Last summer in Yuma, Arizona, we had the worst thunder/rain storm I have ever seen. We had winds of over 60 mph and astonishing rain. We got about 2.5 inches of rain in about two hours (our average rainfall for a year is 3 inches). At times the rain was blowing sideways. I usually use this gauge to measure rain, just because we don’t get very much. I am always curious about it! Our sliding patio door is under an …
Growing up in Phoenix, you would think I would have become accustomed to that city’s God awful heat, but the truth is, I never did. Every single summer I found myself hunkering down indoors and scurrying from one air-conditioned building to the next. After I married and had kids, I noticed how quickly my kids over-heated when they played outdoors and began learning how to mitigate the effects of heat while enjoying school-free days. A heat wave is about as …
Most of us live in new or new-ish homes with large, spacious rooms. Even if your kitchen is small by today’s standards, your great-grandmother would have loved it! If you’ve ever been in a home built in the early 1900s or earlier, you know how tiny every room was in comparison with today’s homes. Well, it turns out that when an emergency hits and there is no power or you need a new furnace, those tiny rooms can be your …
Don’t Freeze to Death in Your Own Home? Learn How to Live in Just One Room Read More »
This is an excerpt from my book, Survival Mom: How to Prepare Your Family for Everyday Disasters and Worst Case Scenarios. One of the most critical uses of electricity is staying cool in very hot weather. Our bodies can become quickly overheated, with young children and the elderly being most susceptible. I was in Chicago during one of its worst heat waves in 1995. Employees of the Hyatt Hotel where I was staying had to stand on the roof and …
Hot Enough For Ya? 17 Tips For Staying Cool When It’s Hotter Than Hell Outside Read More »
It was a record breaking 114 degrees in West Texas, and as luck would have it, our air conditioner broke! Pregnant, and living paycheck to paycheck, I had to find ways to cool down and QUICK! What I remember the most about that time is how my family managed to stay comfortable at night. With the fan blowing on high, we’d cover ourselves in our beds with wet bath towels. Unbelievably, we’d wake up cold. Fast forward 10 years later, …
Keeping Your Cool When There’s No Air Conditioning. Read More »
It was the second time my power went out in one day. The first time was at two in the morning when a nearby fuse or transformer blew causing a power outage. Other than the backyard solar light glowing, the entire neighborhood was cast into darkness. A few hours later, our power was restored and the bedside clock started blinking. The sun wasn’t up yet, but the house soon became alive with overhead lights, bacon on the stove, a hot …
Going without electricity for a few days can throw off the whole balance of a family. When living in an apartment or condo there are simple ways to keep the family in clean clothes, power electronics and provide decent cooking options. You just have to know a few things about preparedness for power outages. Power Sources Most apartments or condos don’t come with an emergency power generator. Not only are most generators are expensive to buy (portable or not) but they …
Tight Space Prepping: Preparedness for power outages Read More »
We preppers talk a lot about water storage. Water is critical to survival and really you can’t have too much of it stored. However, in the event of a true crisis, on top of the cases of bottled water you have squirreled away, you likely already have a fairly sizeable supply of water at your fingertips. The average water heater contains about 30 gallons of water at any given time, except perhaps right after your teenager has taken their daily …
There’s one thing people enjoy doing when the power is out, and if you don’t believe me just show up to the nearest hospital 9 months later. There is often about a 20% increase in babies born, or in Hurricane Sandy’s case, about a 30% increase. After natural disasters that force many to stay at home, and large metro area power outages that strand millions, about 9 months later there is a mini baby boom. – Florida News Journal Nothing …
10 Things You Can Do When the Power is Out (Besides Make Babies 😉 Read More »
When the Power Goes Out: Generating and Storing Power More than ever, our civilization relies on electrical power for everything: lighting, entertainment, communications, security, heating / cooling, cooking, food refrigeration, the list goes on and on. Our reliance on the electrical grid has made electricity critical to our lives. Short power outages (under 12 hours) have resulted in widespread traffic chaos, hospital evacuations, and even civil disorder. Multi-day outages can adversely affect water and sewage systems, supermarkets, gas stations, and …
When the Power Goes Out: Generating and Storing Power Read More »
