power outage.....

When I was a kid, our power would go off when mother nature sneezed... Never remember a generator but Dad always had creative ways of getting by... Always kept the deep freeze packed full. If it wasn't food, it was milk jugs and butter bowls of ice and would carry over most outages. In winter (all electric house) he'd bring in the worm (??) heater that was converted to run on propane instead of diesel. Always had a couple of the coleman propane lanterns and them stovetop purcalator coffee pots and a coleman stove..
Mom would cook on the coleman stove and dad would perk coffee with a propane torch... TV only got 3 channels so it wasn't missed much...
Get a kick outta things 30-40 years later when everyones figuring/planing how much backup generator they need in order to survive.......

I remember a neighbor who passed about 20 years ago. He once said when I was about 10, or so... "If You cant get by without electricity... then probably someday You"d better count on not getting by!" He was a wise man! He griped about computers, & I cant imagine what he would say about cell phones!!!

Yeah, I grew up without "indoor plumbing" or running water, (unless you consider the times Mom said, "Son, RUN to the spring and bring up a couple buckets of water." Said spring being about a hundred yards down the hill from the house. We bought this place in 1977, and the house had no heating system. (When the house was built about 1948, central heat was a luxury). So for 24 years, it became a family project to cut enough wood to heat the house during the winter, and depend on elec. fans to keep cool in the summer. The house was insulated overhead, but not well enough to warrant central air or heat, besides being only about 18 inches off the ground would have meant installing an outside unit. There were many times that the power would be off for a few minutes to a few hours, but we were always able to cope. We had a gas cook stove and many times we would enjoy popcorn by candlelight. The kids always enjoyed it. My children, the youngest will be forty in Sept. still appreciate those times. My youngest daughter, whom I see more than the other two, has commented many times that she feels that if and when a time should come that we should have to cope without the convenience of electricity or electronic communications, that she would be better prepared than most people. Although I now live in a "manufactured" house, It would not be too difficult to convert an area to safely install wood heat, and I am seriously considering installing an "old fashioned" hand pump in our well in case of prolonged power failure. Because, who knows, in case of prolonged power failure, how long we will be able to procure fuel for the generator?

Growing up ours went out every time a cloud came up and usually lightening struck near the house. It happened so often that any time we heard a rumble of thunder in the distance we rushed around and unplugged everything. The thing I remember most was the time when they came to cut the power off. Mom had mailed the payment in late and we lived 40 miles out of town. The man happened to come while Dad was at the house. Dad explained the situation and that we had just killed a cow and the freezer was full and If He tried to pull the meter he would whip his a$$. The Guy says what was He going to tell His boss? Dad said " tell him if he wants to come out here He'll Whip his a$$ too. But You ain't cutting off the power".

Ron

I don't remember ever loosing power as a kid but for the past ten years it has been commonplace. A day or two isn't bad but things start to unravel after a week as after the ice storm of '08. That one was followed the next year by a three day outage, so I bit the bullet and got a generator.

Pretty similar to our place when I was a kid. Whenever a big storm would blow-in, dad would fill the tub and a couple five gallon buckets with water (to be used for flushing). And mom would fill several pitchers and pans with water for cooking or washing up. Mom had several oil lamps in the house and Dad always kept plenty of flashlights and batteries on hand. Only mom would open the fridge when needed, so we kids didn't let all the cold air escape. An older sibling had a battery powered transistor radio to listen to.

the electric grid hasn't improved since I was born .
we live in a country with a 3rd world electric grid.
Look at modern countries the electric is buried .
they could bury 1% a year at least in a hundred
years we would be modern and almost immune from
storms knocking out our power .

Dave,I won't totaly disagree with you and some others,but none of you seem to have grew up(lived)in a case where you had to have some kind of backup power source(means)for water, cooling for a livestock type farming.We and others had some form of backup from the 1940s on.But it seems from the mid 70s on things have gotten worse(3 day-week+outages),so Dave you are like people I know that call prepared people stupid names until the power has been off a couple days and then come around wanting(begging for) help because of no electric. To each his own but don't complain about people that do prepare.

massey333, it's not about preparation, it's about how much things have changed in the last 30 years regarding what you can/can't live without.

30 years ago, RICH people had air conditioning in their cars. The grocery store had air conditioning.

Now, the news makes it a point to report how those poor poor people whose power was knocked out by the storms don't have air conditioning. Every report mentions air conditioning, but not every report mentions the basics like food, water, clothing, shelter...

Where are the priorities? Apparently, on air conditioning.

