Preparing for a Blizzard

They are talking possibly 30 inches where I am. If the electricity stays on, it'll be great. If not...well, I've stacked up a lot of firewood and will fill a big plastic tub with water so we can at least flush the toilet. It's at times like this that I wish we had public water, sigh. A generator would be nice too.

I did bring the sleds inside - that way we can sled straight out the front door!

Stay safe and keep off the roads, everyone!

We never have blizzards down here, so I'm probably no help. Just wanted to say I hope you stay safe and warm.

I suspect the OB wards at many Northeast hospitals will be very busy in October 2015.

Stay safe and warm, R..

:)

Make sure you have OTC medications...Just in case of fever, upset stomach, headache, etc.

The milk and bread thing crack me up as I don't eat or drink either. Never could figure out why people stock up on that for a snowstorm but that's been a thing my whole life! Oh and the people who run out to buy shovels, like it didn't occur to them to have one before? What's up with that?

We have a generator that can keep my fridge and some small appliances, space heaters, a few lamps, TV, and internet running. I did go grocery shopping yesterday and focused on dinner foods that could be cooked in our electric rotisserie, crock pot or microwave.

Tested the generator and snow blower yesterday, am getting cash today (our corner store will stay open in a power outage but the cc machines and ATM won't work), picked up some extra firewood, will fill up the gas cans and my car when I run errands early this afternoon, and have to throw 20 more gallons of diesel in my oil tank because we're out and can't get delivery until Thursday most likely.

Will make sure everyone's phone/tablet/etc. is powered up tonight. Oh and candles, a lighter and flashlights are ready. I think we're ready! I'm in the 30 inches or more, high wind bull's eye. Good times!

ETA: Diane B's response reminded me of how lucky I am that the DPW is on one end of my street and the police and fire are on the other end, with all schools less than half a mile away. Guess whose street and sidewalks are cleared first? Yippee!

I just make sure I have enough toilet paper :) Oh, and that all of my portable electronic devices are charged in case the power goes out.

I never got the "bread and milk" thing - milk if you have little kids who don't eat much in the way of food, I guess. You want non-perishables, and you don't want to be in and out of the fridge if you lose power. So bread, yes, for peanut butter sandwiches (jelly won't spoil if there's no power). Hard boiled eggs for protein, tuna, even cheese will keep decently. Fruit and raw veggies, yup. Water water water - we fill about 5-6 pitchers for drinking and making our healthy shakes, plus half a tub for flushing toilets with a bucket if pumps fail.

Wine and chocolate, cheese and crackers, are essential staples of course!

We have headlamps - like what runners use, with the elastic strap that goes around your head. Sounds (and looks) dumb but they are great for reading and for walking around the dark house without carrying candles. We have candles and lanterns for stationary positions vs. carrying around. Firewood, kindling, matches, Scrabble game (manageable in low light), jigsaw puzzles for good light - all those things that take a long time are great when all you have is time!

We have extra batteries charged up, fill the gas tank to prevent gas line freezing, shovels to keep the vents outside free of snow build-up, and to clear a short path to take the dog outside. And we get a shower early on - if we lose hot water (as we did when we lost power for 5 days a few years back), it gets a little ripe in here!

The rest of the entertainment is keeping score on how many times each of us automatically does something requiring power even though we know it's out: grabbing the TV remote, flipping the light switch, turning on the ceiling fan to keep the heat from rising up, etc. It's amazing how often we do stuff out of habit! We also try to stay ahead of the plows to keep the hydrants freed up and to clear the mess in front of the mailbox and the driveway from the plows going by. Trying to get through it after 2 feet of snow and 24 hours is impossible. Then we guess which neighbor will be the most impatient, go out in the car before it's safe, and get stuck. Obviously we are very easy to entertain!!

It's also so much fun to see kids, especially older kids (like high school) get out their sleds and make snowmen and figure out that they can go things without electricity and electronic devices/computers! They really have such a great time!

R.

We could ONLY HOPE to have some semblance of a "blizzard" here! The 2 to 3 inches they were projecting?? It's RAIN...boo!!

