Maybe! Maybe! It's just me and being that I lived in a cold state that 6+ months of the year made this weather look like spring or fall!

I'm not saying at all I'm perfect! Not at all!! I did not have several things to make sure my family was more than a C+ at best!

Yet I see on TV and read online most Texas is a D- or less! Don't have any warm clothing don't have anything to eat or a way to cook since their fancy electrical equipment doesn't work when electricity is not there!

Not saying all Texan people are this way! But 100% of them that are not prepared are crying on TV and social media! They sound more like Democratic states that cry for the government to take care of everything!

I will say the government should take care of somethings! Like water to its town! Yep, Colorado City mayor!

Yet so so many of my fellow Texas's cry about a little cold! Info! My family did Saturday to Tuesday without water, heat, or power! We are still today dealing with no heat since our heater froze up.

We have only been in this home since 08/20 so I'm not a psych!

Yet if I was I would have gotten the Mr heat heater for the house or the wind/solar for the well-house! Or best the whole house generator along with its 500-gallon tank!

How many of these did I get done? Zero! So my fault!

Yet I was not expecting a winter storm like when I was in the Dakotas! Yet I had the gear! The only saving grace!

So not ragging on you all for not being prepared! I did not find myself prepared for this whether it also! So let us learn from this!

Also, let's try to talk to gas stations about caring for kerosene!

Easier to spend your money on instant gratification, than to plan for your family.

I understand not having a whole house generator or whatever, but many folks do not even have a simple $20 charge bank for their phone. Others did not have simple meals, etc.

But hey, no problem getting in the $50K SUV and waiting in line for free shit.

People are accustomed to .gov taking care of everything.

People are also conditioned to their way of life as well without hardships.

Most of the population doesn't go camping, experienced living outdoors for more than one day, and depend on someone or gov entity to take care of everything.


I would go even further to say most homes don't have:

basic tools and knowledge on how to use them
more than a day or two of perishable foods
rope
550 cord
Chem lights
Candles
Lanterns
Generator
Extra fuel
Fire wood
Charcoal grill
Gas Grill
Extra Propane tanks
Tarps
Tents
Vacuum packed linens
Cold weather gear and clothing
Chapstick
Medical kit
Cooking oils
1 or more boxes of MREs
Flotation devices
Raft
Hunting knowledge and how to field dress.



Just an opinion and observations after living on the gulf coast and dealing with hurricanes, flooding, and power outages. People don't have basics or even basic field craft knowledge to get by.  

LOL I have 95% of that in my truck.

I didn't need anything to be without power for 44ish hours.

I don't own a coat and don't see the need for one still.

Well I guess I do have a lot of flashlights that came in handy.

I lived many years in Ohio.  Winters can be brutal near Lake Erie and they taught me to be prepared.

bottled water
canned food
firewood
pipe repair materials (copper & pvc), include some insulation materials
blankets
small generator
10 Gallons of gas (this gets rotated into truck)
electric heat gun (saved my ass this week)
first aid supplies
meds
candles
flashlights
batteries
ammo
gun(s)

this is all basic stuff that you can get at any big box store and won't break the bank, just have a plan

Wish you all where my neighbors! We would all get together and smoke some meat and shoot targets!

Maybe some of the hogs around my land also!

That made me chuckle.  Same here.

My wife used to roll her eyes at the camping and survival gear that I have acquired throughout my life.  The light came on for her this week when we had warmth, lights and hot food from Monday through Wednesday.

In the hurricane prone areas most people dont keep supplies because they just leave and think that Gov will take care of them, or they stay and think that Gov will take care of them. If Katrina did not teach them that Gov will not take care of them then nothing will.

Same here. Mine had here doubts, but after Ike and we were eating steak and shrimp she stopped.

There’s 87 threads of this shit in GD already, carry your fucking yankee back patting asses over there and join in, we don’t need that shit in here

Preps are expensive, take up room, and often sit around as random "stuff" or clutter that just gets in the way.  Especially if your concept is "continue life as normal" which takes a lot of... stuff.


