Alelou, are you surviving the ice storm?

[justTripn]

I just heard from Bether that there is an ice storm in your area that took out power in a lot of houses. She is out of her cold house and warming up at a ski resort. You guys surviving? (This is like the question, "Can everyone hear me?") If you have no power, you can't answer. Still . . . let us know when you get the chance.



Warm wishes?

[Bether6074]

We're still at the ski resort and have been told no power until Thursday. It was 35 degrees in our house and we just couldn't stay. My elderly father lives with us and with the kids it wasn't safe. We smuggled my daughter's hamster in today. Poor baby. I hope you're okay Alelou.

[Asso]

I wish you that things go better very soon, Bether, and I add myself to your wishes to Alelou.

[Alelou]

Well, yes, we're surviving the ice storm. No electricity and no water except what we buy or beg, but we have a wood stove and a nearby lake for buckets that allow us to flush toilets and most of the area has power back so I was able to get onto a computer at this library today.

But I can tell you it's getting VERY OLD. Power went out 1:30 am Friday.

We still have an old land line so we're able to phone the power company and get reports like these:

Sat morning: Power ETA 6am Wednesday.
Sun afternoon: Power ETA tomorrow at 9pm.
Mon morning: Power ETA 8am THURSDAY.
Gah!

There are simply broken trees draped over downed power lines EVERYWHERE.

Oh well. I suspect we're the last ones to get it back. This is good since my son's friend let him take a shower at their house this morning.

Talk to you all when I can. Bether, I feel your pain. I think your husband sold my husband a ton of water Friday afternoon -- and gave him a box of Cumberland Farms matches -- which we've certainly appreciated!!!!

[Aquarius]

Wow, I hope you guys get your power back soon! We used to get storms like that all the time when I was growing up in mid-Michigan, but now my hometown doesn't seem to be as affected by them as it used to.

[CX]

How deep is the water table where you are? You might want to consider puncing a hole through the floor in the basement and driving a sandpoint down to the water table, and just put an old hand pump over the top of it. You could either put a filter on the end of it or use one of those pitchers that have filters. Those little propane camp stoves work great for cooking too if you have no power.

[Dinah]

You have my deepest sympathies. We had an ice storm in January about four years ago. My Mom and I stayed in our home, but we had no power for about 6 days. After a couple of days, the all I wanted was a hot meal. Finally one of the grocers opened up; the deli was absolutely jammed. I decided to look at it as a living history experience. I now have a much better appreciation for the trials and tribulations of our pioneer ancestors.

I hope you get your power back SOON and that you don't lose too many trees. Even after a period of several years, some of our trees still look like someone fired a cannon through their branches.

[Bookworm]

That sounds very horrible. I hope you get your power back on soon. It must be even more fustrating now when Christmash is so near and there is so much preparations to do.

[Asso]

I have to say that this winter is indeed terrible.
Here, in Piedmont, it rains, and it rains, and it rains.
Rivers are in flood (Well! The Tiber, too, showed its force!)
It's cold.
And it's snowing and it's snowing and it's snowing, on the mountains.
It's from 1978 that it wasn't snowing so much!
There's a power cut in many areas.
Many routes are impassable.
Yes! This winter is terrible.

[justTripn]

How deep is the water table where you are? You might want to consider puncing a hole through the floor in the basement and driving a sandpoint down to the water table, and just put an old hand pump over the top of it. You could either put a filter on the end of it or use one of those pitchers that have filters. Those little propane camp stoves work great for cooking too if you have no power.

I'm imagining it's very hilly or even mountainous were you live, Alelou, and very flat were you live, CX. So I'm not sure your plan is transferable from the plains to the mountains. On the other hand, CX, you ought to know alot about survival in the cold.

[Aquarius]

How's everybody doing today? Anyone get their power back yet?

[Alelou]

No power yet. Now they say NOON Thursday instead of 8am Thursday. Sigh. And we were pretty lucky on the tree front. The state lopped off the birches in front since they were arching right into the road, but I knew that was going to happen some day. Thankfully the birches I've planted in the garden righted themselves -- I was afraid they'd be stuck flopped over forever. I'll post some pictures when we get power.

Actually, CX, we will be looking into finding some way to manually pump water from our well after this little adventure, though I'd rather not punch a hole in the foundation because this is a lovely dry cellar and I'd really like to keep it that way. And it is bedrock here, so punching ain't easy.

Anyway, getting a manual pump is what I want to do. Jaime wants to buy a generator. At this point it seems like almost all our neighbors are running them. Noisy things. I'd really like to get photovoltaics on our roof one of these days since we have a nice Southern exposure but that's a big investment we can't afford right now.

I'm personally more in favor of whatever's cheaper, which might include just hoping it doesn't happen again for another ten years. We're just really lucky the lake isn't totally frozen, though so many people have been filling up buckets up there I'm sure they'd be drilling holes in it if they had to.

So glad we have a woodstove, though. AND firewood. And a library with internet access. (And flushing toilets! Woo hoo!) It really isn't bad. Civilization still exists. We can go out and get a hot meal and even crawl around malls if we want to (not that I want to). But I would kill for a hot shower.

Bether, hope you guys got your power back. I know most of AP has it now.

[CX]

If you can find a way to manually pump water without going outside I'd suggest doing it - that's the main reason I suggested punching through the floor in the basement because that's how we have it out at the farm house where I live. Of course the soil is very sandy and the water table is only 5 feet down, so it was pretty easy to do it like that for us, but then our basement really isn't very habitable anyway since it tends to flood in the spring. Then the trouble is pumping it out since sand tends to make it into the hole the pump is sitting in.

It's good that you have a wood stove, though you may want to invest in a propane heater if the woods stove isn't putting out enough heat, and like I said camps stoves are really great for cooking.

As for a generator, if you're really desperate to have electricity, that would be the cheapest way to go, but as you said, the things are usually pretty loud, and as an added bonus you have to keep them well maintained or they have an annoying habit of not working when you actually need to use them. Most people that have them tend to keep them in a shed or in the basement until they use them, but they have to be put outside when you use them because of the exhaust they produce.

Solar cells would be great if you can afford them, but another alternative might be a windmill generator. I've actually thought of trying to build one using some old car alternators to charge some batteries, but while that would work great here because there is very rarely a calm day in North Dakota, I don't know how it is where you are.

[CX]

On the other hand, CX, you ought to know alot about survival in the cold.

Yes, unfortunately...

[Escriba]

Whoa! You do live in the wild. In the cold wild!

I'm relieved that even in the case of no power where I live I'd have hot showers, since we use propane.

Take care of yourselves, skimos