Post by papaof2 on Jan 20, 2022 18:44:58 GMT -6
Chapter 14
Sunday, 19 December, 10:35
The windup clock might say it's a bit early for lunch but my stomach says breakfast was a long time ago. I think a bigger than usual bowl of the chowder and a couple of cornbread muffins because I'm certain my body is burning more calories to stay warm in this much colder than usual house. Be nice if that cornbread was warm enough to melt butter so put the chowder on to heat in a saucepan and put the muffins in the smallest Dutch oven with the lid on and put that on a burner turned down very low. Check the Thermos and there's maybe one cup of tea left. Fill the whistling teakettle yet again and it's on to heat. Get tea bags from the canister to brew that much... Canister is empty. To the pantry. Three boxes of 100 Earl Grey tea bags on the top shelf. Get the one with the closest "Best by" date. Cut the airtight cellophane from the box and move the bags to the tea canister. Nice to be able to "stock up" in a convenient place.
The pieces of lunch came together within a minute - maybe practice makes perfect? - and I'm enjoying every bite. Think I'll check whether that radio station is back on the air after I eat. As I chew the next bite, I can also check the temperature in the basement and the batteries are at 50F - very good temperature under the circumstances. We are getting some charge from the solar panels which is always good, but not enough to get ahead of the day's loads. If there was a clear place, I'd put out another 600 watts of solar panels but the only clear space is the walkway shovelled to the shed out back and I need to keep that space clear to get to the shed for fuel and to run the inverter generator. Thirty years ago, I'd have been shovelling the snow off all the hard surfaces but now I'd only clear that much space if I had a good snowblower. That's not something I've been willing to spend $XXXX on because it would see so little use and it would only turn up on the free section of Craig's List if someone moved here from Northern Michigan and forgot to tell the movers to leave the snowblower in the garage for the new owner of that property. Not a likely event as I've seen it exactly one time in all the years I've been watching the local Craig's List.*
Last swallow of tea and get the radio from its sunny window. Turn it "On", to "AM" and "Scan".
'... only on the air for ten minutes on the odd half-hour from sunrise to sunset to conserve generator fuel. Unless we get resupplied, we only have enough fuel left for perhaps five more days on that schedule...'
Could Colonel Dempsey find fuel for them? I should call him.
Ring!Ring!Ring!
'Dempsey.'
'Colonel, it's Jack Wilson.'
'What do you need, Jack?'
'Nothing for me. The AM radio station to our West that's running on generator is now on the air for ten minutes on the odd half hour to conserve fuel and they expect to be out of fuel in perhaps five days.'
'Having that station on the air is important for those still able to be at home to have some "normal". Let me check with the state's EMA and see if they can fly in some fuel for them. I won't offer fuel from here as we have almost 1700 people here now and our current fuel usage might have us OK until the weather warms in maybe ten days.'
'Could you clear a runway for a tanker to land?'
'Let me buzz Rodman and Davis and see what they think.'
'Go ahead. Just call me back when or if you have a resolution.'
'Will do. Dempsey out.'
Probably will take a while for all the red tape that request will likely encounter. What's the outside temperature? -21F. Well, that's at least a bit less cold than the -29F I saw during the night. Still need to run the inverter generator for at least three hours. Bundle up, go down to the basement, get the gen, take it outside. It started with only three pulls and one "Prime" button push. Let it warm up a bit while I turn off the breakers on the transfer switch and then the inverter and bring the 12/3 cable out to the gen. Cable moved, go to the transfer switch, essential breakers moved to the "Gen" position, 60 amp battery charger in place and then me up to a warmer space.
Checking the solar system remotely shows the battery voltage coming up as it should with the charger on it. Lots more efficient to run the inverter gen six hours a day to charge the batteries than to run it 24 hours to power things directly. There's some loss in the gasoline to AC power conversion then the AC power to DC for battery charging then the DC from the battery to AC conversion in the inverter but the generator isn't running for hours with a very small load and most of the gasoline that's burned then being used to overcome internal friction in the generator. I also don't have to be outside multiple times a day to stop the gen, let it cool and refill the gas tank. Much easier on this old body because some of that would be in the coldest hours of the night. And I never want a generator running after dark.
Ring!Ring!Ring!
'This is Jack.'
'Dempsey here, Jack. Seems the Governor had already contacted the state EMA and FEMA about keeping that station on the air and keeping Whitside provided with fuel for the duration. We're clearing a runway here for a KC-46 with about 30,000 gallons of assorted fuels. We'll fill all the tanks here, the two 5,000 gallon fuel trucks that the mechanics got running and as many 55 gallon drums as we can locate. We'll airlift some drums of fuel to the radio station and include a manual pump. I sent a runner via snowmobile to verify which fuel and how much, and to deliver a sat phone to them. There's also 10 gallons each of gasoline, diesel and kerosene for you after that tanker is unloaded. That will be the runner's load tomorrow afternoon - unless you need it sooner.'
