What I learned during recent disaster

Wow, thank you for sharing. It's important that we all share what we learn during these brief practice sessions.

Could you provide a link to the site you purchased your "...hand crank cell phone chargers ...", let us know the costs and how well it works, thanks.

Kikyquilt, thanks for sharing. I live in Port Orchard WA and we had a similiar experience. I have paper products. I hate having dirty dishes in the sink for four days. I have a artesian well and have constant water. I don't have a fire place in the house but in the built on back patio we have a wood stove. We live on ten acres and have plenty of wood. I had already put olastic on the bedroom window so it was easy to warm. I used a small propant heater. I have a blind vent in the bedroom so I open it to keep the o2 level up. I have a co detector in the bedroom so it was fine. One good thing was Friday it was a beautiful day and I opened the blinds on the sliding glass door. The sun warmed the room and provided plenty of light.

One thing I am getting folks for Christmas is book lights. They are great for reading when it is dark. I will give family extra batteries.

I have a solar battery charger and rechargable batteries. It was a life saver.

I bought several thermos bottles at a yard sale so we filled them up with coffee and gave one to a neighbor with ms who had no cooking facilities. His mother drove 150 miles to pick him up and take him home. Cold really effects him so he is staying with her for a month or so. Gave the other thermos to our 85 year old neighbor. She has a gas fireplace so had heat in one room She has plenty of flashlights and candles.

MIL and BIL are still without power. They have a generator and BIL and family have plenty of camping gear. They have a small tent they put up in the living room for the little kids to play in. It stays warmer.

News just said 175,000 people are still without power. This is the fourth day for some.

I got sick and tired after the twelth hour. Last time we lost power was the day before the storm.

The weirdest thing was no gas stations, grocery stores open, It was a shcok.

A couple of thins:

1. Have enough food to just be able to open cans to ear. Tuna, pb and crackers.

2. Don't open the refrigerator. Do empty the ice maker box. Ice melts and you have a hue puddle. I keep several pounds of dry ice in another freezer. I keep a second pound of dry ice in the refrigerator freezer. You will probably have to throw all pershible out after 12 hours.

3. Do not open the refrigerator door.

4, If you have a generator, do not use it in the house.

5, Do not bring bar b q' in the house. Over 100 people went to the trauma center burning them in your house.

6. If it is super cold warming centers welcome you. Don't tough it out if you are not prepared. They do provide a cot, blanket, food and drinks.

7, Neighbors get together and help one another. Even if you don't like each other it is better than dead.

8. If you burn candles, don't fall asleep. Burn them on a metal pan, pie pan (metal) keep them from children and pets. Houses burned in this power outage.

9. Keep a land line phone in the house. Those really nice wireless phones can not be used in a power outage situation.

10. When power returns, keep in mind that the less you use for a couple of days, the easier more folks can have power restored. If everyone who has power uses less the less of a strain to a fragile power grid.

11. If you loose power and have a lot of meat in the freezer you may want to have a massive bar b q for your neighbors and feed everyone something hot. A friend's neighbor did just that. That neighbor made people happy. There were no restaurants open at all. The best thing he made people friends instantly.

We have power but other friends do not. We have invited friends and family over to shower and have a meal. We have a very small house (1000 square feet) I have an extra bedroom and it would have been available for DS # 2 with two kids if needed. I also have two sofa beds for anyone else if it would have been needed. God bless all without power. The best people in the world are the electrians who have been working 48 hours straight through to restore our daily living.

I actually have a big bag of ice and a block of ice for the same reason plus a bunch of ice chests. I hate to waste the freezer space on the ice but my Costco trips to buy meat can be a formidable investment!