STX Ag said:

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Didn't have near enough booze. Had to make 2 ill advised trips to the liquor store.

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Rookie mistake. That's as bad as going to the Arctic and leaving your jacket at the house. Should have been the first priority.

AlaskanAg99 said:

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The number of people who do not understand wood burning fireplaces are essentially for decoration only.

They are not designed to heat your home.

https://hearthandpatiostore.com/know-shopping-replacement-fireplace/

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I don't think fireplaces are the most efficient heat source, but they do work. We were completely out of power for 3 days. We hung up a couple of sheets to block the doorways and our full masonry fireplace did a pretty good job of heating the room.

I'm buying these for every bathroom. Bathtubs leak water over a few days.

HTTPS://Www.Waterbob.com

These are like gold right now. And I needed them for a copper pipe to stop a leak from a blown bib.

SharkBite U514LFA End Cap Plumbing 1/2 In, PEX Fittings, Push-to-Connect, Copper, CPVC, 0.5 Inch, Brass https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002STXVFW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_8CHVY49QNE9S9BDEG4NW

Also couldn't find my water main key, and I really needed that. Ice cold water and plyers are no fun.

PlumBest M25127R3 1/2-Inch by 27-Inch Water Meter Key, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0069QU7Z2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_9FSR9SFG9PT800379TA7

I was over-prepared and ended up loaning out generator and power banks to others. But I have observations:

I only had 6 1lb bottles of propane for Buddy Heaters, but also one 20g tank with hose and most importantly inline filter. Without one, you will ruin a little propane heater

Firewood. We have a gas fireplace that puts out a lot of heat, but I gave away all my pinion. Lowe's was saw cutting 2x4 into 18" sections and giving 20 to each person free. Keep wood around even if you have to buy that crap they will soon put on clearance at the entry of all grocery stores in mid-March. Now I'm looking for pinion for when the mosquitos start to swarm.

Kids hunting boots (Academy's version of Muck Boots) don't fit after buying in October. That was a surprise.

Buy a chainsaw now, even if you don't need it.

Regular unleaded doesn't work well in small engines unless you add octane boosters. That's why I purchased 5 gallons of Tru-fuel today to replace the 3 gallons I gave away. I'm not ruining a $1000 generator over $2.50 gas. Plus it wouldn't run decent on 87 octane.

Wd-40 will work as carb cleaner. I rebuilt my buddies HF Predator carb after he used in once for a Christmas parade 3 years ago and never touched it. Working on a plastic folding table in 4* temps in a snow covered driveway is one thing, but getting the taste of old gas and WD-40 out of your mouth is another. But we sucked a blew that thing clean!!

Girl Scout Cookies will make you fat

Running on a treadmill sucks

Don't park your unwinterized F250 in front of the garage that houses the only vehicle that will not gel-up and turn into a boat anchor.

Ha! Suck it boat owners who didn't fog their boats. I don't own a boat so I can make fun of all those who are crying about their ruined $100k Malibus.

PEX is superior to copper

Little Ceasar's Pizza...not that shabby.

A lifted Jeep Wrangler will role down an embankment when you are speeding on the snow covered shoulders of SH114

I'm thinking I might add a 50W solar panel to my list of power contingencies items. To power one of my existing power banks. I'm a CPAP user and rather not have to use generator to power it.

I now know what I was missing when I never watched Breaking Bad. I'm through 3 season. Badger!

Never really thought much of the 450 watt inverter on my '16 F150.

But it was a huge asset for my family this week. Ran a couple extension chords and was able to power the tv with HD antenna, the cable modem, and some LED lamps, chargers and heating pad. Very efficient. Got about 25 hours of idle time on a half tank of gas.

Have a 9000 watt generator, but didn't need it with the inverter. Couldn't get it started anyway.

Gonna make sure I have that on my next truck as well. Think they now have them with 1000+ watts in the new trucks.

Same as every winter. I posted this on the GB for frugal moms, but you can cook in the open using tea lights as a cheap source of fuel.

I have a Berkey water filter and I highly recommend. We have a pond and I was filtering pond water to cook with and wash dishes. They're expensive but if you have a water source, it's a lot better than trying to store a lot of water.

What we lacked was a working generator.

I'm always amazed at how unprepared some people are. I don't understand how people can have "no food" in their houses. It's not about being poor, it's about not planning ahead.

I could use some paper plates and plastic ware right about now, since doing dishes with snow melt is a pita.

50 flashlights stashed around house and couldn't find ONE for 10 minutes.

A lot of people had homes a lot colder than 55 degrees. My brother in law was staying with us. He went to check on his house Wednesday and the water in his toilets were frozen. The water they had roses in a vase on his island...frozen. His house was below freezing for two days.

That's better than some neighbors (who have 6 kids of their own, aged 10ish and under) had a total of 19 people under their roof and then they lost water. And then power. I saw them jn Wednesday and asked if they needed any propane as I was going to get some for my FIL and they both had a dead expression kn their face.

Picard said:

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JSKolache said:

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....
exterior pipes wrapped (w/ pipe heat cable on the main)
....

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Tell me more about this please. Looking for recommendations on some way to do more than just wrap the hose spigots in the future...some sort of heated option other than the C9 incandescent Christmas lights I used.

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https://www.lowes.com/pd/EasyHeat-AHB-24-ft-168-Watt-Pipe-Heat-Cable/1065635

available in different lengths.

No power for a while. Had 2 boat batteries. Hooked up inverter and battery charger. Plugged a couple of lamps and the tv into it. Got the bachelor on HD antenna, power would come back on, charge batteries, was good to go.

