View Single Post
Old 09-11-2013, 18:11   #16
PSM
Area Commander
 
PSM's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Cochise Co., AZ
Posts: 6,177
Being 100% off-grid, the only natural disaster that I’m concerned about is a massive volcano that would reduce our ability to tap the Sun for energy. Even then, we have three gasoline generators, two of which can each power the whole house.

We go about 7 months between propane refills but could go 10 or 11 if necessary. This thread has reminded me that we need a propane-powered generator, also, so we would not have to store gasoline for the gennies (although that also gives us fuel for the Jeep and Tahoe [both 4WD]).

Fire is my next concern, but, since we are mostly surrounded by wild grasses and scattered mesquite, I doubt that the threat is very high. But we do have fire resistant gel that we can spray on the house if needed (discussed in the “Colorado is on Fire” thread). We cleared around the house and garage from 50 to 100 feet.

We have a 1550 gal water tank that we usually fill to 1250, but can fill full before a pending emergency.

We also have a small travel trailer that is kept, mostly, ready to go. All we would have to do is turn on the refrigerator and make sure that we have the proper clothing for the season.

Our “neighbors” are a pretty eclectic bunch, with the nearest couple living in a straw-bale house that they built themselves. Of those that I’ve met is a retired Army Ranger, a retired airline pilot with his A&P and AI licenses and 1 and a half serviceable aircraft (he still has to re-install the engine on one) and a runway, a doctor (OD) and his nurse wife, and one guy I haven’t met who has quite an amateur radio antenna array in his back yard.

Of course, there was that earthquake in 1887 that destroyed whole towns.

Pat
__________________
"Hector Lives!"

"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." -- Frederick Douglass

"The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen." -- Dennis Prager

"The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it." --H.L. Mencken
PSM is online now   Reply With Quote