Brain dump

So I’ve had this blog post floating around in my head much of this afternoon.  But I haven’t been able to get myself to sit down and write it.  I shot a few pictures to go along with it – but even though I used the big camera they didn’t come out to my liking.  Not having any fancier image processing software than MS Photo Editor I can’t do any of the dodging and burning these snow pictures so desperately need. 

Anyway, we had this big storm.  One of the news channels said it was the fifth biggest snow storm on record in Boston.  It seems to me like many other notable snow storms I’ve lived through.  It’s winter in New England.  Some times it snows.  Last winter and so far this one (that little mess back in October not withstanding) we’ve had it easy.  Made up for the year before when I’d run out of places to hide the, um, places to put the snow…

* cough *

Now the funny thing about our friend Nemo is that I was concerned that I’d wind up with two or three feet of snow on the roof and only be able to clear the edges with my roof rake.  You see, it’s supposed to rain on Monday and that soaking into several feet of snow on the roof could spell disaster.  Fortunately this was a very cold and thus dry powdery snow.  The wind cleared the roof for me.

So how much did we actually get?  That depends on how you look at it…  On the one hand there was bare ground in my yard this afternoon.  And not five feet away there was a drift over three and a half feet deep piled up in front of my Westy.

Out front in the main driveway I’d say a good number was about 29 inches.  That was the deeper part of the snow field I had to move to get my flea van out of the carport.  Excuse me “out from under the awning.”  Carports are verboten according to the park rules.

Sadly there was one casualty from my efforts at digging out from Nemo: my little Toro snow blower has gone the way of most mechanical things when actually used.  I don’t know if the belt snapped of if a shear pin failed, but after doing yeoman’s work throughout most of the job its motor now spins freely and the auger does not.  I can move the auger by hand but the motor and auger are no longer talking to one another.

I wonder if I can get Pixar to replace my snow blower?  Nemo was their storm after all…

Nemo’s finding us…

How can you tell there is a storm coming?  Try to find a loaf of bread or gallon of milk at your local grocery store.

I shot that picture with my cell phone last night at our local store.  Were I to engage in what passes for reporting in the MSM I could make the claim that the whole store was just as decimated.  It wasn’t.  The bread isle shown in the picture had been pretty well picked clean and the 1% and 2% milk were gone, but the rest of the store looked pretty much like any average Thursday evening.  Even in the milk isle there was plenty of whole milk and skim if that’s what you were looking for.  We usually use 1%, but we can easily substitute whole and not be any worse for the ware.  Mum and I decided to do our normal Saturday morning shopping last night to get it out of the way just in case “Nemo” actually lived up to the hype the media’s been giving it over the past couple of days.

As for the storm itself?  It’s been snowing here at the HerrBGone Homestead V2.0 for several hours.  My work made what in my estimation was the correct decision yesterday and closed the office for the storm.  I’ve had my second cup of tea and once this is posted I’ll go fix myself a couple of hotdogs for lunch.  After that I’ll see if there is enough global warming in the driveway to necessitate my giving it a quick pass with the snow blower.

Other than that, so far it’s been a pleasant day off.  I hope things are going as well for you whether Nemo’s found you or not.

As mentioned over on FaceBook:

I just got done removing about 10" of global warming from my driveway. Thankfully the global-warming-blower I bought at a yard sale last summer works and works well! What we need to do is invent a kind of global warming that only lands on things that don't need to be shoveled...

BTW: My driveway is now about three feet longer than it was thanks to the big global-warming-mover not getting anywhere near the actual edge of the road. Thanks! I think...

Snore-easter-cane: Day 1 after action report.

Yawn...

It rained.  Not as bad as I've seen in some storms that didn't get the media red carpet this one did.

There was wind.  Bad enough by the evening commute that I was glad I decided to stay home.  But again, I've seen worse.

Listening to the scanner the city next door had their hands full with trees and wires down.  It sounded like a bunch of roads were closed.  My town and the several surrounding that I have programmed into the scanner were much quieter.

As of this writing I am unaware of any damage here at the HerrBGone Homestead V2.0.  But I haven't been outside yet...

Anywho...

Today there is a department meeting that, unfortunately, I can't get out of.  More snore.

Oh well.  Wish me luck.

On days like today ...

... I miss Shelby Scott!

Prepping for po folk

Er, rather, as Bayou Renaissance Man put it:

Emergency Preparation, Part 14: Preparing on a tight budget

This is a must read post – whether cash is an issue or not.  I will eventually get ‘round to reading the rest of the series.  But I wanted to spread the word on this installment particularly in light of the impending Frankenstorm or snore-easter-cane depending on who you read.

In BRM’s post he goes into quite a bit of detail on the contents of a bare bones food kit to keep one person going for a week.  The anticipated cost is around US $30 and I was able to build a kit at my local Wal*Mart based on these recommendations for about that.  I did read one thing wrong and only got 5 5oz. cans of tuna instead of the 7 recommended.  I will correct that as well as add a can opener from the dollar store before I give the whole kit and caboodle to the friend I put it together for.

