Hurricane-ready

[bjarvis]

I think we're set for Hurricane Irene.

• We buy most of our household items in bulk so we're well stocked with just about everything, especially paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, tissues, etc.).
  
• We have a tonne of candles standing by.
  
• We have a battery powered radio with a solar panel and hand crank.
  
• All battery powered devices are charging currently.
  
• We have a large stock of spare batteries. If the economy collapses and dollars become useless, we can probably use the extra batteries to barter for food. :-)
  
• All vehicles are fully fueled, especially the minivan: it has multiple electrical outlets so we can charge all of our mobile phones simultaneously if needed.
  
• We have two power inverters for the cars so we can recharge batteries or even briefly power small appliances as needed.
  
• We have plenty of propane for the backyard barbecue.
  
• The food in the freezers has been reshuffled so the items we're most likely to use are the freezer of the refrigerator rather than the chest freezer. That will minimize the times the larger chest freezer has to be opened, preserving its items longer if the power is down for an extended period.
  
• We have ice and more being made currently.
  
• Our kitchen stove and water heater are fueled with natural gas. While we'll have to manually light the burners of the stove, the water heater has a pilot light so we'll have hot water as long as there is running water.
  
• I'm not concerned about our water supply as the municipal supply is gravity fed and the tower down the street from us is enormous. Even if the power is off for five days (think Hurricane Isabel in 2003), we'll still have water. We are setting aside a couple of jugs of water for cooking though, just in case.
  
• The dishwasher and laundry will be caught up Saturday, just in case.
  

At the moment, I'm confident we're ready for the apocalypse. We have nothing to fear except days of unemployed yokels rioting & looting or perhaps a tsunami disrupting power to our nuclear reactors causing three of six to go into meltdown contaminating the area for centuries to come.

Comments

[apparentparadox]

But what if the internet goes down? That would be catastrophic!

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

The wifi router and cable modem are on a UPS; I have wireless broadband for my laptop and all of our mobile phones have data plans. We're as ready as we can be.

[bootedintexas.livejournal.com]

reminds me of the "internets" episode of South Park...

[apparentparadox]

Last time we lost power the UPS died before the power came back on -- I couldn't access the internet for over 30 minutes!

[weekilter.livejournal.com]

Except: If the juice to the cellsites goes dark and if the head end of the cable modem people goes dark you're outta luck. Cellsites usually have _some_ reserve power, but if it's needed more than a few hours you may be outta luck. It's more likely that C&P telephone (wireline) service will survive even if the regular electrical service fails. You may be ready for ארמגדון (Armageddon) but the cable company and VeriZon may not.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Surprising as it may be, the mid-Atlantic region's cell phone towers, electrical grid and other infrastructure are largely beyond my control. I'll have to let Verizon fend for themselves.

[bootedintexas.livejournal.com]

"a tsunami disrupting power to our nuclear reactors causing three of six to go into meltdown contaminating the area for centuries to come."

nice to know you are keeping everything in perspective (GRIN) i am pretty sure you won't get the worse of it, i am more worried about long island.

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

get buckets of water for toilet flushing purposes. When our power goes out here, no water (too high up), and each toilet only stores one flush at a time. Yes, I know you say there's not likely to be a water cut, but you don't know, and an unflushed loo is not pleasant.

solar hand crank?

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

.
We have a battery powered radio with a solar panel and hand crank.

Wowsers. You have a gizmo that you turn a crank and the sun shines? Now that's impressive. Can I get one of those?

[dendren.livejournal.com]

what about zombies??? you seem completely unprepared for the pending post-Irene Zombpocalypse.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I'll use one of the husbands as bait. That's why I call them "an heir and a spare." :-)

[weekilter.livejournal.com]

OK, you have an inverter, do you have a perverter? :)

[jss]

"Have?" Try "Is."

[frauholla.livejournal.com]

You guys sound like you are well prepared! Take care!