Things I learned from Rita

Well, we only lost one tree from Rita. Our best-looking oak had the top snapped off. The deer are loving the windfall of acorns.

We had 72 hours of no electric and no water. We are currently under a "boil-water" advisory. Yesterday's heat index put us at 116 degrees. The two days prior to the storm hit new heat records, and today is another 100+ day.

I thought I would write up a quick list of the things we learned from this extended outage.

I used a camp coffeepot on our gas stove. Get the morning coffee set up and ready to put on the flame before you go to bed. Makes mornings easier instead of fumbling around.

Pre-cook bacon and breakfast sausage. Makes breakfast fast-n-easy.

Bake extra bread. Or purchase an extra loaf or two. We used a lot more bread than normal.

Buy extra eggs. We used a lot for breakfast.

Big breakfasts, skip lunch, regular dinner.

Precook various types of plain pasta. Seal in vacuum seal bags. Store in refrigerator. When you want to cook it, just boil your water, and drop the sealed bags in for a couple minutes to heat. You will have hot water ready to take care of the dishes afterwards. You can also vacuum-seal the pasta sauce, or even pre-cooked rice if you want.

Fill every container with potable water. We did. We have water back, but are currently under a “boil-water” advisory.

Do NOT let anyone talk you into cooking Sloppy Joe’s during an emergency. DH wanted some, even though he has not had them in years. Since we were stressed, we both ate too much. Turns out, the mix must’ve had a lot of salt in it (it tasted wonderful). I had to drink about 3 quarts of water immediately afterward. Talk about uncomfortable!

Get a new aim-n-flame (mine was on its last legs).

Need a lot more anti-bacterial wipes and soap. Normally we do not use these, as we feel its healthier to build up a natural immunity. We use regular soap. But when using a probably (But not SURE) safe water supply, and having to deal with other people’s germs (on gas pumps, or in stores) better safe than sorry. Don’t need to be getting sick on top of everything else.

Bypass the water softener when using backup water supply. Ours started a “clean” cycle. That uses 90 GALLONS! Thankfully, we caught ours in time.

Things I need to check out (once I get my butt back to work)….glowsticks (just a few), large battery operated fan (to make sleeping a little easier).

Consider a dial-up account as a backup. Our phones worked. Our cable modem didn’t. Fault was at the provider’s end.

Even though my “muttley crew” was fine, some people may want to get a scrip for “doggie tranquilizers”. Some pets may not be able to handle the noise of the wind, rain, thunder, trees falling. Some pick up on their owner’s vibes, and will get very upset. I highly recommend crate training, as it can calm some pets. Either way they can be a PITA.

Make sure your circuit’s on your electrical panel are CLEARLY labeled. Escpecially while using a generator that is wired to the system. Its nice to know, whats hot, and whats not. Ours was accurate, but I still need to find out what circuit ONE particular outlet is on.

We had set up a room-size AC unit. We used a 20-amp outlet, a 20-amp extension cord, and the unit supposedly only draws 15 amps. The unit’s male plug and the female end of the extension cord “welded” themselves together. IT GOT HOT! We caught it in time. Lesson learned: If you use extension cords, check them frequently for heat buildup (tension).

Wasabell

Thanks for the tips; good post! Mari Susan

Some great tips, thanks!

Very good tips. even though it's sad that we have to learn from others misfortunes.

Try precooking meals then freezing them in solid containers. Then use the frozen containers your cooler ice. We had all the home cooked meals we wanted and didn't have to use a hundred pounds of ice as they were our ice.

The Coleman Extreme five day coolers really do keep ice better than ordinary coolers. I bought an extra one this year. Had the opportunity to do side by side comparisons during out bout with hurricanes last year.

Twelve volt compact fluorescents and battery operated lanterns are nice to have. I've got flat wick and Aladdin lamps, Coleman lanterns, candles and all that, but when it's ninety plue degrees outside with humidity to match the LAST thing I want to add is yet more heat to the house!

Ziploc bags of water will allow you to fill every last crevice in your freezer with ice so that you can keep it cold for as long as possible. Makes for much less running the generator time. I didn't do that last year as I had many bottles of ice in there already, but I will the next time.

.....Alan.

Bury your coolers, so that only the lid is exposed. I do this when camping and I go through a quarter of the ice that my buddies go through.