Rewind to last night on the phone with my friend:

Me: So you do have plenty of groceries in the house, I trust.

She: Um, I think I have a couple of boxes of Cheerio’s…

This is my friend who gets thirsty and instead of going to the fridge and getting something to drink goes out to the car and drives to the local fast food emporium for a drive through super jumbo humongous soda with a price tag to match.

* Ye gods and little fishies!*  (to blatantly swipe a phrase from LawDawg)

So here I am, having just read BRM’s great post on prepping on the cheap and knowing we may have this nor’easter-hurricane-thing bearing down on us depending on the storms actual track (that we will finally know for sure some time around Thursday in the here’s where it went after the fact report) and I have reason to believe a very good friend who I care about very much ain’t got no preps in place.

I sense an opportunity to put the test to the info.

So here’s the inventory for the little kit that we put together today:

·        1 2-pound bag of Iberia long grain brown rice

·        2 1-pound bags of Best Bet elbow macaroni

·        2 1-pound bags of La Cena pinto beans

·        2 26-ounce jars of Great Value pasta sauce in two flavors

·        1 2-pound package of Great Value whole grain oats

·        5* 5-ounce cans of StarKist Selects chunk light tuna in water

·        1 5-ounce can of Butter Field chunk ham in water

·        1 5-ounce can Bumble Bee premium white chicken in water

·        1 Morton/McCormick sat & pepper set

·        1 Ozark Trail pocket knife

·        1 85-piece Be Smart Get Prepared first aid kit

·        1 5-gallon pail with lid to put it all in**

* Two more cans of tuna and one can opener need to be added to match the inventory from BRM’s post.  The first aid kit was my own little addition since I have no idea what my friend may have on hand.

** At Mum’s recommendation we had originally grabbed two boxes of store brand minute rice – but they wouldn’t fit in the pail.  So I swapped them out for the bag of rice that does.  It may not be as convenient to cook, but it can be protected from the elements (and the cats) inside the bucket.

As mentioned elsewhere at BRM’s, having a bucket with a lid on hand has many uses.  It can be used to store water in case the water supply is interrupted and it can be used as a ‘sanitary facility’ if that stops working.  (Not at the same time obviously!)  In fact he has a whole post on just that subject!

The price tag for my little kit as put together so far at my local Wal*Mart on Route 38 in Tewksbury Marxistchusetts came to US $29.45 including tax.  The can opener will come from the dollar store and two more cans of tuna should be about US $2.50.  Since the first aid kit was about US $5.00 the cost of the basic kit does in fact come in at about the US $30 predicted.

As you can see, putting together this little bitty kit that’ll get you by for a few days of deconveniance is really no big deal.  Augmented by the pantry you should have on hand anyway, going a week or two without access to your local grocery store shouldn’t be much more than a tale to tell in later years.

Now I just have to get this to my friend before the storm hits.

Oh, BTW: I got five more of those knives for barter.  That was a great idea!  Thanks!


UPDATE: Here's another picture of the kit, all packed in the bucket.  That's the P-38 I mentioned in the the comments (good idea, Mr. B!).  I've taped a small rare Earth magnet from Harbor Freight to the inside of the lid to attach the can opener to.

Also in the bucket but not shown is a copy of  BRM's post that started this whole project.  Lots of good information there.  If you haven't read it already I highly recommend that you do.  There is a link at the top of this post.

Oh by the way…

It was extremely windy here last night.  Sadly my weather station doesn’t have an anemometer so I can’t tell you exactly how windy it was. But I can tell you that some guests had the windows rattling pretty good!

Anywho…  When I checked this morning the solar panels on the roof looked fine.  They came through the wind storm unscathed.  The meter on the top end of the system (the one listed as optional in the schematic) said the panels were producing about 24 VDC.  That’s their typical open circuit voltage in full sun.  The charge controller shows the batteries at 13.5 VDC which is fully charged.  So everything there is working exactly as it should.

I still feel that I should be doing something with this extra capacity.  I’m not sure what though.  

Hmmm…  Maybe I should set up a trail camera in the back yard to catch the park manager violating the 940CMR 10.03(8)(b) requirement to give the residents reasonable notice that he’s going to come on our lots.  I’ve received several nastygrams from them about things you can’t see from the street.  I have yet to receive a single notification that he was gong to come around to inspect my lot.  Criminal trespass?  He’s soaking in it!

Brief Update

‘Step 1’ is coming along nicely while ‘Step 2’ is still in development…  Oh, wait!  Not that kind of brief!  ;-)

The power is still out.  This is now Day 3, not counting Saturday since power went out around 10:30pm.

Last night Mum fixed supper on R2 for the first time.  Spaghetti O’s augmented with cut up hotdogs. 