My preps are much more in the theme of "could camp in bad weather" than "can remain in my house as if nothing happened and/or repair damage."

Who's a yankee?

Some of us have been in our house all of two months & aren't set up, yet.  I am very lucky my utilities held out.

Y'all know that people move an average of every two years or so, right?

You and me both.

My bug out bag will sustain me alone for 96 hours.

People just don't understand how vulnerable we are and yet, most people are never prepared for worst case scenario or have basic provisions to get by.

Just made a run through town. LOL

Brookshires is closed.

There appears to be no gasoline anywhere, diesel is available.

Local WalMart had no fresh dairy products, and most of the fast food solutions were gone. Plenty of healthy food like fruit and veggies.

Highlight was more than one person going through the slush parking lot in flip flops.

Line to Chick-Filet was about 5 miles long.

Part of the problem to be honest is that a large amount of people have items in their home or have access to but have no idea how to use it or that they could use it.

I was at Lowe’s a few days back to get some charcoal so I could grill some steaks as I didn’t want to use any propane.  I had several people asking me what it was I was getting.  I had to explain to them what charcoal was. I also had to explain to them why not to use it in their kitchen.

I overheard a Lowe’s employee talking to a man about a gas grill and wanting to use in his house.  I had to explain to both of them not to do it.  The look on their face after I explained why it was a bad idea was amazing.

I was talking to someone that was afraid the food in their fridge was going to go bad.  I had to explain to them the white stuff in their yard was ice.

I had to tell someone that the candles they had could be used to heat a room along with one of their clay pots.

I had to explain to  people that using a Propane lantern in their house was not a good idea. First it was a bad use of their limited fuel and second it could kill them if not used correctly.


On the same day i walked by a pallet of chafing fuel / sterno at Sams.  If people understood it was a safe indoor fuel that could be used it would not have been there.

These are all simple things most on this website would know about.  Unfortunately we have a world of ignorant people that have no clue what to do if something starts to go wrong.  

I really think the media coverage is intended to smear Texans with the broad brush of the worst of us. I can think of very few excuses for not having preps to live for a week off and the grid.

To answer op.

When you prepare for things, preparing for the worst freeze in 100+ years is lower than tornado, hurricane, fire, etc.

We have different building codes than the Midwest or the North.

Mr friends have already shared AARs with each other.

J believe the damages at my apartment are the only ones, but they all had good lessons learned.

PMCS on generators and essential tools was most listed.

I had a fair bit of preps....but they were mostly designed around hurricane season...so things that can work for freezing weather, but some are less useful.
Food- check. Could cook it inside on gas stove or out on charcoal grills.  Should have got a bunch of disposable bowls.  I always have paper plates, but a bunch of bowls would have been nice when the water is out to feed the kids cereal in the morning or heat up soup.

Water(drinking)- should have had more, but I was in the middle of rotation and was lower that what I like to be.
Water (non-potable)- I don’t have running water at this time, but I caught a bunch of rain water that was pouring out of my frozen gutters to use for flushing toilets.....I really need a shower

Heat -....luckily I didn’t lose power more than a couple of hours on two days.  Have a fire place, but my house has electric heat.  My generator cannot power it....maybe the window unit in my garage.  Most of my temperature related preps were for the other side of things like portable a/c and fans...
We have an assload of quilts since my wife and my mom quilt, so we could have stayed warm enough.  I’m going to get a couple of various types of heaters now....maybe some propane ones and a couple of electrics that can run on my generator.  I also need to replace the gas system in my fireplace (it was old and worn out but it can burn wood, so I would have done that).

Kids- 2 of my kids lost their heaviest jackets right before the cold snap.  They had to wear my wife’s old fleeces/hoodies to go out and play on the ice.  Still no damn clue where their jackets went to.  I could have dug out some more sweaters and stuff,  but it wasn’t needed.  Usually in my area, a thick hoodie is all you need.

I have a bunch of little rechargeable artery packs for phones/iPads...so that was fine and I could have charged those with my generator..
I didn’t have all of my gas cans full, only a couple.  Kind of like the drinking water, I was using it up and planning to replace it later.  Had enough for a couple of days, but damn sure not a week.

dude, what were you thinking?! how is Darwin/survival-of-the-fittest supposed to run its natural course when you kept interfering...?

I dont want to see them as a customer in the hospital.

Rather than try to everything-proof the place, I'm gonna make sure to have common utlities repair items on hand (and know how to install them)

If nothing else, I'd be able to make a mint selling extra plumbing couplers right now, if I'd had them on hand.

On one side I'm frustrated with myself that I didn't buy the PVC for my well replumbing I have planned two weeks ago like I intended...on the other I know people need that shit desperately right now so it's better to be in their hands.

Now 60 degrees at 1pm.  High was only 55.

Forecast wrong again, but for the better for a change.  Woke up to 9 yesterday.

i was prepared but barely.  If this had gone on a few more days with below freezing temps and  without power it would have been a big problem.  I ran through most of the expensive wood for my smoker in the fireplace to keep from freezing my ass off.  Burned all of my Post Oak and Hickory, but luckily didn't have to break into the Pecan, which is even more expensive.  But I didn't come close to running out of canned food and stuff, so starving was not going to be an issue.  Canned beans, SPAM and long life milk.  I'm going to have to go to Dollar General now and stock back up.  Picked up a few bundles of wood for the smoker today as it was back in stock, but I'm going to have to get about 5-6 more to replenish what I used up.

I give us a score of 99% on being prepared. I needed more bottled water as we went on a "Boil water" notice that was not expected. We didn't come close to running out but having another 100 gallons would have been much better. Not much we can do about having more "fresh" produce but we did decide to load up on the stuff we like before the next event even IF we get sick of eating what we like. I needed more "small" flashlights to scatter around. Maybe 6-8 more. My battery order from January never got here due to the USPS issue. Lesson learned. We were quite comfortable with our whole house generator. Had tons of firewood along with everything else. We're older so I had PLENTY of time to get ready.. No frozen pipe issues at all. Low temp was 6 degrees. Ya'll can say what you want about Harbor Freight but over the years I've collected enough free or almost free packing blankets and tarps that I was able to cover the outside water filter, my tractor, pool equipment and more and more just by using what we had in stock. We're still analyzing our successes but all in all we did very well. I've seen other in our area that can't come CLOSE to saying that.

If you do not have experience with such storms, you cannot comprehend what you are facing and thus will not prepare.

Texans aren't stupid any more than Yankees are dumb for not eating cornbread with their chili which does not have beans.

Come on man, it was all over the news days before to get prepared.  

I think what Tonto is saying is knowing and experiencing are two different things.

Intellectually, folks were warned. But without some context (by having experienced similar events before) it doesn’t really register.

wrong thread

This is part of it.  You also have people that still don’t understand you can’t just order something and have it delivered when the shit hits the fan.

PS Yankees will never learn what real chili is just like they really don’t know what pizza is either.

By the time it is on the news some things like firewood and other supplies are usually bare on the shelves.  To be prepared you need to buy these items when nobody is thinking about it.

This winter storm started the day before our home was supposed to be listed on MLS.  We had "decluttered and staged" our house, which included boxing up and moving about 75% of our emergency supplies to a storage unit nearer our new home, that is still under construction.
We were still in pretty good shape for this...except most of my extension cords were in the storage unit.  Our living room looked like an electricians nightmare of power strips, 6' extension cords.  Our little 2000 watt inverter generator was good for this short 2 day trial run, but the bigger generator was also in the storage unit. If this had been in the summer, we would have had issues with AC and the freezer.   I'd have been in trouble if I needed to be outdoors for an extended period, because my winter hunting cloths were also in storage.

Remind me why building a new home is supposed to be exciting...

I have been buying up the Buy One Get Two Free chicken quarters from Albertson's for a couple years now, and Tom Thumb has been running this awesome weekly special on bone in ribeyes since COVID started. The freezer on my fridge, the freezer on my beer fridge and my deep freeze are all packed with vacuum sealed chicken and steaks.

The only impact that this snowpocalypse had on me was I had to wear two pairs of socks at the same time, and the dog liked staying put in the snow longer than I wanted to. Other than that, this was a nonevent for me.

I'm not convinced that this was the worst freeze in 100 years. I've been here 16 years come April, and I have seen three snowstorms that have paralyzed the DFW area for several days. Maybe the problem was that this hit the whole state at once, but if you're living in Houston or Austin, then come on...you have to know that the Wrath of God has been upon you for years now. Seriously, flood, hurricanes, chemical plants exploding after a flood, caused by a hurricane. You had to suspect that a punishment of ice was coming.

What I like are all the people who were without food because the power went out due to extreme cold temperatures and so their food went bad in the refrigerator.

We prepared, but we were prepared for one level of crisis and were given something worse.

We were prepared for cold, wrapped pipes, drained water lines, put on extra insulation. A lot of folks didn’t do that. It got cold, pipes burst. That was a given. I was set up to sleep at work for a few days, working 20-22 hours a day, taking naps where I could.

We expected rolling blackouts, thinking we’d be without power an hour or two tops, then we’d be back on for 4-6 hours.

What we got was the opposite, on for 30 minutes to 1.5 hours, off for 4-6 hours. We had to run our generators longer than we expected over about 4 days with constant tendering.

We bought groceries and snacks ahead of this. 3 days in, I came home and made a second run to the grocery store to make sure my kids had plenty of food. The grocery store was heavily picked over. No sandwich meat, no beef of any kind, no pork of any kind. I was able to get one frozen chicken, and some random frozen meals, but that was it. 3 cans of store brand spam on the shelf, we had enough to be comfortable a few more days.

The main roads and highways were clear at this point, but we still had intermittent power, so back to work for a couple of days to chase generators.

Come home Friday, 6 days after this mess started, to get a shower. My wife worked several shifts, sleeping at work, she was cranky as hell and wanted dinner, so off to the grocery store I went.

The store was empty. They hadn’t been restocked. I mean stripped. I’m walking around trying to piece together a hot meal for my wife and there’s nothing. I ran into some friends and we talked for a few minutes in what once was the dairy section when someone got on the stores loudspeaker announcing them were closing at 5pm! So we basically got run out of the store with nothing.

We have emergency food at the house, but try explaining to your already upset wife that you’re going to feast on a couple of cans of wolf brand chili and a box of macaroni.

That I wasn’t prepared for.

I scoured around town till I hit up the Mexican grocery store, which was fully stocked on meat. Got some hamburger, chicken, sausage, bacon and shrimp!

Made my wife some shrimp nachos and the world was whole again for another day.

But a few cold days turned into a complete cluster fuck. We were able to get gas, but several gas stations ran dry.

Cub scouts also paid off. I just pulled our camping tote off the shelf and took it to work. Propane stove, lantern, cooking supplies, it paid dividends.

Might be a Yankee but we don't cry about a little cold and not having power like I have read several articles about here in Texas! 3 days without power and not able to go to HEB or Walmart for fresh food! Oooo you want me to eat canned or dry food something that's not fresh!!!!!!?????

Come on man! Yankee yes I will wear that with pride not like you raciest Democrats from the south! If you check your history you will see that they south was mostly Democrats and supported slavery! So yes real Republicans are Yankees!

So please go with your fellow Texans who cried about not having food after two days! Not having another heating option other then electric! Not having warm clothing or blanket's because we are in Texas!

Well surprise MF's weather don't give a $hit what state your in!

I will start a gofund me for people of Texas who think HEB and Walmart need to be open and stocked everyday no matter what!! How much should I put you down for wolfjflywheel?

wolfjflywheel you called me out! I don't have anything against Texas at all love the place I'm wanting to die here! But the Yankee is to much since you seem to be happy being labeled as a Democratic supporter for slavery!

