http://www.jsonline.com/news/1111weather.asp

So far, I've been spared. However, I've heard the distinctive zapping of downed power lines all night, and my lights are flickering. My portable basketball hoop was tossed around like kindling. Ahh, Wisconsin in November...

Lead story on all news channels tonight. Interviews with many who are in the dark. Power crews are out everywhere. I couldn't help but think of all the poor souls who are miserable to be without power for a few hours, and how will they survive if TSHTF?

For my family, even though we still have power, it was an opportunity for a "Y2K drill". My stepson, 16, hated it. Couldn't see the need for it. Couldn't watch TV, etc. And he just gave a report to his class today on Y2K! I am very concerned about him. More about that another time perhaps.

-- Steve Hartsman (hartsman@ticon.net), November 11, 1998

Answers

Steve, I read the article, + that sounds like one whipping miserable storm. Hope your computer doesn't get kaputed by a power surge. At least the news is acknowledging something is happening! Nothing like it hitting the senses directly to become reality.

Maybe now your community will be jarred into preparing for self-sufficiency, at least the '72-Hr' spiel that 15% of ppl can bring themselves to buy into.

Y2K will snowball in Winter, and freeze our collective hypnotized numbness into stomping mode, while the economy goes into hypothermia.

Thanks for posting! So many wrecking storms + geological events recently, you'd think Someone was trying to hint at possibilities ...

Leska xxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), November 11, 1998.

Steve, we have winter here in Iowa, too! The wind was blowing harder than I ever imagined it could today and one of our storm windows blew right off and broke. It was awful being in the house with all the windows rattling and banging...thought I'd go crazy. It just would not let up. Tonite, finally peace at last! It would have been really frightening had it been late at night AND without any power. We need to do a drill here pretty soon to see how we would get along without any power at all and just how we would react. Bet it would show us where we are lacking in our preparations, too. Blondie

-- Blondie Marie (Blondie@future.net), November 11, 1998.

I think your son just feels like the rest of us - he just wishes Y2K would go away and that houses would continue to be warm and comfortable and the hot water heater still works and dad would come back to his senses and so forth. You'll have to admit that practicing for something that you're going to hate if it ever happens is depressing in the extreme. I'd be worried if he wasn't just a bit put out by the 'practice'. Still, it's good preparation and will serve him well should the need arise. 'Not giving up' is a tough lesson both to teach and to learn - it usually requires many classes.

The wind here in Iowa has been incredible (75mph gusts, all night and all day). We lost a large tree early this morning and had to come home after work and get busy getting the top of it out of my driveway. We were very fortunate though - no snow - uh, this time. And our electricity has stayed on (cross my fingers). We did get a ton of rain yesterday though and tonight, the wind still hasn't let up. Had this storm occurred in Jan., the drifts would have been enormous and travel impossible. It's the kind of weather that can kill you quickly if you don't take it extremely seriously. Every year here, a few people try to kid themselves about their ability to 'make it' in situations like this and end up paying for it with their lives.

-Arnie

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), November 11, 1998.

Here in Northern Missouri we also got hit by 75 mph gusts. I got out of my car today and imagine this, I am 6'4", about 300 lbs (I look somewhat like a linebacker) and a gust of wind hit like no other. It literally blew me forward and for the first time ever I almost got slammed to my knees.

To top it all off, last night I am sitting up here in my second floor-of-the-house office. Wind gust like I had not heard before in my life slammed into the house and literally made the floor ripple beneath my feet. Was beyond odd.

Anyway, as for power outages, just one question:Why are you all acting like this is some sort of odd occurance? Happens around here all the time, and is the main reason I have a flashlight stored on my desk at all times. Is actually the only part of my desk is that clean of any debris so I can grab it without obstruction. Are power outages that rare, even North of me?

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), November 11, 1998.

They aren't even rare in Memphis - city has a couple or three each year in certain areas (in one of which I live).

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), November 11, 1998.

Steve,

Good luck with the electricity and the storm. I guess after seeing all you guys with snow and storms it's going to be impossible for me to get any sympathy for all of us in North Carolina. You see, it got kind of chilly today, only up to 74 with sunshine. We had to all put on coats, etc! Sorry for the kidding! If it's any comfort, we have to put up with hurricanes. We've had two come through where I live in the past 3 years.

-- Greg Sugg (gregsugg@bbnp.com), November 11, 1998.

steve et al--the drills are a good idea, but the kids will take it better if you don't wait for a storm. have a regular drill, once a month or once a week, whatever. make it mandatory for the whole family but make it fun, not a chore.

suggestion: have the first drills on weekends. make it "family games night" with board games, cards, charades, etc. announce it ahead of time, that power will be deliberately shut off for a few hours and you'll use your backup lighting. that way there's no cheating. put duct tape on the fridge door, and on watertaps, that say "Out of Order" or something. use the fireplace or coleman stove to make popcorn and hot cider.

if you do this on a regular basis, it will give you an idea of what needs fixing in your personal plan, without being a nasty chore. this is my personal plan, by the way. if you try it, let me know how it works by sending me email or posting to this forum. i have been an amateur radio emergency communicator for the past 10 years (callsign WZ9M) with national weather service, emergency management, and red cross, and i KNOW the need for repeated drills. i also have a lot of relatives of all ages, and would be interested in knowing if my idea works for other people.

-- Jocelyne Slough (jonslough@tln.net), November 11, 1998.

A friend of mine lives north of Milwaukee. They have been without power for almost 24 hours. They have been Y2k ready for almost a year now. The generators are running and they are surviving quite nicely. The winds here were incredible. This truly is a drill for y2K.

Dave

-- Dave (Dave22@concentric.net), November 11, 1998.

