Oh the joys of winter

[kengr]

We are having an unusual stretch of weather for Portland.

It's been a lot colder than normal for a week and looks like it'll continue that way at least until Christmas. On top of that, We've been getting snow (a rare thing here).

Last night we had some lovely drifting snow. When I checked outside early this morning, the front door of the building was hard to open. 3-4 inches of snow drifted against the door will do that. Then there was a clear stretch and then a drift a foot plus deep. Then the lawn where the snow was barely past the top of the grass.

Later, at some point we'd gotten freezing rain. So when I went out to do some shopping this afternoon, There was this lovely crust of ice on things. And trying to figure out ways around the deep spots (so as to not get snow inside my shoes) was loads of fun.

Early evening the lights went out for a second. I assume some idiot hit a pole or something. Fortunately the computer is on a UPS.

I'm stocked up on food I don't need to cook (some rice & beans in the fridge, more cooked beans in there, plus tuna salad). And a few cans of chili, plus a loaf of bread. And I just made a batch of spaghetti and meatballs, so that'll cover me for far longer than I can stay her if the power goes out.

If it goes out for hours, I can just read or something. Longer than that and I'll have to check with friends to see who has power. While I *can* sleep without the CPAP (in fact when I was sick last month, I wound up doing some napping without using it), it's not a good idea.

So I've got that as a limit on doing without power. :-(

Comments

[kengr]

Email me. But Fay is my first choice, simply because I can *walk* there if I have to.

But I do need to visit your place one of these days. I might even clean up and show up in girl mode. :-)

Don't recall if I have the number or not. Email me the number and (if you want) the address)

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

We have a sofa and a recliner, so yeah, if your power is out and you need to crash here, text me and you can come over.

[mistresscayenne.livejournal.com]

I would invite you here, but there is no heat in the main part of the house. The temp right now is 44F and that is as cold as the refridgerator.

Chrissy Michelle

PS: it is warm in my room. But I live upstairs in the smallest room now. CMS

Many CPAP units have a factory battery pack socket. And about that UPS.

[capybyra.livejournal.com]

Let's just say I've "life experiences" with people dependent on suchlike. Hell of it being *I* should be on CPAP... Suffice to say I suggest the factory designed backup battery as "least risk" path. Second choice is True Sine Wave Inverter/UPS. The risk of MSW or Buzzysquarewave crap is scary at best. Last resort being that old huge buzzy UPS and some wheelchair AGM's. Depends on if you "need" that Heated Humidifier. As the heaters do suck amps of course.. But pressure to breathe drier air Vs apnea hell?

Re: Many CPAP units have a factory battery pack socket. And about that UPS.

[kengr]

Alas, mine doesn't have a battery jack. But I was able to "modify" one of those six inch extension cords for wall warts so I could use my "clamp" type meter to read the current flow.

My unit is only about 20 watts. As such, even the tiny "plug into the lighter jack" inverters (mine are 75 watt) are more than adequate.

Alas, can't afford battery packs. I'd want something with enough amp hours for 2-3 nights (call it 24 hours run time).

Assuming that the inverter is inefficient enough to make the load 24 watts (2 amps at 12 VDC) that means I'd want something with around 50 amp-hours.

Highly annoying is that some of the "start your car in an emergency" units that have lighter jacks might work, but they don't list the amp hours of the unit.