Can I please borrow a flashlight?

[AlphaTea]

My battery backup powered alarm clock went off this morning. The house is coldernhell. The power is out. Look out the window and the world is covered in ICE! Being a Flashaholic who is always ready for this kind of situation I start getting all of my equipment set up, flashlights lanterns, you know the drill. Now the house is all lit up. I am in my glory. The phone rings. Neighbor says "I know you work for the power company (I do), how did you get power to your house only?" I explained about my equipment. A sheepish voice then says "Can I please borrow a flash light?" I sent over a G2Z with a KL3 and one of those Dorcey 4AA tent lanterns. Now what am I going to do with my neighbors first born child (deposit)? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[kalengkong]

hheuueuheuhehahhaha... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif your post so funny
no need to do anything, you have trigger the willing-to-fight-darkness of your neighbour.

 

[Josh]

I know what your going through(just not as bad) This icestorm is one of the reasons the I call Rochester, Rottenchester /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif

 

[d'mo]

I was in the same boat. Woke up to 60° and no power. Too bad it was already getting light as I didn't have the opportunity to pull out the whole collection. Took the wife and kids out to breakfast and the power was on when we got back. Lucky me.

 

[onelight]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/popcorn.gif Great story maybe your neighbor will geat the light bug. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I hope you diddn't miss the oppertunity to say to your wife,Gee dear its a good thing we had 106 lights,we coulda been left in the dark. You gotta get in every plug you can for #107 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[The_LED_Museum]

You ought to turn your neighbor on to CPF now, after loaning him those great lights!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bladerunner]

Good story,AlphaTea. I had a similar experience from the same ice storm as it moved through Syracuse NY. We got hit late afternoon,and as I was driving home everything looked normal. I stopped in at my favorite sports bar for a cold one and the place was dark! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif A few candles were on the bar and one of the barmaids (all beautiful by the way)had an old Garrity 2D that put out a dim yellow glow. Sunset was a few minutes away and I knew I was in the right place.So I ordered a beer,clicked on a PhotonII and pointed it at the cooler to help out. "Wow,can I borrow that" was the next thing heard. "Sure,do you need any more? I"ll go see what I have in my truck". I came back in with a Pelican L1,2C Mag, 6V Ray-o-Vac lantern,and Brinkman LX.It was fun sitting at the bar watching as my lights got put to use. The Ray-o-Vac was set on the bar and bounced off the ceiling. It did a nice job. The Mags beam was easy to see in the light haze of smoke as it went from table to table and back into the kitchen. The favorite was the L1 on a paracord lanyard that found a home around one of the girls necks and bounced around nicely.At this point,the place was lit up quite well. The Brinkmann LX just plain lit the whole place up and took away the show. I never thought I'd say it, but a flashlight can be too bright! This fun lasted for two hours and my drinks were on the house. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif When power was restored I collected my lights with the exception of that trusty L1. I think Nancy is a flashaholic and doesn't yet know it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[TrevorNasko]

Yeah real nice- does it ever happen to us? NOOOO. Mommy says we have a provider that is always on. Mommy says that we we don't need to worry about outages.

d***

Good job sending some of your best.

 

[Size15's]

I switched on the light in my room yesterday morning and one of the bulbs died causing all the lights upstairs to go out. I was getting ready for work, my curtains were still pulled closed and so out came the A2 from my pocket. I shouted down stairs for someone to switch on the upstairs lights which had obviously tripped out. The reply came of "How do I do that?" I shouted back to go to the meter cupboard and switch the upstairs lighting switch back on. "Okay, which switch is it?" I shouted back that it was the one that had the label marked "upstairs lights" and was likely to be the only one which was off. The lights came back on.
I went downstairs to get a new bulb. The crazy thing was that the nitwit had no idea we had a fusebox which had separate switches for different things. We even have a dedicated powersupply for the hifi.

