It's been a lot of shoveling and cleaning up since the two back to back blizzards hit us here in the Washington D.C. area, and it's been enlightening.
I had stocked up on a few items before it hit, and when we lost power during the second storm, it got a little interesting. My better half and I are a retired couple in our mid 60's, and we were not up to any heavy duty shoveling, and we forbade our two kids who live not too far away to try to get to us. For the day or two with no power, we felt we were well stocked. Besides, they were snowed in as well. After checking in with our kids, we told them that to conserve battery power on our cell phnes, we'd only turn them on for five minutes at the top of the hour. With no electricity, we had no way to charge our phones, and we'd got rid of our land line years ago.
It was surprising how well we did with very plain cheap gear. I had some 9 hour emergency candles from the REI place, and the candle lantern that went with them. We had light. I also had bought a few of those plastic 3.95 Brinkman 6 volt lanterns at Walmart before the storm. I know a lot of people won't look at a low tech flashlight, but for 3.95 I figured I couldn't loose. The spare batteries were only 2.88. Durring the blackout, they did great. It threw a bright spot and lit up a room very well, and the big square 6 volt battery seemed to run forever. Even after a day and a half of use, it still throws a bright spotlight for more than 50 yards. More than enought to tell the Dinty Moore cans from the Progesso Chicken noodle on the shelf in the pantry. Karen and I spent a lot of time snuggeled on the sofa taking turns reading to each other by the light of the cheap Brinkman light.
I had 6 cans of sterno on the shelf, and the little collaspable stove made for them. It was no problem to heat up a can of stew or soup with the sheet metal folding stove that the sterno can fit in. About 5 minutes to a nice hot bowl of whatever. Afterward we had a nice hot cup of tea, (sometimes sweetened up a little with some Captain Morgan's) and in a day and a half of doing all our cooking on the little Sterno stove, we had barely used one can of the stuff. There's another 5 can's on the shelf for the next time. The can's go a long way.
We kepts warm enough with just our regular winter clothing. Wool sweaters and socks, and we slept under a big down comfortor we got years ago from L.L. Bean. In fact, we were so comfy we didn't feel like getting out of bed in the morning. Not really a bad thing when the grandkids ain't around.
Early on, after loosing power, I turned off the water and drained the pipes by leaving the tap open some on the lowest level. If we needed water for tea or flushing the toilet, I'd go down to the shut off valve and Karen would yell down "Now" and I'd turn it on for a minute, then shut it off again. Worked good, we had no frozen pipes.
Towards the end of the second day, the power came back and life went back to somewhat normal. It took another full day for the snow removal company under contract to our homeowners association to get us out by using a full size bucket loader to shovel out out court.
Looking back on our short term bug in experiance, I came to some conclusions.
I was very pleasantly surprised at how well the stone age flashlights worked. These Brinkman's were just like the big square fllashlights that were around when I was a kid, yet the lit up out living room and whatever, just great. We spent many hours reading to each other, yet could not tell any dimming of the light. I will have to experiment on finding out what is the runtime on those 6 volt batteries. For the 3.95 each they cost me, it let me stash a nice powerful light in several places in the house for back-up. The 2.88 for one or two spare batteries ain't gonna break me either. It makes me wonder about spending high dollars for a high tech light. My son Matt is a county police officer, and he's into the Shurfire thing and needing to sear retnas out at a hundred yards. Most of my nieghbors as well seemed to get by with the ubiquitous plastic Everready or Rayovac D cell flashlights.
I came to the conclusion I like cans of Sterno. Long shelf life, easy to use, and cheap. The fold down stove that goes with them takes up almost no space to store. Very easy to buld up emergency supplies on a social security budget.
Clothing seemed to make a big difference. Since Karen and I are both ourdoors people, and like to woods ramble looking at nature in any weather with our binoculars, we have good clothing. The wool sweaters we have and the long underwear made us comfortable in a chilly house. At no time were we uncomfortable or cold.
So there you have it. One older couples experiance surviving the blizzard of 2010 with cheap plastic flashlights and sterno stove and wool sweaters.
I guess my old Irish Granny was right; If you can make a cup of tea, it's going to be alright.
I had stocked up on a few items before it hit, and when we lost power during the second storm, it got a little interesting. My better half and I are a retired couple in our mid 60's, and we were not up to any heavy duty shoveling, and we forbade our two kids who live not too far away to try to get to us. For the day or two with no power, we felt we were well stocked. Besides, they were snowed in as well. After checking in with our kids, we told them that to conserve battery power on our cell phnes, we'd only turn them on for five minutes at the top of the hour. With no electricity, we had no way to charge our phones, and we'd got rid of our land line years ago.
It was surprising how well we did with very plain cheap gear. I had some 9 hour emergency candles from the REI place, and the candle lantern that went with them. We had light. I also had bought a few of those plastic 3.95 Brinkman 6 volt lanterns at Walmart before the storm. I know a lot of people won't look at a low tech flashlight, but for 3.95 I figured I couldn't loose. The spare batteries were only 2.88. Durring the blackout, they did great. It threw a bright spot and lit up a room very well, and the big square 6 volt battery seemed to run forever. Even after a day and a half of use, it still throws a bright spotlight for more than 50 yards. More than enought to tell the Dinty Moore cans from the Progesso Chicken noodle on the shelf in the pantry. Karen and I spent a lot of time snuggeled on the sofa taking turns reading to each other by the light of the cheap Brinkman light.
I had 6 cans of sterno on the shelf, and the little collaspable stove made for them. It was no problem to heat up a can of stew or soup with the sheet metal folding stove that the sterno can fit in. About 5 minutes to a nice hot bowl of whatever. Afterward we had a nice hot cup of tea, (sometimes sweetened up a little with some Captain Morgan's) and in a day and a half of doing all our cooking on the little Sterno stove, we had barely used one can of the stuff. There's another 5 can's on the shelf for the next time. The can's go a long way.
We kepts warm enough with just our regular winter clothing. Wool sweaters and socks, and we slept under a big down comfortor we got years ago from L.L. Bean. In fact, we were so comfy we didn't feel like getting out of bed in the morning. Not really a bad thing when the grandkids ain't around.
Early on, after loosing power, I turned off the water and drained the pipes by leaving the tap open some on the lowest level. If we needed water for tea or flushing the toilet, I'd go down to the shut off valve and Karen would yell down "Now" and I'd turn it on for a minute, then shut it off again. Worked good, we had no frozen pipes.
Towards the end of the second day, the power came back and life went back to somewhat normal. It took another full day for the snow removal company under contract to our homeowners association to get us out by using a full size bucket loader to shovel out out court.
Looking back on our short term bug in experiance, I came to some conclusions.
I was very pleasantly surprised at how well the stone age flashlights worked. These Brinkman's were just like the big square fllashlights that were around when I was a kid, yet the lit up out living room and whatever, just great. We spent many hours reading to each other, yet could not tell any dimming of the light. I will have to experiment on finding out what is the runtime on those 6 volt batteries. For the 3.95 each they cost me, it let me stash a nice powerful light in several places in the house for back-up. The 2.88 for one or two spare batteries ain't gonna break me either. It makes me wonder about spending high dollars for a high tech light. My son Matt is a county police officer, and he's into the Shurfire thing and needing to sear retnas out at a hundred yards. Most of my nieghbors as well seemed to get by with the ubiquitous plastic Everready or Rayovac D cell flashlights.
I came to the conclusion I like cans of Sterno. Long shelf life, easy to use, and cheap. The fold down stove that goes with them takes up almost no space to store. Very easy to buld up emergency supplies on a social security budget.
Clothing seemed to make a big difference. Since Karen and I are both ourdoors people, and like to woods ramble looking at nature in any weather with our binoculars, we have good clothing. The wool sweaters we have and the long underwear made us comfortable in a chilly house. At no time were we uncomfortable or cold.
So there you have it. One older couples experiance surviving the blizzard of 2010 with cheap plastic flashlights and sterno stove and wool sweaters.
I guess my old Irish Granny was right; If you can make a cup of tea, it's going to be alright.
:thumbup:
