3.
Wilma and I managed to get the car out of the gigantic
mess the parking was in and headed home. Finally got there, and we sat down for
a minute to take stock of ourselves. We talked about how much food we had and
how long it would last, we also talked about how much water we had. That is
going to be an issue sooner than food is. I think.
The San Joaquin River is just south of us a couple of
miles. To access it will require going thru some farmers property, and I really
don't want to have to do that. I know there is an access road thru some farmers
yard southeast of us that requires a fee to go thru per car. If we need to haul
water that may be an option.
There is also a canal directly south of our development
here, just a few hundred yards. But that canal is usually empty. Something to
think about. And gasoline for my vehicle will be in short supply soon sounds
like.
Wilma and I decided to dig out the WaterBob we had
purchased for the tub. We did so and filled it. It has a small hand operated
pump on it for getting the water out. Then we filled every pot and pan we had
with water, and by that time the water pressure was nonexistent. Looks like
everyone must have had the same idea.
Wilma said I have to
go potty. I said OH SHIT! She said "Exactly!"
Oh Man! For right now, this is priority one. We have a toilet
tank full of water at the moment, but what do we do later? We can't waste the
water down the drain like that. And she has been having problems. So what do I
do? I know the answer, but she isn't gonna like it. And for the moment we have
enough toilet paper, but thats gonna run out really soon. Then what do we do?
But do I prioritize digging out the lid of the septic
tank now, and rigging a makeshift poo box, or do I use another gallon of water
and work on other things first? I have about 600 gallons of water in barrels in
my backyard, another 100 in the tub, and 5 or so more in pots. Plus I have
about 30 cases of bottled water. So for now, digging the lid of the septic for
the poo box will wait.
About that time we hear a knock at the front door. Not thinking
anything of it, I open the door and there stands my neighbor to the west of me.
"Howdy", I say. "Hi" he says. Then he
asks me if I have any water I can spare.
Now what do I do? I tell him we can give him a few bottles of water, but thats
all we can do because we don't have enough for us. Oh crap, this is happening
already?
So I get him 10 bottles of water. I ask if they filled
all their pots and pans and he says yes. I remind him the water heater will
have about 30 gallons in it. I suggest that they limit their water usage to 1/2
gallon per person per day, because water won't be coming back soon. Then I ask
him about the toilet and he hadn't thought about that. I told him about digging
up the lid of the septic tank and rigging a makeshift poo box. He marveled at that idea and said he didn't
know how his young wife would handle that. I suggested he talk about that
immediately as the toilet would use water they didn't have.
Then he said thank you and went home.
After he left, I started thinking about priorities. If
the grid is down, and we don't know when it will come up, what should we do? We
have food for a couple months, but it's february and summer won't be that far
away. When the food runs out then what? I have a lot of seeds, so do I start a
garden now? Or is all this for naught, the grid and everything else will come
back tomorrow? Who the hell knows?
What do we do for lights? What about cooking? For lights
we have the 2 small battery solar systems so we can run extension cords for
lights, run the fridges and freezer also. Just have to ensure any opening of
those is done during daylight hours so we have plenty of solar to run them. Might
need to remove the light bulb in those also. Just a thought.
Our cooktop is electric, our ovens are electric. Cooking
can be done outside on the barbecue grill for now. I have a couple of coleman
campstoves we can pull out. But for a long haul we will run out of gasoline and
propane fuel for the stoves. I have a bucket with a grill on it as a makeshit
hibachi grill, we can use that with wood. And I know how to make a rocket stove
using bricks. That can be fired with wood also.
Well, it is almost dark. I am not sure what we will do.
My dad used to say, when you don't know what to do it might be best to not do
anything. I am not sure that holds out in this situation. But for now, for
tonight, that is what I am going to do. We are going to make it thru the night,
and maybe tomorrow we might get some good news.
No comments:
Post a Comment