Anyway, we don't have powercuts here where I live. It just doesn't happen. But you know that I have enough flashlights to light up my street (for a price of course)

First born children... wives... I accept many forms of payment.

Al

 

[kodiak]

I too am to the right of Rochester, NY. Webster to be exact. I had no power untill Sunday afternoon. I must have delivered 3 or 4 flashlight / lanterns. My Wife now does not smerk at my inventory now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif . The Stream light head lamp was her favorite light after this whole ordeal. In hind sight I would have liked a generator.

 

[AlphaTea]

I live in Ontario, NY just east of Webster. We Finally got power at about 8:45 PM last night. Never could get my generator started, only had the fireplace...
When we got up Sun morning, the house was 40F! I ran out of firewood Fri night, but there was plenty of new tree parts in the yard Sat morning. Fired up my WildTang Chainsaw and viola, instant fireplace fuel! I really gotta get a new generator... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[d'mo]

I live in Victor, just south of Rochester. Our power went out Thursday night, came back on for a few hours, then went out again. Power came back about 9:00pm Sunday. It was a good experience. Here's what I learned:

- A good flashlight is worth its weight in gold. My ARC LS was on almost constantly using the single AA and 123 packs. Many neighbors wanted to “borrow” it, but it was too valuable to part with. I ended up giving away several Photon IIs though.

- Bright is good, but long battery life is better. Doing almost everything by flashlight, I found that the Arc AAA and CMG infinity were enough for about 80% of tasks. For anything needing more “oomph,” the Arc LS and TonyB’s Solitaire mode were all my family needed. These four flashlights and two candles provided virtually all of our lighting needs for the entire weekend on one set of batteries each.

- If you have good quality LED flashlights, there is no need for incandescent. In fact, I never used an incandescent all weekend.

- Even with all of the use, none of the flashlights used exhausted their first set of batteries (although I did switch the Arc LS back and forth between 123s and single AA. The two AA option was too large, IMHO, to carry in a pocket)

- All of the local stores were sold out of ALL flashlights, flashlight bulbs, C and D batteries, but the shelves were full of AA and AAA.

- Now I know why I’m such a big fan of single-cell LED flashlights.

- Colored LEDs are fun, but unless they are being used for a specific task (red for preserving night vision, UV for charging GITD), they are more trouble than they are worth for a real “survival” situation.

- I like a flashlight with good throw, but there are many tasks where a beautiful wide flood is fantastic. TonyB’s Solitaire mod fit the bill here.

- I need to buy a headlamp or make a flashlight-holding head strap.

- A small AA radio is priceless.

- Buy a generator. I can deal with no power, but no heat is not fun.

- Invest in a sump-pump backup system. I installed mine several years ago and it was not used until this weekend, but saved me a flooded basement. Since my home theater is down there, this would have been catastrophic.

 

[browntown]

wow, a lot of upstate ny folks around, im about 45 minutes south of syracuse, and we've been getting the trailing edge of the storm, got all my lights ready to go, just in case..

 

[Lux Luthor]

I had the power go out from Friday night until around 1 a.m. this morning. Plus, one of the trees that got pulled down in my front yard ripped the cable TV and phone lines out, then landed right across my driveway blocking it for over a day.

After a day or so I got kind of pissed, but I also learned a few things:

1) Must have a headlamp (which I did).

2) Must have a long throw light to spot trees, power lines, flag vehicles down, etc.

3) I have a kerosene heater, but it stinks up the place after a while. I'm looking into the Double Clean 100, but it costs $300.

4) Must have a way to take a hot shower. You just can't shower with 33 degree water. It frostbites your skin almost on contact, and it is NOT pleasant. I finally went to Kmart and got a $20 battery powered shower pump (by Coleman, in the camping section). That with a 7 gallon water carrier, and a propane stove to heat water, and it does the trick. Believe me, don't overlook this one aspect of your preparation gear.

