51–60 of 67 posts
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And $600 to rent a pickup (!!) to haul a generator that looks like it would fit in the back seat of a Civic.
OP had two cars, but they were both trapped under downed power lines. $600 is still ridiculous though.
This all seems like an insane overreaction. I question what gets someone into this level of panic. Just chill out for a couple of days and enjoy reading some books and have an adventure. Unless you’ve got a medical emergency and need to have power for some devices just relax and wait for the power to be reconnected. I get that there are emergencies in the world but not having power at home is an inconvenience.
I would guess the biggest stressor is having kids. Also wanting light to be able to see at night, which we've become accustomed to. And wanting communication to the larger world which we've become very accustomed to (and we can bemoan this as much as we want, but still can't deny it's a thing). Then not wanting to waste the various stocked up food in the fridge/freezer. You could forgo this and consider it lost, but…
I’d be curious to hear what his wife’s daily blogs would look like - especially as he’s talking about ‘dad-mode, protector, provider’ - what roles did she feel compelled to occupy? If he felt like he had to step up to shield her from stress, what did she feel in turn for his sake? (Honestly it’d be interesting to hear from the kids too)
His wife probably knows better than him what is really valuable to keep in case of emergency: food in cans instead of 2 additional power hungry fridge and freezer. Whike I am not into child labour, non toddler kids won't lose their childhood if they have to provide manpower, help and learn about responsibilities during a specific event once in a while. On the contrary these can be good teaching moments.
> Whatever you think you need to have saved, know you probably need more. I quickly blew through my rainy-day funds. Huh!? Forget canned food and go-bags. If you only have a few days worth of savings that is an emergency. I hope I’m misunderstanding what you mean by “rainy day funds”
Maybe he means cash. It is good to have some cash ($100-1000) for outages of credit cards, or just needing cash.
All his purchases were directed into having and maintaining power which were not really the priority. The silly part is he had still access to takeouts so there wasn't even remote risk of starving
This is the new normal in the US. FEMA is being dismantled.[1] Until a few years ago, being prepared for loss of services for 48 hours was considered sufficient. That's not enough any more, because there will be much less help coming from outside the area. [1] https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/politics/fema-payments-staffi...
As someone who lived through a flood caused by a hurricane, without power for 10 days, I have first-hand experience with FEMA. Some fat-ass government worker showed up with a tablet, checked a bunch of boxes on an electronic form to gather statistics on all the damage, gave us some information on government-backed loans, then left. This about 2 or 3 days after. I will never forget how absolutely useless FEMA was.
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Jam is generally shelf stable. The sugar is really good at killing bacteria (deprives them of water iirc).
Huh! If "shelf-stable" means "refrigerate after opening" then yeah. But I'm confused whether it's "refrigerate optional" like ketchup https://www.marthastewart.com/8269604/should-you-refrigerate... > You can technically store opened jams and jellies at room temperature—but only in a cool, dark place and for about a week after opening, says Lee. Here's why: Jams and jellies have high sugar and acid levels, which prote…
I’m so grateful for this write up! For all the reading one can do on preparedness, it is hugely valuable to read about a real scenario playing out. I’m curious about the decision to continue relying on frozen and refrigerated food. Reflecting on what I would do — immediately reverting to stable preserved foods and writing off the fridge — makes me wonder if I don’t focus enough on normalcy as to stabilise my family.…
Our home also featured a gas range, so we didn't worry too much about cooking during those times, just eating whatever was in the refrigerator. I do not know about water pumping, except that our basement had a sump pump to deal with flooding down there -- definitely electric.
Now fast-forward to my apartment living near Phoenix - on April 1, 2020 there was a fire in my building. Yes, just as the pandemic lockdowns had taken effect, we had an emergency. The fire damaged two units on the 3rd floor, and the fire department damaged at least four more below them. The Red Cross came in to rescue those who were displaced, and the landlady came by to tell me they needed to shut off my power. I was a little panicked, because that meant I'd lose my range, microwave, fridge, all communications, air conditioning; basically everything except water, I suppose.
We somehow got by without shutting off my power. But if my power were shut off then I would have some trouble. Living in a 1BR apartment I do not have the luxury of a generator or any significant disaster-prep storage or preservation here. No second fridge for sure! Without Internet access I wouldn't be able to dial up food delivery.
So I'd need to consider "bugging out" or temporary relocation. I would probably go to an extended-stay hotel somewhere nearby until the trouble was resolved. There would basically be no need for me to stay in-place without electric power. So I might as well go enjoy myself, as you say. It would be a nice time to see some movies at the theater, enjoy the outdoors, and such. And hopefully my insurance would cover the loss of use at my place.
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In February, 2021, it was close to life or death for millions in Texas. We probably still don't know how many died.
This is overly exaggerated. Access to electricity is a must for a minority of people with medical need but it doesn't account for millions of people in Texas. The key points for survival is access to non contaminated water, shelter and food. Lack of electricity is only an annoyance.