More preparedness notes

(That's my clothesline you see above...coated in ice!)

After being without power for 7 days and counting, here are some of the things I've discovered that we need to have on hand at all times:

a generator
gasoline for the generator
several bottles of fuel for the Coleman Camping Stove
LOTS of batteries & candles
bleach (for washing dishes)
bottled water (we were under conserve water orders)
an inverter (device that allows you to charge items in your car with a regular plug)
extra propane for the gas fireplace
TOILET PAPER!!! (I'm so thankful for our neighbors over at WatSourced who shared their TP with us!)

In a perfect world, I'd have a lovely wood burning stove; but I don't have one or have space in my house for it, so that's out. This summer I'll also can more of my veggies so that the freezer is not AS essential...although it'll still be used for meat and stocked up sale items. I was so upset when I thought I'd loose everything in both freezers, but Homestead Man saved the day by buying us a generator! As long as we've got gas, I don't have to worry about that again.


(The top of the chicken coop...poor chickens! I let them out and cleared all this off when it started to melt as I was afraid one of them would be impaled with ice!!)

We had plenty of food and even instant milk, but absolutely no way to bake...that was a challenge. With the generator, we also purchased a toaster oven...but I'm not sure how it would handle loaves of bread, etc.

If we'd had the Airstream ready for camping, we could have stayed in it, but we are still doing some repairs and checking to be sure the heat, oven, etc. are safe to use and in good working order...that'll be another option if we ever are in this situation again.

We also had plenty of blankets and warm clothes, but the girls needed mud boots...that's already been remedied as Homestead Man took them in to Atwoods to get outfitted for heading out to Willow Run to check on the horses & cattle. Oh, and just wait till you see the ponds out there and how much water they caught! (I have pictures to post later!) We do have some clean up to do out at the land as we lost a lot of limbs from the willows, but nothing that can't be handled after it warms up and dries out a bit.

I'll leave you with a parting shot...isn't she pretty? Well...she would be if you'd been without power for a week!! Trust me!!

Oklahoma Ice Storm 2010

Our area has been without power since last Thursday, so BOY, do I have some preparedness posts for you guys later!! Here are some pictures from our area:







We're still without power, but we've acquired a generator and have a gas fireplace so we're getting by quite well. I'll post more later on!

The Biggest Blessing...

Yesterday I blogged about our Christmas Blessings, but I wanted to share the biggest blessing in it's own post. This one reminded me of how precious my family is and taught me some lessons. Our biggest blessing was....drumroll please.....

Spending the night in a hotel - We were actually stuck on the highway during the Texas/Oklahoma Blizzard on Christmas Eve. There were some scary moments when we thought that we'd be spending a freezing night stuck in the snow on the highway. Through the hard work and generous spirit of my husband and many strangers, we were able to get ourselves and many others to a hotel to spend the night. HM was actually directing traffic at one point to get all of us between a snow plow and two trucks that were stuck and almost blocking the entire highway (see photo above). When we finally arrived, it had taken us 6 hours to drive what normally takes an hour. The hotel had purchased sandwich supplies knowing that no one would be able to get to a store or restaurant for food. I was so thankful to be warm and safe that night and learned some seriously valuable lessons.

#1. My car needs additional emergency supplies. While we had crackers, water, & blankets...I sure was wishing for a camping shovel (to dig us out of the snow) and additional food.

#2. I have never taken snow/ice driving seriously enough. I am usually optimistic and say, "Oh, it's just a little snow...we'll be able to make it!" From now on, I'll take winter driving much more seriously, to be sure!

What do you keep in your car for emergencies? How do you store it there and keep it out of the way?