Originally Posted by Tradd
yep I thought about this. I’m sure Rosa has thought about it as well. Kind of a Sophie‘s choice.
good luck, Rosa
yep I thought about this. I’m sure Rosa has thought about it as well. Kind of a Sophie‘s choice.
good luck, Rosa
Slated to get the edge of the bad stuff, so we shall see what happens here. The storms we had last year were pretty awful. We have a gas fireplace that we could huddle around and keep warm, but that’s not gonna keep the pipes warm. That won’t keep the water running.
Last edited by iris lilies; 1-23-26 at 6:13pm.
K and I have thought long and hard about our situation living in rural New Mexico. When I say rural though it is a bit of a misnomer, as it is only an 18 mile drive to the outer edges of Santa Fe. But we do live in the mountains and the roads to the city can and are notoriously dicey when we get snow and ice.
Heat: we have two sources (actually three if you count the absolutely ineffective electric baseboard heaters that were installed in order for the owner to sell the house to us). We have a woodstove in the large kitchen/family room downstairs, plus a propane wall heater for when we are too lazy to build a fire. The other propane wall heater is upstairs in the living/dining room. We pre-purchased 200 gallons of propane last summer at the discounted price and also bought a cord of wood to add to the woodshed, which was still pretty full after last winter.
Power & Water: we have solar panels (tied into PNM electric) but we do not have a battery system so we are not "off the grid." With last year's tax refund (which was hefty because we got Biden's Solar Tax Credit for installing the system) we purchased a gasoline/propane generator. We hired our electrician to upgrade our outdoor outlet so we can use the generator to pump water from our well into the storage cachment (which also gets the rain/snow runoff). With the generator we will be able to power some of the house, flush the toilet, etc.
Water: We have some 5 gallon jugs of non-potable water to use to manually flush the toilet. We also have several extra 5 gallon jugs of drinking water set aside, in addition to the six 3 gallon water jugs we fill at a water station in Santa Fe to use regularly.
We have also stored a lot of food. I guess we are somewhat ready for whatever life throws at us - a big storm/societal collapse/martial law (we have the proper tools to defend ourselves).
We have a 1-bedroom house, so I would only bring Mom here if there were an absolute emergency, because she would be sleeping on an air mattress on the floor. I'm actually hoping Sis will volunteer to spend Sunday night at Mom's house, since she will be with her tomorrow. Mom's house is a 3-bedroom.
Sis is going to stay over at Mom's tonight, so that's one worry somewhat abated.
Good idea! I'm grading as early as I can in case we lose power later. Thinking of moving a mattress in front of the woodstove.
I posed a legal question to Microsoft copilot yesterday and got one very involved answer about the case and what to do, how to proceed, why it was a sure thing, etc. Then today I posed the same legal question to the same AI, Microsoft copilot, and got a completely different answer. Anyone experience this?
Glad your sister is staying over, rr. When the weather got really bad one of us always tried to stay at my moms, as when the power went out she would get even more confused. We had all the matches and lighters hid that we knew about, but match books were ubiquitous - I swear those little buggers bred when we weren't looking!- and we feared she'd resort to some of the ways people used to deal without electric - open flames everywhere! When we were kids, candles in large tin cans were her go-to outdoors handwarmers, and inside too, if the power went. She always seemed to forget safe ways to stay warm (more clothing, blankets, battery handwarmers) and go straight to more lethal methods, lol. Here's hoping we all weather this physical storm safely.
DH got his scans done on Friday to see if the chemo/immunotherapy is making a difference. Thankfully, the report on his patient portal indicated the tumor has shrunk a little, which is enough to keep him on maintenance therapy. But there were sections of the report we didn't understand, and he doesn't see his oncologist until next Thursday, so I ran it through my AI and he ran it through his. Mine had a slightly more encouraging read on the implications, while his indicated a more conservative analysis. Otherwise, interpretations were similar.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
no idea on the AI, but glad to hear your DH is holding his own, catherine!! Guarded good news is still good news, yes? Sending you all my best vibes and wishes.
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