Wife & I were Without Electricity for 6 Days - Empathize with 3rd World......

flipper

A massive storm from Alaska knocked the hell out of Northern California , giving us a foot and a half of snow , snapping trees like matchsticks , crashing multiple electrical lines in the Sierra mountains where we live. Knocking electric out for 6 days ( thus my dissapearing act from JWN for 6 days ) - we had a 90 ft. Ponderosa Pine tree ( 3ft, around ) crash on the lower end of our acre we live on . It's still leaning on oak trees suspended in time. Fortunately not near any residences.

After going through this you tend to come to appreciate what people go through on a long term basis in countries where they have NO electricity. Can you imagine what would happen if the WHOLE planet lost electricity ? It would be anarchy & chaos in cities ! At least my wife & I have a wood stove that kept us warm . Some of our neighbors weren't so fortunate and had just electric heat . One neighbor came over & warmed herself by the fire & ate with us.

I'll never take for granted a hot shower again ! Have you folks been through weird weather ordeals as well ? I know some have you have been through hurricanes, tornadoes, snow & thunder storms. What elements have you gone through too ? Lok forward to hearing from you . Good to be back ! Take care all of you ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper

miseryloveselders

Thanks for posting this Flipper. Every now and then I get the feeling to prepare for this kind of situation, because where I'm located it could happen. I don't know what the potential is for a Roland Emmerich film to play out in real life, but it would be sensible to be prepared for such a scenario. I feel you on having an understanding of what people in 3rd world countries are going through, or even people in this country in certain inner cities and rural spots. Sometimes we never know how good we have it until we get smacked in the face with reality. AllState, FEMA or Michelin aren't going to be there when you need them the most.

I'm happy you and your wife are ok. There aint nothing like a hot shower either!!! I was off yesterday for the holiday, and didn't get up until around 3:30pm, and around 6:30 I got this horrible feeling in my skin and nerves. I was so irritable. I was dirty, grimy, and needed a shower!!! Oh was I foul! Being off work through my bathing schedule off a few hours and it bothered me to no end! It felt so good when that Noxema hit my face, and cleaning my booty crack out! Oh it felt good!! Just think, people live like that because they have no choice. It's hard to imagine, and here in the states we got the nerve to complain about cigarette prices LOL.

Aussie Oz

Hi mr flipper

when all the satelites fall from the sky, the power stations burn out and we no longer have the internet

we will all go back to cavemen!

The whole world will experience a 'Lord of the flies' and i guess thats what survivalist groups prepare for, bunkers, generators, food stores...

(wasn't there an old WT or G on survivalists a lomg time ago?)

glad you didn't freeze your butts off... whats worse? Cold or dirty?!

oz

flipper

MISERYLOVESELDERS- Nice hearing from you. Thanks. I agree with you - we just never appreciate the luxury of electricity until we lose it for awhile ! It's crazy. Also, yeah, the hot shower thing is SO important to us as well. We went to my in-laws for Thanksgiving and we both took showers at her parents house ! LOL ! And yes- I'm a BIG believer in cleaning the " booty crack " out too ! I was trying not to picture that in my mind when you mentioned it LOL ! now I can't get it out of my head ! LOL ! Thanks for your concern

Nathan Natas

Yikes, that's harsh! Did you find yourself eyeing your neighbors covetously, wondering what they might taste like?

It's always good to have a couple of bricks of .22's around. I'm just sayin'...

...and we DO take hot showers for granted, don't we?

JRK

Hi Flip,

Winter "roughing it" can really suck! Glad that you got through it okay.

Two winters ago we had a real nasty ice storm that knocked out power for over a week. I survived with a kerosene heater providing heat to the whole house. Melting snow to flush the toilet, cooking over the kero-sun, no sump pump and the basement starting to fill with grey water. Loads of fun, NOT.

Hopefully you will dodge the bullet for the rest of the winter.

JK

clarity

Dear Flipper... Did we miss you? Why would we miss a guy who contributes so much to this blog? Why miss someone who is kind, interested in others and always responds with thanks to those who've bothered to write something?

Why.... because buddy, without you on here, the silence would be deafening.

So glad you & Mrs flipper weren't hurt in the storm. The feeling of self sufficiency and cooking with wood, is great for about 3 days but after that, not so much!

clarity

Mary

I was thinking of you Flipp, cause even here in Canaduh, we saw on our weather report that parts of Northern Californee-ay (specifically Lake Tahoe) got 45 freaking inches of snow the other day!!!

I was wondering how you guys were coping with the white stuff. Heck, 45 inches is a ton of snow----even by Canadian standards.

flipper

AUSSIE OZ- In answer to your question- I think being " cold " is worse than " dirty " - in my humble opinion. Fortunately we have a good wood stove. I agree- in time all the satellites may fall from the sky ! If some meteor or something knocked the electrical grid off the planet- many people would not know how to handle it and be in deep $hit for sure.

NATHAN NATAS- Exactly. Fortunately we didn't lose too many food items in our refrigerator - just a $ 7.00 packet of salmon. We threw our Merlot wine out onto the deck full of snow to keep it chilled. THAT was a priority ! LOL ! And yes- hot showers DO rock.

JRK- Hey buddy ! How are you ? Sounds like you had a really nasty bit of bad weather 2 years ago as well ! Jesus. I can only imagine dumping snow into your toilet to make it flush ! I remember talking to you when you had weird water in your basement back then ! I only have 1 question - Did your snow turn yellow when you dumped it into the toilet ? ( You know- bad Frank Zappa joke. ) Hope to talk to ya soon ! Take care

ShirleyW

I remember in the late 80's in November NYC had a Hurricane Gloria, which is quite rare for the area. It happened on a Friday morning, which knocked out the power in just half of the house, yes that's wierd but at least we had 50 percent power, put my ever pious JW mom, was going crazy! Saying "if we don't get this power back soon, I don't know what I'm going to do !" I should've asked her what she planned to do after Armageddon, when there would be no power, flushsing toilets or available supermarkets at all ! ! ! !

Wife & I were Without Electricity for 6 Days - Empathize with 3rd World......

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