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So, is a storm coming or something?
By adamg on Sun, 10/28/2012 - 12:22am
Christopher photographed the scene in the water aisle at the Waltham Shaw's on Saturday night.
At the Dedham Star, a manager went on the PA: "Attention shoppers, get all your power-outage needs at the front of the store." At the front of the store was a table with votive candles, cans of propane, empty gasoline containers, batteries. pink umbrellas, "12-inch Mini-Quick disposable grills," and those fire-starter wand gun things.
Daisy reports:
The clerk at Blanchards in West Roxbury assured customers that they'd be open during the storm.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
" At the front of the store
" At the front of the store was a table with votive candles, cans of propane, empty gasoline containers, batteries. pink umbrellas, "12-inch Mini-Quick disposable grills," and electric fire starters."
Great. Except that for years emergency services have been telling people NOT TO USE CANDLES.
And what the hell good are electric fire starters IN A POWER OUTAGE?
Sorry, not electric fire starters
What was I thinking? They were those long wandish gun-like things you can use to start a fire in a barbecue or fireplace. I was thinking battery-operated, but they're probably not that, either.
Butane?
You're talking about the lighters with the long tube thing, right?
Yep
Clearly not a big user of them ...
Isn't Butane ...
... supposedly the happiest place on earth?
Oh ... nevermind.
Fire starters are good if you
Fire starters are good if you have a gas stove that has an electric ignition. If the electric ignition can't work, one can still turn on the gas and then use the lighter to start the burner. Also useful to have around in case one has standing flame ignition/pilot light and it goes out.
How would the storm effect
How would the storm effect tap water in Waltham such that you would need to buy bottled water?
Water main break or well water
If you have well water, it's probably not a good idea to drink from the tap if there's all kids of shet floating around from your septic system.
If you have town water, there could be a water main break. I had no water for a few days a couple of years ago when there was a problem in Weston.
Well water
If you have a well and the power goes out,your pump won't run and you get no water.
What's with the water in the
What's with the water in the middle of the photo being half full? Someone freak out and just start chugging it there in the store?
Half full?
It's half EMPTY, you communist.
For a second there...
...I thought those dotted bags on the hook were discarded Wonder Bread wrappers (i.e. somebody in severe french toast withdrawal just took the loaves right out of them and left them there).
D Batteries
Don't bother trying to get D Batteries now..
I went to the Target in Revere, Stop & Shop in Revere, Home Depot in Chelsea, Home Depot in Everett, Target in Everett, and Stop & Shop in Everett. No one has them.
I did find a one stray pack at CVS in Chelsea, and I bought out what Family Dollar in Chelsea had (4 packs)
Try a college area
I decided it was time for an emergency radio, largely so I'd have a way to charge my cell phone if the power goes out. I decided to hit up the Radio Shack on Comm Ave in the middle of BU, figuring that the kids would be largely oblivious and the shelves stocked. Worked like a charm; as of yesterday afternoon they had plenty of radios, flashlights and batteries in stock.
How do you charge a cell phone from a radio?
You can get a radio with a
You can get a radio with a hand-cranked dynamo to recharge the radio or to plug in your phone and recharge it.
You can..
Some of these emergency radios that are crank-powered have USB ports so you can charge your cell phone. Of course it's a lot of cranking to get it fully charged.
American Red Cross FRX3 Does it.
Car Radios, too
Our car stereo has a USB port and we have other chargers.
Is it wrong that I find that radio kind of sexy?
I charge my iPhone from the car too
I use whatever they call the cigarette lighter these days to recharge the phone if I have to. Yes, I made sure to fill the gas tank on Friday.
I bought one of these and
I bought one of these and recommend against it, if youre going for the charging.
Ten minutes of cranking = 1 min of power.
Cranking must be done evenly to not fry phone.
Iphone not supported.
Be warned.
If you can get a spare battery, that would be better
"Emergency"
I needed an emergency radio anyways; the radio function is far and away the feature I most expect to use. I figure there will be other issues if the power is out long enough for me to burn through the rechargeable battery and the spare AAA batteries leaving me needing to actually use the crank...
D batteries
Shaw's in Porter Square still had plenty when I shopped there an hour ago.
Oh my Gawd
This is gettin' retahded.
Yogurt?
We stopped by Roche Bros. in West Roxbury to lay in some emergency stocks of, um, cream cheese (well, for breakfast today, anyway) and it seemed like there was an unusual number of people clustered around the yogurt shelves. Yogurt?
Skyr
The Vikings (and other euros) invented the stuff as a way to preserve milk in moderate temperatures.
Live culture stuff will last a long time if you stick it outside in 40-55F weather - you know, cave temps.
Chicks miss one day of their
Chicks miss one day of their yogurt diet and they whale up. Fact!
Sale
They had a sale on Yoplait. That section is usually crowded, storm or no storm.
Your average UHubber would
Your average UHubber would have no idea, but for emergency preparedness, I recommend watching YouTube prepper videos. They may be paranoid nutters, but when power goes down for a long time, they'll be sitting pretty, while all your extra milk (and yogurt, apparently) goes bad.
I just do what my
I just do what my Presbyterian mother-in-law does. It involves baking until the power goes out.
Dear suburbs, please
Dear suburbs, please chill.
Love ya, urban gal