Pay attention to your surroundings. A while back we had an ice storm and it downed trees in the area. This is what I found when I walked the property a week later.
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We have that problem all the time here, we have several deaths a year from fallen trees, we had several deaths last year were the trees have either split houses in half or leveled them killing the occupants, I lost a truck a couple of years were an 200' fir fell on it (trunk rot)
Yeah, that's one of my concerns. We just bought our house last summer and I'm still learning it + and -. We have trees all the way around. We basically live in the woods with a clearing for the house. There was a very large ash tree near the front and it start to break off. Emerald Ash Borer are killing all of the ash trees up here. It was October and my wife and I were walking around the house looking at things and there was a very large limb in front/off to the side of the house. I had told her previously that we had to have it cut down and she just blew me off. Now she's like yeah we need it cut down so I had to call around and get quotes. It fed the woodstove all winter. Still have some left over.
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about 7 years ago we had a massive ice storm down here there were thousands of people without power for up to 7 weeks,,,,lines were down all over the place no telling how many power poles we lost,I was lucky no power for only 6 days,,,I don't know how some of those without power survived,it was brutally cold no water no heat and no way to cook meals,,,,,,,,my old wood heater saved my butt
This was just today here 1/7/2017, it was reported earlier today a man was killed walking in the park by a falling branch. I hate to say it but it's all too common here.
Fire truck hit by falling tree
8 year old girl killed when a tree split the house (Daughter of Firefighter)
This is in a park
Fire truck hit by falling tree
8 year old girl killed when a tree split the house (Daughter of Firefighter)
This is in a park
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We started getting high winds and heavy rain late last night. The rain has quit but the wind is still howling. On my way back from town this afternoon there were several trees that had fell across the road. Fortunately they were small enough to drive over or go around. I carry a chain saw in my truck just in case, but it's still stuck by the tractor.
Another hazard we have here is falling rocks and boulders. A couple weeks ago I was driving up north to visit the grandbabys and came around a corner and there was a car in the road that had hit a boulder. Did a lot of damage to the car.
Another hazard we have here is falling rocks and boulders. A couple weeks ago I was driving up north to visit the grandbabys and came around a corner and there was a car in the road that had hit a boulder. Did a lot of damage to the car.
I should clarify, those pictures were from yesterdays down trees, the fire truck is from Vancouver Washington not Canada.
I just went thru central Tennessee to pu a tractor. Lots of small curvy mountain roads with huge rocky cliffs going straight up. It really is beautiful country, but I saw chunks all over road from where boulders came down. I guess if you're in they way of one of them it's just all over. I don't know how many are hit yearly, or as you said drive into one. I'm glad all I have here are trees to deal with.
That's another major problem here and more of a concern is rock slides and collapsing hill sides.
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It's snowing this morning. I don't think this winter will ever end, or dry out. My tractor is going to be stuck forever.
Yeah, that is one of the reasons why we chose this house. It has a wood stove in the basement and one up stairs. Plus the option of using the generator. But if it is winter then we could just use coolers. Our freezer is in the garage so if we lost power we could just open the door or keep it shut. Put snow in coolers for the refrigerator food. If Its summer then I would have run the generator a few hours at a time. I keep gallon jugs of filtered water in the freezer for power outages to help keep fridge/freezer cold.
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for water I can drain the hot water tank,,,,40 gallons and it is always there if the power goes out,there is not much I can at this time do for the frig,,,I need a chest freezer,I'm just to cheap to buy one,one day it is going to bite me on the butt,,,,,,,,and I really like my wood heater,I can cook on it heat water to wash with and it will keep the old house warm,,everyone should have one
I put in a fireplace when building this place, but other than looks it's about useless. It does put out some heat, but most goes right up and out. It's worthless for cooking as well. The porch addition with the wood stove is really great. I can heat and cook effectively now. It's great having it on a porch with six Windows as well so I can seperate the house from the heat while cooking when it's warm out. I agree, a good wood stove should be a prepping basic.
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I think everyone should have a wood stove in their house, along with at least a years worth of firewood on hand. The only source of heat in our new house will be a wood stove, except for a small ventless propane heater in the master bath and mudroom. I'm also going to install a wood stove in the shop and another one in the fur shed.
