Its hop&drops now.

In-line generator; 35-hour candles; firewood; pellet stove ready to go; chainsaw fueled and good to go; about a zillion flashlights, glowsticks, and assorted other light sources. Other random stuff I have out and good to go includes all my CERT gear and composite toe boots. There are more than a few elderly people in my neighbourhood and myself and Kate, another neighbour, plan in advance to go around checking in on them in the event of a power outage.

Three boys are all ready for the power to go out--even the oldest has his sleeping bag out on the living room rug, in front of the fireplace. Not sure when the "losing power is just like camping!" thing wears off but until it does, it's pretty damn cute.

The only time I really lost power was a few years ago during snowmaggedon. Seven days, me,and the kids lived in the RV. Usually the power only goes out long enough to make the clocks blink. Out here in OK we had 60 mph winds the other day, but no power outage.

Yeah what’s up with that?

Went there in Lacey last night and saw the change.

Cheap way to tell if your freezer food is safe after an outage.

Take a metal cup (can't be glass as it will often break unless special glass) and fill it with water and freeze it. Then put a coin in the top. Then put it in your freezer. If you ever see the coins under the ice you know the food is bad.

We've always looked forward to power outages as fun times... We've even invited friends over for big wind storms before. Good times!

I had forgotten about heat and hot water. We can run our well with the generator, but generally don't. I wouldn't bother heating water with electricity though... We almost always have 5 or 10 gallons in stainless pots on the woodstove which works just fine for "Navy Showers".
For the bathroom needs, we immediately switch over to small composting toilets. I have a handy supply of sawdust. (They're not really composting, but they're water-less. Enough sawdust mixed in there makes later burial in the woods an easy clean task.)

Have a house full of lab grade APC UPS's connected to pretty much everything.
Customers replace them every 2 years and give them to me for free to recycle (well, I actually charge them for that service).
I test them and add new batteries if they fail a load test.
Have a Generac 6500 I plug into the panel if the power is out for more than an hour.

Our power is underground, rarely goes out for more than a few seconds.
All the TV's have a UPS, hate waiting for the cable box's to find their channels.

Im working at pier 30 tonight, to say we are in pucker mode under the cranes is an understatement. Were in standby now.

Meh. If it stays out too long I'll just sleep in the camper. Propane is full so I'd have the furnace if I need it.

Food doesn't go bad. Just like there are no illegal weapons, only people that are using weapons illegally.

You should be as safe or safer under those cranes in a power outage as about anywhere.
I would have assumed that all those big pier cranes were powered by big diesels, completely independent of commercial electricity. I've operated and worked on big cranes... Ah, I just now remember a few that were run along 3 phase bus bars.
Still, loss of power and everything locks up gently. Safe mode.

What do you all do for heat?

My house as a fireplace but the inspector commented that we should have the chimney inspected and possibly fixed before using it. He apparently saw something that he didn’t like in it. Plus it’s just a fireplace so likely wouldn’t put out much actual heat for the house.

We have a gas furnace but obviously it needs electricity to run the blower. I do not have a generator nor gen trans hookup (but maybe Golddigger’s offer is something to look into).


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Not worried about the power as much as a 30ton can swinging into my cab

I would assume it's the wind that's making them nervous.




They're probably thinking the same thing. "Mom and Dad have been pains in my ass for the last time."

I get it. That makes a lot more sense now.

I used the wrong phrase earlier. Instead of "safe mode" I should have used "fail safe."