To be honest, I think the closest equivalent of having 20 gallons of gas in jerry cans in the garage for an EV is having 20 gallons of gas in the garage with a large generator. I just don’t see how it’s possible to store the amount of electricity needed to power a EV that isn’t a huge setup. Gas certainly has a lot of power for such a small transportable package that can be refilled quickly which is why it’s been so popular.  I’ve been holding off on even considering an EV because of things like number of charging stations but I had not even thought about how I would charge it during an emergency.  Perhaps solar panels on the roof of your house could also work to power it during the day. I’ve looked into solar panel packages and was quoted $10,000 just for the panels and that didn’t include any batteries. For 10% of that I can store 20 gallons of gas and a large generator.

We are still learning and becoming aware of issues with electric vehicles even as recently as last month. https://www.dispatch.com/story/money/cars/2022/10/26/electric-vehicle-fires-florida-flooding-what-happened/10553207002/ After Hurricane Ian plowed through Florida, some electric cars that had water damage later caught fire, probably because salt and water corroded connections and wires. They may have to waterproof batteries and components better on EVs in the future. Pretty sure hurricane flood damage is not good for even gas cars, but I think they are just more likely to rust or not start rather than be a fireball. The article above states that there are 25 fires for every 100,000 EVs each year, and 1,530 fires for every 100,000 gasoline powered car. So don’t write off EV’s yet, because gas is a much more dangerous chemical to be driving around with.

Air circulation is huge with covid from what I’ve heard. So your bathroom fan and negative pressure room sound like good words of advice.

Nice summary of what gas prices look like and where they come from. I’d like to look more into that thermal leak detector, it easily could pay for itself within a year if it finds a good leak or two.

Now this is the master list of what to do!! I am going to print your comment off as sort of a to-do list of things I can do now and during the time of no utilities. Thinking of a grid down situation as comfortable camping with a great shelter is a nice way to think of it.

Now there’s a phrase I am going to have to use someday. HA HA

While at Costco this week I saw a 2 pack of Duracell 1000 lumen lanterns that looked like a good home based – leave on the shelf and forget about it prep. You can also charge your cell phone off of it. They were being sold for $23 at Costco, but if you don’t have a membership, they are $31 on Amazon.

Six wood burning stoves! That sounds awesome. Do you have any tips on maintaining them? What are you able to do yourself and what do you need to hire out a professional for?

It sounds like you shouldn’t have had to be the middleman yourself for coordinating payments. Such a headache!  Sure glad you are finally getting some progress on everything though. 

Wow… just wow! I have some major sympathy for you and your family right now. You’ve had more challenges in the past few months than I’ve had in my entire lifetime. It’s only natural and okay for you to say you are struggling. But for you to be here now casually telling us about it and being on a prepping website to learn how to avoid such situations in the future is truly awe inspiring for me. Sadie, you are a hero to me. If this is a touchy subject, please don’t respond and I’ll understand. But I’d like to learn more about that so called contractor that has been a pill for you so I can avoid such a situation in the future. So he said he would be able to get working right away, he gutted the upstairs and has since not done anything else? Has he just ghosted you and won’t communicate or is he just coming up with excuses? Did you sign any contract that says work should be done by a certain time? Are you going to try and sue in small claims court for him being a weasel? Guy sounds like a down right scum bag taking your money, doing half a job, and leaving you guys with half a house. Also one more thing, you say that your vehicle was totaled by the tornado and you have an unplanned car payment now. Is that because insurance didn’t cover your car or didn’t cover enough of it? I wish your family the best of luck this next year. I have learned many things from your trials and it looks like you have as well.

My fish hook in a mint can isn’t going to get me through this!? There goes my SHTF strategy!!! Sound words of wisdom Pops, do what you can now to be resilient and tomorrow do a little bit more.

Your dad just taught me some new things as well.  The average time of a thunderstorm is important to know if you are out hiking and for how long you should expect to seek shelter. Or if you are at home, how long you have to unplug the TV from the wall to prevent a surge from frying it. The 3 degrees for every thousand feet is also important for road trips or hikes to know how to dress.

So my answer to you would be, “Carry as much as possible for you.” Split it up and have access to many nearby instead of being the lone person with a backpack filled of tourniquets. Put two on the baby stroller, one in the diaper bag, one on your belt, and two in the car.  Some events like a day at the gun range would allow you to pack more, such as an entire dufflebag of first aid gear. You are able to do this because carrying packs to the gun range doesn’t seem weird or out of place, and your risk of accidentally getting shot is higher. 

I take it that a barrel of gasoline is like a 55 gallon drum?? That is a lot of gasoline. Now looking at that chart it says the US has like 220 million barrels of gasoline in reserve. A million is a huge number, now think of 220 of those million!! That’s a very small amount compared to what we use and need, but I am just trying to wrap my mind around the sheer volume, storage, and logistics behind 220 million barrels!!  That is a rational plan to buy an extra gas can and propane bottle when you see supply starting to dip or prices rise. 

You can share this study with your husband that was ordered by the US department of defense who had a large stockpile of medications and they wanted to know if they had to throw things out at the expiration date or if they would still keep their potency afterwards. The FDA conducted the study and found that most medications will remain fairly potent (88% remained potent 1 year after the expiration date, with most being potent 5 years after and some 20 years) far after their expiration date. Very few were actually harmful after the expiration date. 

There are a couple strategies you can implement to have less smoke come out of your chimney and thus less of a signal that someone is there. +Having your house too insulated can have your fire struggle to obtain enough air. You can install a outside air supply vent into the fireplace or open a window in the room and see if the smoke level outside of the house goes down. +Just like the above step, running a bathroom or kitchen exhaust fan or a furnace blower fan will cause negative pressure inside the house and not allow the fire to draft properly, and thus create more smoke. +When the temperature difference between outside and inside is greater, you have less smoke. If it’s not too cold out and around the same temperature inside your house, then there will be more smoke. Try throwing on some layers of clothing for those moderate days and keep the fire for the really cold days. +Do not burn green wood, wet wood, or synthetic materials. These will smoke. Only burn dry and clean wood, possibly paper without too much ink. +Have your chimney cleaned every year.

Nice review Robert. That would be a good stocking stuffer this Christmas.

I admire you keeping to the law. Even if you didn’t, there is such a slim slim chance you would ever get in trouble. They aren’t going around and doing inspections. But you are a good citizen and doing what society has agreed upon. Pepper gel would be a good option, maybe one in every room. Baseball bat next to the bed is a common tool as well. If I was in your shoes, I would carry a pistol on my person at all times inside of the house since you can’t strategically place them for convenience any more.  But most of all, I would increase your overall security of your house. Lowering your chances of having to fend off intruders by hardening your house as much as possible. 

Do you have a picture of said linen closet and door?? That would help me greatly to think of ideas for you.  Is this law to keep guns out of the hands of children?? Hope that it does some good and saves lives and not just make it harder for people to defend their homes.

You have it right, another crisis another day. I like to be somewhat prepared so that I am not forced to be out there panic buying with the hoards of others.