'I'm good for a few days so tomorrow afternoon is fine. Have you checked with Sheriff Thomas about his fuel supplies?'
'He's my next call. You were concerned enough about others to start things rolling so you got answers first. When we have details on deliveries, I'll have someone text you all the status info.'
'Do the County Water and Sewer systems have power and/or backup and how much fuel, or maybe how many days/hours of fuel would be a better number if they're on backup power?'
'I feel like a kid that didn't do my homework because no one else has mentioned those things. I'll have someone checking, even if it means more people out on snowmobiles.'
'Very good.'
'Jack, thanks for being aware and pointing out possible problems before they get too big to handle. I'll be in contact. Dempsey out.'
I didn't remember how long the runways were at Whitside. Guess they have at least one seriously long runway if they can handle a loaded KC-46 - if you don't recognize KC-46, just think DC-10 as that's the airframe it's built on. I certainly won't argue about having more fuel of all types.
I think our original "Winter Storm" has officially become a big SHTF event - all my notes about the things that have happened can be used in the current story and I can add a footnote of when and where those things occurred so it isn't just some writer's wild imagination. Just need the online and newspaper references. I haven't tried the battery HDTV. Guess I should, just to have the data point of TV/no TV. Turn it on and let it scan while I get more warm tea from the Thermos.
Several scans later, the only station operating is about 40 miles West of us and they're on commercial AC power and running recorded radar of the storm as it went through and drone video of the current status of the seven snowbound counties. Guess I can include that station and their "special" about the event as part of the footnote. They even have a YouTube link, so I'll include that. Nice to be able to document "That can't happen" events, especially ones that are current and probably getting national media attention. Guess I should have been making "This is the problem and this is how I'm surviving it" videos. Not something that I've done enough of for it to become a habit but probably would be good to have when someone at a conference says "That can't happen". For now, just a reminder that I should keep very good notes and think about having video capability at hand. That Galaxy phone has good video capabilities so I should finish charging it and then keep it in my pocket to cover "at hand".
Galaxy back on charge - maybe a couple of hours to finish charging? I'll check it whenever I go through the kitchen on my way to or from somewhere else and put it in a pocket when it's charged.
One thing about having snow measured in feet - there has been no traffic other than the snowmobile, the copter and the school bus that followed the snowplow. A 4WD vehicle should be able to go where the snowplow cleared but I've heard no other vehicles. The animals I saw when I grilled the burgers have not returned, as the camera monitor hasn't alerted on motion. I'll consider that a positive since I must be outside to refuel the parking heater and to run and refuel the inverter gen. I am always armed - inside or out - and I sleep with a handgun in easy reach. I also have a 20 gauge shotgun over each door - out of any child's reach but readily available to me.
Had the snow been less than a foot, I might have needed to "persuade" some people to not bother me about food or power. Having half the county's population in the shelters at Whitside ARB took some portion of the troublemakers to a place where the people in charge are armed with live ammunition and are authorized to shoot if needed. I would expect that an event of six handguns going "ker-snik" and multiple commands of "On the floor or I shoot!" would be a new experience for some of those troublemakers. No lawyers or bail either, just being held "for the duration" and then being handed over to civilian authorities. That could be several very unpleasant weeks. Just imagine - subjecting those poor people to genuine, solitary, in-a-cell-confinement with no TV. That must be some type of "cruel and unusual punishment" ;-) I think "cruel and unusual punishment" is sentencing a murderer to anything other than the death he/she chose for his/her victim(s). Barbaric? Hardly. Just an experiment in anti-recidivism - those killed in the same manner they killed a victim will NOT kill again.
Jack, you sound like you're in need of some pain relief. Perhaps I am, as I've not taken anything in a number of hours. Get a glass from the cabinet, one pill of the Rx painkiller, some water from the Brita pitcher and see if my outlook is any better in thirty minutes. Maybe some time reading the latest chapters from that power-failure-paranoid writer that posts on pawfiction.proboards.com? I did copy his last three posts to a Word file just before our local area became the setting for our own SHTF event. Let's see if Windows XP still has the file name: hit Ctrl-Esc for a menu, then D for Documents and I see "Dark Days.doc" in the list. Click that and I can read for a while. At least his characters don't have feet of snow and negative temperatures to deal with which probably means that the real world can be worse than fiction...
I hate being old and in pain.
---
* Actual event. An in-law several hundred miles to our North appreciated us delivering that snowblower the next time we visited them. It even had electric start (AC plug-in, no battery needed).