Alan,

I never thought of using my precooked containers of "stuff" as "ice". Great idea!
I only have my refrigerator freezer right now. I sold my 20-year old Kenmore upright 20 cu ft. I got $100 for it last summer. I only paid $350 for it new

Once my laundry room remodel is done (hopefully in about 2 months) I've got my new one picked out. A Frigidaire 18 cu ft, self-defrosting upright. I know chest-types are better, but I can manage the contents of an upright easier. Things go to the bottom of the chest, and are forgotton.

p.s. The trailer park to the north of me has had a LOT of breakins since losing power. They still dont have electric. We do have a 6 ft chain link fence with 3-strand barbwire between us and them.

One of our neighbors was a little short of drinking water. We had enough to help them out.

Another neighbor needed to borrow a siphon pump. We had one, and were able to assist them also. I think we got "points" for future use. We love our neighbors, couldn't ask for any better. The six families I call our neighbors control about 20 acres of land and our place is impregnable with them at our perimeter.

Glad you made it through all right, wasabell. Some great tips here from both you and Alan. Thanks!

The biggest lesson I learned is that unless your out of the area of the event, you will be stuck. Gas will be gone within 48 hours. Same with the availability of food and other goods. In addition, it will be absolutely necessary to have a local stocked and ready, far away from here.

light

and make sure no one can see any light coming from your home at night

Glad to hear that most all of our TB2Kers are making it through relatively OK. From what I'm reading I'll bet that many of you who had DGI family and friends won't have nearly so much trouble from now on convincing them of the need to be prepared. I experienced some of that with Katrina. Friends of mine who used to look at me like I had a second head when they found out how much ammo I had stockpiled (only very close friends ) didn't think it so strange after hearing of the looting in N.O. which was feared to spread north and all the stores were under state gov. orders to not sell ammo.

One major difference I'm noting is the difference in the weather afterwards. Here, it wasn't quite so hot after Katrina as it has been for y'all in TX and LA after Rita. Air conditioning wasn't as much of an issue. Most of the nights were at least down into the mid-70s, so sleeping with the windows up was comfortable enough. Hopefully y'all's area will have the same cooling trend that is predicted for here later this week. We're supposed to be dipping down into the high 50's at night by Thursday night. Here's our local NWS forecast for the upcoming week:

Today: Partly cloudy, with a high around 92. Northeast wind between 5 and 10 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 68. Calm wind.

Wednesday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 92. Calm wind.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy during the early evening, then becoming clear, with a low near 66. Northeast wind around 5 mph.

Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a high near 81. North wind between 5 and 10 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 58. North northeast wind around 10 mph.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 82. North northeast wind around 5 mph.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 64. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm.

Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a high around 86. Calm wind becoming south southeast around 5 mph.

Saturday Night: A slight chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low near 67. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a high around 85.

Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 66.

Monday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a high around 87.
________________________________________________________

I hope y'all get some of the same.

wasabell said:

Even though my “muttley crew” was fine, some people may want to get a scrip for “doggie tranquilizers”. Some pets may not be able to handle the noise of the wind, rain, thunder, trees falling.

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No no no! I just happen to run across the very topic "pet tranqs and air transport". Can't remember where though. At any rate, most pet deaths during transport are related to tranqs, including the inability to brace themselves while being knocked out, and ODing on meds given to them by their owners.

Wow, glad you're safe and well.

Thanks for the tips!

Out here on the far west of Houston, where the storm was a non-event, the local grocery only this morning finally got a delivery of milk and bread. Brinks hasn't shown up yet, so no money back and the in-store bank won't open until that happens. I imagine East Texas is a lot worse off.

My lessons learned include buy extra milk and freeze (which I did and have just finished, shake well after defrosting) buy extra bread and freeze (didn't) get cash early (didn't) top off vehicles (did) fill gas cans (didn't) have fresh fruit on hand (didn't).

Good points you bring up MPam. What really surprised me after Katrina came through was how quickly the stores were back to accepting credit cards. I figured everything would be cash only, which I was ready for. But most all the conv. and groc. stores around were accepting CCs as soon as the power was back on, eventhough the phone lines were really iffy for several more days after the power was restored. CC machines must be on satellite uplinks or something.

I honestly never thought that a hurricane could hit this far inland. When we discussed prepping for whatever disaster you expect for your local area, of course hurricanes were a big part of the discussion. I told myself not to expect a hurricane here. Boy was I wrong. So my biggest lesson is to expect the unexpected. Also some alternate power source would have been great, mainly to run a small window a/c, but also for a tv to watch local news. I also plan on investing in a police scanner. I just felt so cut off from the outside world with nothing but a small am/fm radio. One good lesson I've learned is that I have some pretty good neighbors here. All in all everyone in my neigborhood has been able to do for themselves, and there were no problems here.

