PREPAREDNESS

"THE THREAT FROM EXTREME WEATHER

                  EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPORTANCE

                       OF INVESTING IN PREPAREDNESS."

                                                           Sheri Fink

      There is nothing like a good old fashioned ice storm to shake up we who think we are prepared for about anything.  Well it proves we are not, and if we are not prepared for an ice storm how many other things are we just not able to cope with very well?

      All of the stores make a killing from those who run in for portable 3500 to 5000 watt generators.  Well those little things may keep a refrigerator running and your freezer if you are willing to keep moving extension chords around.  How many know that when you tie a generator into your system you have to throw the main switch off?  If you tie into you house wiring in some way you are feeding current back into the system and a repairman is going to be electrocuted.  Every year there are linemen killed from someone who has no idea what they are doing putting power back into the lines.

     Unless you are a Master or Journeyman electrician you have no business hooking a temporary generator into your house or building.  Also that small generator will not fire up your heat pump.  There is going to be more damage to electronics when last minute fixes are attempted.

      If power outages are common or even if you do not want to go the route of the portable generator under lousy conditions, invest in a permanent generator that carries the whole load for you place.  Yes it is pricy but not as much as defending a legal action for injuring or killing someone.

     Now a generator gives a lot of comfort when the weather is nice and nothing is going wrong and cutting power in your neighborhood.  But even a permanent generator set is not without flaw.  The generator that we have had for 8 years, with only 350 hours on it, decided to throw the bearings or a rod through the oil pan during this last power outage.  So you still have to be prepared for when your preparation plans don't work.

      The word 'prepper' has become a derisive label in some circles.  Those who decide to prepare for the worst are often laughed at or derided.  TV shows have been made about the extreme things some do to be prepared.  Well just look at the film footage about Black Friday.  If people will act stupid and fight for TV's and computer games what do you think it would be like at the grocery store?  A big snow storm finds the shelves cleaned off in a couple of days in the grocery stores.  That is just for things to last a few days.  There are not warehouses in the back of your stores, all stock comes by truck once a week.

      Many still can and put up food and staples like your grandmothers did before the supermarket was created to sell anything you needed.  A household had to have the basics of life put up to last until next garden season and butcher time.  You don't look back and call them silly.

      I remember the story told by the 93 year old ranchers wife up in Wyoming.  Since the paved road to town was 53 miles they went to town only a couple times a year.  When asked about the supplies she lays in when she get to town she replied "I load up on toilet paper and a case of whiskey, if you have that you can get by pretty well".

      We have had to take our planning for problems to a serious level after this ice storm.  We simply said before that we needed to prepare.  And how many things can go wrong?  Think it is time to quit acting like the grass hopper and a little more like the ant.