Do you lose electricity? So do you have a non-electric can opener? Way to cook food should you lose electricity???

Shovel or snow blower??

We make fresh bread. Knock on wood - we've not lost electricity during a snow storm (the worst we had was 2003 and got 37" dumped on us in one day!!!)

The things people run to the store for here are toilet paper and milk!! LOL!!

I like to have fresh fire wood available, with marshmallows, Hershey's and graham crackers!!

Stay safe!!

I always laugh that people buy all the milk, eggs and bread, like they will be stuck in their homes for a month.

I am from the northeast and this is always the case for any storm. I used to stock up on water (drinking, bathing and flushing) since my house up there was all electric and had a well/septic that ran with electric. I made sure my propane tank was full so I still had heat when the power went out and it always did. I kept oil for my oil lamp, extra batteries for my clock and my camping propane stove for cooking (I would usually cook what was in the freezer so it wouldn't go bad).

I normally keep a few weeks worth of food in the house, even living here in Florida. You never know what kind of disaster might happen so I prefer to be prepared for anything then to not be prepared for something.

Where you are the most important thing is to have heat if you loose power or if there is too much snow to remove quickly. Wood, pellet or propane stoves are a must have in the colder climates.

Stay safe. :-)

My staple is to break out the cross-country skis and when everyone is snowed in I go outside and ski around! My kids join me and we will pull our sleds behind us and go to a nearby hill. There is a paved bike trail near our house and it makes a nice peaceful cross-country ski trail if we ever get enough snow.My kids always want to build a snowman. When we lived in Alaska my son used to have so much fun making snow forts with his friends. They also would work on making ramps out of snow on the sledding hill in order to catch some air! After sledding or snowman making I made hot cocoa for the kids. Another thing we like to do is invite neighbors to ski/walk/snowshoe over for some mulled wine and homemade soup. I love snow and blizzards...everything sparkles. Boy, I miss living where there is plenty of snow.

It might sound odd, but I love beef tamales out of the can during snow storm power outages. Cook them on the woodstove. :-)

If the electricity does go out, do remember that you have a place to put your cold items so they don't spoil. We put our refrigerated items in the garage by the door, where the chill seeps in a little. And our frozen stuff we put in a big cooler right outside. You don't have to do a thing to it, just bring it all back in when the electricity comes back on.

I wish we'd get a big snowstorm here in Missouri! It's supposed to get up to 60'F this week! I love a snow day!

We don't have blizzards, were occasionally iced in for about 3 days.

I keep a stash of wine, beer and spirits on hand. I have a pretty good stash of supplies on hand ( large pantry full of stuff) and freezer is full so I don't make the milk and bread run.

We sit by the Fire (gas) and watch movies or work on a jigsaw puzzle.

We hardly ever lose power because all lines are underground.

I hope you remain safe!!!

Eta... I remember that May. I have some great pics of it. We hunker down and stay away from the crazies trying to drive!!! The ice in 12/13 was bad. Our dog got sick and we ended up driving on ice to the vet and had to put him down. At least we knew it was coming... He fell ill on Sat, so he had royal treatment ( like my dogs are treated royally, lol) before we took him in on the following Monday.

My husband, the snowmobilier, is crazy jealous right now!!! Will Central Illinois ever be good enough for him?

Seriously though, stay warm, be safe! Oh, and I would also buy some peanut butter :-)

We have a generator that will keep the power going to MOST of our house, so we make sure we have gas for that. Propane for the grill, water bottles, batteries, etc. Basically we just make sure the things we normally keep stocked are in fact stocked.

We also make sure to have fun types of food (the junk food we don't normally eat) and lots of games. Plus of course a charged camera to capture snow play and inside the house fun....memories!

I REALLY wish we would get some here in DC...we keep getting missed by these snow storms and I want at least one per year.

Oh No! Snow!
Quick!
Run!
Get to the store and load up on bread, milk and toilet paper!

Never mind that we're only predicted to get less than 1/2 an inch where we are.

I know the weather reporting can get a little boring sometimes but they are making a fuss like they are expecting Snowmageddon or Snow-pocalypse.

