take a while to get here(and find me), but they will come its only a matter of time..

Longest I've been stranded here with no power was 3 days, we closed off the master bdrm burned firewood and played oldschool nintendo... (power from my generator and about 20gals gas)

I've been trapped here as I'm on a hill for more like 6 days before, but we had power the whole time, I think being (trapped) is the worse as you find yourself with cabin fever after day 3 :D

my brother's in fresno at the moment and when he told me about the winds, I just thought it was typical santa ana's, guess not..

glad you're safe..

take care
 
Glad you were able to keep the family and home happy and comfortable during the crazy winds, and hey, nice upside with a free pass for more cool gear :thumbup: We were fortunate enough to not get beat up too badly by the winds despite living directly under some really quite large trees. The only reason we didn't get a lumberful roof bashing is that we spend the $ to make sure that our massive trees are properly trimmed by experts: no butchering de-limbing frenzy, the guy we hire knows how to keep the tree properly balanced for just such an occasion. It was a pricey job to shell out for, but it's way cheaper than a new roof that's for sure. I'd urge any of you folks who live under or near to trees to have them trimmed properly by an expert (or learn how to do it right yourselves).

I'm inspired to stock up on proper firewood now, thanks!
 
We have a piece of land north of Berlin which has its own well. The power lines to the little house that we have there run underground to a small local power plant. Unless that gets knocked out, we're good to go. You can heat the whole place with wood (two tiled stoves) and we have about 40 qu. ft. of wood in storage, probably 15 sq ft of which is cut and split for the stoves. I will stock up on food and candles there over the next few months, then I'll be good to go I think. Natural disasters aren't really a concern here, but with the Euro going to shit it's probably a good thing to be prepared.

Glad you came out okay, and it's great to hear that the BK7 proved its value!
 
We got a touch of the wind here as well, but nothing what you guys were getting. But not far from here (30mins or so) the winds hit 95+.

Good reminder to keep stuff handy just in case. I've got some stuff, but not what I should have ready to go. I'll have to work on that.

Also, does anyone else find that living in a tiny apt makes it a bit harder to be constantly ready for things like that? For instance, we don't have a fireplace, so if we didn't have power or natural gas available, we would be in jackets and sleeping bags.

And as a side note, the way you talk about batoning is very similar to how I feel about it. I feel it is a very safe way to split wood (especially indoors by the fireplace/stove), especially with little kids around (not saying that you should be splitting wood with kids around... but if your 5 year old is like my nephew... you never know where he is going to pop up).
 
Glad to hear you all made it ok. I'm pretty lucky in that I've never been without power for more than 12 hours, but I know I got the right stuff just in case.
 
Glad you and the family made it through ok. Couple years back we had an ice/windstorm in western wa left us without power for 2 weeks with trees and lines everywhere. I was fine but I always have enough on hand to keep 4 people for a few months, plus fuel, generator and whatever else.
Stockpiling supplies might seem a waste of time/money to alot of people but you will feel alot different if your watching your family freeze and starve, Money is only paper.
 
LECTER said:
I'll never forget the storm I lived through outside of Boston in '78-79!!

No school for 10 days so that was cool but still had to do my paper route!

Glad you're ok everyone.
Click to expand...

i remember that, and was there, and yup, i had a paper route ;)

we melted snow for water on a wood stove, with wood i had made myself as my chores... house kept warm enough, and we were able to hook up with neighbors who had ski-doos and sleds and get food for everyone.

more recently, after a long period of perfection, or at worst flickers, it seems every winter we've lost power for a day to a week. here, no wood stove, no electricity, no heat (even though the fuel for heat is gas)... sucked.

the last couple times, i was never cold enough to put the food onto the porch for it to keep. a lot of people lost all their food, and most did not have the ability to get out and find more. they simply left to hotels somewhere. lots of insurance payouts on food loss alone. pipes froze. there were some issues from that.

fortunately, i have friends with wood stoves, and (now esp) generators. have had to wire up "suicide cords" in the past for the emergency. later you get a proper transfer switch ;) these days, most new houses seem to have them standard ;>

still, i had warm clothes, and LED lights that could runs for weeks continuously, and wasn't ready to abandon the property. though if the temps got below freezing, i was thinking about it. more of an adventure ;)

so, having enough food that keeps no matter what, for a week or two, is a good thing. it can be as simple as a case of canned beans and meat pasta. water? a couple jugs is good, but in Winter you can melt snow readily enough. don't run camp stoves inside without ventilation. embarrassing way to die, especially with charcoal ;) "dumb ass" doesn't look good on the tomb stone.

and ... carry on :)
 
Glad you guys got through alright.

People sometimes laugh when you're trying to be prepared, but they quit laughing when stuff like this happens. Having young children only adds to the necessity. Better safe than sorry. This post reminds me that I have some more preparations to get done.

Thanks for posting.
 
Very well put.
Thanks for sharing.
Inverters are awesome. Your car can suddenly run your refridge should you need it to.
Thanks for the story.
 
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