A/C is nice. I have it. I use it. Is it a necessity? NO. I think I could handle being without it for a few days. There are people all over the world who live in mud huts with 100+ degree temperatures, and don't melt. Nobody here will melt either...

I moved mine to the south porch a week or so ago. Sure nuf power
went out last Sunday for several hours. Just ran power cords to my
computer and room ac's and away we went. I'm tired of loosing
power at the worst possible time and besides, I bought the unit so
that it would power my welder when I wanted to work on steel pipe
fencing.

Mark

I didn't say anything about AC,just about livestock needs(dairy etc.)My point was we had needs back when and we have the same or more today.I wonder just how many thousands of tons of food had to be throwed out in the past week.Stores, restaurants, homes because of the present power outages.

massey333, you have evidently missed the point:

These people are not sizing up backup generators so they can feed and milk the cows!!!

They are sizing backup generators so they can keep their A/C running, charge their iPads, run their Xbox's... They *CAN'T* *LIVE* *WITHOUT* these things, even for a few hours.

Freezer be d*mned. We gotta have our A/C. It's over 75 degrees in here!

30-40 years ago when the power went out, It was usauly back on in less than 12 hours. Now its days or a week or more. A lot depends on how heavily populated area you live in. If it's densely populated, you're first priority, if it's sparse you're the last ones to get power

Only rich folks had A/C thirty years ago? I don't think so. The first vehicle I owned with A/C was a 1970 Plymouth. That was no rich folks car. That was over fourty years ago. The first vehicle I rode in with A/C was a 1957 Rambler. That was over fifty years ago. That was no rich folks car either. After all, A/C is what saved the South.

Local Green County Amish act puzzled when people complain about no electricity- why do people REALLY need it they ask? Amish do have a sense of humor. RN

So you are trying to justify not having enough $$$ to purchase
and generator and transfer switch? Or you are telling us you
are a rough tough capable HE MAN that don't need no
convieniences?
I"ll crank up the generator and keep the freezers frozen, the
fridge chilled, the well pump running, sump pump running and
the lights on. For the 1 hour to 3+ days the power is off.

(quoted from post at 10:45:09 07/05/12) So you are trying to justify not having enough $$$ to purchase
and generator and transfer switch? Or you are telling us you
are a rough tough capable HE MAN that don't need no
convieniences?
I"ll crank up the generator and keep the freezers frozen, the
fridge chilled, the well pump running, sump pump running and
the lights on. For the 1 hour to 3+ days the power is off.

Click to expand...

Naaa, just trying to put things in perspective a little..... Kinda early for you to be bustin the bottle and pickin fights ain't it???

Pretty sad when folks can't post an observation or relate a story without a couple thin skinned and/or arrogant idiots tryin to make it a personal thing.....

(quoted from post at 13:16:33 07/05/12) the electric grid hasn't improved since I was born .
we live in a country with a 3rd world electric grid.
Look at modern countries the electric is buried .
they could bury 1% a year at least in a hundred
years we would be modern and almost immune from
storms knocking out our power .

Click to expand...

I have nothing against underground but the problem you mentioned is very complicated. The transmission system is what needs the most updating and I not aware of a safe way to bury 69,000+ volts. Distribution could go mostly underground but the cost is over double that of overhead lines, and it's more dangerous for lineman to work on. Another thing that most people don't realize is that power companies rent out their poles. They get paid for each pole that is used for telephone, fiber, etc., and if they switch to underground they would lose all that income. I'm not claiming to know it all and hope I don't sound like it. It is funny that power companies are having more and more outages but refuse to hire more lineman. I just graduated line school and believe me, nobody wants to hire now.

Gee, with the change to digital TV, we frequently only get 2 channels now.

You can be watching a program and the signal just goes away. What fun!

I get tired of people telling me how that being
poor and doing without makes them good and righteous.

(quoted from post at 15:49:05 07/05/12) I get tired of people telling me how that being
poor and doing without makes them good and righteous.

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You pulled that out of your a$$ or that bottle you seem to be so fond of...... Poor is a frame of mind and "going without" is sometimes by choice.. If you'd humble up and quit being such a punk all the time you might enjoy life a lttle more..

See what you done to my people skills??? And I have been doing so good......

If that's not the pot calling the kettle black, I
don't know what is.

(quoted from post at 17:12:14 07/05/12) If that's not the pot calling the kettle black, I
don't know what is.

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birds of a feather............. Cmon super dave, B&D can handle himself without a half trained monkey chiming in....

Perhaps you could start by get off the drink you
are so preoccupied with.