People here need to be prepared! Be it hot or cold weather! I'm guessing your not one of the ones who goes to the grocery store to buy your food!

I assume you are not that type! If you are then your  part of the problem! If not you part of the solution!

I love Texas!!! Yet Texans made Texas look like a bunch of pu$$ies because of a little cold! Every year places like North Dakota have this weather 6+ months of the year negative what 1 or 2 here?

How about negative 60 degrees! So cold you can throw boiling water in the air and it will turn to snow! Cold enough that they give warnings about your tear ducts freezing!

Yes that's life for them 6+ months of the year! Yet don't hear them cry about not having food or water or heat!

Yes it's because they live with it but also we on Texas had been warn about this cold a week in advance! So why did most Texans only buy food for day to day? Why did most Texans not buy water? Why did most Texans not buy alternative ways to heat food or keep warm then electric?

Again love Texas!! Yet the people of Texas do not respond to an emergency any better then the rest of the 49 states!







Agree! I feel the same way as you! Yes I just bought my home less then six months ago and all my family was feed had water and warm blankets!

I to myself feel I was ill prepared for this! Glad to see I'm not the only one here!

This sounds about right.  I also believe a lot of the damage to homes resulted from people who couldn't be bothered to turn off water and drain their house before it froze.  Nobody could simply fathom that if it's below 50* in their house that their attic might already be below freezing.  Instead, they simply let the faucet "drip" and just prayed they wouldn't burst while they snuggled up into a sleeping bag or went to a hotel.

Hurricane / Pandemic / Boogaloo Preps were all good.  Had plenty of canned food & camp stoves, plenty of bottled water & several water filters, - However the orientation is more Typical Texas and focused on Hot & Humid Houston weather, rather than Ice-Pocalypse.    Have some ECW sleeping bags & winter camping clothing, so not going to freeze to death, but a lot of people who are otherwise "Texas Prepared" were caught "wrong footed" and of course a lot of recent immigrants who just didn't bother to prepare because "We don't do that in X place they came from."   Apartment Dwellers are the worst.  Many of them here in Houston are the "Day by Dayers", who look at having enough money to (or EBT Card Balance) to buy groceries at the end of the week and keep making the minimum payment on their 22" spinner rims.

The PRIME DIRECTIVE...   No Interference!   Let Nature determine their outcome...    

(Unless they are SMOKING HOT & you'd bang them like Kirk!!! )



BIGGER_HAMMER

OP quote: Maybe! Maybe! It's just me and being that I lived in a cold state that 6+ months of the year made this weather look like spring or fall!

I'm not saying at all I'm perfect! Not at all!! I did not have several things to make sure my family was more than a C+ at best!

Yet I see on TV and read online most Texas is a D- or less! Don't have any warm clothing don't have anything to eat or a way to cook since their fancy electrical equipment doesn't work when electricity is not there!

Not saying all Texan people are this way! But 100% of them that are not prepared are crying on TV and social media! They sound more like Democratic states that cry for the government to take care of everything!

I will say the government should take care of somethings! Like water to its town! Yep, Colorado City mayor!

Yet so so many of my fellow Texas's cry about a little cold! Info! My family did Saturday to Tuesday without water, heat, or power! We are still today dealing with no heat since our heater froze up.

We have only been in this home since 08/20 so I'm not a psych!

Yet if I was I would have gotten the Mr heat heater for the house or the wind/solar for the well-house! Or best the whole house generator along with its 500-gallon tank!

How many of these did I get done? Zero! So my fault!

Yet I was not expecting a winter storm like when I was in the Dakotas! Yet I had the gear! The only saving grace!

So not ragging on you all for not being prepared! I did not find myself prepared for this whether it also! So let us learn from this!

Also, let's try to talk to gas stations about caring for kerosene!





Quoted for posterity, we'll talk when you sober up

delete.    wrong thread.  

