Why I Prep, part 2
The next day we knew much more about the situation in the Denver metro area. Thousands remained without heat and light. Many roads were washed away or flooded. We knew all of that about Shaffers Crossing because we were living it. According to radio reports, hundreds of repair crews were working to fix the problems around Denver. No one seemed to be aware that we were also without power and phones. Perhaps, since there were so few of us, we were merely low on the priority list. Armed with more questions than answers my father left to try and find a way out of the hills and valleys where we lived.
My mother, sister, niece, and I, spent the day organizing supplies and planning how all of us would survive until the power was restored. There are three things you need to survive in a grid-down situation; water, food, and shelter. At the time, I didn’t think in those terms but, it is a good way to organize survival planning.
Water
Kyle Pratt pumping water with a hand pump.
In a survival situation, water is the most pressing issue. The maximum length of time a person can survive without water is about a week. The typical American uses sixty or more gallons of water per day. This includes flushing toilets, bathing, and washing clothes. When the power died our well pump stopped and we didn’t have a hand pump, like the one shown here, or generator. Most of the snow had melted and while we could get water from a nearby creek, it would need to be boiled.
My mother had stored about ten gallons of water. This was enough for a few days of drinking and cooking but, there would be no washing clothes, bodies, or dishes. Hands were washed if needed using a limited amount of water on a washcloth. Eating was from paper plates and they were then burned in the fireplace for heat. I flushed the toilet using water from the creek once or twice a day depending upon the smell.
Food
The temperature of the basement fell below freezing at night and never climbed above the mid-fifties during the day. Because of that, as long as we opened the freezers only once or twice a day, they kept the food frozen. In addition to frozen food, we had enough canned and packaged food to last for a month. A healthy person can last a month without food so, we were in no danger. We warmed drinks in the fireplace and cooked on the kitchen stove which used propane. Fortunately, the controls were manual—not electrical.
In addition to our own needs, we owned two horses, rabbits, and chickens. I had the job of feeding the animals, making sure the rabbits and chickens had food and unfrozen water, and breaking the ice in the water trough. I used creek water to fill the trough. The horses drank from it all the time. Thankfully, the chickens and rabbits weren’t drinking much due to the cold.
Shelter
Kyle Pratt with the woodstove that has heated his home during several power outages.
The house provided good shelter but a fireplace does not provide great heat. A modern woodstove, like the one shown here, is much better for that. You can also cook on the flat surface. When the power died everyone moved into the living room and blankets were hung to close off the room from the rest of the house. This allowed the fireplace to provide adequate heat. Even a small generator would have provided enough power to run the well pump and the forced air heater.
Rural homes use wastewater septic systems and these usually have a pump to push the water through the tank and pipes. We were thankful that the system for our home in Shaffers Crossing had been built into the side of a small hill and used gravity to move the water through. This saved us from using an outhouse in the freezing cold.
We worried about my father all that day, but he did return late that evening. He had found a way to his job in Denver. He decided to return to work the next morning and stay with relatives down there. We all talked about going with my dad into the city however, someone would have to stay and care for the animals. I volunteered. In the end, my mom, sister, and niece stayed also. It would be a week before power was restored and several more days before we could phone my dad and tell him to come home.
In the next post, I’ll discuss my personal prepping philosophy and introduce a prepper who has had a profound effect on my own prepping journey. Why did you start prepping and what are some of the lessons you have learned by living them? Let me know in the comment section below.
