Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Remember this post about those moments when something happens (or you think something happens) and you’re suddenly quite painfully aware of just how not ready you are?

Yeah, just had one of those.

Im sitting in the shop, literally minding my own business, when the wind starts to blow. The roof rattles a bit and -pop- the power goes out. Now, you have to understand, in regions like this power transmission is almost always above ground. Wires and poles. So the question is – how widespread? And all I could think as the computer fizzled away was “Its 80 degrees out and I have a freezer with several hundred dollars worth of meat sitting at home.” I really need to push getting a generator into a high priority position.

As it turns out the interruption was only for about a half hour and fairly localized. While power at the shop was gone, the house was fine. I keep a MagLite here at the shop (naturally) so I was cool in that regard but -500 points for my police radio (Motorola MT1000) not sitting in the charger and having a dead battery. Bad, bad, bad. The cellphone was unresponsive, so Im guessing my nearby cell tower didnt have its backup generator going. Land line still worked though. On the bright side, I could recharge the cellphone off the small solar charger we picked up last week.

My nextdoor neighbors at the shop are a woodworking shop that is housed in, essentially, a bunker. The building used to be a grocery store back when grocery stores actually kept product on hand. Theres a cavernous space under the parking lot that they use for their shop facilities. Problem is, its entirely underground which means when the power goes it its darker than Obama’s political future in a coal mine. Usually when the power goes out I trot over there with my MagLite and a few light sticks and help the denizens find their way out of the place. For some reason my landlord has never installed emergency lighting down there. I may get him a simple setup for Christmas or something.

But..I need to do watt/amp/load math and find a good, affordable generator that’ll handle the freezer. Do a little homework and then shop Craigslist, Im thinking.