2Hut8

I was prepared, in my home and in my vehicles.  I'm always prepared and I'm not a preppier by any means.  Life throws curve balls so you have to prepared to some degree.  Use common sense.  I served in the military and have been to two wars and many conflicts.  I was taught to be prepared.  If you where in the military and you were NOT prepared then you failed with your training.  There's always room for for improvement.  Lessons learned and risk management are key inputs to create a plan.  Quit bitching, pull your big boy pants up and move on.  Good luck.

Don't bother. OP is always like this.

Does anyone remember any other time in recent history where you went to the grocery store as a kid with your mom and there wasn’t any food?

I don’t.

I remember my parents not having money for food, but never going to the store and not having any food to sell.

There’s plenty of food here, for some reason we’ve decided it’s ok to stay home and collect a check.

You are right, I don't wrassle pigs either, besides have a HTF party for proud Texans to get ready for

I would say we say the CLEAR difference between the Red State Suburban - Rural Texans, and the Blue State Urban Transfers.

We were without power or potable water for days, yet we had the forsight to keep Hurricane / Pandemic / Boogaloo Supplies (21 days bottled water (and have a water filter & water tablets) to make more if needed), 45 days of tasty food, and camp stove, coats, hats, boots, sleeping bags, space blankets, & such to ride this out just like a CheeseCake Campout (except I found a Huge Fail in my Supplies - No Keg of Jim Beam!! )

Meanwhile bunches of Broke Dick Apartment dwellers & their upscale cousins, the "Urban Condo" hipsters are all whiny about no public transit, no power for their MacBooks to get to Social Media, the Whole Foods isn't open, and they WHINE about it to ANY & EVERY Media camera or microphone around because they are conditioned that "If I scream & cry & bitch that I will get whatever I want"...

Sorry Baby, This Ain't That Kind of Movie!

Tayouts!!!!!!!

It's good to hear from you again!!!!

I swear to Christ I thought that you were dead or in prison!!!!

I remember you talking all kinds of shit in the LEO and BOTS forums about how you were 10 feet tall, bulletproof, and the hottest shit in all of American Law Enforcement!!!!!!!!!!!!   !!!! !!! !!
!

I read three lines of your thread and immediately recognized your writing style!!!!  (although for the life of me I can't seem to figure out how you're so easily recognizable!)

You're my favorite low IQ troll on AR15.com by far!!!!

!All Cops but you suck!  !No Cops have the chops to Police the flaming dumpster fire that you describe Indian reservations as, except for you! !  You're a real deal sooper dooper FEDERAL AGENT because you patrol an Indian Reservation and you're the Indian whisperer because no Native American would ever speak to a White man other than you! (for non-Police Officers, Tayouts! is the only human that I've ever met offline or online who's ever been an Indian reservation Police Officer, because of the thousands of Cops I've met, I've never met one as hard up as him for a job...)

!Texans suck because they don't know how to prepare for cold weather as well as you, because you've experienced cold weather while bouncing around multiple jobs and multiple places in your life without finding success or happiness in any of them!



Honesty though, I miss your absurd posts. You're a reassuring reminder that no matter how high or low I fly in this life, if you can make it in Law Enforcement, so can I... and so can my neighbors cat!!!!!

!

Sober!? Truth how many articles are there about Texas people crying about the cold? Several!!!!!

It's all over the media how Texas is a bunch of pussies when it comes to cold weather! Really we are!!!!  

Tell me I'm wrong! Please! I have lived in placed that this weather is 6+ months of the year!!! Don't here them crying! Like Texas!!

I know not all Texans are the same just like how I was called a Yankee! I will take over being called a Democratic slave owner!

Fun fact check me!

This is one prep I need to do.  

Right now, I'm unable to legally turn off the water to my home.  The city owns the only valve that will turn off all the water to my house, and they have it in a locked box.  I would have to break in to turn it off.   I didn't need to do that because I didn't have any pipes freeze, but I didn't like the fact that I didn't own a valve that would allow me to do this on my own.  (Not that the legality would stop me from breaking in and turning off the water in an emergency...)

I suspect there are a LOT of people in the same boat.