BK7 saved my butt

The Warrior said:
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...
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Be careful with propane bud. More than one hunter has never woken up from propane heating... Carbon Monoxide.
 
sqoon said:
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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Great post. I like the splash of cold reality stories. Sounded like a rough go for you all and that's no fun at all, but you got them through it so hats off to you. Question.... would you have been hampered if the blade was say..3 inches long ? Or no difference at all ?
 
yeah man, easy does it with the propane. Many a person died in our ice storm because of running generators in their garages.
 
You guys are reminding me of the blizzard of 92 (or was it 93?). No power for eight days and I don't know how many feet of snow. I was in Tennessee, but nowhere in the south are they set up for that kind of snow. I had my wood stove, my whisperlite, an old dripolator coffee pot, couple cases of beer, and a bunch of meat that I kept in the snow. No kids to deal with though. What I ended up missing the most was hot water from the tap.
 
glad you and your family are okay! about #1, i disagree. even a broken bic is still more useful than matches or zippo (it loses fuel just sitting there unless you mod it) if you're prepared. i have to ask though: did you use/have a firesteel and pjcb when the bic failed?

edit: good tip on having an inverter as well. makes any car a portable generator. i've had mine since college when an emergency consisted of running out of laptop juice while doing my term paper at the last minute :)

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OP is telling it like it is.
Went through very similar situation in PNW years ago. The UCO is cool. I also have the UCO Canelier(same w/ 3 candles). Awesome.

Glad you did well.
 
Well since my brother here beat me to it ill just sharer some pictures the wife took the following day,
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Thats the swings my son loved to swing on.
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Wish i had a before shot, well this is after the winds, we use to have a full covering awning covering that patio, blown clean off, sounded like hell banging against the side of the house all night.
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Glad your all safe brother mang, And i can not stress enough a Coleman Quad LED lantern. Worth every dollar. And invest in a ice chest, bummer tossing all this food.
 
Redundancy is good in bad situations. Glad you are all safe. L.E.D. lights ROCK. Candles are awesome as long as you are SURE that nothing flammable/explosive is leaking, as are wood stoves. Generators, small electric heaters, inverters, full gas cans, good coolers, stash of food, warm clothes, good first aid kits, & the knowledge of how to properly & safely use all of them & more are priceless when TSHTF---for whatever reason. I have also used all of those things. It's also good to have a good chain & lock to lock the generator &/or gas can up to something substantial that you can easily keep an eye on when inside the house---just to keep honest people honest. Locking it to the frame of your truck is a good idea, as most have a panic alarm on the key fob now.
 
Glad you made it through it all sqoon. Thanks for the experience and for the valuable tips. Glad your BK7 served you well.
 
Fantastic post, sqoon. I am glad you and yours are good, and I'm glad you posted this up.

Tough spots are something that we have to plan for. Since a few rough patches of weather here over the last few decades, we've (my family and I). We heat with a wood burning stove, everyone has at some point built a fire from scratch in my house. We keep a sealed container with drygood, and some bottle water. We keep those collapsable 5 gallon containers full of water, and propane tanks (little ones).

In 1993, we had a blizzard here, that knocked some folks in the upper mountains and more remote areas out of power for over a month.

Plan for the worst, hope for the best. Glad ya'll are doing good.

Moose
 
Glad to hear y'all made it through alright and are doing well. Really appreciate the honest, no frills, advice for these types of situations. Going through the southeastern tornadoes a few months ago taught me to keep what is essential and discard what isn't. Thanks for sharing.
 
A car inverter wouldn't have the juice (in terms of capacity) to run a fridge, would it?
 
flivver said:
A car inverter wouldn't have the juice (in terms of capacity) to run a fridge, would it?
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A full size? Hell no.

A small "cooler" designed to run off of a car battery, yeah, but you would have to keep the car running, so as not to deplete your battery.

Moose
 
I slipped (snug fit) on some old scent free fuel line that I had laying around. This rubber line can be found in bulk and is dirt cheap. It helps for multiple reasons.
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Glad you made it okay.

I don't have kids but I have to be honest, I love it when the power goes out and there's a storm outside. Would take that over going to work anyday.
 
Shotgun said:
Glad you made it okay.

I don't have kids but I have to be honest, I love it when the power goes out and there's a storm outside. Would take that over going to work anyday.
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Oh yeah, most definetly. I love storms. If the power goes out, all the better.

Good call.

Moose
 
One of the advantages to living where I do, we don't have powerlines, everything is underground. In the 11 years my wife has lived in this apt., it has not lost power once, not even during the massive blackout which affected the whole East coast.
 
Thanks for the kind words, guys! Glad some of you liked the post.

Thanks, Myker for adding some pics to make it more interesting. I didn't take many here. As a matter of fact, Myker lives about a mile from my in laws who are STILL without power. That's going on one week for them. Not cool.
 
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