Getting Cleaned Up

[lxskllr]

We had a possible tornado come through Friday night, and it tore up a bunch of stuff around the neighborhood. I had a bunch of limbs down, and one of them broke the windshield of my Jeep. I'll look tomorrow into getting it fixed. I have a ~260 year old oak in y backyard, and I was watching it during the storm. It was making lots of scary movements. That fact that it was moving at all is what was scary. That tree's enormous. I lost a couple big limbs, but they were kind of rotten. It had carpenter ants in them. I wish the woodpeckers would do a better job :^D

My power was out for about 20 hours, and I used my Jeep and inverter to keep the fridge running. I left it on for about 6 hours total. The chest freezer was a bit too much for it. It would trip the breaker. I think I could get it working with some finagling of the cables, but I didn't bother. I spent a bunch of time sharpening an old electric chainsaw I had, and put used motor oil in it for bar oil :^D That worked well until the motor gear went up. Whatever attaches it to the chain sprocket quit being attached. I may open it up to see if I can fix it, but it's been a PITA since day one. I'm now the proud owner of a Poulen from Walmart. It's not a great saw, but it's getting the job done. Much better than the electric. I spent more time reseating the blade on the electric than I did sawing :^S

On the bright side... I'll be hooked up for firewood this winter :^D

[CoderGuy]

Glad you're OK. I lived in MD before I moved back home, was there for the LaPlata tornado. A friend sent me a couple pics from the other night, scary stuff.

[lxskllr]

MD doesn't get too many tornadoes. I don't know if this was one or not. I saw a few houses that had serious roof damage, and I heard one got collapsed, but my place wasn't too bad all things considered. I'm always a little sad when the oak loses limbs. That tree is my favorite thing about this place, and I hope it outlasts me. It's been slowly declining though, so it's hard to tell.

[GoVegan]

I am glad to hear your OK.

[whalen]

I was thinking of you and hoped you would be spared. I am a Texas boy, and twisters are part of that past life. We had a neighbors poplar tree explode across our yard last week. Solid week of Chain sawing and hauling, must have weighed 20,000 lbs, wife's garden is toast, lost power last week on Sunday, and then again last night. I installed a big ass inverter and battery system ten years ago and we were just fine, again. Chest type freezer is a bitch on and inverter, the old school starting capacitors and all. My hands just ache from all the days of sawing. I hate getting disaster-ed, and on Tuesday we had a Flash flood that moved my boats and ripped all the millings out of the parking area. Over two feet deep and 40 feet wide river of water, down the side of a ravine, never happened before in my 26 years here in Maryland. 5 inches of rain in the gauge in three days.

26 years of living in the Forest, two destroyed cars, weeks without power, on chainsaw number five.

[Ansel]

Glad you're okay LX.

[sgreger1]

Glad your okay Lx. This is a good time for everyone to remember that no matter where you live, you should have enough food and water for at least 3 days for whatever size family you have in the house, and also have a bug out bag that has enough rations for a day for each person that is packed and ready to go in case you have to leave in a hurry (like if a tornado or earthquake destroys your home). Chainsaw's are excelent for tornadoes or zombie apocalypse type situations so keep those handy as well.

And try to have a backup power source if possible, at some method of keeping the fridge running. Another thing is cooking. I have a little camping stove that runs off regular 87-91 octane automobile fuel, and packed next to it is a small hose to syphon gas from cars in the neighborhood. This way, even if some major unthinkable tragedy happens, I will still have a way to cook my food.

And remember, your water heater is filled with somewhere in the area of 70 gallons of potable water. In the event of some crisis, you can use all 70 gallons as drinking water. You can even install a valve that restricts the incoming flow of water if terrorists poison the water supply or something.

Always be prepared for when times get tough, even if they don't.

[Frosted]

My garden chair blew over today.

[Ainkor]

Glad your ok and some sound advice in this thread!

[Snusdog]

Glad your ok and some sound advice in this thread!

man no kidding..............wayward garden chairs are no laughing matter


oh.....and tornados are pretty bad as well......


Glad your ok Lx.......have ya'll got power back up yet

[GoVegan]

I am not sure if I have enough food and water to last 3 days. I figured I am well prepared if I have at least 2 weeks of snus on hand.

[lxskllr]

I have food for over a month. I can probably scavenge water for a week(assuming no treatment or filtration), with snus and snuff, I probably have a lifetime supply. I may not always have exactly what I want, but I have something :^)

[Snusdog]

Dog's Emergency Apocolyptic Survival Kit

1) 4 rolls of los

2) case of bourbon

3) a few bags of lump charcoal

4) Burgers, Brats, few 2 inch T-boans


No wait................that was my memorial day shopping list

[bill77.017]

Glad your ok Lxskllr. We get bad weather here in Ireland but it's nothing compared to what you've experienced.

[sgreger1]

I have food for over a month. I can probably scavenge water for a week(assuming no treatment or filtration), with snus and snuff, I probably have a lifetime supply. I may not always have exactly what I want, but I have something :^)

A month's supply of food is great. If it ever get bad enough to where there is still no food sources after a month, than something TERRIBLE has gone wrong and it's time to sharpen the knives anyways.