We were without power for 52 hrs. Food in both fridgs and the deep freeze were ok but we were just getting ready to remove and place outside to refreeze that night when we got the power back. Don't know how people were panicking after just 3 days. We actually ate like once a day while this was happening. Was more worried about keeping the fire going than eating. We're in big trouble if the SHTF for real.

I saw a grandmother on the news that has broken pipes and has to move 4 kids and 10 grandkids out of house. 15 people in a tract home, really. I surprised there was not enough body heat to warm the place. She works 4 jobs to pay for house. What do the kids do? Sometimes it is hard to feel sorry for these people that have more kids then they can support.

I will say that I bet 50% of the populations under 30, don't know how to cook.

My buddy Gene has always said that women born after 1968 can’t cook. After some consideration, I think he’s right.

He also says that if you are on the second or third date with a gal and she hasn’t shaved her legs, you ain’t getting lucky, so take her to a cheap restaurant instead of spending the big bucks. Also correct, in my opinion.

Nothing wrong with hairy legs. I grew up in Arkansas and that was the new Norml.

i think txtrophy85, has hit the nail on the head as to the reason many were not prepared. "What would pass for common knowledge 20 years ago isn't common anymore."

i have a neighbor( who i don't know ) move in a few houses down from me. I was leaving the neighborhood in the middle of the storm one day and came across a wrecked Expedition that had hit a curb and broke the CV axle and A-arm of the front tire. It was in a bad spot where it was left and i got on the neighborhood facebook page and offered tow it to a safer spot. Neighbor calls and says its his and i go drag it with a chain to a little safer spot. I take him back to his house and he has a brand new 4X4 F-250 in his driveway.

I asked him why he was driving the expedition when he has a 4x4 in his driveway and he replies " well i wanted to but my wife said i should take the car".....this guy was from Eastern Colorado and also in the Air Force. He honestly did not know his diesel was more capable in the snow than a front wheel drive expedition.


Take-away No. 1. At my age ( mid 30's ) I have to realize my peers all didn't have the same upbringing as I did. I'm not a handy person by any stretch but in part due to my step-dad being blue collar and in part by my having to figure out life on my own in my late teens-early 20's, I get by in most situations. I'm not a fix it myself person in most cases and have no issues hiring stuff out, but I do posses basic knowledge of most common issues. This just isn't the case for a lot of folks. Alot of people ( and my kids currently fall into this category) are ignorant to most basic troubleshooting tasks concerning the home. My wife is a whizz when it comes to fixing stuff around the house but its a by-product of growing up poor and not having an option other than to fix it herself.

Wife had a client who like an above mentioned example, just left the house, didn't turn anything off and neighbor called two days later to tell them they had water coming out their front door. Over $100k in damages to the home.

I don't know that its anything other than a indicator of where we are in our country and it def. points out society issues. I think by and large we as hunters/fishers/outdoors people are better equipped to handle situations like these due to the inherit nature of our extracurriculars. Hard to expect a person who's hobbies are golf and gaming to have the same skill set needed to survive or thrive in a scenario like we just went thru.

And all of us will pay higher insurance rates and taxes.

We have a pool as do a lot of our neighbors. We lost power for about 24 hours starting about 2 AM Sunday. We already had faucets/shower heads/tubs dripping since we knew what was coming. Pool has a safety feature where the pump always runs when the air temp is below freezing. But once we lost power, that is gone. First thing I did is went out in the middle of the night and drained the tank and opened everything in the system from skimmer basket to the chlorinator to the pumps, wrapped everything as best as I could and hoped for the best. Luckily only had one $35 part that had to be replaced since that was the only one I forgot to open, some flow valve where the cover cracked. No other damage. Couple of my friends in the neighborhood did the same with similar results.

Turns out a few others in our neighborhood did absolutely nothing and their whole pool equipment is fried. One guy who did nothing told me how lucky I was that I got out so cheap.........yeah, lucky.

I forget, is your wife a teacher?

I don’t even know where to begin with this ‘rant,’ but let’s start with teachers teaching life skills and go from there. I’m not even sure what you’re blaming here, but it seems like you’re trying to deflect blame from teachers because you have a chip on your shoulder.

Here’s my take: there are a lot of teachers’s kids who don’t know Jack squat. There are a lot of teachers who don’t know Jack squat. Schools should teach life skills, and I’m not sure that includes knowing where to turn the water off, and I’m not sure that matters. But they have a long way to go in curriculum before we get to “where to turn the water off during a once in 30 year freeze in Texas.”

Wasted effort. Both of the above are too long for me. I am a slow reader .

My dad never taught me the details, like where a water valve was or how to hook up a generator. He taught me that if something is wrong, figure it out.
But I do not see how you can compare sheep to problem solving skills.

I take it the old saying "like a cow looking at a new gate" carries no value either.

I am, and have always been, the fixer in our family. None of my brothers and sisters have the knack. On my wife’s side, one of her brothers is a first class fixer. He can do everything I can and much more. My point here being that not everyone is going to be a fixer, and one of ‘us’. My Dad wasn’t a fixer, but he had me around the house to do what needed to be done. I learned from my grandfather, who had survived the Great Depression. His generation HAD to fix things. Couldn’t afford to call The Man.

Only a ‘fixer’ can teach others how to be one. That would probably be the shop teacher at the schools. From the English teacher you get English, not how to pack the trailer bearings.

I have noticed that the guys out here in the country are much more capable than the guys I knew in the city. My neighbor lived in Bolivia for 13 years. That guy is a first class fixer. When I recently changed all the filters and fluids in my tractor, he insisted on helping, so he could learn how to do it.

My grandfather could and would fix anything. I was young and didn't take advantage of that wisdom, mostly because he was pretty mean. I learned more from my grandmother...cooking, sewing, washing clothes, etc. Mom worked full time. Most of my fix-it knowledge comes from trial and error. I will look over the shoulder of "the Man" when I can't fix something just in case it needs done again in the future.

The very minimum a homeowner should know is how to turn off the water and where the breaker box is located. There are guys out there who can't cut off the water to their house and don't know where the breaker box is. I have first-hand experience with this.

I recall many videos recently of people walking around their houses videoing the water pouring in. Um why don't you work on shutting that water off instead of a tik toc video.

IF my pipes busted I would let it run and F up everything too. I want my deductible to go to good use.

Cheaters never win and winners ever cheat.

Taking it one step further I've also noticed that some people have what I call the "troubleshooting gene" and some people don't. Those that do have it can work on stuff they've never seen before, figure out the problem, fix it, then put whatever it is back together again. Those that don't have it can work on and do stuff that they've been taught, but are clueless when confronted by something that's totally new.

You nailed it Jimbo. I'm one of those folks that will follow "the man" around if he gets called. I want to learn, just like 603's neighbor, that way I can prevent having to rely on someone else in the future. If "the Man" uses simple tools then why the hell can't I do it myself the next time

There you have it

Another cheater?

agreed. I'm not saying a person should know the schematics of their plumbing and wiring of the home but at the very least know where to turn the stuff off at