Brutus said:

Good points you bring up MPam. What really surprised me after Katrina came through was how quickly the stores were back to accepting credit cards. I figured everything would be cash only, which I was ready for. But most all the convenience store and groc. stores around were accepting CCs as soon as the power was back on, eventhough the phone lines were really iffy for several more days after the power was restored. CC machines must be on satellite uplinks or something.

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Credit/debit cards have actually come in handy around here. Alot of our gas stations that actually have gas are pay at the pump only now. So those with credit cards are finding it easier to get gas than those that don't have them.

pandora said:

Credit/debit cards have actually come in handy around here. Alot of our gas stations that actually have gas are pay at the pump only now. So those with credit cards are finding it easier to get gas than those that don't have them.

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Same here. Even now with everything pretty much back to normal, with gas prices so high they're making you pre-pay to prevent drive-offs, so if you have a CC or gas card you can pay at the pump without having to go in and lay down a $100 deposit if you need a full tank.

Kar98 said:

No no no! I just happen to run across the very topic "pet tranqs and air transport". Can't remember where though. At any rate, most pet deaths during transport are related to tranqs, including the inability to brace themselves while being knocked out, and ODing on meds given to them by their owners.

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Kar98, I would get the tranqs from my vet, who knows my dogs (and my wallet ) very well. No chance of OD'ing. I used to have a dog that needed tranqs for travel by car from Houston to Dallas. She would still be awake, she was just dopey enough to relax her, NOT knock her out. She was much safer to travel with, and she didn't get so crazed that she would hurt herself.

I'm not talking air transport. Just keeping them calm and safer at home, or crated in a vehicle for road transport with their owners. Its just not good for them to work themselves into a frenzy. I think it could possibly trigger seizures, and in some pets, start a "snapping" frenzy....Wouldn't want anyone hurt, even accidently.

I saw on the tv that an entire family had been wiped out by carbon monoxide from using the generator indoors. - Just a reminder to leave it outside.

We seem to see at least one such incident with every hurricane. Every year. Year after year.

Sigh...

.....Alan.

Our genny is in the shed. The dynamo is hard-mounted and we use the PTO drive on the garden tractor to power it. We have a 4' diameter fan in the open doorway running full goose to keep the shed ventilated. It still got pretty hot in there, though.

One thing we did right....remove all flammables from the shed before running the genny.

For nervous pets, Rescue Remedy works wonders. No risk of OD and no side effects! We have used it on dogs and cats, and it would probably work on any pet.

spinner

spinner said:

For nervous pets, Rescue Remedy works wonders. No risk of OD and no side effects! We have used it on dogs and cats, and it would probably work on any pet.

spinner

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Also, children's liquid Benadryl. The vet can tell you the proper dosage. Makes them very mellow.

spinner said:

For nervous pets, Rescue Remedy works wonders. No risk of OD and no side effects! We have used it on dogs and cats, and it would probably work on any pet.

spinner

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Rescue Remedy (made by Bach) is found at most health food stores. It is made for humans, so we can use it.

One thing I have found is they reccommend 4 drops. For some reason, this amount is the best dosage for any size animal--Humes included. For the dogs, I put the drops on a small piece of bread and the dogs gulp it down, for me, I put the drops on or under my tongue.

It does not tranquilze or make you goofy, just takes the edge off.

Dogs seem to tolerate it much better than tranqs, which can make them even more aggitated as they feel they are loosing control.

DM

Thanks, Spinner, Chartreuse and Dustmusher....

I was not aware of Rescue Remedy, or the Childrens Benedryl. Per my vet's instruction I have used capsule regular Benedryl to stop obsessive licking in one of my dogs. Only for a few days, though. And good luck hiding those capsules from the dog!

Even though I do not need doggie tranqs right now, as the both of them are pretty mellow, I will have some on hand for future or neighbors needs.

>But most all the conv. and groc. stores around were accepting CCs as soon as the power was back on, eventhough the phone lines were really iffy for several more days after the power was restored. CC machines must be on satellite uplinks or something.

As long as the routers are elsewhere and fine, things might work.

