BS: Nov. 2014, Anyone Without Electricity?

Subject: BS: Nov. 2014, Anyone Without Electricity?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 03 Nov 14 - 11:44 PM

News said more than 100,000 customers in Maine are without power, and I imagine people in other parts of the US and Canada my have lost it due to the storm, too. I'm fine and didn't hear of any powe outages in Rhode Island. How are you?

Subject: RE: BS: Nov. 2014, Anyone Without Electricity?
From: Janie
Date: 03 Nov 14 - 11:58 PM

Guess we won't hear from those who have not until they have. Hope all of our Maniacs, and especially Maeve and True Love either have power or had a good "heads-up" and were prepared with plenty of wood for the stove, water hauled, and batteries for lighting, or kerosene lights they trust.

Subject: RE: BS: Nov. 2014, Anyone Without Electricity?
From: Ed T
Date: 04 Nov 14 - 12:36 AM

No storm in Halifax Nova Scotia. I suspect it was in northern New Brunswick.

Subject: RE: BS: Nov. 2014, Anyone Without Electricity?
From: maeve
Date: 04 Nov 14 - 07:00 AM

The worst of the storm ran roughly from Midcoast Maine through Downeast into New Brunswick as far as I know. Snowfall was heavy and wet, with 8-21 inches in that zone http://www.weather.com/sports-rec/below-zero/record-early-snow-south-carolina-first-flakes-appalachians-new-england-great-lakes- and much less south and west. High winds broke more trees on our land than last year's ice storm...which means many, many downed and broken trees.

Our power was only out about 8 hours- not any kind of a hardship for us- but many others are still in the dark. http://outagemap.cmpco.com/maine/?style=maine (You can zoom in to see counties hardest hit in terms of this company's customers.) Our visitors from a Southern state were stunned to be hit with this storm during their visit here, and snow also fell in Georgia, South Carolina, etc.

Thank you for asking, Chanteylass and Janie. TL and I are set up to weather most any storm, with an unusually efficient woodstove and our own firewood as our heat source, and plenty of bedcovers. Hot water and cooking are easy on the wood stove or the propane range or with Sterno fueled chafing dishes. We have many windows for natural light, with oil lamps, rechargeable battery lights, and candles as needed.

Food in the pantry, freezer, and gardens (collards,chard, kale, cabbage, spinach, beets...) gives us enough to share, and we could house several neighbors if the need was there. We store lots of water all the time since we don't have sinks or shower yet, so that's already in place. In emergency situations we have a generator, but rarely find it necessary.

In a day or so our snow will have melted and I can plant early spring crops (peas, carrots, kale, spinach, beets, lettuce, etc.), cover with row cover and plastic, and get back to preparations for winter.

Now to reschedule our nor'easter-cancelled visit from Jacqui and Kendall! Anyone for a mug of hot tea?

Maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Nov. 2014, Anyone Without Electricity?
From: Rumncoke
Date: 04 Nov 14 - 08:19 AM

I take a couple of batteries with me when I go camping to use for the CPAP machine and a DC to AC box, so I don't stop breathing too often.
I have charged up one of them and must do the other - although power cuts are not usual here, it is as well to be prepared for interesting times.

Oddly enough the same two batteries are getting harder to move around - they must be putting on weight. The larger one in particular seems almost impossible to lift these days. Maybe I'll get a bit of rope and drag it to the charger, or find it some wheels.

Subject: RE: BS: Nov. 2014, Anyone Without Electricity?
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Nov 14 - 09:06 AM

It started snowing here on November 2nd and didn't stop until yesterday.

We still have power and mild winters (on the average) are predicted for the next twenty years or so. Ya gotta be tough to live in Idaho!

Subject: RE: BS: Nov. 2014, Anyone Without Electricity?
From: gnu
Date: 04 Nov 14 - 10:24 AM

An inch or so in Moncton, NB.ca and it melted quickly. In the Woodstock area (Northwest NB), not so lucky. Over a foot and lots of outages.

Subject: RE: BS: Nov. 2014, Anyone Without Electricity?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 04 Nov 14 - 08:51 PM

I'm relieved to see people checking in here. I hope that more people will check in.

Subject: RE: BS: Nov. 2014, Anyone Without Electricity?
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 05 Nov 14 - 10:07 AM

Interesting to me as it does not occur to me, until someone mentions it, that being without power is a hardship. Having lived without for about 15 years, I recall my amazement that others were not prepared. Electricity did not come to the area in which I was living until 1958. What bothered me was that, I guess in their excitement, people closed up functioning dug wells with hand pumps and got rid of their wood stoves so they were in duck soup when the power went off. My home, 2 km from any neighbours and many thousands of dollars from the Hydro/electric lines, was well prepared. What a chuckle I got when a friend phoned to ask ME if the power had come back on yet! It was a wonderfully freeing feeling for me to know I was not dependent on the outside world in that way, at least.

What with the way weather has been lately, I hope everyone, certainly Mudcatters!, are learning to be prepared for any eventuality. I do find it much harder to cope in the city. No well, no wood stove. A dreadful way to live!