Stuff You Gotta Know!
This could be my miscellaneous category, except you really gotta know this stuff!
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
The Big Snow
It doesn’t have a name like “Irene”, but the Big Snow of October, 2011 deserves one and I can’t put it on this blog and keep it family-friendly. The Big Snow actually happened while we were away on a couple of days of vacation in New Mexico. We came home the day after the Big Snow, and had no problems with flights or getting to the house.
But, we came home to a massive power failure. By the time we got home the electricity had been off for almost 24 hours. There was 15 or so inches of snow on the ground. Trees were down everywhere.
The first action Lynne took once we got home, to her credit, was to locate the fire extinguishers. I guess she knew that we’d be turning our kitchen into the equivalent of a bomb factory within minutes. I found the two butane camp burners we have, and I managed to create a small butane explosion within a few minutes, singeing the hair on my hands. And, I carefully filled the oil lamps which could be turned over with the swish of a dog tail.
Still, we managed to successfully cook some spaghetti for dinner and lived through it.
We picked up the dogs on Monday morning and did some minimal shopping. Most shops were without electricity and closed. I learned that there are three things that sell out immediately: D-cell batteries (for flashlights and lamps, I assume), matches, and jugs of water. There may be others, but those are the ones we needed and had trouble finding.
Luckily, from our preparations for Irene, we still had about 15 gallons of fresh water stored and had located lamps, lanterns and flashlights as well as candles. The only thing we had used up was the Gentleman Jack.
Water is an issue. We need water to occasionally flush the toilets, and for drinking, cooking and cleanup. We did manage to buy about 8 gallons of fresh water and we are melting snow into buckets, so we should be good for a few days.
It is cold in the house, but we have a nice fire going continuously in the wood stove and we have a kettle of water on top of it for hot water. Sleeping under a double layer of covers and next to a dog and cat helps us keep warm at night.
Of course, living without electricity is a pain. We have to manually open the garage doors, there is no heat, no light, etc. And, we had to buy a percolator for coffee as well as ground coffee (we usually grind beans).
Thanks to those of you who have inquired about us. We are surviving. It took a while this morning, but I did make it to work where it is warm, I can recharge the mobile appliances, and I even was able to take a nice hot shower (poor Lynne.)
We are expected to have electricity between Wednesday and Friday. We can see the down line on the street below the house (but, that might not be the only one.)
Lynne has photos on her site.
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Hanging Out in the Drug Store
The other day I needed to fill a prescription. On my way home I drove by our local RiteAid and got that process started. I don’t often hang out in drug stores, and as I waited I was fascinated by all the products they sell to help people deal with ailments (real or imagined). The array of diet products was amazing. They had things to kill pain and other things that looked like they would inflict pain. They had stuff to help you pee and help you not pee. Fascinating!
But, the display that I studied the most was a rack of about six shelves, near the pharmacy checkout.
The top couple of shelves contained personal lubricant products. There were products for guys and products for women. Some were meant to stimulate, others to kill stimulation. Strawberry, edible, jars, bottles and squeeze tubes. They came in colors ranging from gray to purple. There were “jellys” and there were “oils”.
Just under that display were the condoms. I have not spent time studying the condom selection in a drug store since I was in college and things have not changed too much. Still, way too much choice in my opinion. They come in every color you can imagine. Flavored, ribbed, even large and x-large (none were advertised as “small”.) Boxes with three and boxes with three dozen. I’m hoping they don’t expire.
And, just under that were two shelves of birth control test kits.
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Friday, September 16, 2011
Day Two 2011 Cabin Trip
Another long day. We made it to our regular stop in Grand Island, Nebraska. It was a good driving day with clouds all the way and only brief rain. It has been cold on our stops to walk the dogs.
We heard that a pack rat has invaded the cabin and done some “damage”. Not sure what that means yet. Crap. Just what we need, walking into a cabin that stinks of rodent pee. We’ll find out soon enough.
Tomorrow is a short day. We drive through about 3/4 of Nebraska, then through Cheyenne to Laramie where we will do some shopping before driving in to the cabin. We should get there between 2 and 3 tomorrow afternoon. Will post again after settling in and let you know how it is going.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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Thursday, September 15, 2011
Day One 2011 Cabin Trip
We left the house at 7:15, and again at 7:20 (I had forgotten the power cord for my computer). Rainy weather through all of Pennsylvania. We are in Elkhart, Indiana, so have gotten through 3 states! Burgers for dinner. The animals are all antsy, so we’ll go walk them soon. Then, a good night’s sleep before we are off early tomorrow.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011
The Annual Migration
We are about to embark on our annual migration to our mountain cabin in Colorado. We drive about 20 minutes south to I80, then 1750 miles west to Laramie, Wyoming, then 40 minutes south to the cabin in Colorado. We know all the stops along the way (pee, eat, sleep). We will be taking the 3 dogs and 2 cats, and the whole routine is going smoother this year—we’ve had lots of practice.
I’ll try to blog along the way and at the cabin. But, if you really want to keep track of our adventures, be sure to follow Lynne’s blog at http://www.rickandlynne.com/lynne. She has turned it into a “membership only” blog because of the spammers and in order to know who is following her daily posts. Membership is easy, just send an email asking for membership and she’ll grant it. You will be rewarded by her fantastic photography and insightful commentary.
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