Coffee's Ready, Come and Sit on the Porch

[CrealCritter]

Trying to prep myself for our unusual -- most in 14 yrs! -- snow event mentally. I'm seeing several days of trudging through 6-10" of snow, that is a blizzard for us. Cold & breezy now. no power loss.

Do tell... what is your current situation?

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Mini Horses]

Cold!! Wind chill makes it 12* now. About 6" on ground & still coming down, slower. Still not a fan of snow. It's white, everywhere. Goats are all "inside" it's bad weather.

 

[CrealCritter]

Cold!! Wind chill makes it 12* now. About 6" on ground & still coming down, slower. Still not a fan of snow. It's white, everywhere. Goats are all "inside" it's bad weather.

Sounds like a repeat of our yesterday evening.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[flowerbug]

Cold!! Wind chill makes it 12* now. About 6" on ground & still coming down, slower. Still not a fan of snow. It's white, everywhere. Goats are all "inside" it's bad weather.

they're smart! well sorta... depends upon which ones. same as humans...

we had a few days where the cold was down near 0F or below with windchills well below 0F. we also had our furnace go bad to where we didn't want to use it that much (so we were heating a lot with electricity) until we could get it replaced and then the other night we also had our water go out. luckily in both cases we've been able to get through it and back to working again.

being without water was probably worse but we do have emergency water supply here for a few days and we could get more water from my brother or the store so it wasn't an emergency as much as a complication. the drama that Mom injects into things makes it much worse. i try to encourage her to not do this but that retraining isn't going so well. haha!

i have to say though that the well guy we have is excellent and he had the problem taken care of this morning within about an hour and a half. it's the same company that put the well in to begin with almost 30yrs ago.

 

[CrealCritter]

being without water was probably worse but we do have emergency water supply here for a few days and we could get more water from my brother or the store so it wasn't an emergency as much as a complication.

Just saying it's smart to have an emergency water supply. Water is essential to life.

We have our gallon jugs. We've used them many time for water company boil orders. But I would like to do something better. I keep thinking about those old 5 gallon water dispensers that were popular in the 90's. They still have them, but everyone I've looked at is electric now, some even with hot and cold faucets, some also have an electric pump. Dependency on electric is not what I would call for an emergency.

I would like to find an old gravity fed one. Stainless steel would be nice, no rust. I could repair it, if it needed to be. I already have glass carboys.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[flowerbug]

i keep about 8 gallons in one gallon jugs (easier to move than a bucket or larger container). there are pretty thick plastic jugs used for vinegar or vegetable juices that work well and don't leak as easily as the more recent milk jugs (that are very thin). optimally i would like to have all glass gallon jugs but i've not gotten to that point yet.

refreshed once or twice a year. potable water, drop a few drops of bleach in them if i'm worried about quality, but you can also get iodine tablets or use RO water (but i don't recommend that due to mineral lack and taste issues).

 

[Hinotori]

They make a cheap vacuum hand pump. No idea how well it works.

https://a.co/d/7DXiC26

 

[Mini Horses]

Livestock water is my first consideration. Many filled tubs to last several days in these events. But just breaking ice can be a chore if a deep freeze for several days. I tote hot water to tubs, keep them drinking. Electric outages are troublesome for those reasons. On a person basis, I can deal ok.

Good now but sure it will be a long morning to be sure water is available to them with the cold teens out there. I'll be breaking ice. Hauling hay & hot water. Not light out yet....prepping myself for what I know I must do. part of the livestock deal.

More later....once I've ventured out & back.

 

[flowerbug]

meander zone...

one thing to always remember is that in the winter there might always be snow around which can be melted if you have heat. so first priority in winter is some source of reliable heat. after that water can be as easy as melting a little clean snow (no yellow or brown snow need apply! white lumps that used to be animal excretions might appear later in the season so don't let those fool you... ). really, it is much easier to keep a few jugs of potable water handy.

on first instance in the old regime at our house if the power went out i would turn off the breaker (or pull the fuse in the box inside since the breaker panel is out in the garage and it is cold out there!) to the hot water heater and then use any remaining pressure in the system to fill up five gallon buckets of water so that we would have water for flushing the toilet or rinsing dishes or whatever. it is clean water so i don't want it to go to waste. plus we have had at various times small backflows to the well so pressure is gradually lost in the system so we might as well get that water out and use what pressure is in there. oh, yea, the other obvious is to use the toilets and flush them if needed asap.

the requirement for heat is primary in the winter for sure. this means for us that i have to keep propane tank full enough to get us through a few weeks at least. a normal refill in the winter will get us through six to eight weeks depending upon how cold it is. with the new larger furnace i have to keep an eye on things closer this winter. so far the past week has gone ok, so i think the increase in size of furnace has somewhat offset itself at it being more efficient.

then when power is restored there is a whole list of things to check to make sure all is ok before i put the hot water heater breaker back on.

the pipes and hot water tank might have some air in them and also the disruption of losing power can mean that when the water pressure is restored there is a lot of stuff that comes out of the taps. black gunk. so letting the pipes clear out and the toilets get cycled, plus maybe having to cycle all of the water out of the hot water heater. i try not to use any hot water until i've let the cold water run for a while. the hot water tank itself can store a lot of heat for several days. i'm amazed at how well it does that. recent event, two days without water pressure and the hot water was still hot and i'd not put the breaker or fuse back on (or both).

once the water is running clear i might also remove and clean out the sink aerators.

the gunk in our lines is not dirt or sand it is residue from bacteria/etc in the pipes along with some chemical reaction. it's black. it doesn't do any harm other than the discoloration. once drained it is all ok again. looks horrible though at first. also have to make sure the shower and washing machine are ok or run an empty cycle to get it cleared out.

 

[Mini Horses]

@flowerbug .... you have no livestock.

A nursing goat doe drinks 3 gal a day. I have 40. Melting snow doesn't cut it. They must have water available. I can heat water, by propane if needed. These issues are something that breeders do know and address. We have this weather only every few yrs (snow)...and arctic temps only a few days, usually.

I have a generator & set up for plug into whole house for running well pump. Things prepared for such unusual weather events. Often the set up for only a "few" days isn't worth it -- heat & tote. The $8-12k for a generac stand by is far more expense than I need for use 2 days every 5 yrs. It's economics 101. Not only that, some tubs are heated, some not. I refill heated from those not. Electric is a convenience I enjoy, like most of us. Even generator won't de ice 100 gal tubs.

On a personal care situation, I'm good. Plenty of water & containers. I was a camper, I can shower with 2 gal of water. in 25 yr here, only one time that any power loss was beyond 48 hrs. I'm fortunate.