Electricity out = social unrest

[Alpine]

I lived outside Omaha Nebraska back in the late 90's when they had the big snowstorm that knocked power out for as long as three weeks for some older parts of town that had tree's come down on the distribution lines. The local utility had a hard time responding because of the downed tree's and in some places the snow that was never cleared from some roads. People stayed pretty level headed except there were reports of portable generators getting stollen. Bad guys would see who had lights on in a blacked-out section of town, and take-off with the generator as it was running, usually late at night.

Funny thing, the first thing to sell out of every hardware store, dept. store, or builders supply in the area was Chain Saws, Portable Generators, Snow Blowers and Snow Shovels. Luckly, I lived in an area that most of the disribution lines were clear of overhanging tree's or were undergound, so I think I lost power for no more then three hours or so.

I have a portable generator. I bought it for Y2K. Had a friend who worked at Sears and got me a smokin deal. I used it for construction a few times, but it's only around as a mid-term backup since I have a wood burner in the house, and can survive without electricity for a long time.

I also have mutiple chain saws, snow blowers and snow shovels. Usually keep severial gallons of fuel around for everything from the Bobcat to the snowmobiles, so my only concern is long term since fuel eventually runs out.