Ontario Ice Storm 2013

The ice storm will likely turn some people into preppers as they will not want to have the same experience in the future. I don't think the cards will make any difference and the could possibly set a bad precedence. Why prep for next time when you will likely be compensated.

I still don't understand how that many people could have lost their food. Keeping it cold should have been the least of their problems.

Our lifestyles are changing. Looking back every house had a fireplace and some wood laying around when I was a kid. My father worked in the bush and we always had a Coleman stove and lantern in the shed. Flashlights and candles were always in the kitchen. When blackouts occurred it just seemed normal for my parents to put a fire on, make some hot chocolate and turn the family room into what seemed to be an indoor camp ground. Looking back it seemed normal. I don't have the chance to ask them now, but I wonder how worried or concerned my parents actually were during the few storms and one forest fire we experienced. If they were stressed it wasn't apparent to the children.

Now days, houses with fireplaces are rare. I don't know anyone in my neighbourhood that has a Coleman stove or lantern and I doubt they have candles of flashlights. Some have 5th wheels which work as long as they have propane, but they don't have extra propane tanks. Even during the Alberta flood his summer I heard many ask why the government wasn't doing more, distributing water, etc. As a society we want to be taken care of and in general don't want to plan or prepare for the future. Life experiences will change a few people's outlook, but the majority will just carry on.

Here we go again, storm coming, extreme wind chill etc. Remember to keep an eye on your animals, dogs and cts can also get frostbite, bring your critters in and keep them warm.

Though on another note do you think this will turn more people into preppers or at least a lesson to some. Will people use this as lessons learned?

It's the animals that I worry about.
The humans not so much. They are not helpless, contrary to what they think. 🙄

It's been my experience after many years of living here, no... most do not learn a blasted thing.
Never seems to fail I have someone comin over for 'any spare wood', can I spare some chicken feed or dog/cat food, etc..
Needless to say I don't have extra/spares. 😉

Doesn't matter how much warning is out there. Some can not even seem to get to the small store out here less then 10 mins away before things happen to stock up at least for a day or so.
It's always the same folks too and that have lived in the area and know what it can be like.

Stay warm, be careful all that's in the way of those nasty temps.
Don't forget to leave the taps runnin a bit, if no heat tapes on the water lines. Leave those cupboard doors open.

Stay warm, be careful all that's in the way of those nasty temps. Don't forget to leave the taps runnin a bit, if no heat tapes on the water lines. Leave those cupboard doors open.

Inspite of leaving the cupboard doors open & a tap on, all pipes leading to my bathroom or frozen. 😥

note to self, get better bathroom backup

I still don't understand how that many people could have lost their food. Keeping it cold should have been the least of their problems.

Our lifestyles are changing. Looking back every house had a fireplace and some wood laying around when I was a kid. My father worked in the bush and we always had a Coleman stove and lantern in the shed. Flashlights and candles were always in the kitchen. When blackouts occurred it just seemed normal for my parents to put a fire on, make some hot chocolate and turn the family room into what seemed to be an indoor camp ground. Looking back it seemed normal. I don't have the chance to ask them now, but I wonder how worried or concerned my parents actually were during the few storms and one forest fire we experienced. If they were stressed it wasn't apparent to the children.

Now days, houses with fireplaces are rare. I don't know anyone in my neighbourhood that has a Coleman stove or lantern and I doubt they have candles of flashlights. Some have 5th wheels which work as long as they have propane, but they don't have extra propane tanks. Even during the Alberta flood his summer I heard many ask why the government wasn't doing more, distributing water, etc. As a society we want to be taken care of and in general don't want to plan or prepare for the future. Life experiences will change a few people's outlook, but the majority will just carry on.

We moved from Alberta four years ago and the first thing we did was build an addition to the house specifically to put a wood stove in. I realize not everyone can afford to do that but this was part of our pre planning. We not only stock up for ourselves but also have about three months food on hand for our dogs. With this cold even our pack can only handle no more than ten minutes outdoors, we have four King Sheperds with thick double coats.

I was in Quebec in 98 with the military during that ice storm, there is a huge difference in attitude from back then to now. People seem to expect govt to hold their hands, where are we going wrong? My husband and I have the same mindset, we don't expect or want to rely on any govt agency, funny as we both work for the govt and would be called out if required. I can only hope that many learn from this but I fear your assessment is correct.

I was in Quebec in 98 with the military during that ice storm, there is a huge difference in attitude from back then to now.

Yes, I noticed a difference too. I live outside the city in a rural area and we were without power for 2 weeks during the 1998 Ice Storm. That meant no well water too. However, most people did just fine with alternative heat sources (we are used to frequent power outages) like wood stoves. Neighbours helped neighbours by bringing firewood, having their kids over to play, or even letting them stay. Oh yes, the military showed up around day 10 to 'check on us' and see if we needed anything, but we were just fine.
Maybe Toronto city folks are simply in a different mind-set and have certain 'expectations'...... the line-ups for food vouchers are an example (and many of those in the lines never lost any power either). Then again, during the summer floods in Alberta, those city folks really helped one another (flooded areas were rather affluent).
Hmmm, I'm not sure of why these differences exist.

Maybe it's the big city attitude, High River is not a huge place, not like Calgary and TO. Maybe Torontonians just have forgotten this is Canada and cities are not immune to severe weather!

"I always try to remember that half the people I talk to have below average IQ"

I just noticed this post and glad Im not the only person that noticed. When I heard about people wanting compensation...I really have no words. The cards, Dito. But it started before that. My first "Im not really surprised but I don't know what to say" moment in all this was hearing of the first few deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning by the second day. (THIS SHOULD BE A BIG REMINDER FOR THOSE ADVOCATING USING CAMPING EQUIPMENT INDOORS WITHOUT VENTILATION. OK. I can take my finger off the caps button now)
As I contemplate, "What has gone wrong with north americans?", I blame Unreasonable Expectations. A fundamental belief that the future will be better than the past. Robots and Rednecks will do the dirty work. Super storms? There will be an App for that. Energy independence is right around the corner. I blame advertising and TV shows. There are just no butt ugly people in the fake reality. Cops all wear designer clothes and they are all there to save you from terrorists and serial killers. The contracted construction worker is really an artistic handyman that's chiselled, sensitive and has the perfect 3 day beard. All women can expect a satisfying career to go with her designer children in a squeaky clean designer home in an upscale trendy neibourhood. Your friends sipping wine around the table will be lawyers, fashion designers, Olympic athletes and ski instructors. Joining the military will make you a HERO. You can make lots of money being a rock star if you practice hard and Believe. Poor and ugly people can have all this if they stay in school, work 3 jobs and stay off drugs. If you are poor and ugly, its your own fault, so Buck Up and stop being a terrorist and serial killer...and you can solve this problem by buying the latest Rebocks, Oklies and a new sports car, SUV or manly truck.

So, These are the expectations of the general public. Reality is just not living up to peoples expectations.

Peoples response seems to be....The government should fix this. If not this government...then everything will be just fine if we get the right type of government in next time.

Well, Here is a helpful C5 Rule Of Survival- "If all else fails...LOWER YOUR STANDARDS"
Live well below your means. Expect Less. Do without. The real world is Darker, Colder and Dirtier.

Now, Its life threateningly cold outside at the moment. That's life. Ive lived through weather like this in alberta... in a camper van. It can be done. Nothing works in weather like this. It wont start. The propane will freeze and most of the systems will not work because they are tied into the battery which will drain in one evening. You will stay under 8 layers of blankets and read cheap novels by candle light which is the only heat to burn moisture and keep it freezing cold instead of deathly cold...And you will chill the f@#* out and wait patiently for the weather to change. You learn a lot about what you really need to survive by stripping away everything you thought you needed to survive.

So....What did I learn? Mrs C5 has recently put her food down and said," No more Candles". I have a couple decent sized boxes filled with them. When I am in a second hand store, I look for the bag of candles, count them out and divide the cost. If they are 20c or less, I buy them and into the box they go. 1$ for big ones. Garage sales, same. I cant bother buying new because I am so far ahead of the game. In spite of Mrs C5s protest, I continue to get candles when I can sneak them by her. She has also put her foot down on, "No more Blankets". After this cold snap, I can probably get away with a few more. I pick up wool blankets at second hand stores when I can find them for 2-5$. Not just for 10 inches of insolation on the bed but for windows, floors...and team members that might show up.

I often feel like a prepper fraud. Inspite of being well prepared, Like many people today, I have few real skills. I wasted my early, youthful survivalist life becoming a master of violence. Then at age 40, I woke up to the fact that my only real skill was harming other humans. My prepping was a sham. Ive been making up for that the last few years but I still often bemoan my skill level. My only skills seem to have developed from each thing that went wrong.

