Had our first real bit of snow yesterday which means it is time to make sure any seasonal preps have been attended to. For me, that mostly means putting sand and a shovel in the back of the truck, putting the Winter Module into my Bag O’ Tricks(tm), and making double-sure the generator is ready to roll.

I live in an extremely urban part of Montana, so the power rarely goes out here and when it does it is usually in the winter, it is very localized, and is almost always back in a few hours. So, there’s not really a huge risk of damage there…but whose to say the next outage won’t be region-wide? Or larger?

The part of Montana I live in is also, weirdly, the warmest part of Montana. When Billings and Great Falls are -20, it’s 5 degrees here. This valley, for some reason, seems to just stay warm. Probably a volcano down there somewhere that no one has paid attention to.

Regardless, it’s time to switch modes from warm-weather to cold-weather. And, that means making sure your vehicle is ready for whatever winter brings. I had a whole series of posts on that sort of thing. There’s nothing heroic or glamourous about freezing to death by the side of the road because you thought one of those foil mylar blankets and a few handwarmers were going to be all you needed to get through a cold night in your car. No one is going to hand out awards to people who made it through a crisis with the least amount of gear…grab a sleeping bag or two, shove them in a Home Depot orange bucket, hammer a lid onto it, and – presto- a watertight, dustproof, dirtproof, protective container for your sleeping bag.

In addition to car stuff, go make sure you’ve got everything you need in case a pipe pops somewhere. Make sure nothing is obstructing the water shutoffs, have material handy (clamps, sheets of gasket material, etc.) to at least jury-rig something to keep things relatively dry.

And , of course, carry extra warm clothing. I dont mean “Extra warm” clothing, I mean extra “warm clothing”….because there is always someone, usually a Gyno-American, who underdressed for weather because the warm goosdown parka was ‘the wrong color’ or was ‘ugly’ and instead thinks wearing fleece tights and a ‘cute’ fleece jacket will suffice. And the hat will ‘mess up’ her hair. Carry extras, guys.

WInter is here, time to shift gears.