My Mom (Buffalo NY area) just dealt with 6 FEET of snow on her roof a few months ago.
I don't get excited about less than an inch.

Although we shouldn't be getting anything to worry about where we are right now, I grew up with snow - and know how to deal with it.

In general - I recommend shoveling/snow throwing when ever the snow gets to be about 6 inches deep.
Don't wait for it all to be down - that's too heavy to move all at once - and too many people drop from heart attacks from lifting all that snow.

If you get out there every few hours and shovel in small doses, you can manage much better.
Don't forget to clear around fire hydrants and your mail box.
If your roof is not steep enough for the snow to slide off - then get a long handled rake or climb up there and shovel off your roof.
Be careful while doing it - but it's worth it to not have any worries about possible roof collapse.

Besides hot chocolate - warm cider is also great after being out in the cold.

Stay warm!

i miss the kids being here, because we always had such celebrations of snow days! hot chocolate, chili, brownies, cookies..........
the ol' man and i are watching our waistlines, so don't indulge in that sort of thing when it's just us. it's not even so much the treats, just the festive air.
coffee, half and half, tp and plenty of food for the horses, dog and cats are all i pay much attention to these days. i keep the pantry and freezers stocked up enough for us to get through quite a while before we'd be deprived. the main thing is gas for the generator, and firewood.
i was a bit disappointed to wake up in MD and find nothing!
:) khairete
S.

I think it a bit strange that every time there is a forecast for a big snow storm everyone runs out to get staples.

I spent four years in Quebec where there is snow from the end of September to the end of May. You make sure that you have no less than 10 pounds of flour and sugar at any given time. Yeast and baking powder were sold in cans that are the size of 32 oz grapefruit cans. The toilet paper and paper towels were purchased in large quantities and stored in the home. So when the power went out you could still stay warm and eat. You also made sure you had a full tank of gas in the car, a blanket or two, candles, chocolate, and a shovel to dig out. I have also shoveled my share of snow out of the driveway by the bucket full (like a wheel barrow) and dump it across the street in a vacant lot so that you could get your cars out of the driveway.

Now that I am stateside and living in New Mexico, we have had some good storms lately with ice, I have still have a stocked home. When you first see snow shovels in September you buy a couple. When you first see mittens and scarves in the store, you buy several for family members. When you see ice melt, you buy a bag or two. Get my drift, you prepare and you do not have to "run" out and get things and have an accident on the way to or from the store.

With the proper notice, you can cook things that you can eat without heat. Or if you have a fireplace or stand alone stove, you can cook on it and make meals. You learn to improvise and make it.

I hope you all have the proper items and enough blankets to stay warm.

the other S.

I'm trying to figure out what movies are on my list!!

When school lets out, I plan to run and get a little fast food - since I'll have lots of time to cook healthy meals later on (will freeze a few), I figure that one splurge will be ok!

TF!

there was a snow "storm" here the year we moved from Colorado and it amounted to about 4 inches of snow (5 years ago). We drove to the store and it was a ghost town! Everything was closed, nobody on the streets. We were so confused. Everything was closed for days.

Texans don't do snow. :)

I must say, I'm a bit jealous of you Nor'easterners! I love a good blizzard (but not the eventual stories of poor folks who aren't as fortunate as I)! All sounds good and our last real snow here was 18" really did keep people in for 2-3 days so you do have to prepare. Even if you are not snowed in, who wants to run to the store with hassle of dealing with all that snow and eventual deep freeze after!

Don't forget pet food! I forgot our poor cat food and she had to eat our canned tuna (not that she was complaining) but I paid the price later at the litter box :)

Maybe Brady will find a way to 'deflate' the storm?

Oh wait, he already left :-).

Hope you all stay warm and safe,

Take care

And where we we all during the blizzard of 78

I live in AZ so I have no idea. lol What do you do with eggs, milk and bread? Is that to eat? I would assume the power goes out so you can't cook, right? I've only had the power go out for a few hours and my pantry is always full so we could live off it for weeks without electricity if we had too. I guess I would have candles, books and snacks ready. Good luck!