A week of pure misery

[Dillon]

So I have not been on here in the last few days for very unforeseen and unfortunate reasons and kind of eventful as well. I am not sure how many of you have kept up with what going on with the weather or if a few of you have been through it but I live in the United States in Texas where we just got hit with a major winter storm that had caused power failures and made people live in freezing conditions. I had no power, heat, and WiFi for the past 4 days and i sleep with a breathing machine since o have sleep apnea and polycythemia which both affect my oxygen levels and noticed the power had cut off when my machine had cut off so I had to deal with not having it on my for a few days which was miserable as when I’m about to fall asleep I have trouble breathing so I had to deal with that for 2-3 nights without my breathing machine.
I couldn’t cook any food that I usually make like chicken, pasta, meat, eggs and other stuff that I resorted to more of deli meats and canned tuna which is pretty good in my opinion. Even though the power was totally out my fridge still kept everything cold so my milk was still good and got to at least have some cereal in the dark. The cold had left me kind of dehydrated since I did not had the stomach to drink much the last couple of days due to the conditions. I Couldn’t really get groceries cause I was stuck in my house from icy road conditions plus the stores were closed in the middle of this event in my area and when they were open they were operating in diffrent hours than normal which kind of messes up my routine when I usually go to the grocery store which is like early in the morning where there are less people and honestly get nervous with large crowds.

I couldnt get warm in my house given that it felt like arctic conditions in there so I had to resort to going into my car at times to keep warm and to charge my phone with my 1 year old Labrador retriever. I couldn’t turn my car all the way on since I had almost had no gas in my car and couldn’t get any anyway since a lot of gas stations ran out of fuel. I did sleep in my car for one night because it got so cold in my house I just couldn’t stand it. luckily I got to spend the night with a friend who doesn’t live too far away from me and who had electricity and heat and got to stay until my power came back on.

My power did come back on earlier this morning which I was so grateful for and has never turned off since, but this whole week was a panic mode for me cause I have never been in a situation like that before and not used to drastic changes, at one point almost cried cause with my anxiety going through the roof.
even though I have heat and electricity, I still have no running water but hopefully that comes back on soon and in the meantime gonna have to get creative I washing clothes by hand or try to shower someone how until everything is fully restored.
Things will get better hopefully.

 

[Major Tom]

Situations like that if anything can make a person realize how truly lucky we are to live in the modern world. We've had a brutal winter here, last month it snowed 7 feet in a day and a half. I couldn't even leave my house for 3 days. Thank goodness I have a wood burning stove for heat. Though on the day the snow stopped, all the snow slid off the roof of my shed and blocked my access to the wood pile. It took a full day to dig it out. 3 years ago our water lines froze up twice during the winter too and that was hell. The houses where I live are not built very well they basically keep you dry, but summers and winters are brutal in their own respects.

Anyways I'm glad you have power now and hope you get some water soon too!

 

[Dillon]

Situations like that if anything can make a person realize how truly lucky we are to live in the modern world. We've had a brutal winter here, last month it snowed 7 feet in a day and a half. I couldn't even leave my house for 3 days. Thank goodness I have a wood burning stove for heat. Though on the day the snow stopped, all the snow slid off the roof of my shed and blocked my access to the wood pile. It took a full day to dig it out. 3 years ago our water lines froze up twice during the winter too and that was hell. The houses where I live are not built very well they basically keep you dry, but summers and winters are brutal in their own respects.

Anyways I'm glad you have power now and hope you get some water soon too!

That is so true we are quite lucky indeed but it still feels rough at times. I had almost resorted to fire wood but the problem is I live in a small apartment and realized that probably would not be a very good idea. I do hope I get water soon as well the city has to repair major water breaks within the lines and who knows how long that may take.

 

[unperson]

Everything collapses without electricity, maybe get a little camp cooker (gas cylinder) when you can get to the shops, at least you can heat food or drink. Theyre pretty cheap. Balaclava? kerosene heaters are still around, don't know how good they are. small generator?

Seen some videos of black ice/traffic disasters, musta been hell. This sort of thing usually gets action at govt levels, but that'll take some time.

 

[GadAbout]

I'm truly sorry you have been going through this. It sounds awful.

 

[Au Naturel]

Those of us who can need to be prepared for such things. Not everyone has the ability to do so. Still, we need to understand that things can go south on us and have a plan for how to get by when they do.

 

[Skittlebisquit]

Hang in there! I got some tricks for cold weather. Plastic grocery bags over your socks before your shoes is ok, saran wrap works well too. Heat one room if thats all you can do. The radiant heaters are the ones to buy.
My heart goes out to you. Please stay safe

 

[SusanLR]

I never thought about a camp cooker. That sounds like a great idea.
I live where the threat of hurricanes can knock out the electric and tear things up.
Instead of cold, going through those without electric, you burn up from the heat.
Once went 12 days without electric in the summer.

It must be horrible to feel the cold. Sounds more dangerous.
Rather put up with the heat, although people die from that too.
Take care and try to be prepared. Hurricane lanterns are a wonderful thing for the dark.

 

[Booknerd515]

There has been a snowstorm in my area too even though I don't live near that state (I'm in Ohio), I feel bad for you though.

Before I read this post I was aware about how the situation was in Texas because my mom talked about it from looking at stuff about people having breathing problems on medical sections of Facebook. I hope things get better for you. Cold air can be an absolute pain-meanwhile I've never really had intensive breathing problems, when I was younger I would get croup cough a lot. My mom would have to drive me around to get me to stop coughing with the windows open when it was warmer and when it was colder I'd use a nebulizer-mask machine for air. It is extremely unpleasant and never something that is easy to go through especially with the extra coldness.

 

[OkRad]

The ancients would call us MAD to have given over to other people (and companies!) our ability to feed ourselves and provide warmth to our bodies. They would never have let others determine if you starve or freeze.

They would be appalled that lawns are now covered in pretty plants and not foodstuff or places to graze your goat. They would be likewise appalled that so few people have ways to heat their homes and that homes are so bombastically large and excessive. The hearth was so important there were goddesses associated with them.

Times like this do not make me think we are lucky to live in a the modern world, but terribly foolish.

 

[Sherlock77]

I'm sorry to hear this happened to you. It's a shock when your entire world upends. When it happened to me I lived for two weeks without heat and electricity. My car was made unusable by falling shelves of ice.

So I was stuck and in shock for several days. I had a hand-held water purifier, which I used, as the water treatment plants produced water but did not clean it. I slept in a closet in several sleeping bags and eventually used a tent inside as well as a camp stove (outside) to make hot food and coffee.

Since that happened, I'm prepared in the event it does again. It was definitely a learning experience for me to not take things like heat/electricity/food and water for granted. It's something that you will likely not forget in your lifetime. And it's understandable that you would question everything at this point, what's important and what is not.

Was that the big ice storm from a few years ago? That made major news

 

[Sherlock77]

@Dillon Campbell

Hope you're doing better now, was also web chatting with a friend from Oklahoma as well, just simply struggling with the cold... I'm just thankful for living where I do, even when get a major cold snap we have house insulation among other, but then being a winter climate we basically plan for it

I can't imagine how people who aren't used to cold weather deal with it

We just came out of almost nine days in a row with average high's of about -25 to -29 Celsius, but that is typical of life here, at least one cold snap per winter... But I had plenty of heat inside my place to keep me warm, when I ventured out of the house even when bundled up I got cold rather quickly

 

[Mia]

Was that the big ice storm from a few years ago? That made major news

It was. I was stuck in an unheated apartment in the city for two weeks with a sickly puppy, eventually I camped out at a friends place, one that had a fireplace and a gas stove. The ice storm itself lasted five days although electricity did not return for nearly a month.

As a result of the ice, 30,000 utility poles fell and one thousand giant hydro pylons were destroyed. The Nicolet commission concluded that Quebec's civil security system largely failed, Quebecers were not adequately prepared for disaster, and Hydro-Québec's power grid would have been safer if the entire system had been buried rather than above ground. It took many years, but we rebuilt. The tensile strength of the pylons now allows for a great deal of ice buildup. We learned from disaster, as Texas will as well.

 

[Dillon]

I am doing pretty good now my water just came on as of this morning. I was actually going to get more jugs of water they were giving out from volunteer donations in my area when I heard my bathroom started to make noises and there it was water started to flow back again and I was able to take a nice hot shower since I hadn’t taken one in days. I actually slept better last night than I did any day this whole week!

I do have to boil my water before cooking with it or consuming since I am under a “boil water advisory” in the area due to possible contamination in the water supply from the weather. Hopefully that doesn’t last long and I bet it won’t.

 

[oregano]

The ancients would call us MAD to have given over to other people (and companies!) our ability to feed ourselves and provide warmth to our bodies. They would never have let others determine if you starve or freeze.

They would be appalled that lawns are now covered in pretty plants and not foodstuff or places to graze your goat. They would be likewise appalled that so few people have ways to heat their homes and that homes are so bombastically large and excessive. The hearth was so important there were goddesses associated with them.

Times like this do not make me think we are lucky to live in a the modern world, but terribly foolish.

I keep telling my mom (among others) exactly this but they simply REFUSE to understand. I have come to absolutely loathe my current residence that is oriented with big windows facing south and west so it gets unbearably hot in summer requiring use of a giant air conditioner to be habitable. I have had the AC conk out in the middle of summer and the house gets so hot that it is almost totally unlivable.

In addition, growing plants and raising animals is something my mother refuses to allow since "killing animals is so cruel!". She keeps saying "you can rent a room in a house for disabled people when I die, you have it great here, why do you want to leave so badly?" She simply refuses to give any thought to the future or any sort of self-sufficiency.
========
A wise Native American shaman once told Paul Campbell, who was a chronicler of the ways of Indigenous Californians, that "we must preserve the original ways since the time is coming when we will need them again".

The fragility of modern civilization is becoming apparent to anybody with a truly open mind. We live in a civilization where if the power goes out for a week people start dying of hunger and cold. What would happen if the power went out and NEVER came back? Simply put, something like 95% of those affected would be dead within a couple months. If the supports of civilization disappeared, very few people could survive without them.

80% of our food is grown/raised by 0.5% of the population. Millions have no clue where food comes from, it just magically appears in the cities. Those people make laws that destroy the livelihoods of those 0.5%, without any care as to what would happen if the food stopped magically appearing in the cities. Very few people grow/raise the food they eat, and most of those who try give up in a short time because it is "too much work".

But the time is coming when we will need to learn how to do so, when the food stops magically appearing and we have to figure out how to get it ourselves. It will be "too much work" for the average man, and starving to death while whining "where did the food go?" will be much easier.

 

[OkRad]

I keep telling my mom (among others) exactly this but they simply REFUSE to understand. I have come to absolutely loathe my current residence that is oriented with big windows facing south and west so it gets unbearably hot in summer requiring use of a giant air conditioner to be habitable. I have had the AC conk out in the middle of summer and the house gets so hot that it is almost totally unlivable.

In addition, growing plants and raising animals is something my mother refuses to allow since "killing animals is so cruel!". She keeps saying "you can rent a room in a house for disabled people when I die, you have it great here, why do you want to leave so badly?" She simply refuses to give any thought to the future or any sort of self-sufficiency.
========
A wise Native American shaman once told Paul Campbell, who was a chronicler of the ways of Indigenous Californians, that "we must preserve the original ways since the time is coming when we will need them again".

The fragility of modern civilization is becoming apparent to anybody with a truly open mind. We live in a civilization where if the power goes out for a week people start dying of hunger and cold. What would happen if the power went out and NEVER came back? Simply put, something like 95% of those affected would be dead within a couple months. If the supports of civilization disappeared, very few people could survive without them.

80% of our food is grown/raised by 0.5% of the population. Millions have no clue where food comes from, it just magically appears in the cities. Those people make laws that destroy the livelihoods of those 0.5%, without any care as to what would happen if the food stopped magically appearing in the cities. Very few people grow/raise the food they eat, and most of those who try give up in a short time because it is "too much work".

But the time is coming when we will need to learn how to do so, when the food stops magically appearing and we have to figure out how to get it ourselves. It will be "too much work" for the average man, and starving to death while whining "where did the food go?" will be much easier.

It is a true tragedy that it would be almost impossible for us to learn it now. Some do. When COVID hit, I really tried. But it was an utter failure. I would have starved to death. It's scary to think what we have gotten ourselves into when we had such a beautiful place to live and we had all we ever needed.