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I love the wood stove that was installed this last winter! Can't believe we didn't do it before now. . . we always had the fireplace in the living room and hunny even built a blower to help circulate the air. It did help, but it also left a fine dust of ashes all thru the front part of the house, so caused me to do a lot more dusting. Hunny has forbidden me from cooking on it unless we have a power outage but I have heated water and made coffee on it. That is not considered cooking in my book 
. I had to find out some of my limits on what I could do with it, right? It gets done, just takes awhile longer than what I am used to so need to make time adjustments when cooking on it. And just an FYI, use cast iron. It holds the heat best.
. I had to find out some of my limits on what I could do with it, right? It gets done, just takes awhile longer than what I am used to so need to make time adjustments when cooking on it. And just an FYI, use cast iron. It holds the heat best.
I'm thinking about wrapping copper pipe around the flue pipe to be able to heat water in the event of a long term power outage. Just FYI you can use a Dutch oven on it prettying well too.I love the wood stove that was installed this last winter! Can't believe we didn't do it before now. . . we always had the fireplace in the living room and hunny even built a blower to help circulate the air. It did help, but it also left a fine dust of ashes all thru the front part of the house, so caused me to do a lot more dusting. Hunny has forbidden me from cooking on it unless we have a power outage but I have heated water and made coffee on it. That is not considered cooking in my book
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I got one
. Used to use it camping but haven't gone in years. Hunny enjoys the RV for our tent now.
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After it quit snowing today I went out to start checking the fence line. I found a tree that blew down in a storm last winter laying across the fence. This tree is about 5 feet in diameter and could supply most of our firewood for next winter. It's down in a little canyon so I'll have to cut and split it there and haul it out with the 4 wheeler a few pieces at a time.
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Years ago when I was logging I would burn my slash piles in the fall and winter. Many times my wife would meet me out in the woods with a dutch oven with a roast or whole chicken and put it in a bed of coals. There was never a better meal on a cold day in the woods than something cooked in a dutch oven. Those were good times.I got one
I don't know how you are financial but plain Jane freezers with no frills are fairly cheap and if you want to go cheaper keep looking on Craiglist for used ones. I see them all the time here in Michigan.
Brent, look into fireplace inserts. That's what I have. It is a wood stove that sits half in and half out of the fireplace. Heats just like a woodstove. More heat than heat loss. There is enough surface that sticks out that you can put a couple different pots or pans on top of it. Looks good to. Mine has a heavy duty cover that goes around the stove covering the fireplace sealing everything up. I don't know what it would cost now days. After I bought the house and had the chimney sweep people come out to clean and inspect everything guessed that the inserts were from the early 80's.
I agree about the wood stove. We hardly touched our propane furnace this winter. Everyone should also have an additional back up. I have a propane heater that takes 20lb tanks and also a Big Buddy heater. I bought the hose for it so it can run off of a 20lb tank.
My wife likes to talk **** about my/our preps but when **** happens she is quiet as a mouse and of course I gotta say honey I told you so. Slowly but surely she agrees or gives in without much of a fight when it comes to preps. Were working on solar now. On another forum one of the guys was selling 20 watt panels for his boss for $10.00 each(used, about a year old). I bought 4 and then made a later purchase from him for the pole mounts for $8.00 each. I ordered a 30 amp waterproof charge controller for $20.00. Now I have to work on the tidbits. The retail prices for those specific panels and mounts were crazy stupid. Besides having the panels for a back up to our generator I will be using a couple few panels for my pop up camper when I go out to public land. I have to make a ground mount for them. I already scouted out the parts at Home Depot.
I already quoted this but I don't know where it went so I will try again. Long story short. Keep checking on Craigslist for chest and upright freezers. I see them all the time. Check out the buyers guide. I don't know if you get that kind of paper where your at or now. It is basically just a free paper that is just classifieds. Some places they deliver it and hang it off of your mailbox post and other places you have to go to a gas station or party store. Even the new plain Jane model freezers are less than $200.00. The thing I like about the freezer is when you catch a really good deal on meats you can stock up. Plus if you hunt game it provides the room you need.
Out in the shop I have I have a Blizzard gas freezer holds over 600lbs of meat, it goes through about 6.5lbs fuel a month. Not a cheap freezer to purchase but worth it when the power goes out, in the house and barn We have a gas/elect refrigerator, I try not to rely on electric for our appliances.
