No heat, and other infrastructure failures
Mar. 5th, 2021 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaWhen my power and therefore heat went out in the wake of the recent ice storm, it was challenging because I didn't have any patterns in place to handle it, even though I have plenty of outdoor cold weather gear and indoor down comforters.
Some good tips in comments to my post about it, including this post by![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
jaune-chat.
melannen posted some great tips.
I saw somewhere the great suggestion to pitch a tent on the bed, which gets rid of the problem of being too creaky to sleep on the floor. However, I still haven't figured out how to keep the cat from poking holes in the tent with his little claws, and I would like it to continue to be waterproof for eventual outdoor use. I suppose if losing heat becomes a regular event, one would keep an indoor tent and an outdoor tent?
The other challenging part of it was shock at the infrastructure failure. I know the power can go out. I think of hot showers as a luxury that will end some day. But for whatever reason I haven't encountered lack of needed indoor heat before. I have a gas furnace, but an electric thermostat. I think when I was growing up it was just a gas furnace, so the power going out didn't affect it. Thank goodness for an uncomplicated gas stove I could light with a match. I've seen a lot of railing against them lately for indoor pollution, but it was sure nice to be able to make hot food and hot tea!
siderea posted recently The Very Bad News about how if you were shocked by the pandemic, you have not been paying attention to the unfolding Climate Catastrophe. I was not shocked by the pandemic. I think being a Jewish child of Holocaust refugees has infused me with the knowledge that yes, everything can be unfairly taken from you as inexorably as an oncoming train.
ljgeoff posted when everything goes. I agree about the degradation of quality of life punctuated by disasters. We're watching it happen.
Some good tips in comments to my post about it, including this post by
melannen posted some great tips. I saw somewhere the great suggestion to pitch a tent on the bed, which gets rid of the problem of being too creaky to sleep on the floor. However, I still haven't figured out how to keep the cat from poking holes in the tent with his little claws, and I would like it to continue to be waterproof for eventual outdoor use. I suppose if losing heat becomes a regular event, one would keep an indoor tent and an outdoor tent?
The other challenging part of it was shock at the infrastructure failure. I know the power can go out. I think of hot showers as a luxury that will end some day. But for whatever reason I haven't encountered lack of needed indoor heat before. I have a gas furnace, but an electric thermostat. I think when I was growing up it was just a gas furnace, so the power going out didn't affect it. Thank goodness for an uncomplicated gas stove I could light with a match. I've seen a lot of railing against them lately for indoor pollution, but it was sure nice to be able to make hot food and hot tea!
siderea posted recently The Very Bad News about how if you were shocked by the pandemic, you have not been paying attention to the unfolding Climate Catastrophe. I was not shocked by the pandemic. I think being a Jewish child of Holocaust refugees has infused me with the knowledge that yes, everything can be unfairly taken from you as inexorably as an oncoming train.ljgeoff posted when everything goes. I agree about the degradation of quality of life punctuated by disasters. We're watching it happen.
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Date: 2021-03-06 10:12 pm (UTC)I saw someone recently say "Ugh, I didn't want to have been born at the end of the "fuck around" century just in time for the "find out" century."
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Date: 2021-03-06 10:29 pm (UTC)I love that quote. I saw a twitter thread about the unenviable job of teaching middle schoolers about climate change. In response to the kids' universal, "Why didn't anyone DO something?!" someone proposed the response, "We've collectively been the victim of an intentional targeted coverup campaign and we're finally learning how to combat that." That's the "fuck around" part.