As of today I am declaring ALL refrigerated food in the house unfit for human consumption.  We coasted with some of it as the fridge kept its cool reasonably well and was not opened much to help it at that.  Some items were moved to a large plastic tote in our enclosed but unheated porch.  It’s been too warm for that to work for two days now, so I’m putting my foot down.  Mum actually wanted to use the milk we bought Saturday for breakfast.  You see Mum is a depression baby and is loath to throw anything out.  I would rather chuck food that may be still good than spend a couple of days chucking myself, if you know what I mean…   I will make an exception for the cheese as long as there’s no visible mold, although I probably shouldn’t.  Everything else will go out with the trash Friday morning.

We still have plenty of things like pasta, ramen noodle soup, dry beans and canned goods that don’t need refrigeration. 

Oh, I did remember to fill one of our storage jugs with filtered tap water last night.  A couple of months ago I picked up a little Britta filter that mounts to the kitchen faucet.  I think our water at what I’m still calling the new house is fine.  But still, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Here we go again…

After surviving the Great Ice Storm of 2008 Mum and I were in much better shape to deal with the Halloween Nor’easter of 2011.  (And I was griping about a little dusting on my van’s windshield just the other day…)

The basics everyone needs just to survive:

Food & Water

Shelter

Warmth

Our pantry is not in as good a condition for this kind of situation as I would prefer.  That said, we have enough to eat.  The water supply is still working.  (Remind me to grab some in a container when I get home just incase that changes…)  And I have devised an improvised way of cooking.  So we are okay there.

Our home is undamaged and just as livable as if there wasn’t a ‘situation’ in progress – except for our electric supply being out.  That right there is the problem.  Because the electricity is out several key systems are also down.

The furnace.  (Kerosene, but requires an electric fuel pump and blowers to run.)

The hot water heater.  (Propane, but requires an electric blower and ignition to run.)

The refrigerator.  (Electric, 110/115 volts.)  We don’t have a chest freezer – yet.

The stove.  (Electric, 220 volts.)

Naturally the lights and computer are also on that list.  But those are convenience items not required for basic survival.  Other things we have come to depend on are the laundry equipment and the dishwasher.  Our voip phone system survived for several hours without power on its battery back-up, but is now dead.  There is apparently no power to the local cell tower so even while my cell phone had juice there is no service.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am writing this on my lunch break on my work computer since the building has emergency generators and the area may have power from the grid.

So our food situation is tolerable and our home is livable.  What about warmth? 

We’ve got that covered too.  Our pall R2 is back in service.  I wrote at length about the odyssey we went through finding him during the ice storm.  R2, who got his name because he resembles an “R2 unit” (though not R2-D2 so much) from Star Wars, is a portable kerosene space heater.  One of the larger upright cylindrical ones that have a cage-work surrounding the top 4/5ths of his body.  I have to siphon fuel from our primary oil tank out back of the house to fill him.  But at least we have some to siphon!  For cooking I’ve found that if I place our kettle on top of the cage-work it doesn’t boil to make the kettle whistle, but it still gets hot enough to make tea.  We could also probably cook pasta or make soup or stew that way as well.

For lights we have my collection of vintage oil lamps and lanterns.  They can burn standard lamp oil or citronella torch fuel.  In a pinch they could probably also use kerosene the same as R2, but that is a last resort.

I have also set up the prototype passive solar heaters that I built last year.  I don’t know how many BTU’s they contribute, but they do seem to help.  I would very much like to build a bigger badder better version this year – if finances will allow.

So we’ve got the basics covered.

A couple of things we don’t have covered as well as I’d like are back-up electricity storage/generation and refrigerated food storage.  I’ll go into those and other preparedness projects in more detail in future posts. 

As you can no doubt tell I’m not a big-time survivalist guru mentor.  But I am more than happy to share my journey into the land of preparedness and self sufficiency. 

One thing I will recommend is that you get your hands on my favorite magazine: The Backwoodsman.  The guys who write the articles in that publication know what they are talking about and have developed the information from personal use.  (The Eclectic Dragonfly is in no way connected to BWM, its publisher or any of its authors or contributors.  This is simply my personal endorsement.)

So how’s the weather where you are?

Yesterday there was a dusting of less than half an inch in my driveway.  Not enough to bother with, but perfect for tracking.  There are cats all over my neighborhood.  So there’s nothing unusual about having their tracks in my driveway.  What I found a bit more interesting were the rabbit tracks and the fox.  Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to take any pictures.  I’ll try to do that next time.

This morning there was probably about four inches of fresh powder and about a foot, or maybe more, in the plow berm.  Buried in the berm was a huge chunk of solid ice at least as big as a cinder-block!  I’m glad I didn’t just throw Galileo in reverse and try to blast out through the berm!  There’s no telling how much damage that would have caused!  My new snow scoop shovel handled even the plow berm without much difficulty.  I think it’s actually less of a hassle and quite a bit faster to use that than to run my little electric snow blower.  Got mine at Lowe’s in spite of their web site seeming to indicate that my local store didn’t have any shovels in stock!