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Had to activate the Family Emergency Response Plan

raven01750

raven01750

.270 WIN
3:58 PM. We returned to the stone age. So, decided it would be best to take a nap (not knowing how bad the outage actually was) only to wake up a couple of hours later with no power. Thinking this strange, I picked up my cell phone so I could call SDG&E to find out how long the power would be out. No answer. Hell, No Ring. What is going on, my phone says it's searching. Uh Oh. That means that the cell towers are down too.

So, I have no power, no phone because we don't have a land line. No internet to find out what is going on. And I'm wondering :oops: what am I going to do to find out what is going on?

Well, about that time my SO wakes up and says why don't we use the radio? I said, no power of course. Then it dawned on me that I had two hand crank Emergency Radios I bought just a couple of months ago for just this type of circumstance.

Went to the hunting box and pull one out. Thinking it weird of course. (We never actually think we will use the things of course or maybe we just hope to never use them) :shock:

Turn it on and start going through the FM band. Nothing. Weather Band, yes that's still transmitting. AM. Finally the usual signs of a moronic society talking about how it is taking them 1 1/2 hours to move 1 car length. But I also found out that the world hadn't come to an end. Chalk up one for the emergency Radio. (Of course I hadn't thought of the one in my car since I just woke up from a nap) Duh. :D

That's when I heard it... SDG&E telling us over the radio to activate your families Emergency Response Plan if you have one. I said SH*&. My emergency response plan is at the Mossberg Repir Facility in Eagle pass Texas! :eek:

I went outside and ran into a neighbor walking her dog. She said power was out in all of San Diego County. :shock: :shock: How bad is it really? What were we going to do next? Food, low. Water. Still on. But for how long? Drinking water. OK. but not if this was going to last for a few days. Fill up the bathtub for flushing water just in case. Check.

Get back to the cell. Signal pops in and out. But no phone service. Found out from another neighbor that text was still working. OK. I at least have some way to contact my kids etc who live with their mom 20 miles away. Send them a breif text saying "Power out until tomorrow. Are you OK?" The battery is almost dead. Crap. OK. I can recharge it in the car. That will keep that lifeline open for now. And wait for a response...

Start listening to the car radio while the neighbors are gathering around the Emergency radio and natural gas grill to make some dinner. My propane bottle on my grill was out. Of course. Sheesh. Not looking to prepared here but we still had the basics. Information is coming in now. The main line from Arizona went down. Not terrorist related. Cool. But it could be until tomorrow until we get power again.

As the night went on, several neighbors came out and hung around the radio, kids playing, enjoying the excitement. Were OK for now. Emergency services are tasked to the limit since all of the workers getting off are trapped in elevators, parking garages that can't get the exit gates open etc. Radio constantly asking people to stay off of their cell phones and only dial 911 if it was a life or death emergency because that was the only was they would try to make it to a particular scene.

Text came in from my oldest son. "Yes." That told me they were OK but nothing else. But that's what was important anyway. :D

Then it came time to start to deal with the minor inconvieneance of life in the stone age. Break out a cigar and my bottle of bourbon. This is actually more important than I thought. Why you ask? Because it gave people the time to just sit and talk. Talk to neighbors that we see all of the time in passing. Relax and learn a little about each other. And a good bourbon helps. Several families used the grill. Found out that I was the only one with weapons and ammunition if it had come to that and that some of them actually knew that we as a community would be better off defending our little slice of civilization togther. And even knew how we could do it. Encouraging. One neighbor even had MRE's for dinner. Had a great time and woke up with lights and a bit of a hang over.

All in all, a great experience on several levels. And a learning one too. Better get back to building my Families Emergency Resonse kit. Becuase you never know when your really going to need it. Have a great day everyone.

Paul
 
Good story. Glad to you left coasters are ok. I saw this morning on Facebook that kqlz had no power. I called 2 of peeps over there and they didn't answer. So i sent a text. All was good.

I had the same experience last week for almost a week. Showers at my brother's house,all food cooked on my grill, including coffee. Sat with the neighbor drinking beer and glug by the fire pit. Had a good time. And I found out we both had an arsenal between the 2 of us and his dad. I asked him to check us out here at MO. We'll see if he shows up.

Thanx for the update.
 
Paul, Great Story! I had heard about the outage...

We talk about being prepared, but always hope never to use it. More I wonder how many can actually pull it off!

