Learning From the Deep Freeze

The artic air that recently swept across most of the US saw near record lows in many areas and frankly caught a lot of people off guard. When I lived in the Chicago area, it was always bone chilling cold in the winter, but now I live in the South where subzero temps are unheard of yet that’s exactly what we got. During the coldest of those days, some folks including myself had the displeasure of rolling blackouts. Yea, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, well there are a few, but I digress.

With any crisis, there are often hard lessons learned and this was no exception. The very definition of prepping is preparing for tough times, natural or man-made disasters, etc., trying to be as ready for anything as humanly possible. Sadly, many people were caught off guard by the harsh weather simply because they don’t pay attention; please pay attention. We knew it was coming, and it was actually worse than forecast, but we had taken steps to be ready. We had placed heavy blankets over the windows in the main part of the house. I know some people swear by those plastic window kits, but if you’re not careful you will wind up with mold. I tested the generator, checked the solar system, broke out the 2 little Buddy Heaters and the wife made a big pot of chili. We were ready, or so we thought.

The temps dipped to -4F early in the morning, but the house was toasty, and all seemed well until the power went out. We didn’t know it at first, but our power company was among several that were doing rolling blackouts to preserve the grid at the very worst time possible. The first thing I thought when the lights went out is I should have bought more Little Buddy Heaters. It’s that old hindsight is 20/20 thing. However, between the heaters and running lights on solar (we had candles and lanterns at the ready) we didn’t need to run the gas generator and the blackouts didn’t last really long. I did recently purchase 2 more, but be warned, the price can vary widely. I have seen them listed at nearly $150, when if you watch you should be able to get between $75 and $80 from either Amazon or Walmart. I really like these but do your own due diligence. The blankets worked so well keeping the cold out that I was reluctant to take them down, but it did look awfully silly. They have now been stored away and ready for next time.

Whether you think it’s the Grand Solar Minimum or Climate Change or a change in the magnetic field or just crazy weather it’s important to be ready for whatever mother natural throws at us. I hope you found this helpful.

Prepare now.