Heat.
Such a simple word, yet it holds a lot of meaning especially to those who don't have it when they need it.
Watching my children shivering, noses red, bundled up in anything we could find, and being unable to "fix it" was a terrible feeling. I felt as if I had failed as a parent. My children were cold, and there wasn't much I could do about it except put them into the van and run it to warm them up. If I'd had a full tank of gas, we would've slept out there. It was below 1/4 tank, so we had to be careful.
The hotels were full. We had recently moved here and didn't know anyone. We had no where else to go. We were completely unprepared for Maine power outages in winter. It was below 32 degrees outside and we had absolutely no heat in the house. I'm still amazed the pipes in the basement didn't freeze, but we had insulated them during the summer, because condensation would form and drip on our things and us.
After checking how cold the kids' rooms were, we kept everyone, including the dog, in the living room for body heat. Except for my eldest son. He has never been a "family time" person, so he opted to bundle up and sleep in his room. I hate being cold. I get cold very easily. I sleep with socks on even in summer, because my feet are ice cubes.
We didn't have money to buy a generator. Even if we did, there weren't any left in stores. We did have cold weather sleeping bags (good down to 0 degrees), and I was very grateful for them. We survived, and I vowed to never take heat for granted again.
As soon as stores had restocked, we bought a large portable kerosene heater for the basement, along with a 5 gallon storage container and an extra wick set. The very next power outage, we discovered it heats the floor of the living room quite well even though it's downstairs. But it wasn't enough heat and I didn't want it upstairs with little ones running around.
We also purchased two Big Buddies for the main floor. They use camping propane canisters though they can be set up to use a larger propane tank. They are rated for indoor emergency usage. I liked them, because I could put them out of reach of small ones. Eventually, they learned to leave them alone and I could place them closer to the floor for better heating.
Every time I go into the store, I buy a 2-pack of propane canisters and, when they're stocked, I buy a large container of clear kerosene for the basement heater. It costs a bit more than filling our container up from the gas station, but it doesn't smell as bad. The fumes from the gas station version drive me a bit nuts. I can also store them in the house. The version from the gas station has to be stored outside.
My ultimate goal is a wood stove. Our house is set up for one. It has air return grates in the floors and heating grates along the chimney walls. I would like one with an oven box on it for baking purposes.
Oh yeah, and from that point on all cars are refilled once they hit the 1/2 tank mark.
We have also discovered that one room has NO insulation, plus the windows are drafty. I would rather not have to put plastic over them if I can avoid it. I plan on applying silicone around each crack in the inside wood. Ultimate goal would be replacing them completely.
Lesson #1 - Water
Lesson #2 - Alternate Cooking
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