A short but sad story my FRiend.
A week ago woke up to the power off. Happens here all the time so no big deal right?
Even though I have a hundred flashlights I couldn’t find a one. All the candles we have? They were hiding somewhere.
Went out to start the generator and found out I have left the gas turned on and had lost two gallons into the soil.
Finally got gas in generator but could not find an extension cord to run into the house. Finally found one, got the coffee going and—————the lights came back on.
Oh yeah. I’m real prepared.
(I won’t tell anyone about the time I shot my water hose thinking it was a snake)
“A short but sad story my FRiend.....”
That was YOU? Hey - I think I live right next to you!!!
Steve, I had to leave the house fast with a sick husband, (I wrote about that on one of these threads), and the house was dark and I didn't know where a flashlight was. That was a terrible time and won't happen again. On the floor by my chair where I am sitting right now, is a battery lantern. If the lights go out, I reach down and pick it up and hit the switch and the darkness goes away. Pick the flashlight or lantern you want and put it close to where you always sit so you can get to it without having to get up. Stumbling around in the dark looking for a flashlight is dangerous.
ACCIDENTS: I have friends that live in the Texas hill country. The husband recently had a heart cath and a stent put in, so he's not a healthy individual.
A few days ago, he took cans or something to the recycle place in their county. He uses a camera in his work and it was in the low storage place on the driver's side door. When he got out, his shoe caught in the strap of the camera and he fell flat on his face. He was in a big truck so he fell some distance to the concrete. His chin had a messy cut and his glasses cut places on his face.
Someone called 911 and they x-rayed his ribs and they were bruised but not broken. His chin required stitches. He was just getting over a cold so he wasn't feeling great to start with. His day stopped right there.
Accidents happen so suddenly and nothing is the same immediately after the accident. I think we don't give enough thought to what can happen "accidentally" and what we would do about it if there was no help available.
If no help was available, what would you have done if a member of your family was the one who had this accident and you were the only one to take care of him/her? How will you close the wound on the chin? Since you don't know if there is a broken rib, how do you handle that problem? Remember a broken rib can puncture a chest cavity if the person moves around to cause that to happen if it hasn't already happened.
And, check what is in the storage place of all the doors in your car/truck. Is there anything that could catch a foot and throw the person to the ground?
As you learned, turning off your generator’s fuel petcock is crucial. This should really be how you turn off your gasoline generator, so you get as much gas out of the carburetor as possible for storage. I almost never use the kill switch on mine.
I haven’t assembled this yet, but I’m going to put together a “blackout tub”.
In it: My inverters, 12/3 extension cords, 1to3 “Christmas light” plugs, a couple of 18’ strands of LED rope lights, and a couple of cheap LED flashlights (gotta schedule checking the batteries in these).
If the lights go out, I hook up my inverters, run the extension cords, and get the rope lights up so that we can function.
BTW, a coffee maker is an electricity HOG. I’m looking for an old style percolator for my [gas] stovetop.