Why you should be a survivalist.

If I suddenly vanish for a few days it wont be for nefarious reasons, just that Mother nature is coming to visit. Check out the weather forecast for the next couple of days:

DANGEROUS ICE ACCUMULATIONS WILL AFFECT MUCH OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. THE HEAVIEST AMOUNTS OF FREEZING RAIN ARE EXPECTED FROM NORTHWEST ARKANSAS THROUGH EAST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA...WHERE STORM TOTAL ICE ACCUMULATIONS IN EXCESS OF ONE AND A HALF INCHES ARE POSSIBLE. ACCUMULATIONS OF THIS MAGNITUDE WILL SEVERELY IMPACT POWER SUPPLY...AND MAKE TRAVEL NEAR IMPOSSIBLE.

LOCATIONS OVER MUCH OF NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA WILL EXPERIENCE ICE ACCUMULATIONS FROM BOTH SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN...AND WHILE THE SLEET WILL LIMIT THE ACCUMULATION ON POWER LINES...THE IMPACT WILL REMAIN HIGH ESPECIALLY ON ROADWAYS. TRAVEL CONDITIONS ACROSS NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA WILL DETERIORATE THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

PREPARATIONS FOR THIS ICE STORM SHOULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETED. EXERCISE ALL RELEVANT SAFETY PRECAUTIONS REGARDING SUPPLEMENTAL HEAT SOURCES...AS WIDESPREAD AND PROLONGED POWER OUTAGES ARE POSSIBLE. AVOID ALL TRAVEL IF POSSIBLE.

Man I hate ice storms.

If it knocks out the power i'll be huddled up with blankets and such and reading a good book while I wait to come back to ATS.

The next few days are not going to be fun.

wupy

The interesting thing is that instead of snow storm that should be right in this time of the year, because the atmosphere is warmer these weird ice storm are popping out.

You should spend the next few days here in the south where the temperature is just incredible wonderful.

You can even sun tan and still is just the right temperature.

MrWupy be safe out there. I have been through the worst that the northeast could chuck at me. I know those ice storms are rough, but like you say, we are survivalists at heart. I am sure you'll do fine. Test out some of your supplies while you are walled up indoors. Perhaps venture outside and try a fire with what you can muster up. Check in while you can and make the best of it when the power kicks.

I am just enjoying my borrowed time with decent weather. New England is usually pretty nasty by now. I regret putting my motorcycle away for the winter so early.

Ime sorry about your inpending bad luck. Here in Michigan we get several ice storms a year, usually. this year however has been the warmest winter I can remember. Infact as I type this it is raining and there is no snow on the ground. The temp hovered most of the day in the mid to upper 40's. So I do feel bad for you having gone thru it a number of times but ime very happy for me. Stay well mrwupy

Many people who live in areas where they often lose power have generators. These can come in real handy if the power is going to be off for a few days. But they have a down side.

Back in 2005, when Katrina hit, many areas were without power for months. I was evacuated for Rita. Assuming that this hurricane would stay west, I returned to Slidell, LA to stay with my old neighbor. Most of the power was back on by then. She told me how another of our neighbors had ended up in the hospital for a few days.

A couple of young men saw his generator and decided to steal it. Our neighbor went outside to stop this and a fight ensued. Had not another neighbor intervened, he could have been seriously hurt or killed. The other neighbor ran the guys off and prevented the theft of the generator. While still another neighbor stood watch over the properties, the rescuing neighbor took the injured one to the hospital where he was kept overnight.

Emergencies can bring out the best in people but it can also bring out the worst. Neighbors need to get together to form a neighborhood watch especially in times of emergencies.

Some type of shed structure should be devised to hide a generator. Something as simple as a concrete surface for the generator with a place to chain it down could keep theft to a minimum. Most thieves want a quick grab and go. Anything you could do to make it appear to be too much work could save you a lot of trouble.

Well, during the day you can build bonfires and ice skate.

Make the most of a horrible situation......make smores and roast weenies on sticks. Mmmmmmmmm.
Buy a kerosene space heater for your main room.
Buy a nice flashlight and lots of batteries.
Stock up on water, peanut butter/jelly, bread, nuts, canned goods & drinks.
And find a place to do #1 & #2 outside in case the toilet breaks.

Well so far all we've had is lots and lots of rain. It's one of those bone chilling winter rains that I hate getting out in.

The ice has stayed to the west of us but we still have a warning for the next 24 hours. It's actually starting to look like my area will get by allot easier than they were predicting a day or so ago.

Hell at this rate I won't even have to scrape any ice off the windsheild of my car

I'm just glad I had what I would need if something bad did go down.

Hey the best we can all ask for is to be well prepared.
I find a degree of comfort from that.

I brought out ammo can today and played show and tell with my family. My wife used to give me that 'here we go again' look, but today she actually looked interested. She says if it hits the fan she hopes I will be around.

RIDE IT WUPY RIDE IT!


Yep if ever there was a reason to be a survivalist, an ice storm is it.


Damn mrmupy i envy you nothing at all. Ice storms are by far the most life threatening situations to get caught in, and I hope you ride this one out in the comfort of your own home!