The only thing we lost in this storm was the propane froze to our cook stove...so after a couple days of waiting for it to thaw on its own... I took a couple kettles of water that had been heating on the wood stove, went out and de iced the line and thawed the regulator. On came the stove. Mrs C5s eyes glazed over with that starry look that said,"I married a Prepper God". There is only one reason I knew to do that. It wasn't 'cause of old fashioned values. It was because of living in that van...and having lost propane in weather like this before. 😎

cernunnos5 that was well stated. When my wife and I read this we were so impressed. You hit the nail right on the head. And that is why we have been prepping with our kids for years now. We need to become more self reliant.

This kind of sounds like I am going off topic but I am not really. Sorry if I do not explain myself well.

My step-son went to college for 2 different courses. My step-daughter took one college course. Both of them went to different colleges but they were both told that they should get a wage close to DOUBLE the minimum wage as they went to college. That because of their "knowledge" they "deserved" a lot more in pay & benefits. I make not bad money, not a lot but enough I guess. Both of them expected to make at the very least $30,000.00 a year more then what I make, cause the teachers told them they should get it. I don't know the age dynamics of those that are expecting the Government to bail them out but I would guess it would be around the 30 year old mark given the age of my step kids.

I raised my step kids with the prepper attitude but at the time I just thought it was the smart/cheap thing to do. Both of them should know better then to have that attitude. Now you have not just the teachers but the Government telling them "they deserve it".

I am slowly re-learning the prepper things my grandfather taught me. It is a slow process but I am gaining ground.

I did appreciate the various posts that I have read & put to use in the last 24 hours that my pipes froze but oh how I wished I had an outhouse

I did appreciate the various posts that I have read & put to use in the last 24 hours that my pipes froze but oh how I wished I had an outhouse

LOL

Pick up a Luggable Loo, it's a 5 gal bucket with a toilet seat. We got ours a couple of years ago when our septic pump froze at -50c. That and some cedar shavings from the pet store works pretty good for short term. We have an outhouse, but it's got a 45 degree lean and there are standing bets for when it will actually fall over. 🙂

oh how I wished I had an outhouse

lol, oldschool. 😉 Yes we often forget about that single comfort! All winter long, I have about six 5 gallon buckets filled with water and sitting in my mudroom - for flushing. It only takes about a liter of water to flush #2. Just dump the water in hard and gravity will take the waste down. But whenever we have a power outage, we reinstate the rule "if it's yellow let it mellow if it's brown flush it down". During the summer, water is more easily accessible from my rain barrels or river.

LOL I used the luggable loo yesterday....I don't like it but better then nothing

had the water for the flushing but everything was frozen, nothing would go any place

If your toiletwater is frozen, you should anticipate that you MAY have a crack in the porcelain trap of the toilet, which could reveal itself when it thaws out by seeping out somewhere around the base, (or on the ceiling below if it's upstairs.)
It's a bummer, i know....worse than just frozen water pipes.
If it's that cold in your place, it may be prudent to invest in a 2000watt generator and isolate/wire your furnace/thermostat to it to keep a minimum temp to avoid these things. If you can't do it yourself, it's best to grab an electrician before the next wave of cold. You can also alternate the genny use to the fridge or anything else you find necessary, like a carbattery charger/assist. Obviously one needs a couple of good #14 ext .cords for your distances.
I've done that, and ran the generator out in the yard every few hours for 20 min or so,to run the furnace and circulating fan, depending on the temps.
I had planned to offer my immediate neighbor a 100' cord to do the same, alternately, from my genny, but he already got his own, and has a fireplace.
For fast reference/peace of mind, also hung thermometers near the most risky pipe spots for freezing, even though i also keep all the water circuits on a slow drip at critical times.

Hey old School, we been fighting frozen pipes this bitter cold, but we have it fixed at this point, never lost the toilet, bathtub or laundry room but had a freezing issue for the kitchen sink/bathroom sinks , not in the house per say but right at the heading out part, we had a draft issue and our cellar heater went out, the cellar is tricky, it needs to be above freezing for the pipes etc but must be climate control at the same time for all the cellar storage needs. You can't just crank the heat up etc.. but we thawed it out, and dh took one of those extra super thick foam beds I had picked up at a farm sale, cut it up and used it as extra stuffing, worked quite well to be honest, will have to crawl under and do a better fix it on the problem area but sure can't do it now..

I managed to get everything thawed using a hair drier & a heating lamp (an extra one from the reptiles), plus I turned up the heat.

The problem with this place is they attached all of the plumbing to the 2nd floor to the outside bricks then put the insulation on. It is actually flat to the brick to the point I couldn't even get flat insulation behind it once I discovered the problem. I did get a single sheet of tin foil behind it yesterday to reflect the heat.

FG, once I had the problem with pipes freezing as they entered the house (old farm house that I rented) but never figured out how to fix it. Will you address this issue further in the spring?