Big Snow Headed our way

**NewLeaf** · 01-28-2010, 04:32 PM

The weather forcast is for 8 inches to 1 foot in higher elevations. We are in a higher elevation..... The snow is supposed to start midday tomorrow and come in hard, fast and heavy. It is supposed to be a heavy blanketing snow w/ice that will bring down limbs, trees and power lines (AGAIN).

So here we go again. Our last blizzard right before Christmas left thousands w/o power- some for 2 weeks. We rode it out well because we were prepared. But we took note of our weak areas to be better ready next time. Luckily we only lost power for 2 1/2 days.

Here is what we used:
Gas logs for heat (heated the entire house)
Propane lanterns
Propane campstove for cooking & heating water
Stockpile foods and drinks
Battery operated cell phone charger
Battery operated radio for news
Candles (very carefully)
Camping Coffee Pot (Thank the Lord we had coffee)
***old kind of house phone that plugs into wall*****

Those are the things we used the most. Here are some of the weak areas:

More propane bottles for camp stove & lanterns
Bread (dissappeared off of the grocery shelves)
Medicines (make sure all meds are filled and in good supply)

Here are a few extra ideas we came up with:

Charcoal for our grill incase we run out of propane -to be used outside

Extra Kerosene for our emergency kerosene heaters

Any other ideas are appreciated. I hope the weather heads are wrong.

**Nana2two** · 01-28-2010, 04:40 PM

You all will be in my prayers. We lost power last Thursday because of ice and lines went down!!

**ladytoysdream** · 01-28-2010, 04:57 PM

Hope it's not as bad as they say it will be.
We got hit with a storm this morning here. Lots of snow fall in a short time, poor visability, wind blowing hard, etc. It's calm now.

**nancycg56** · 01-28-2010, 07:08 PM

Here in SE Virginia we are looking at anywhere from 5 to 12 inches of snow. We never get snow ~ maybe once every 5 or 6 years. Our city has no snowplows so we will be stuck until it sort of melts.

DH is driving home from Washington DC on Saturday ~ he can stay with DD in Richmond if it's too bad and DS has to drive to Williamsburg on Saturday for work. I'm sure I'll spend the day worrying...

I, on the other hand, went to the store and bought that all important diet pepsi, cookies, and chips

Seriously, we are all stocked up on wood, food, flashlights, batteries, etc., so no worries there. I need to run out in the morning for dog food and that's it.

Bring on the snow!

**Debbie-cat** · 01-28-2010, 07:33 PM

Be careful everyone and make sure you are well stocked on toilet paper!

**Imarachne** · 01-28-2010, 09:30 PM

Debbie-cat, love the comment about the toilet paper ! !!!!!

**NewLeaf** · 01-28-2010, 11:39 PM

Oh yes Debbie Cat, I went right out after the last blizzard and bought 75 rolls of tp!

The Virginia governor declared a State of Emergency in SW Viginia, and its not even snowing here yet. The National Guard is on standby to help too. All of the local stores have already sold out of kerosene heaters.

I do need to get paper plates and cups.....maybe some water.

I think everyone here is a little worried.

**frugalfranny** · 01-29-2010, 12:49 AM

Take care and be careful NL. I will be thinking about you.

You guys on the east coast and mid west have really gotten slammed this year. While we are having one of our mildest winters ever. We have broken records for highs. Was over 40 today. The el nino does that for us!

However - we made up for it last year! At this time last year we had over 80 inches of snow on the ground!!

**NewLeaf** · 01-29-2010, 07:48 AM

Several schools are cancelled already and our kids are getting out at noon- and not even snowing yet.

Hmmm- panic setting in?

**nancycg56** · 01-29-2010, 07:59 AM

We are supposed to get 8-12 inches ~ they haven't had that much snow here in at least 20 years. We have the state of emergency here, too. I'm not worried about it ~ I grew up in upstate NY so I've been through some doozies. It's a little annoying that we won't be able to get off our street until it melts some but here in Virginia, we could be in the 50's on Monday (and in fact we were in the 60s yesterday), LOL!

I need to bring some wood up the house today and run for dog food and we are set!

**frugalwarrior2** · 01-29-2010, 08:12 AM

Hard candy-sucking a piece before get is an old boy scout trick. I starts a metabolism burn.

BBQ lighters

xtra blankets/camping(silver) blanket-thermo/quilts

A thermos full of liquid,soup,hot coffee,hot choc.,oatmeal cooking
electric battery socks

a snowsuit

water to "flush toilets" if your on well

pet water-gallon per day per dog less for cats

charge your cell phones. Cordless phones require electric. Car chargers are hard to use if you an't get to the car or it is iced over.

extra towels to block door drafts.PLastic for windows,window quilts

Do you have a snow shovel,de-icer for car locks,snow melt for sidewalks,a roof shovel.

cash incl. coin in the house.

first aid kit.

We keep flashlights (battery and wind ups in every room). We have several lanterns and batteries as well.
Take care.

**lisaflex** · 01-29-2010, 01:56 PM

be thinkin of you! hope it wasnt as bad as they said.

no snow here....just absolutely frigid

**frugalfranny** · 01-29-2010, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by frugalwarrior2

cash incl. coin in the house.

Some interesting reading on the prep......take care!!

FW - you sound like a real PIONEER......can understand the cash- but what is purpose of coin?

Please explain.........neophyte here!!

**Josephhgoins** · 01-29-2010, 04:42 PM

I am from VA and Hate the snow for you. We would always get Kerosene for the lamps in case they ran out. We would also fill up the bathtubs with water for flushing the toilets. We would fill up any jugs we had and at least one side of the sink for washing dishes.

We also made sure we had cards to play and plenty of wood for the stove.

Anyone ever try to cook in a dutch over in front of gas logs? I know you can do a stew or beans like that in a wood fireplace. Could you do baked potatoes wrapped in foil?

FYI,

A generator is SO worth the money. I would get the biggest I could, but nothing smaller than to have at least one 220 plug to run the water pump. We got one after Hugo (when power was out for 3 weeks) and life was so much better. It was the smallest we could get that would run our Pump.

It was always a time that I enjoyed growing up. We got to spend time playing games with each other. It was the closest we ever got to camping.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 01-29-2010, 04:53 PM

I love getting snowed in. It's so great.

It's a good time to do some knitting, napping and thinking about what you want to do around the house when the nice weather comes.

I second the generator comment. If I lived in an area where it was prone to blackouts, I'd invest in one. Also in the snowfall, if your power goes out and you need a place to store food, I'd dig a small cavern and put the food in there. You can also get one of those coolers on wheels and put all that snow into it to keep your food cold.

Canned goods, thermal everything and candles are a must. I'd keep enough gasoline and kerosene around to heat what needs to be heated and invest in some spray foam to insulate the pipes (keeps them from freezing).