Have to agree with both sides here.

First. to those who wine about not having electricty for several days, its
not a god given right. There are many things you can do to ease the pain.
Have some supplies on hand for just an emergency. If you cant live without
it, by all means, go buy a generator. Dont wait till the storm hits to head
to the store and then complain that the store has run out. Be a good scout,
be prepared! For anyone who has to have electricty for them selves or a
loved one to live, If you dont have a backup of some kind, its your own
fault! Dont bitch and wine at me, others, the gov. that you dont have
elec.or that it is a hardship, if you didnt have enough forthought to be
prepared for the unlikely(read likely) event of a major storm, then sorry
about your luck! Its where people have to have some self accountability and
not depend or blame others.
For the most part, you dont need elec. to live, it just makes life easier.
You can buy a small inexpensive generator that will take care of most
things. A 2500 watt unit will heat your water tank(usually), Then pump the
water for a shower. Then run a hot plate, slow cooker, small microwave etc
to fix a hot meal. You dont need to have everything in a house on at once!
And to bring out the coleman stove to heat water for a bath etc. is kinda
lame when you can spend a couple bucks and buy a cheap gen set. But, you can
get by. I agree, a hot shower, hot meal and a little tv in the evening is
nice. So I bought a generator. It comes in handy. Still laugh when I hear
the neighbors complain that they couldnt take a shower for 2 or 3 days.
Second
In the heart of a big city, life is different. Apartment buildings with
little or no natrual ventilation can be a big problem. With no running water
for an extended time can cause big problems, you dont have the spring down
the road like ya do in the country. many places dont have much place to
store water for an extended time, just not big enough. A major power and
water outage in a big city can and does kill some people. Many people in the
big cities have never had any experience with country living and just dont
have a clue. But its not an exucuse for not trying to be prepared. But I
guess you will always have the stupid people factor to deal with too!

Done with my rant.
wrote in message ...
wrote:
Obviously, not being able to get out on my boat I feel free to sit
here and rant so here goes.......
What is with all these people who think it is a disaster to not have
electricity for a few days. Sure, if you live in an apartment it may
be bad with no water or lighting but you can manage. If you have your
own home it is easy, even in summer heat.
Many people I know tell me all about how much fuel they have for their
generators and how much they can power with it and ask me about my
generator and I pause for a few minutes and say, "Well, I got about
a gallon of kerosene for the lamps". Life without AC wont kill ya.
Those clear things in the side of your house called windows OPEN (what
a concept). Sure it isnt comfy but your living in the semi-tropics,
deal with it and stop being wimpy. Before the storm you shoulda
filled containers with drinkin water and filled your tubs with water
to flush the toilets with. BTW, storms make lotsa rain that fills
containers set outside too, use that water. As far as washing
clothes, you'd be amazed how clean you can get stuff in a 5 gallon
bucket of water and some soap and then use a clothes line outside ya
idjits. For cooking, fire up the grill, cook a bunch of stuff and eat
it for a day or two. By the time you use up your frozen stuff you can
eat stuff from cans without cooking it.
We been there and done it so y'all can just stop whining.

My Grand other and us lived without electricity. I had no idea there was
such a thing as tv. We had a radio powered by a large battery. The antenna
was as long cotton wrapped wire that circled the ceiling.
We got up at dawn and had supper right before dark about the time to start
the kerosene lamps, in winter. In summer we didn't use the lampps hardly
at all. I didn't like drawing all the ater from the well or when it was
dry carrying two two gallon buckets about half mile each way from a
spring. I didn't much care for having to keep the fire going under the the
pot that was used for everything from washing, starching, soap making,
rendering or jelly making either. The women liked it even less.
Chicken(real chicken) that I had to wring their necks, does taste better
cookd on a wood stove in lard. We were poor I guess but didn't know it as
noone elsee had much either. They shot or raised most everything we ate
except flour and the like. Once a month or maybe twice a walk to town
barefootfor an orange crush and a moon pie in front of the Home Store was
a real treat. carrying fifty p0und sacks of flour or a five gallon bucket
of lard back wasn't much fun though.
Mom and Dad lived most of the time in the "city". I hated it and spent as
much time as I could back at Grand Ma's.