Sunday, 19 December, 10:35
The windup clock might say it's a bit early for lunch but my stomach says breakfast was a long time ago. I think a bigger than usual bowl of the chowder and a couple of cornbread muffins because I'm certain my body is burning more calories to stay warm in this much colder than usual house. Be nice if that cornbread was warm enough to melt butter so put the chowder on to heat in a saucepan and put the muffins in the smallest Dutch oven with the lid on and put that on a burner turned down very low. Check the Thermos and there's maybe one cup of tea left. Fill the whistling teakettle yet again and it's on to heat. Get tea bags from the canister to brew that much... Canister is empty. To the pantry. Three boxes of 100 Earl Grey tea bags on the top shelf. Get the one with the closest "Best by" date. Cut the airtight cellophane from the box and move the bags to the tea canister. Nice to be able to "stock up" in a convenient place.
The pieces of lunch came together within a minute - maybe practice makes perfect? - and I'm enjoying every bite. Think I'll check whether that radio station is back on the air after I eat. As I chew the next bite, I can also check the temperature in the basement and the batteries are at 50F - very good temperature under the circumstances. We are getting some charge from the solar panels which is always good, but not enough to get ahead of the day's loads. If there was a clear place, I'd put out another 600 watts of solar panels but the only clear space is the walkway shovelled to the shed out back and I need to keep that space clear to get to the shed for fuel and to run the inverter generator. Thirty years ago, I'd have been shovelling the snow off all the hard surfaces but now I'd only clear that much space if I had a good snowblower. That's not something I've been willing to spend $XXXX on because it would see so little use and it would only turn up on the free section of Craig's List if someone moved here from Northern Michigan and forgot to tell the movers to leave the snowblower in the garage for the new owner of that property. Not a likely event as I've seen it exactly one time in all the years I've been watching the local Craig's List.*
Last swallow of tea and get the radio from its sunny window. Turn it "On", to "AM" and "Scan".
'... only on the air for ten minutes on the odd half-hour from sunrise to sunset to conserve generator fuel. Unless we get resupplied, we only have enough fuel left for perhaps five more days on that schedule...'
Could Colonel Dempsey find fuel for them? I should call him.
Ring!Ring!Ring!
'Dempsey.'
'Colonel, it's Jack Wilson.'
'What do you need, Jack?'
'Nothing for me. The AM radio station to our West that's running on generator is now on the air for ten minutes on the odd half hour to conserve fuel and they expect to be out of fuel in perhaps five days.'
'Having that station on the air is important for those still able to be at home to have some "normal". Let me check with the state's EMA and see if they can fly in some fuel for them. I won't offer fuel from here as we have almost 1700 people here now and our current fuel usage might have us OK until the weather warms in maybe ten days.'
'Could you clear a runway for a tanker to land?'
'Let me buzz Rodman and Davis and see what they think.'
'Go ahead. Just call me back when or if you have a resolution.'
'Will do. Dempsey out.'
Probably will take a while for all the red tape that request will likely encounter. What's the outside temperature? -21F. Well, that's at least a bit less cold than the -29F I saw during the night. Still need to run the inverter generator for at least three hours. Bundle up, go down to the basement, get the gen, take it outside. It started with only three pulls and one "Prime" button push. Let it warm up a bit while I turn off the breakers on the transfer switch and then the inverter and bring the 12/3 cable out to the gen. Cable moved, go to the transfer switch, essential breakers moved to the "Gen" position, 60 amp battery charger in place and then me up to a warmer space.
Checking the solar system remotely shows the battery voltage coming up as it should with the charger on it. Lots more efficient to run the inverter gen six hours a day to charge the batteries than to run it 24 hours to power things directly. There's some loss in the gasoline to AC power conversion then the AC power to DC for battery charging then the DC from the battery to AC conversion in the inverter but the generator isn't running for hours with a very small load and most of the gasoline that's burned then being used to overcome internal friction in the generator. I also don't have to be outside multiple times a day to stop the gen, let it cool and refill the gas tank. Much easier on this old body because some of that would be in the coldest hours of the night. And I never want a generator running after dark.
Ring!Ring!Ring!
'This is Jack.'
'Dempsey here, Jack. Seems the Governor had already contacted the state EMA and FEMA about keeping that station on the air and keeping Whitside provided with fuel for the duration. We're clearing a runway here for a KC-46 with about 30,000 gallons of assorted fuels. We'll fill all the tanks here, the two 5,000 gallon fuel trucks that the mechanics got running and as many 55 gallon drums as we can locate. We'll airlift some drums of fuel to the radio station and include a manual pump. I sent a runner via snowmobile to verify which fuel and how much, and to deliver a sat phone to them. There's also 10 gallons each of gasoline, diesel and kerosene for you after that tanker is unloaded. That will be the runner's load tomorrow afternoon - unless you need it sooner.'