We went through some of that a ew years ago when Katrina made land and blew through Ohio. Certainly not as bad as the coast had it for sure, but an eye opener anyhow. The winds were sustained alll day nearly 80 mph. We dont normally deal with that here. We used the grill, and generators as we were able. We hooked up a generator here and another neighbor had one too. Between the two, we ran power to 4 houses. Gasoline was an issue, we had to drive 15 miles to find a gas station with #1, power and #2... gasoline. People were fighting at the pumps and the line was over an hour. We managed though with the generators to keep food fresh and use everything else sparingly. We found not everyone hooked up could run the entire house at the same time, so we had to set some ground rules! :lol: Light just one room as needed, run alarm clocks and radios, tv sparingly, charge cell phones, keep the refrigerator on. The generators were not intended to be plugged into the houses, so we ran GFCI 3 ways, and extension cords through windows for a light here and there and the other stuff deemed necessary.

It was culture shock, but we certainly werent "roughing" it. Our house wasnt damaged, so I helped repair a couple roofs and remove downed trees as I was able and for the most part our days were reasonably normal. We started to smell funny and we all went to bed early! :lol: Oh! Water was still on, but no hot water for showers, we heated water on the grill, and everyone got a gallon at a time for washing!

I appreciate you sharin that Paul!!!
 
wow, guess I never thought it was a big deal to lose power since I grew up in a spot where we lose power regularly in the winter and sometimes in the summer, an inconvenience yes but a panicky emergency, not so much.....it is serious for some like people who need life support of some sort or elderly people, but I think it’s funny fit people started to panic….and your neighbor ate MRE for dinner after a few hours with no power…LOL. I am sorry not trying to belittle your situation. I am soooo glad I don’t live there, I don’t know if I have enough ammo do defend my MRE’s in case of a 3 day power outage. Glad you made it out ok.
 
:lol: No belittling taken oli. In SoCal, we have so many people. It's ridiculas. There's no generators, And the stores are raided immediately of things like water etc. I had a couple hundred in cash in the gun safe if needed. But if there's nothing to buy then what good is it?

It did make me think about all of the times we hear about people on the East Coast without power because of Hurricanes, Tornados in the midwest etc and how they deal with it. It seems so normal that you don't hear about the real problems it causes.

I couldn't imagine being trapped in an elevator for 12 hours. Especially if it has more than two people in it. I bet a lot more people will be using the stairs for awhile. ;) And you can't get your car out of the Parking Garage because the toll arm couldn't be raised? Peoples cars were stopped because they ran out of gas stuck in traffic. Making the traffic situation even worse. Emergency services were stretched beyond the breaking point. And may not have even been able to get to a location anyway because of the traffic. I was really worried about the possibility of fires from people lighting candles and going to bed. I live in a condominium complex. We could loose 16 units in the blink of an eye.

We were actually lucky. We had water. But there were some communities that didn't. The pumping stations went down and that was it. Mexico's sewage spilled into the Pacific because no power to send it to the treatment plants. That water comes right up the coast closing beaches etc due to high bacteria counts.

It just reminds us how easily it is to get into a situation that you would have really needed to plan for. And if you did, there's about 100,000 people around you who didn't. Scary thought of how quickly things could break down and get real ugly. :(

Paul
 
Oli, I was thinking along the same lines.

We had 3 days without power during just this last snow storm. So, going an evening without seems a bit trivial to me.

going without power makes you appreciate having it and coal miners and hydro workers willing to risk their lives everyday to make life easier, but going back a hundred years sure shows people how used to modern CONVIENENCES people really are.

Raven, I am not trying to make light of your situation and it sounds like out of all your neighbors you were ahead of the curve.

And just must be a whole different kind of demographic. I would be hard pressed to find a neighbor who didn't have a gun.
 
I'm actually interested in what you guys who are more used to "doing without", actually do?

I need to get a spare propane bottle and fill the one I have. Get some collapsable water containers. Like the 5 Gallon ones the military uses. And some compact, high caloric meals. I have no place to store a generator. So, a power converter is probably in order like used for RV's. I don't think car batteries are going to be in short supply.

But the real danger is the number of people. The last time we had a major event here, it was the fires. The majority of people evacuated went to our Sports stadium where things could be brought in. Via Helecopter if necessary. But what if there was a major earthquake in LA. We would have 8 Million people heading our way.

So back to the real question. What do you do when you are unexpectedly sent back to the stoneage? :eek: What are the things you would need to know about Power inverters? how many extension cords etc did you need?

Paul
 
Set back to the stone age?

Here it isnt toooo bad. Small town, power goes out often, but usually only for several hours, but if it doesnt come back on?

