Sandy

[ChuckT]

Sitting here in Milford Delaware not too far from the mouth of the Delaware Bay pretty close to where Sandy is going to make land fall.
How is it that they can name a  potentially dangerous weather pattern with such a harmless sounding name?

Wish us luck guys.

We prepared by washing all the clothes in the house once they started reporting that we could be out of power for a week or more.  I bought a utility pump on amazon and I thought it wasn't going to come in time so I bought another one at Home Depot.  I bought double A batteries and a hose for the utility pump.

We lost power for 15 hours.  My neighbor let us plug into his nice generator for three hours.  I had to charge our phone because the FIOS battery was dead after eight hours of non-use, I plugged in the fridge, and I charged my cell phone.  My wife was impressed that I have some Cree flashlights that I bought off of ebay which make the house like night and day.  They use 18650 lithium batteries so I also bought some battery to USB chargers for the cell phones.

My son didn't have school for four days.

There is a tree on a house on my street.  I called the police and they tried to tell me to tell the owner and I told them the township is the owner.  Then they wanted to know my name.

Since this storm, I thought about what I need for the next storm.  I saw that a 93 year old resident died because of hypothermia and so I started looking on Amazon for 10 degree sleeping bags and thermal blankets.  

I need to think about a generator, an extention cord with multiple outlets, another wet dry vac.

My grandmother thought that all you need are some long matches, a gas stove and a lantern flashlight with two 6 volt batteries.  She believed that stores try to make money off of consumers and that two lantern batteries are all you need.  She is right to an extent but you have to think about heat and flooding.

A co-worker wanted to buy a flashlight but couldn't find any in the stores.  I told him to try back in a month because it will take some of the stores that long to restock.

[Iggy]

We prepared by washing all the clothes in the house once they started reporting that we could be out of power for a week or more.  I bought a utility pump on amazon and I thought it wasn't going to come in time so I bought another one at Home Depot.  I bought double A batteries and a hose for the utility pump.

We lost power for 15 hours.  My neighbor let us plug into his nice generator for three hours.  I had to charge our phone because the FIOS battery was dead after eight hours of non-use, I plugged in the fridge, and I charged my cell phone.  My wife was impressed that I have some Cree flashlights that I bought off of ebay which make the house like night and day.  They use 18650 lithium batteries so I also bought some battery to USB chargers for the cell phones.

My son didn't have school for four days.

There is a tree on a house on my street.  I called the police and they tried to tell me to tell the owner and I told them the township is the owner.  Then they wanted to know my name.

Since this storm, I thought about what I need for the next storm.  I saw that a 93 year old resident died because of hypothermia and so I started looking on Amazon for 10 degree sleeping bags and thermal blankets.  

I need to think about a generator, an extention cord with multiple outlets, another wet dry vac.

My grandmother thought that all you need are some long matches, a gas stove and a lantern flashlight with two 6 volt batteries.  She believed that stores try to make money off of consumers and that two lantern batteries are all you need.  She is right to an extent but you have to think about heat and flooding.

A co-worker wanted to buy a flashlight but couldn't find any in the stores.  I told him to try back in a month because it will take some of the stores that long to restock.

This is about the fourth time in the last several years that we could have used a generator too.
Definitely on my list of things to invest in.
And the crank powered radio has proven its worth twice now.
Everyone should have one of those.
And, of course, D cells, canned goods, and some way a cooking.

[ChuckT]

And the crank powered radio has proven its worth twice now.
Everyone should have one of those.
And, of course, D cells, canned goods, and some way a cooking.

How long do you have radio from cranking it?  I have a small transistor radio that uses two AA batteries.  I'm more frustrated with the news during the storm.  They didn't do enough reporting on how we were effected locally and some people were without power for four days and some people are without power today and they are getting their information from the energy company because no one is reporting it.

I feel bad for the people in New York City who ditched their land line for cell phones.  Apparently, the cell phone towers didn't have power either.

[ChuckT]

Generators are nice but the one I saw held 5-8 gallons and could run 8 hours at a 50% load.  You really need a $200-$300 transfer switch to protect your heater and appliances.

My mother in law believes it will cost me $50 a day to run one.  If I ran it 24 hours, it could easily cost that.  Better have your thermal blankets for the winter because another noreaster is coming this way tuesday or wednesday.

[Iggy]

How long do you have radio from cranking it?  I have a small transistor radio that uses two AA batteries.  I'm more frustrated with the news during the storm.  They didn't do enough reporting on how we were effected locally and some people were without power for four days and some people are without power today and they are getting their information from the energy company because no one is reporting it.

I feel bad for the people in New York City who ditched their land line for cell phones.  Apparently, the cell phone towers didn't have power either.

The crank radio operates about three or four times longer then I crank it.
I've used it on camping trips as well as during storms.
If I'm sitting next to a camp fire, cranking the thing isn't too much trouble.

And, yes, a generator could get expensive. If you get a large one your fuel costs are high and a small one won't power much.