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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on July 7, 2012 at 4:23pm

Fubared the time there, make it 2000 vice 1700. I saw a line of tornados along the trailing edge of a cloud bank drooping then picking back up one after another. I never did hear reports of any touchdowns. Anyway about the cell phone survival kit. Following the black out all lines of communication were down with the exception of the cell. No computer, no CB, no nothin. I was able to reach family members though with the cell. Later on it bacame my access to the internet and although limited I was able to let others know my status and obtain theirs. It became my stop watch, timer, alarm clock and "game boy". In Kroger's fetching an ice re-supply and other passables the lights went to black for about a minute. Four bags of ice $12.00, Coke Zero, two bucks, the look on other customers faces frozen in their tracks in the dark as I zipped by using my cell for a flashlight, "Priceless!" {8<{)

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Permalink Reply by John Klempel {Admin} on July 7, 2012 at 8:24pm

Good knowledge and experience!! In times of trouble Improvise!! Make due with what You Have at Hand!!
Thanks for posting this to remind Us ALL!
John

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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on July 8, 2012 at 1:09am

Definitely a test of readinessness and innovation. {8<{) Hopeful that others will share their exsperiences here as well. We can learn best by experience but sometimes paying attention to the experiences of others saves ourselves a few bruises and dings.

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Permalink Reply by MRS MM on July 19, 2012 at 7:34pm

Phillip, excellent post. One has no idea how prepared they really are until something of this nature occurs. I was born and raised in hurricane territory (Florida) and also had to deal with The Bay Of Pigs in the 60's. We were always prepared, we had to be. Since our family was avid campers, we had a little more equipment to help out when we lost electricity and water. We too kept milk gallon jugs froze (block ice last longer) and any water we wanted to keep for any length of time was stored in bleach bottles.....the little bit of bleach residue keeps the water fresh and sanitized. You can actually keep water for up to a year this way. Mom and dad were country folks and we lived life simply using what we had......and to this day I'm glad it was that way. I really believe that if we go back to doing things simply, without having to rely on some of the modern conveniences, we would fare much better in the long run.

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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on July 8, 2012 at 1:35am

The things I did wrong:

I got the sense that water pressure was dropping off and something told me that I needed to fill the tubs but I ignored the premonition. I should have gone with my gut as it would have saved me time, gas, and physical energy used to haul water.

I have got in the habit of buying meat on sale and freezing twice as much as I need. While this is fine for limited amounts, my actual losses (although minimal) were unnecessary with better planning. Henceforth meat will be pressure canned. The advantages are an improved shelf life, just heat and eat with no waiting for thawing, no freezer space required, transportable, and I can probably eliminate one freezer in a few months.

Communications really sucked! I had family and friends that I was not able to reach for three to four days. Travel over the area was tenuous as there were trees fallen blocking roads and of course the zombies were out in force so visiting wide spread folk was difficult. I was ill prepared for this. I probably need to invest in a lap top with a battery pack,or a better cell phone to enable more use of the internet away from the PC. I'm following up with cell phone situations of the family and making sure I have mobile numbers. Lots of land lines went down with the power lines.

A generator is in my future and probably an inverter as well. A lot of grief could have been saved as well as about fifty pounds of meat! Looking into solar lights and charging platforms for small appliances as well. Although I can do well without the conveniences some conveniences just make good sense. Cabellas has a 3.5 KW (peak4.0 KW) on sale now for a hundred ten less than normal. Just about the right size for lights fridge, freezer, and PC. {8<{)

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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on July 19, 2012 at 1:50pm

Inclusion of HAM radio into personal commo net lin progress. {8<{)

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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on July 8, 2012 at 1:54am

The most significant thing I learned from this experience is that I was not able to help others until I had myself squared away. Achieving this took much too long in my estimation. It wasn't until Monday or the 3rd day in when I realized I had not checked on the welfare of the folk on my road. On the way into town I checked trash cans. To my relief, everyone had their trash set out. I noticed a few folk sitting out taking advantage of what breeze existed and no signs of immediate peril. Every day since I have found that I pay closer attention. The 2nd most significant thing I learned is that I was on my own. There were no offers of encouragement, assistance or inquires as to my welfare. Even during church services, to my disappointment, while the situation was discussed, individual needs and difficulties were not. Our church was fully powered and had ample water access but was never offered as a cooling station, respite nor the commercial kitchen brought into service to maybe prepare excess food subject to spoilage and sharing before it was lost. We could have gathered and delivered water or let folk know that water was available, but did not {8<{( Without the TV and internet boredom set in about the fourth day and I was very pleased to find an old deck of playing cards. The radio was a real blessing for news, entertainment and a friendly noise in the house. I've added a battery operated DVD player to my toys since. One of the most surprising things was learning that my night vision had improved at about the 5th day to the point I no longer needed the lantern in the dark. I could see quite well without any artificial light source both inside and outside.

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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on July 8, 2012 at 11:58am

Now for the real meat. I figured that I would see camo duds and BDUs under boonie hats with WRAM shoulder patches at every "black" stop light directing traffic. Thought there might be pick ups with magnetic WRAM signs on the doors hauling ice, generators, water, maybe some hot chow, cold drinks or giving folk a lift. I discovered that armed guards were in place to protect AEP vehicles parked at our fairgrouds from "citizens" threatening the workers! These officers probably should have been Militia as well; all voluntary of course. If we aren't prepared to assist our community in a little inconvenience how will we fair in an outright pervasive disaster? We need to do better guys. Thoughts, comments, opinions, lessons learned?

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Permalink Reply by John Klempel {Admin} on July 8, 2012 at 7:36pm

Amen Natrual disasters Should be part of the militas obligations and responsibility!!

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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on July 9, 2012 at 2:49am

I'm of the opinion that most of those who are not part of a Militia are afraid of the Militia. Probably the best way to overcome that is to get visible, work with/in the community. Anyway those are my thoughts.

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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on July 9, 2012 at 2:57am

Personal changes: (1) Better battery storage and rotation. They went into ziplocks then the fridge. (2) Gallon sized milk jutgs sterilized and filled with water are now in the freezer to form block ice. This will be used when needed to chill the upright freezer and refrigerator. As the ice melts it will be used as drinking water. These during the first couple of days might have saved all of my chest freezer contents when ice was not available. The cold drinking water is a real treat too when everything is room temperature. (3) reviewing my diary and setting up a checklist of activities to do and in a precise order to avoid the confusion experienced. Hopefully this will get my "fall In" time shortened to something more reasonable and enable me to help others with quicker response. When complete I'll share it.

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Permalink Reply by Phillip P. Foreman on July 19, 2012 at 1:56pm

Not too many days hence now the 19th of July and the electric has been out three or four times here for short periods. To my West and South there are thousands with power out at present.I had an outage last night for two hours. Just long enough to set up and watch a DVD on my new portable player after checking on others. {8<{)

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