I wont lie. We're used to modern stuff and it wouldnt be easy, but we wouldnt panic either. We arent clustered in like big cities. The woods begin in my side yard and thats where food lives. If you can make a fire, you can purify water and cook. You can stock up now for just in case stuff like MRE's, but when that runs out? Then what? You'll need to know basic survival and probably get away from the city fast. Your just in case stuff should be enough to at the very least sustain your trip out of the city. Lets face it, no way you can carry enough supplies, materials and food to out last any significant and major catastrophe. You need to have enough to get you safely "away". Hydration is important, but how long can you carry 5 gallons of water? You either need to wear it, or be able to purify and refill. Purification tablets are easy to carry and store in like an EDC bag, something light weight and smallish that can be thrown into a pack. Have enough to again, get you someplace better. Cliff bars and Power bars, MRE's and such are also easy to carry. So water, protien, carbohydrates and self defense to preserve what you have for you and yours. I wont get started on what to do when ammo runs out! :lol:

Otherwise, happy hunting!
 
I have a kerosene heater for emergency heat in the winter (and we get some bad cold winters too). And about 50 gallons of kerosene, which is enough fuel to run the heater 24-7 for more than a straight month if needed.

As for eats, canned foods are what we use. Although we try to consume the food in the fridge/freezer first because of spoilage. Then you can get into the canned foods and other things that you can boil on the heater like soup beans and rice.

They're less expensive than MRE's and taste a helluva lot better and last a long time too. And can be warmed up on the heater, or big propane BBQ grill outside, and we have a camp stove that uses those small disposable propane/butane tanks as well.

As for light, good old fashioned candles and flashlights there. But since we have so much kerosene in the barrels, we primarily use kerosene lanterns as well.

Water is hard to get a whole lot of for storage constraints without getting a few of those big office cooler jugs. If you have a big snow, you could scoop up fresh snow and melt it and use to boil foods in, but I doubt that would help you much.

If you empty an office cooler and refill it later, make sure you put a couple of tablespoons of clorox in it to kill any germs/bacteria.

These are but a few tips that have saved my butt a few times.

If you get a DC/AC invertor, get a real big one and wire two or three 12vdc batteries in parallel, you could put a small battery charger in the system and keep them going continuously.

And as long as you have fuel in the car, you can alternate the power invertor batteries with your existing car battery and have a fresh (charged) battery in reserve since your car's alternator will charge it with use in case you put too much demand try to draw too much power from the system over a given amount of time.
 
The biggest problem is summer power outages and food spoiling. In a place you know its going to happen it is easier to pre plan. Canned food of all sorts are stashed and not touched. The winter is easy, keep food outside.
Just living in the city is a huge hurdle. Here one can dig a hole on a north slope about 4 ft deep and it is cold enough to store food for a week, then you have to dig another hole because the original is too warm after about a week. In Alaska I lived out of a tundra cooler for two weeks….peel back the tundra till you reach permafrost store your food and then cap it with the peeled up tundra, keeps meat frozen for about two weeks in mid summer.
We use camp stoves to cook, if you run out of propane then fire up the wood stove. That sucks in the summer but you do what you have to and the summer outages only last for two days max because it is easy for linemen to get to the problem. I have been two weeks in the winter….a big stash of firewood is paramount….if you run out or food spoils you shoot fresh meat and eat it with canned food.
A generator that runs on diesel is the best because they will run on other things like kerosene. But really that is to run a well or a freezer. Coleman lanterns and candles for light. A lot of quiet time, card games, and a book.
There is a lot of tricks I couldn’t possibly list all till I came across the situation, I actually lived in a remote cabin for one year and 8 months with no power…..I’m not afraid to admit it got old after about 6 months but it is amazing what you can accomplish without TV and internet….lived off elk and deer meat and produce we grew and canned in the summer, it was quite humbling and an invaluable learning experience. I have a stash of MRE’s too but I have had to eat many of those on the fire line and would rather almost do anything not to eat another one but they will keep you alive. We are pretty water rich here so as long as you have a way to boil your good. I could go on but it’s too long already. Basically here 3 days without can bee expected but after that you need to get creative. Hard to give advice to you because you face a whole different set of problems but sustaining life are the same requirements everywhere, water, food, dry shelter and warmth....deal with hot weather by limiting exposure and don’t get too attached to your electronics and social media. In a way I hope it all goes down sometimes just so I can see the faces of all the people without facebook and twitter....it’s a twisted little dream of mine and sometimes I like a little chaos it keeps you on your toes, just like your power outage got you on your toes. We need to test ourselves, lol.

EDIT: You guys type too fast
 
This is turning into a great thread. :cool: Lots of unexpected info coming out. WOW! 20 months in a cabin living off the land. Talk about a time warp. So, how long does a typical kerosene lantern work an a full tank?