The outtages are not rare here in the warmth of S. California either. We got our first storm of the season on Sunday night/Monday morning. We had done our homework, cleaned the gutters, took the rubber tree leaves off the roof...got the containers under the downspouts for collection of water. They said...anywhere from 1/4 inch to full inch. I said: Bet me we lose power. Sure 'nuff....1:30am the power went out and stayed out for 5 hours.

Funny how tenaciously humans hang onto notions that power will always be there in the face of overwhelming evidence that the delivery of electricity is a fragile thing. Sobering.

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), November 11, 1998.

Driving all the way from Montreal to Philadelphia yesterday, the wind was something else! (Started in Ontario, with milder wind and rain along route 401, increasing to fearce gusts in NY all the way to Philly). My Durango was being jerked all the way. 9 hours of white knuckles and stiff neck later I finally made it home!

Along route 81, in New York state, I saw many barns and houses with major damage, at first I thought a tornado had hit the area, when I noticed the wind jerking my car. Crews were busy along the highway cleaning up and chipping trees that had fallen and were potential hazards. It was a wierd sight, big piles of "mulch" dotted the highway for miles. Then the rain picked up as well and darkness, in the mountains...ouch...my neck is still sore.

Just thought I'd report on my experience with the wind that hit the east coast as well ;)

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), November 11, 1998.

Chris,

It also pays to have an urban assault vehicle when you are driving in that kind of weather. Glad you made it home safe in your UAV. :)

Dave

-- Dave (Dave22@concentric.net), November 11, 1998.

Met a lady at the mormon cannery last week who was preparing for y2k and other events. She said she was frightened about some secret government weather control station in Alaska or the Artic somewhere.She read about it in a book written by some senator's son. Guess she will blame all this on government control. By the way Steve, I have a 16yr old daughter who doesn't want to hear a word about y2k because she is finally settled in high school with friends, clubs etc...10th gr so grad date is 2001 and she doesn't want anything to crush her plans. I am curious about your concern for your son. Where does he stand? Diana

-- Diana (count@415.day), November 11, 1998.

Diana:

My stepson has come a long way. As I mentioned, he gave a report to his class on Y2K yesterday. He spent some time researching it, with my help, and "interviewed" me at length as a "Y2K expert" (ha ha).

He was very nervous about his presentation. He usually is when speaking in public. It was for an English class. The topic was up to the individual (other presentations included Halloween and "South Park", to name a few). Only guidelines were structure (intro, transitions, conclusion, and summary) and time (8 1/2 minute limit). He rehearsed extensively, with me timing him and offering suggestions.

He is still fuzzy about the problem. His father is the mayor of a decent sized suburb, and is oblivious. When his dad asked him about why '00' being interpreted as '1900' was such a big deal, he wasn't able to explain it very well. Even after I spent a great deal of time explaining why it will be a problem. His dad also doesn't understand how the power grid could be threatened by this. Etc.

Although his awareness has been raised, and he seems to understand the potential consequences (his intro was dynamite--lights go out at a New Year's bash, get home and it's freezing cold, no hot water, etc.), he hasn't bought into the whole preparedness thing yet.

We have discussed the need for Y2K drills at the dinner table, and everyone agreed that it was needed. Actually DOING one, unannounced, caught him totally off guard. I agree that it should be planned, and an attempt should be made to make it "fun". I will do so in the near future. I'll keep you posted.

I am very concerned that he will have severe techno-withdrawal. Most of his time is spent watching TV, listening to music, etc. (typical teen I guess), and low-tech is, for him, a total bummer. Quite a contrast to my 13 1/2 month old son, who can be entertained for hours, it seems, by an empty toilet paper tube or a toothbrush. He is Y2K ready!!

I should mention that there is a second part to the class presentation. The first part was an overview of the subject. The second is a persuasive speech, with a 12 minute time limit. He has already told me he wants to do a Powerpoint presentation, borrowing 25-30 of my slides. He's excited about doing it. His teacher was given a copy of my presentation at her request.

Sorry to ramble about the family, but you asked.

-- Steve Hartsman (hartsman@ticon.net), November 11, 1998.

Steve, If your step-son is into reading, you might try having him read Larry Burkett's book Solar Flare. Just substitute y2k as the wrench instead of solar flares (although they peak in the yr 2000?!?) and you can get a good picture of how a blackout senario might pan out. Only problem with the book is that it is too real on how people and our government might react! For that reason it is not a good book for my daughter who would normally be a strong individual. My daughter was like your other son until her social life developed this year which does not make her very happy with our plans but you just have to do what you think is best. I heard a lady say the best thing you can do to connect with your teen was to tuck them in a night - well at least sit on the bed and spend some time 5-10min talking or praying with them. Sounds silly but it really helps to bond with them and maybe find an activity that the two of you can do that will help in the transition from the tube and stereo to some low-tech interests. There is something good going on with the two of you if he chose a topic that brought him to you for help. As far as the mayor goes - hope he and the town get a wake-up call before too long, maybe your stepson planted a seed! Good luck! Diana

-- Diana (count@415.day), November 11, 1998.

with teenagers, it would help if the y2k subject in general were made "cool" so they'll take some interest. the best ideas on this will come from the teenagers themselves. steve, why not ask the stepson how to make the subject cool enough for teenagers, and then incorporate those ideas into your slide presentation? however, the last time i checked, boys and girls had different ideas of what is cool. the boys still like danger/disaster while the girls still favor romance.that's why "Titanic" was such a huge hit with kids of both sexes--it had both.

actually, it might be an idea to use the Titanic analogy with the kids. whatever works. i went to see the movie with my daughter, who is 22, and she loved the movie. i didn't enjoy it, because it was like deja vu--denial then, denial now.

-- Jocelyne Slough (jonslough@tln.net), November 13, 1998.