There’s dangerous weather brewing in the U.S. this weekend. Let’s wish all those in the path of the storm well. May you and your families all be safe, secure, and blessed with good internet service to stay in touch.
Katie
I put this in “Tech Support” because where else would it go?
Charge your devices!
And your portable chargers!
And chop some wood!
New Zealand had some dangerous weather, too. Like some areas getting 2 months worth of rain in 1 day. This is in summer while school is still out and some families are on holiday… all the more brutal when a land slip smashed into a campground.
Thanks! You as well…a lot of snow,ice and cold.
I guess having a radio with batteries would be helpful under heavy weather.
Be safe out there, friends.
And fill up your cars, they can charge your devices too.
Well, not in NYC.
I live in an apartment building on a high floor. I don’t have to worry about shoveling out, but I do have to fill the tub with water. If the power goes out, so does the pump that keeps water flowing to the faucets. Once the water tank on the roof runs dry, you’re out of luck! All of the electrical wires in Manhattan are buried, so we generally don’t have to worry about bad weather knocking down our local power lines, but a big storm that puts intense pressure on the rest of the grid can definitely affect us.
PS - when I lived in the country and had a wood stove I used to enjoy splitting cordwood for the sheer brute force of the exercise. We used a sledgehammer and a maul, though, not an axe—much less scary!
I grew up in rural N.H. in a 200+ year-old house heated mostly by wood.
Never again.
Here in Maine, the high on Saturday is forecast as 10 F/-12 Celcius.
I have filled bird feeders.
I hope your water stays on. Being without it is difficult. I have split plenty of wood in my lifetime. I actually enjoy it. I did use an ax. 
Also NH. Spring cleaning is all about getting the woodsmoke residue out of or off of everything in the house. We used to boil down maple sap on top of the wood stove too, which made the residue even worse. The syrup was nice, though.
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I do miss sugaring. Especially the doughnuts.
For what it’s worth, I also castrated bulls. You’ll be glad to know I did not use an ax. 
You too.
If I lose power I plan to set my iPhone on low power mode and only use my MacBook Air as a battery.
Oh, I’ve read the catalogues and seen the tools. Bands, blades, or crushers? (I know this particular implement is meant to be humane, but you’d never guess that from the name … Double Crush Emasculator.)
This is becoming a classic MPU post. 
You’ll be glad to know I was humane, bands.
I hope everyone here has a way to stay safe and warm and connected during the storm.
Our prep for snow and cold is minimal. We are hoping for multiple feet of snow, bad enough to not be able to get down the hill. We can be self sufficient here for a long time if we need to be. Auxiliary heat and cooking use propane and the tanks are filled. Our solar hot water system that also provides the in-floor heating is so good that a few year ago when the furnace died in the middle of winter we didn’t even notice for almost 2 weeks. The house is also passive solar. If we get any sun we heat up pretty fast in the main living areas. Worst case we have a fireplace and plenty of wood. Might be a pain to chop and get it because we almost never use the fireplace but it would have to be a multi-week issue before we’d need it. We have enough solar panel systems that we can do emergency charging of multiple devices even if the power goes out (we are grid inter-tied) There is enough fuel on hand to run the bobcat, so we can deliver hay as required and also plow the road if we have to get somewhere or help the neighbors. If it’s really bad we can use the big excavator. We got most of the hay deliveries done yesterday, I’m making the little boys “clean up their sticks” as in eat all the hay on offer before we give them more but we’ll deliver a fresh bale this morning when we do chores. We also have generators and fuel for them if required for other needs. The sheep love the snow, they are already all out eating snow cones and running and playing. For me snow is green. It means water for the summer irrigation season and we are at less than half normal for the year.
And a plug for natural fibers. Best way to keep warm is pure silk long johns, with a thin soft wool layer on top usually of merino wool, followed by a thicker layer of a coarser wool that has more space to trap air. Then over the top some sort of water and wind proof layer. Waxed canvas is good but hard to find in styles and sizes that fit women. I prefer Carhaart extreme’s jackets. Mine is a men’s one I made some changes to and is now over 15 years old and going strong. My hat is a hand knitted then fulled thick wool helmet hat made from our sheep wool and then a regular brim hat over the top. Socks are all 100% wool and insulated irrigation boots for their waterproof qualities. I also wear a simple dust mask outside. It provides just enough protection so I am not breathing in hay or really cold air. Gloves are lined leather.
Just an FYI bands are forbidden in some jurisdictions as being less humane. We solve the problem by not castrating any of our sheep. I can’t decide whose breeding material until they are much older than it’s safe to do it.