'I'm good for a few days so tomorrow afternoon is fine. Have you checked with Sheriff Thomas about his fuel supplies?'
'He's my next call. You were concerned enough about others to start things rolling so you got answers first. When we have details on deliveries, I'll have someone text you all the status info.'
'Do the County Water and Sewer systems have power and/or backup and how much fuel, or maybe how many days/hours of fuel would be a better number if they're on backup power?'
'I feel like a kid that didn't do my homework because no one else has mentioned those things. I'll have someone checking, even if it means more people out on snowmobiles.'
'Very good.'
'Jack, thanks for being aware and pointing out possible problems before they get too big to handle. I'll be in contact. Dempsey out.'
I didn't remember how long the runways were at Whitside. Guess they have at least one seriously long runway if they can handle a loaded KC-46 - if you don't recognize KC-46, just think DC-10 as that's the airframe it's built on. I certainly won't argue about having more fuel of all types.
I think our original "Winter Storm" has officially become a big SHTF event - all my notes about the things that have happened can be used in the current story and I can add a footnote of when and where those things occurred so it isn't just some writer's wild imagination. Just need the online and newspaper references. I haven't tried the battery HDTV. Guess I should, just to have the data point of TV/no TV. Turn it on and let it scan while I get more warm tea from the Thermos.
Several scans later, the only station operating is about 40 miles West of us and they're on commercial AC power and running recorded radar of the storm as it went through and drone video of the current status of the seven snowbound counties. Guess I can include that station and their "special" about the event as part of the footnote. They even have a YouTube link, so I'll include that. Nice to be able to document "That can't happen" events, especially ones that are current and probably getting national media attention. Guess I should have been making "This is the problem and this is how I'm surviving it" videos. Not something that I've done enough of for it to become a habit but probably would be good to have when someone at a conference says "That can't happen". For now, just a reminder that I should keep very good notes and think about having video capability at hand. That Galaxy phone has good video capabilities so I should finish charging it and then keep it in my pocket to cover "at hand".
Galaxy back on charge - maybe a couple of hours to finish charging? I'll check it whenever I go through the kitchen on my way to or from somewhere else and put it in a pocket when it's charged.
One thing about having snow measured in feet - there has been no traffic other than the snowmobile, the copter and the school bus that followed the snowplow. A 4WD vehicle should be able to go where the snowplow cleared but I've heard no other vehicles. The animals I saw when I grilled the burgers have not returned, as the camera monitor hasn't alerted on motion. I'll consider that a positive since I must be outside to refuel the parking heater and to run and refuel the inverter gen. I am always armed - inside or out - and I sleep with a handgun in easy reach. I also have a 20 gauge shotgun over each door - out of any child's reach but readily available to me.
Had the snow been less than a foot, I might have needed to "persuade" some people to not bother me about food or power. Having half the county's population in the shelters at Whitside ARB took some portion of the troublemakers to a place where the people in charge are armed with live ammunition and are authorized to shoot if needed. I would expect that an event of six handguns going "ker-snik" and multiple commands of "On the floor or I shoot!" would be a new experience for some of those troublemakers. No lawyers or bail either, just being held "for the duration" and then being handed over to civilian authorities. That could be several very unpleasant weeks. Just imagine - subjecting those poor people to genuine, solitary, in-a-cell-confinement with no TV. That must be some type of "cruel and unusual punishment" ;-) I think "cruel and unusual punishment" is sentencing a murderer to anything other than the death he/she chose for his/her victim(s). Barbaric? Hardly. Just an experiment in anti-recidivism - those killed in the same manner they killed a victim will NOT kill again.
Jack, you sound like you're in need of some pain relief. Perhaps I am, as I've not taken anything in a number of hours. Get a glass from the cabinet, one pill of the Rx painkiller, some water from the Brita pitcher and see if my outlook is any better in thirty minutes. Maybe some time reading the latest chapters from that power-failure-paranoid writer that posts on pawfiction.proboards.com? I did copy his last three posts to a Word file just before our local area became the setting for our own SHTF event. Let's see if Windows XP still has the file name: hit Ctrl-Esc for a menu, then D for Documents and I see "Dark Days.doc" in the list. Click that and I can read for a while. At least his characters don't have feet of snow and negative temperatures to deal with which probably means that the real world can be worse than fiction...
I hate being old and in pain.
---
* Actual event. An in-law several hundred miles to our North appreciated us delivering that snowblower the next time we visited them. It even had electric start (AC plug-in, no battery needed).