Paul
 
Depending on how much light you want a couple hours or quite a few hours. I prefere the small propane bottle type.

raven01750 said:
WOW! 20 months in a cabin living off the land. Talk about a time warp. Paul
Click to expand...
Depends on how you look at it, I wouldnt trade it for anything....a beautiful experience
 
Other light sources would be like the forever flashlights. Some have a small crank handle, like the emergency radio. Others you just shake and it works. I have those and the headlight thingys.

The thing about being in the city if the power goes out for an extended period of time, say several days or a week or more, is that the ill prepared will get desperate enough to take what you have. What is it, like only 1/3 of the population is armed? The unarmed 2/3 may not have firearms, but there are ALOT of them!

Good point folks on the canned food! AND the BEANS!!! Mmmmmm... beans.
 
I'm sure it gave you a sense of well being and comfort knowing that you could survive and take care of your loved ones in any situation. Something to be proud of Sir. Certainly nothing like a born and bred city boy like me will ever accomplish. I would have a real hard time of it for awhile. But I think I too would survive. But I would stilll prefer to do it in comfort. :lol:

Hey, talking about lanterns. Any info on the Solar ones? And why do you prefer the propane ones over kerosene?

Paul
 
I think they last longer, and it is less messy, less chance for a fire.
Dont ever sell yourself short, I dont care about backround, you will be suprised what you can accoplish in a given situation.....something tells me you wouldnt throw up your hands and give up.....but watch out for the ones that do.
 
I'm very thankful that I don't live in the city. I don't particularly care for it. I have just about everything I could need right here.

With the amount of light that I use, I can get a couple of nights out of a tank of kerosene in a lantern with moderation turning it off when I go to bed (which will be early to bed, early to rise). Just FWIW, a lantern tank holds about a cup of kerosene.

http://www.ehow.com/how_8194736_operate ... ntern.html

Here is more about kerosene heaters/stoves
http://www.endtimesreport.com/kerosene_heaters.html
 
And don't discredit yourself. Like Oli said, you may be surprised at what you can really do when you set your mind to it.

I was raised hard in the heart of the Appalachian mountains. Didn't have a lot when we were growing up and appreciated what we had. As Charles Dickens said, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

I was at my Grandparents a lot and they didn't have indoor plumbing until I was about 6 years old.

What that means is they didn't have a shower, we carried water from a creek in pails to heat up on the stove to pour in a wash tub for bathing and used a wringer washer for washing clothes and hung them on a clothes line in the summer and hung them around the stokermatic coal stove in the winter and yes, we had an outhouse and foot pedal singer sewing machine too.

We raised a big garden, fished a lot, hunted a lot, worked hard, and lived good and loved even harder.

I wouldn't trade those memories for no amount of money. It is in part, what made me what I am today and I'm damn proud of it.

But one thing that would make me fight at the drop of a hat was treated like I was a dumb hillbilly hick because I am anything but.

We learned early on to use our hands, and made the most of what we had.

We weren't the disadvantaged ones.
 
Good post John. I wish more people had that sense of self pride. But most people today are never really challenged and they grow up afraid. I HATE being afraid. But if your smart you can use that fear to prepare and be ready. And when you need to, come out better than those around you. And that builds pride and decency in people. Not enough of that today I'm afraid. :(

Paul
 
Afraid keeps you alive....saying in my business, “if you aint scared you’re either stupid or a liar.”
 
Well, I live just outside San Diego so I went thru this as well. I went to my daughter's house just after the power went out (cell phone tower dead as well) to make sure they were ok, and on my way home I drove by the shopping center and was totally amazed at what I saw. I saw people trying to get in the grocery store and employees not letting them in, I assume because of the computers were down and no power in the store for liability issues. I really like the ability of going on line and finding things, but I believe we are going to be up the creek without a paddle one day. The people were actually banging on the electric doors to get in. This was early on so maybe they thought of a terrorist thing, but still. A few hours later I was listening to my crank up AM radio and heard the real problem and just had to shake my head. Even my daughter doesn't have a food supply or water for a few days. Well after this I know now that good ole dad will make this his project ( we are about 2 miles from each other) in case this happens again. I am also in the process of doing an estate plan and asked her if she wanted me to leave her some of my guns and she said absolutely not, I will ask her again. I have been trying to find a grill/ cooking stove to use on camping trips and at the house to BBQ and I found a really nice one. It is called the Volcano grill/stove. You can use propane, charcoal (uses only about 10 brickettes at a time) or you can use wood. There are videos on Youtube about these. Some use to BBQ some use them with a dutch oven as well as other methods. I am ordering one of these but I am going to wait until next week to see if my daughter changes her mind. The only thing I missed was my fan noise to put me to sleep. lol
 
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