Living Off the Grid–Unintentionally!
You may have noticed my posting abruptly stopped for a few days. Yes, 4th of July weekend would have probably taken me away anyway, but I had great plans for Thursday. Wednesday’s line of storms ended that in short order, whacking out my power for a few days and sending this family back 100 years. We found out what it’s like to be living off the grid when you’re not quite prepared, and I have to say it was a real learning experience. For instance, did you know if you have no land line, your cell phone will not live forever without a recharge??? Never crossed my mind. Really.
Being without power got me to thinking what a great exercise it would have been, had we turned off all the power on purpose for a day, just to find out what we’d be without. For instance, when heavy rains are to blame, you really don’t want to be without your sump pump. And what if your power didn’t come back on in a few days? Would you have enough food? Water? Baby supplies?
No one wants to deal with doom and gloom, but I always like to tell people that if you’re prepared, you have reassurances that allow you to skip the fear. Now I have to tell myself that same message when it comes to being prepared for natural disasters and power outages. Time to get that wind-up radio I keep thinking about, a storage of food in the basement, and a cell phone charger that works in my car!
While my worst problems were going without a phone and reading by flashlight, it was a great test to find out where we’re lacking around here for a more serious situation. For more information on disaster preparedness, you can check the American Red Cross website at Prepared.org. And if you have some ways your family stays prepared, please share them here. We’d love to know what you’ve done to make sure your home is ready!
July 7th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
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July 7th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I hadn’t thought about it, but right now I’m dependent on the breast pump until we get my baby trained to nurse. (long story, she was a preemie and I’ve been pumping for almost 3 months now) I think I may order a car charger for it right now…
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July 7th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Not a bad idea, JenO. It’s funny how we don’t think of these things until we really need it. I’ve got myself that phone charger for the car already!
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