Oh, wonderful....

[GabeU]

Our power goes out here when a bird burps.  If I don't lose power it will be a miracle.  

And to make matters worse, Sunday is going to be very warm, or at least for part of the day.  I'd better start making a few small buckets of ice now in order to keep my chest freezer cold enough that nothing thaws out by the time the cold front fully hits and it's cold enough outside to put things on the porch.  It's packed pretty well, which will also help it stay cold.  And it's presently set to the lowest setting, which is about - 5, so that will help, as well.  There are a few somewhat local places where I could get some dry ice, too.  I've just got to make it until about 9:00PM, at which time it will be cold enough outside to keep things frozen.

[MarkJFine]

Might not be too bad. We thought we'd lose power Wed night, but... nothing. In fact, all the ice/snow we had on Weds is now gone.

[GabeU]

Our snow and ice is gone here, too, so nothing to weigh the trees down, which is good. 

We had some pretty good wind a couple of weeks ago.  There were gusts that were powerful enough to make my hair stand on end, but the power didn't go out.  That time we had a warning, but the gust from this could be 20MPH higher than they were with the last one.  Unfortunately, I live on the side of a large hill that faces the eastern end of Lake Erie, and that wind just rolls right across that thing and slams right into the hill, which is actually a many miles long ridge.  And many of our roadways here, including some of the main ones, are lined on either sides by trees.  It's a pretty forested area, dotted by diary farms.  We even have a village a few miles from here called Forestville.  LOL.  

All I can do is prepare and hope for the best.  The longest time we've been without power here is about 36 hours, and that was back in 2003 or 2004, and caused by a wind storm like this.  A couple of years back we had one that knocked the power out for nearly a day.  I lost everything in my fridge and freezer, save a few things I transferred from the fridge to the chest freezer, like condiments, coffee creamer and milk.  

[maratsade]

Hopefully you won't have to endure another power outage.  Do you have a wood burning stove? 

[GabeU]

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@maratsade wrote:

Hopefully you won't have to endure another power outage.  Do you have a wood burning stove? 

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Nope.  I have a kerosene heater if it gets too cold, but other than the gas stove/oven, that's it.  Coincidentally enough, this house used to have a wood stove, but it was removed and the hole for the flue was covered over years ago.  

And eight days?  Wow.  I can't imagine.

[maratsade]

Do you have the Buddy heater? If so, are you happy with it? 

The long power outages were awful -- my wife reminds me we had one in the summer and one in the winter, both due to storms. Both were a few years ago, and I hope nothing like that will happen again, because both were uncomfortable. although we both learned a lot about prepping, which was good. 

[GabeU]

No, no Buddy heater, though I have been thinking about getting one.  Much easier, and cleaner.  

I have one of those taller, round kerosene heaters that stink when you shut them off.  Years ago the power went out for many hours during a really cold snap.  I went to town and got the only heater they had left, and a kerosene can.  I then picked up some fuel.  I brought it home, assembled it, fueled it, lit it, and the power then came back on.  😛   

Believe it or not, I still have the same kerosene (I store it well), which is perfectly fine, and have only used the heater for, perhaps, a few hours of total time.  

It's the type below, and the bad thing about it is that it's either on or off.  No heat adjustment.  

[maratsade]

I have 2 of those -- but mine allow me to adjust the heater somehow by controlling the height of the wick.  They're very smelly, for sure, but they also put out a lot of heat.  I'm also thinking of getting Buddy heaters.  

"I went to town and got the only heater they had left, and a kerosene can.  I then picked up some fuel.  I brought it home, assembled it, fueled it, lit it, and the power then came back on."

Oh dear.  These things do tend to happen and they don't improve the misery of the day. 🙂  

[GabeU]

I can adjust the height of the wick somewhat, but all it really does is help to ensure the it's burning as cleanly as possible.  

And yes, these things throw out heat.  That's one of my biggest problems.  My house is so small that it can get hot really quickly with that thing.  Though I've used it very little, I have no doubt that, even on some of the coldest days or nights I'd have to open a window somewhat to temper it.  

I'm looking at either one of the regular Buddy Heaters or one of the bigger ones.  Probably from Amazon or our somewhat local Tractor Supply.  I should definitely have one by the time the end of the year rolls around.  

[GabeU]

SMH.  It's been upgraded to "up to 75 MPH".  

Well, if you don't hear from me for a few days, you know why.  Charging my phone and my power bank now, and I've been freezing water bottles and containers to put in the chest freezer.  

This is not going to be fun.  😞  

[maratsade]

Hang in there, @GabeU .  I hope this won't come to pass, but it's good that you're prepping.  Stay safe.

Edit: I see they changed the advisory to a warning. https://www.newyorkupstate.com/weather/2019/02/upstate-ny-officials-warn-of-outages-flooding-ice-dam...

