Ice storm survival

We moved out to the farm in September 2004 and immediately after that I increased my hours at Walmart. Ed was home alone with the boys in the evenings and those evenings were getting dark earlier and earlier. A few months later we endured an ice storm like this part of the country had never seen - entire cities were without electricity. Naturally, one of our trees fell into our electric pole so four days later when the neighbors could once again flip a switch the linemen informed us, "Y'all have a real mess here. It's still be a few days before we can get a new pole out to you." In the end, we were without electricity for nearly nine days and all of those nine days had temps below zero and winds that would cut through the best down coats.

We brought the mattress from out bed downstairs on the only carpeted section of the house and closed off the entire upstairs and downstairs rooms so we were confined to the living room, dining room, and kitchen. I drove around to the neighbors and offered grey water (we have a shallow well with the original 100 year old hand pump) for animals or toilet flushing and compiled lists of things to bring them from work each evening. The two with stoves offered to let us come stay with them but we were actually doing fine with the stove and the propane heater attachment. On day five we were lucky enough to be at Sears when the truck showed up with a deliver of generators. Finally, fresh water from the facet!

Here's what I learned during that storm:

• Great grandma was right, a foil covered brick heated in an oven for an hour can keep you warm through the night. It also brings the satisfaction of having your husband tell you were right after he made fun of you for snuggling with several bricks.
• Always, always, without fail, have 10 gallons of clean water on hand.
• It really *is* the humidity! Boiling water (even grey) on a stove to obtain a humid environment can make 40' seem positively balmy.
• You can never have too many candles and oil lamps.
• Paper plates and plastic service settings kept in a storm survival kit are a Good Thing.
• You can go weeks without speaking to your neighbors but it's a tear inducing experience to know you can depend on them during a crisis.
• Keep 10 gallons of fresh gas on hand.
• Keep enough feed for several days for each animal.

We lost electricity last Thursday for an entire evening and it jump started me into making sure that our storage room held everything we needed should we face it again. Snow and ice are beautiful to behold but can turn mean and frightening if one's not prepared.