 

[pedalinbob]

GREAT info!

i started to collect some more useful lights after Quickbeam's ice storm story.

it reminds me...gotta replace the wick on my kerosene heater. and pick one of those propane heaters designed for indoor use--it has a O2 sensor to prevent CO2 poisoning.

one of those shower thingies sounds like a winner, too.

got plenty of long running lights...but...must have MORE!

Bob<--blessed that Carey does not like the dark...or cold...or an unavailable shower...

Ps hey, where is that thread about dsaster preparedness? i should oficially get my "disaster" kit together...

 

[Quickbeam]

EVERYONE should have a disaster kit. As pedalinbob mentioned, we had the same issue in January - bad ice storm. Welcome to the club, fellow ice storm victims!

For the uninitiated, lighting-wise I recommend you get for a disaster kit:

LED headlamp (long running daily task light) for each family member - recommend Streamlight Trident, Septor, or something similar from Wal-mart (LED/Incandescent, Eveready LED).

Bright Incandescent (for spotting only when necessary) - AKA 4.5 or 6 Volt light - mag/surefire/scorpion/Legend LX, etc.

Long burn multi LED or Luxeon Star light (for room lighting) - Elektrolumens blaster, Lightwave 4000, etc.

Add an Arc AAA or Infinity for everyone's pocket and you should be all set.

And don't forget the batteries!!!

Additional equipment we found essential:

Battery powered radio with TV reception capability!

We had hot water (gas fired water heater w/pilot light) and heat (gas fireplace - not efficient but kept the place livable) - so take those needs into consideration. Get something for cooking like a little coleman gas stove that screws onto the 1 lb. propane cylinders and a couple of cylinders as well - cheap and effective.

 

[shankus]

Those were all great success stories. That is one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in days. Thanks guys. Don't you just love something that works as advertised?

I had the power out for a couple of hours yesterday from a thunderstorm (complete with tornado warnings all day). I had to stumble around until I found my Mapasaurus Phoenix, and then my Madmax. My parents were using kerosene lanterns. (also indispensible) I'd also like to get one of those Aladdin kerosene lanterns that I read about here, the ones with the circular wick, and a mantle.

I consider myself unlucky to live in a place without foul weather at times. Right now, I am in Southeast Texas, a very hot and humid region. The place I lived with the best weather was Denver. I love the winter. I will be returning to the high desert of California within weeks, and I can't wait to get back. Sounds funny, but the desert is cooler, without the humidity. (almost no bugs, too)

The only thing we get in the desert that is close to foul weather, is windstorms. I love the wind, too. Sometimes it will blow 60-80 m/h steady, gusting to 110. When I first moved there in '91, it was windy almost everyday. (there used to be a t-shirt that read: "Mojave Wind Festival / Jan 1- Dec 31.") And it only rained 2-3 times a year, and that was light rain.
Now it rains 20-30 times a year, and the wind just isn't as often. There are changes in our weather happening, noticable changes. Are you guys noticing any in your regions?

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

Global climatic changes are underway, so things can get wild and wacky, when you least expect it.

The Disaster Preparedness topic is in the Cafe, since it contains more than just lights, and is oriented to longterm preparedness. (long duration)

No ice here in Mansfield, Ohio (fortunately).

 

[MichiganMan]

Moments like these are why I will always choose a home with natural gas and pilot light activated appliances. (water heater, stove and furnace) I learned it as a boy during the ice storm of '77 that knocked out power for a week, and I'm ready for it now. Plus now I have lighting that I know I can rely on if I need to.

You never know what mother nature will spring on you, we just got a bad ice storm this weekend. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif

 

[AlphaTea]

[ QUOTE ]
Charles Bradshaw said:
Global climatic changes are underway, so things can get wild and wacky, when you least expect it.



[/ QUOTE ]
We just got (another) 3 inches of snow last night /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif
Its friggin' APRIL! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twak.gif
As I look out my window I do have one thing to say tho,
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif Global warming myass! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
I would welcome some "Global warming" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif