If a blizzard hit - how long could you last at home?

I forgot about the electricity thing! Being off the grid, we never have lost our power due to storms. Our system is small but provides us with everything we need. And it's pretty strong in the winter too.

katlupe

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Reflections of katlupe

i would be good til spring as that is how we live anyways. Live about 3 miles from a tiny town and we never plow our driveway in the winter and have enough supplies to last til spring. (other wise we have to pull in stuff our 1/2 mile driveway uphill by sled... I call it my Nordic track... Lol) I do have electricity. but do have outages as we are very remote. I have gravity flow water, wood heat and cooking slove, extra propane lanterns , lamp lanterns + oil, and tons candlesfor light.Lots of food and garden stuff. Have lots of books and art+sewing supplies. Battery Chess game for fun . Wind up and shake flashlights/w /radio. Would be good!
Laurie

We lost power last week for 2 days due to a freak snow storm. The trees are still full of leaves and we had had quite a bit of rain which turned to wet snow and broke limbs and power lines. We were one of the lucky ones out here at our place. Listening to the radio (from the city of Buffalo) there were approx 350,000 people without electric & water. We really didn't have a lot of snow, maybe 20" within 24 hours, and we didn't have freezing temps, so it all melted with in a couple days and now we deal with flooding and mud. we discovered that you can shovel snow and grass clippings at the same time.

We were well stocked with lamp oil & matches. We already cook on a wood stove, so heat & cooking were not an issue. We have a hand pump outside for water. Haven't had a tv in almost 4 years, so that wasn't missed. We have a wind-up radio which also has a light on it.

We were unprepared when it came to batteries for the flashlights and a battery back-up for the pig fence. Gas stations did not have power, so people traveled MANY miles to find gasoline for their generator. Listening to radio reports, many people used their generators incorrectly and there were several Carbon Monoxide poisonings and also fires due to using a gas stove as a heat source.

We also do not have water stored, we rely on the hand pump, but that won't help if it's contaminated. So, we'll be rethinking our water issues.

Another issue is the telephone. We have an older phone that plugs directly into the phone jack, and this worked fine but my parents' phone is electrical and did not work.

It would help to have some entertainment too. Books, playing cards, jigsaw puzzles, board games.

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Charleen in Western NY www.harperhillfarm.com

A bite of butter greases your track. ~ Gramma Sarah

If you don't have a good stock for a month or more do so, sites are already asking people if they have enough food and water to get by if a Pan. Flu hits here in the states. Even the reg news sites. We dont have a generator oursleves, but if its winter no problem, we would have to filter the old spring and have a wood stove, which is our only source of heat, so we have plenty of wood. We could go for months with out leaving our place. The chickens are another story though,lol, If their shut in we would run out of grain at this point in about a month.

Wood stove, wood for the winter, and at least two months worth of food for my wife and I here ...

that reminds me...i am a few wenches short. i need more wenches! :baby04:

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"All that is gold does not glitter..."

I could get by for a couple of months, anyway. The diet might get kind of "weird" by the end of that time period though.

Bob @ Koolibri Rantšo

We would be fine until spring.

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~Be the change you wish to see in the world.

>>>>>

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this message has probably been edited to correct typos, spelling errors and to improve grammar...

"All that is gold does not glitter..."

3 days until FEMA rescued me... And I do have duct tape and plastic so I could probably do 4 days.

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lol, you have some rose colored glasses on now don't ya?

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this message has probably been edited to correct typos, spelling errors and to improve grammar...

"All that is gold does not glitter..."

LOL, you know, sometimes I wonder how the new people take me when I say stuff like that... LMBO!

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They think youre (deleted,fill in the posters name).

BooBoo

Good idea, I need another wench or two myself, now where do I find a wench in good shape, without much wear and tear showing?

LOL

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We'd be good until spring, but we'd run out of fuel for the generator before that. But that's no biggie

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I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. - Mark Twain

One problem I need to address is draining all of the water lines so they don't freeze and break. I am prepared to fix them if they do. We have a fireplace and natural gas and city water. If the gas and water supplies were cut off we have water stored and a pool full of water. If we had a blizzard we would melt snow by the fireplace. We have two Coleman liquid gas stoves (to use outdoors), lanterns; kerosene lamps; candles and battery power. I still can't find Klean Heat fuel locally.

Our food stocks would keep us fed for a couple of months at least. Yes, the menu may get a little wierd at the end. Our reserve food supplies get better every week. I could hunt game if conditions permitted.

We would take care of important things during daylight then rest and sleep when it gets dark.

Right now more firewood and Coleman fuel tops the list of needed items.

Now that DD & grandchildren have moved in my supplies are getting low. I could now last probably about 2 or 3 months instead of the 6+ months that I could have before.

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Now that I spent the last 3 weeks getting fire wood, we would be OK for as long as my dh's diabetic supplies held out. So depending if he just got a refil or is about to get one, it could be from 7 days to 3 monthes.
Other supplies on hand would last for around a year. With propane running out first. We are not good about keeping the canisters full. But we've been practicing cooking on the wood stove, that would last longer. I'd have to can the last of the meat in the freezer with the propane we have left.

We should be able to make it through the winter if need be.(I am assuming it would be below freezing, otherwise the snow would melt. No need to run the generator for the freezer if it is freezing--it is in the garage.) We might just be about to find out, as we are under a blizzard watch.