2023 1st Q Prep Journal and To-Do Lists

Happy New Year everyone! I know, I'm running late, but here is my last week of the year story.

I live in the South. Our average December high temp is 51* and the low is 31*. Not bad, right? We got hit with the artic blast. For three whole days our temps didn't get above 10* and our lows were -3*. I know, quit whining that's warm. And I was warm. I have layers of clothes and propane heat. I had lots of goodies and plenty of food. Then on Thursday night I flush the toilet and nothing happens. No water. I have 6 six gallon jugs and a month worth of bottled water. Ok so BF comes back into town and he comes over on Saturday with his propane shop heater. My water has frozen before, so we hook up the propane cylinder from my grill and point the monster towards the spot that always freezes. Four hours later, my porch hasn't burned down, but my water is still frozen and we have used most of my propane. On his way home BF stops and gets tries to trade in my cylinder for a full one. No luck. My cylinder is in two pieces! How old is the cylinder he asked - I don't know maybe 8 years old maybe (probably a few years older, but I'm not admitting to that)? Anyway, he gets a new cylinder and comes back in the morning (yes, that makes it Christmas Day). After maybe an hour I have trickles of water in all my faucets and he goes home.

Now for the fun part, I am filling up some empty containers when I hear an odd rushing water sound. My water heater (8 mos old) has a torrent of water coming out of the pressure relief valve. I try to open the valve - nothing changes. I tried to close the valve - nothing changes. This is not good, so I tried to connect the water hose that is laying in front on the tank and the connections on the hose don't match my tank...Grr... I finally turn on the water full blast in the nearest sink and the water from the tank will now stop when I close the pressure relief valve. Yay sheetrock saved. I still have a trickle of water from my bathroom sinks, so I'm good. The next morning I go to celebrate Christmas with my son (and take a shower) YAY clean hair- a Christmas miracle. The next day we get to Lowe's and buy pipe fittings to repair whatever is wrong with my water. I can run a straight pipe with a couple of angles. Then we open the top of my insulated well house (no door, so the well guys can pull the pump). The 1" pipe coming from the pressure tank has shattered and there is a 6" crack in another section. That's it, time to call for professional reinforcements. The well company is their usual charming self, but there are 60(!) calls ahead of me. Geez! Another 5-7 days without water - ok I can do this if I have to. But the idiot design of the well house will be changed this Spring. I can't lift the roof off, and there is no other way into it.

The next morning (Thursday), my son sends me a message. They don't have water (he's a city dweller in a 10 building apartment complex). He went to his Walmart and bought their last two six gallon jugs and fills one up at the lake in the local park. The next morning, he comes up to my Walmart to get bottled water and two of my six gallon (filled) jugs. Friday morning, the well company calls, they are in the neighborhood, can they come fix my well in an hour? YES! Please! By 2pm I have water. Major happy dance, refill all my water jugs, wash all of my clothes and dishes. Take a shower! I might live. Can you tell who likes her showers?

Saturday my son comes over to wash his clothes, and the City water comes back on that night. Just a trickle and under a boil water advisory. Turns out all three sources of City water failed, and since we are in the mountains it takes awhile to pump water uphill to the storage tanks. The boil water advisory was lifted last night. It's finally back to normal!

Prep lessons learned
1. Insulated well house is useless if I can't get into it.
2. I used 6 gallons of "non"-potable and 1 gallon drinkable water per day. That's two flushes per day plus cooking. So whoever said one gallon per person per day must have had an outhouse and a stream.
3. I need paper plates and disposable utensils.
4. My BF chopped up my pipe heat tape weed whacking a couple of summers ago, and I forgot to replace it.
5. Keep all clothes and pots washed when there is a storm coming. Sandwiches are an easy solution to no dishes for me.
6. Check propane heat sources for complete burn of propane. I am replacing my 22 year old in-house heater since I developed headache and lethargy from sitting beside it during the cold snap.

Hope no one else had any water issues!!

Thanks feather! I have two recliners - one beside my heater and one at the other end of the house. I try to switch off which one I sit in. That's how I figured it out. Today is pretty and 63*, so my doors are open to air out the house. Plus my replacement heater is at the bottom of the driveway waiting to be picked up and installed.

We had temps almost this cold about 6-8 years ago which is why my well house is insulated.

Now that you mention the dangers of propane, I remember more of that side of the story. The space heater was right beside the dryer vent, so that's how the fumes were getting into the house. After 4 hours my carbon monoxide detector started to chirp and I figured that it's battery was dying, so I replaced it. Then the monitor started making all kinds of racket and my friend decided it was time to leave. I walked him outside (in good clean air), leaving the back door open, and I could smell propane when I came back in the house. I reassembled the detector and it didn't give anymore alarms so I figured it was safe. I also turned off the inside propane heater and turned the heat pump back on. I stayed awake for a few hours after that. In my county we aren't allowed to have propane heat in the bedroom, and my bedroom is almost 60 feet from the propane heater. It is times like these that I miss having animals.

I sure miss my dogs. Unfortunately, I am working too many hours to leave a dog alone in the house and too many hours to leave a dog outside for the predators to resist. Also in the past someone else has house trained them and helped me lift the 80# dogs when they got sick. I definitely need a critter that weighs less than 40# and is an adult, if I can reduce the hours alone. I am working on that.

So that leaves a cat for now. I've had cats in the past, but I really don't want sharp claws on leather or antique furniture and I wouldn't be there to monitor it's behavior. And it's considered inhumane to remove front claws. I live too far out in the woods to bring in a purely inside cat onto the property. If it got out, it would be food for the resident cougar, wolf and coyote. I just can't expose an inside cat to that risk, it seems cruel.

My local fire department will come on minutes' notice if someone detects a gas smell inside their house. I don't know if there's a similar service for CO meters going off, but I wouldn't be surprised if they'd come. 

I keep baking soda under each sink in old parmesan cheese containers. I use them for cleaning. I buy a 20 lb bag from the farm coop (used for treating horse tummies, I guess. Very cheap!

lilith, I'm so glad to see you. Thanks for the check in. Your new employment situation sure sounds much better, congratulations on the new job!

nbc3mom, Interesting. In a career long ago I learned that airline stocks are a good precursor to seeing an economic downturn.

That said, a recent trip showed tons and tons of trucks like I've never seen on the road. I also watch the log hauling that comes off the mountain. That is still going. I'm still not understanding the mass layoffs in the tech industry. Need to look at that more.

It has always been my practice to set aside a certain amount of the weekly food/household budget to stock up on sales and loss leaders. I see that I need to get some more dish/laundry detergent. Wide mouth canning jars are needed. Certainly new lids (tattlers?).