During 9/11, I saw a number of travellers in CA who couldn't use their plastic because it was out of NYC and it took awhile to implement a work-around for the routers. I was stranded in Los Angeles. I had cash, though, and my debt card (Bank One - Cols OH) was working.

I think it's best to have both cash and plastic, and I have two different credit cards from banks on opposite ends of the country for that reason, as well as two different bank accounts (one local (OH based) and one "national").

I think that gives me the best chance of being able to buy things during bad situations.

marsh said:

I saw on the tv that an entire family had been wiped out by carbon monoxide from using the generator indoors. - Just a reminder to leave it outside.

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Which is really dumbfounding me. I ran the chainsaw for just a few minutes, outdoors obviously --I have been told in no uncertain terms that the chainsaw is strictly an outdoors toy-- and the fumes from the exhaust had me retching and gagging with in minutes. How do you NOT figure out that this can't be good for you?

Good post, Wasabell and MataPam and Pandora, well, everyone! It's good to learn from someones' actual experience. Good to know too, that it's not senseless to keep small bills and change around in case money isn't available to make change. It must be a good feeling to have not only survived as you did, but to be able to share the information with others.

splicerswife said:

Good post, Wasabell and MataPam and Pandora, well, everyone! It's good to learn from someones' actual experience. Good to know too, that it's not senseless to keep small bills and change around in case money isn't available to make change. It must be a good feeling to have not only survived as you did, but to be able to share the information with others.

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Thanks, SW. We were pretty fortunate here. Our biggest problem ended up being no power for 48 hours. I had bought plenty of ice before hand, so I didn't even lose any perishable food. We were lucky, our hot water even lasted long enough for us to take warm baths. We weren't necessarily roughing it by any means. My father learned lessons too. He's not a prepper, and used to laugh at me for storing water, but now he's praised me for it. He's on a different water supply than me and is under a "boil advisory." Needless to say he plans on storing water from now on.

Glad you got some well earned praise, Pandora, and especially glad no one was hurt and your house wasn't destroyed. Sick as it sounds, it seems like it would be kinda interesting sitting back watching peoples' actions and reactions. I don't mean to pain and suffering, but how they cope. Hopefully though, they're watching you and learning.

Another thing for us cheapskates to consider...

Buying meats, when they are on sale is hard to resist, and with a couple of freezers, meat & a whole lot of other foodstuffs are easily stored.

But, when experiencing an extended electrical outage (we were told to expect Oct 2-9 for electrical line repairs) there will come a point when running that generator is not cost effective. We are approaching that point. So tomorrow, much preps are off to the daughters, much more will be added to the pantry as canned items.

Another item to add to my list is one of the newer "i" style gensets as manufactured by Honda, Yamaha...much less fuel usage.

And when is that darned cold front commin'??

We are seriously thinking about investing in a small solar system just to be able to run our refrigerator and a small fan at first. DH has a background in electronics so surely he can work something up.

splicerswife said:

Good post, Wasabell and MataPam and Pandora, well, everyone! It's good to learn from someones' actual experience. Good to know too, that it's not senseless to keep small bills and change around in case money isn't available to make change. It must be a good feeling to have not only survived as you did, but to be able to share the information with others.

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Re: Money - the Friday after Katrina when I went to the bank to cash/deposit my paycheck they had a notice that there was a $250 limit on withdrawals. This wasn't a problem for me as I had plenty of cash on hand, but I did withdraw the limit from my check in fives and tens and deposited the rest (wasn't much because of the short pay period due to power outage at work) because most of what I had on hand was in c-notes.

Green Co. said:

Another thing for us cheapskates to consider...

Buying meats, when they are on sale is hard to resist, and with a couple of freezers, meat & a whole lot of other foodstuffs are easily stored.

But, when experiencing an extended electrical outage (we were told to expect Oct 2-9 for electrical line repairs) there will come a point when running that generator is not cost effective. We are approaching that point. So tomorrow, much preps are off to the daughters, much more will be added to the pantry as canned items.

Click to expand...

One of the several reasons I've gotten back into meat canning was for just this. We ran the gen-set through two hurricanes last year mostly to keep the freezer frozen. I'd do the same again under the same circumstances, but as I like to make contingency plans in case things go even more wrong than they already are I've decided that more of the family meat supply needs to be shelf-stable meaning pressure canned.

.....Alan.

wasabell, great thread!

What power source did you use on the air conditioner?? (I know very little about any other than 110 stick it in the wall type plug)

Loretta V.