Wupy,
I'm in that "West" that's getting the worst of the ice storm. Scraped windshield 4 times (only made 2 trips!) and had to stop on the way home to knock the accumulating freezing snow off the wheel well as it had built up (in only 8 miles driving) to the point that the tires were scraping against it. Still have electric, phone, etc. If it all goes out I've got fireplace, clothes/sleeping bags rated to -40 protection, etc. Enjoyed hot toddies and hot tub last night.
Years ago I spoke with a lawyer who questioned why I was a self-proclaimed survivalist. I told him you don't have to believe in government conspiracies, etc. to be a survivalist. You can get hit with disease, disaster, disability, downsizing at your job, become "obsolete" with some new technology or any number of unforeseens that would make you wish you had prepared for your survival rather than depending on the system to save you. For an educated man he looked genuinely surprised as he had never considered that any of those things could happen to him.
We're all just a power outage away from the dark ages.

Ugh curse you Wupy you sent it my way waaa and I gotta work tomorrow. Oh well been itching to try out my wind up LED flash lights I got for x-mas any way. Nice little units invest 1 minute in the winding and get 20 minutes of bright white light. Got three of them the wife paid $2.00 a piece for them.

It looks like I was in the sweet spot for this storm. To the north and west of my county it was freezing rain and ice. To the south and east of my county was flooding. Washington county Arkansas sat there in the middle of it and we got some rain, but not that much of it.

I lucked out this time (knock wood.) Everyone around me got hammered.

It's still going to be a cold week ahead, but I have my long johns to keep me warm

We got a weather advisory on tv tonight. All the rain that we got may turn to black ice over night, so the commute tomorrow aught to suck.

Us to one county below us and heading are way is a ice storm warning. and for us it is for now anyway heavy snow warning. I hate snow

I can drive on snow. It's the ice that always gives me the willies. I'm tooling along at about five miles an hour while everyone behind me is honking their horn and for some reason giving me half of a peace sign .!..

I can handle snow too. Ice is a different story though I can handle it too. I dont let people rush me if I can help it. I just dont care about how fast they can get about. Some people are really dumb about this. They dont depart with additional time and conduct themselves as if nothing changed.
Many are so dumb they expect everyone else to accomodate them to others expense.

Around here on the Seacoast of Virginia people would be in a pure panic in a week of Ice. It happened the last time. So few made any long term preparations. Many were without electricity for over a week. Panic was actually setting in among many.

During these snow and ice sessions I have learned to stay home as much as possible. You need to be stocked up as much as possible before hand too. The store shelves will empty out quickly..very quickly.


I am not sure if you two ..AngryAmerican and MrWupy have electricity as of yet. Looking foreward to hearing a status report.. A Sit. Rep. as to how you two are doing out there. Lessons learned etc etc. The news does not look good from out here in Virginia.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Well tom we weathered the storm very well. We never did loose power fully. We had a brown out. Half our house had electricty and the other half didnt. They switched back and fourth for several hours. Luckily our furnace never did quite. We didnt get any ice but we got nailed with alot of heavy wet snow that knocked over some trees. All and all just another day in Michigan

THank you for the situation report. Glad to see you have managed well.

Late last year I took out the three kerosene heaters I purchased at yard sales. I rebuilt them/cleaned them and put in new wicks. I did the operational checks on them and decarbonized. I keep them in my garage ready to go for events like you and MrWupy are describing. THat is one of the things I worry about alot..loss of heat in the house. I can manage if I cordon off sections of the house with a temporary drape and close rooms not in use. I keep about 15 gallons of kerosene on hand for these events.

Good to see you are managing well. We will be watching events here on the Coast.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Best of luck to all of you... But it sounds like you've all got it covered. Here in SE Washington we just had an arctic blast go through. My furnace decided it was time to stop working. Woke up at around 3 am, and man it was f'n cold. No let me rephrase that...really COLD. Had plenty of blankets and assorted stuff to make it through the day. Don't even care to imagine what the folks in Kansas and Oklahoma are going through. Brrr....

Here in Oklahoma it must be profitable to shut down all businesses and schools for the disaster relief money because that's what's being done. In the panhandle is the only real disaster area. Also, people in the panhandle are well familiar with disaster because it seems like every tornado that comes through Oklahoma has to put in an appearance there.

I live closer to the middle of the state and the highways are cleared and even some of the back roads are cleared. I'm way out in the country with no 4wheel drive and none of the roads have been cleared and i'm still able to drive 40 mph most streets. People I work with have called in due to the snow/ice whinning about how they "can't make it" in this treacherous weather. Most of those people live about 3-4 miles from work. I live much further and I seem to be able to make it. On time. On back country roads that haven't seen a maintenance crew in years.

When I'm not busy being irked that there's no real human beings with any fortitude anymore, I'm saddened by the fact that most of our race seems to have forgotten what hardships our ancestors went through to give us a better life. I'm not sure they did us any favors. We're too soft. To those who believe in evolution, this emasculation of humanity must be discouraging. Take heart! There are still a few of us hearty enough (less evolved?) that are capable and willing to maintain a "survival of the species".