Scored some points with wife on bachelor thing.... I personally think it's one of the dumbest things on tv. We all know we need about 5 minutes to narrow the list to 3.

We did pretty good in all but we still have work to do. We are off grid, solar, batteries and 24kw propane generator, 30k gal rain collection tank for the whole house.

Luckily our propane company saw what was about to happen and filled us up last Thursday ( I forever will use this company)

I didn't expect after the first night Sunday I believe for our pipes to freeze in the pump house. I actually didn't know where they froze and was just guessing, I put a space heater in it and let it run for two days straight on high. I did have a heat lamp in it but it obviously was over ran. On Tuesday night I open the spigot in the pump house and water came flowing out. Learned my lesson and now looking to get the pump house spray foam. I will be buying water storage now since we were melting snow to flush toilets.

We have the big generator but it eats so much propane we only turned it on to charge the batteries for the day time. At night I got my HF 6000 watt gen and ran cords inside the house for space heater, TV, internet and plug by my bed for cpap and other stuff. Its only my wife and I so no need to heat the whole house, the wiener doggies had a heated blanket and they were happy.

I didnt have any gas so I got two of my 5gal and made a trip everyday to fill up, also topping off my diesel each trip. I almost gel my truck up and manage to grab the last two bottles of anti gel at the auto parts store. Another mistake I won't make again. I started my truck every 6 hours and ran for an hour after that scare.

We had plenty of food and warmth, water and gas were really the only issue we had.

Edit to say stock up on started fluid for generator and gas preserver.

Let's put it this way: if this weren't an anonymous forum, I wouldn't be here. And I'm one of the LEAST concerned about what others think of anyone there is. It was embarrassingly bad. Like "don't show your face around the OB" bad, but since you asked...

I never anticipated the power would go off for more than a few hours max. Like, maybe 3 or 4 at the absolute most. I mean, what can possibly put more strain on the electrical system than Texas summers, right? And don't a bunch of houses have gas heat like mine, meaning they don't use THAT MUCH electricity in the winter, especially compared to the summer, right?

1. We had SOME fire wood. I actually thought we had more. I failed to check our inventory. When I was on here posting last week about my recollections of the '83 storm, I could have been checking and then the next day gone and gotten another 3 dozen-odd pieces of firewood. Would have taken, at most, 2 hours to do and cost almost nothing. Also, my chimney hasn't been swept in, well, I don't know if its ever been swept. Now is not a good time to worry about that being an issue. My wife and I talked about that for years even though we rarely have fires but on a preparedness scale in terms of alternative heating source with a gas fireplace (which should have been a SCORE to most people), I got a big fat ZERO.

2. I have plenty of Bic lighters. They work but they suck. I've already ordered a decent lighter, another candle lighter and the Bics will be used as backups to the backup. The candles we fished out don't give out much light. I (hopefully) solved that problem with an order. We've also got a non-flammable lantern -- AT my storage unit! A big help that is. I'm going to retrieve that and put it in the garage. We have flashlights around the house, so getting around in the dark wasn't too bad. On this scale, I'm about a 4, maybe a 5.

3. We were pretty lucky, all things considered. We were out for about 36 of 48 hours starting early Mon. morning. Monday night was miserable. Our vehicles had 3/4 or so of gas in them (need to be full next time), so I got out and about 4 or 5 times. Food wasn't a major issue as the power came back on at very good times (Tues around lunch and dinner). However, we weren't prepared for longer periods of outage and had I not been able to go anywhere we might have been more uncomfortable. We had enough to survive but I didn't clean my gas grill, check the gas level or have enough stuff to cook on that -- heck, I didn't even think much about it last week. Next time I'll have pre-formed burgers, a few steaks, and similar eats. Food prep was a 3 at best. I'll probably get a generator if for no other reason to run the fridge during an outage. With the right food and a gas grill that's full of propane, we can survive indefinitely. I eat bacon/sausage and eggs 4 or 5 days a week anyway. Bacon around ground beef seriously upgrades what would be a "chopped" steak. And a "value" pack of ribeyes isn't too bad.

4. I got out in my car -- a sedan. My wife has a RAV4. The times I was out I had no real problems and could have used the RAV4 if I needed to. I think by this summer I'll have a pickup of some sort so by the next outage, I'll have a more capable vehicle, if for no other use than to haul stuff to and from or to help others.

5. Clothing is probably the only area where I was all but good to go. I mostly wear shorts around the house unless its really cold and go barefoot but I have an old, thick pair of socks that I wear during cold snaps. I grabbed a pair of sweats that I haven't worn in years, put on a t-shirt and a sweatshirt for the really cold night. For going outside, I was fine in jeans, wool socks, hiking boots, an undershirt, Carhartt henley, and very heavy shirt quilted jacket. Grade here was probably an 8. Need more interior night clothing as I hate PJs but need something if we're off and its -1 outside like it was! Anyway, this is about the only area where I can offer advice and I'd say don't depend on old clothes to protect you from the cold. Check your "stock" before winter begins. As long as you can get it on and wear it, fit isn't a big issue.

First Amazon order: candles and lighters. Next: 2 spare fleece blankets (really warm; much more so than the cotton ones). Mechanix gloves for car. Next fall: lounge pants.

Dollar store items: candle holders.

Box stores: generator (later in spring/summer); a few other things I can't think of now but thought of earlier this week.

Thanksgiving week: check stock of wood and get inventory up.

Week before ANY anticipated cold snap: make sure gas is filled up; make sure fridge is stocked; make sure plenty of water is on hand; winter proof pipes as best you can. (I'll defer to other good advice on here for the rest).

I see what happens when every Texan opens their Yeti at the same time.