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@GabeU wrote:

SMH.  It's been upgraded to "up to 75 MPH".  

Well, if you don't hear from me for a few days, you know why.  Charging my phone and my power bank now, and I've been freezing water bottles and containers to put in the chest freezer.  

This is not going to be fun.  😞  

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[GabeU]

Luckily, I don't have to worry about any flooding like those near the lake and waterways that could overflow.  I'm up on the side of a hill.  🙂

But, I'm smack dab in the middle of Western, NY, so I won't be spared from the wind.  Ugh.  

[maratsade]

Glad to see you still have power!

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@GabeU wrote:

Luckily, I don't have to worry about any flooding like those near the lake and waterways that could overflow.  I'm up on the side of a hill.  🙂

But, I'm smack dab in the middle of Western, NY, so I won't be spared from the wind.  Ugh.  

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[GabeU]

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@maratsade wrote:

Glad to see you still have power! 

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Me, too, but it's going to get a lot worse over the course the day.  When my roof starts creaking and the cat runs and hides under the bed, that's when I really start to worry.   

[maratsade]

The longest I've been without power is 8 days.  It's not fun. 

MarkJFine wrote:

Might not be too bad. We thought we'd lose power Wed night, but... nothing. In fact, all the ice/snow we had on Weds is now gone.

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[MrBuster]

This bird will try to avoid burping!

[gaines_wright]

"Our power goes out here when a bird burps. If I don't lose power it will be a miracle."

  LOL

  The birds could be doing a lot more than just burping.  A fellow electrician told me a story from when he had worked for a large utility company, who had just installed  a brand new large high voltage transmission line that was having a lot of nuisance trips.  These turned out to be caused by large pond birds roosting on the conductors.   Occasionally the birds would touch beaks, and short out the whole line.  They actually had to move the wires far enough apart to where the suicidal birds could no longer touch beaks.

  I experienced something similar when my plant had a new 69KV substation installed which was having nuisance trips.  It didn' t take long to figure out why.  The charred crow carcasses underneath a large 69KV reactor were a dead give away.  The reactor had to be retrofitted with wire mesh to keep the crows out.

  The longest power failure I've experienced was 38 hours.  I had to move the stuff from my fridge to a cooler full of ice.  The stuff in my two freezers made it through it alright.  Just before the power returned I was thinking about driving a hundred miles to find a motel with a working AC.  I know people that were without power for six weeks after that storm.

   Oooooh!  I just saw the picture you posted of your kerosene heater.  I thought those things were outlawed years ago!  I knew a couple of guys that burned their whole house down with a similar looking portable kerosene heater.

One of the guys got trapped inside by their burglar bars and died. 

  I just checked out the Buddy heaters on Amazon, which look a whole lot safer.  Is it too late for you to get one with one day shipping?

  Well, anyway good luck!  And be careful if you have to use that kerosene heater!

[GabeU]

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@gaines_wright wrote: 

  I just checked out the Buddy heaters on Amazon, which look a whole lot safer.  Is it too late for you to get one with one day shipping? 

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No necessarily, as I don't know how long the power will be out if it does go out, but I would be dipping into funds that I need to hold onto for other things.  I get paid on Friday, but by then the power would be back on, or at least I would hope so.  For now I'll just use the kerosene heater if I need to, and open the windows if it gets too hot, as it nearly throws out too much heat for this small house.  

These kerosene heaters are still pretty popular.  A lot of heat in a pretty simple design.  A Buddy heater would definitely be better, but for now the kerosene heater will have to do.  With that said, I'm hoping I won't need it.  And, in reality, I'm more worried about the things I may lose in my fridge and freezer, as it's not going to be cold enough outside to keep things frozen until late this evening or early tomorrow morning.  If the power goes out early, I could lose everything, including all of the steaks and such I got from a Christmas gift.  I've lost everything before, and I'm sure it'll happen again.  

The real solution is a generator, even if it's just a small one that would run my fridge and freezer, and maybe my TV or computer.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  

[GabeU]

Well, I've got more work to do, then it's time for the nap.  I'm nearly wiped out. 

I hope to be able to get on later.  

[gaines_wright]

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ice-tsunami-spawned-by-windstorm-spurs-evacuations-along-lake-erie-as-tho...

Good luck GabeU!

[GabeU]

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@gaines_wright wrote:

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ice-tsunami-spawned-by-windstorm-spurs-evacuations-along-lake-erie-as-tho...

Good luck GabeU!

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Thanks!  Luckily, other than a mess to clean up, and a couple of power flickers, we escaped relatively unscathed.  🙂  

It's been a while since I've seen the ice do that.  The seiches usually happen during the other three seasons, and you don't really see anything other than a substantial drop or rise in the water levels, but once in a while that'll happen, and it's pretty wild when it does.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, it's happening more often due to the lake not freezing over completely as often as it used to.