Do you ever feel a little guilty for being prepared ?

So we lost power, the whole neighborhood and beyond is out. Saw a local restaurant only lit up by cell phones.
Everyone is on wells.
So for today I thought I'd give the Miller welder a bit of running. Several hours now and we are among 3 house's for a roughly 4 mile trip I just took that are lit.
Wife feels embarrassed and I'm like turn the backyard lights on for the dog.
What say you all ? Ever feel guilty for being prepared?
I should put the hose out with a free flush water sign.

 

Nope people spend their money on what's important to them. Some drive fancy cars/motorcycles. Others take expensive vacations some stack wood and food to the rafters because they had conversations with their grandparents and know it can get bad here.

 

Guilty...I walk outside and laugh at the Knuckleheads that think owning a 90,000 dollar camper and 95000 dollar truck is more important than being prepared!

 

I wouldn't feel guilty...I'd probably worry more about someone helping themselves to my genny!
I still need to come up with some sort of an exhaust extension pipe, or something like that, so that I can have the genny in the garage and just run the exhaust out under the door

 

Leave it outside and run cords thru deadbolt

 

I'm not worried about the cords...just don't like leaving my genny outside where it could grow legs and walk off. We live on a corner, 2 pretty busy roads...

 

zero guilt here same thoughts as eatonpcat. fancy and loud cars, toys, all the other trappings of life. And not prepared for the basics first.

OTOH some weren't raised here, and don't have the common sense we have. Some were raised to think beef comes from a shelf in a store. We were a bit that way, but having a kid gave us a new sense of responsibility and preparedness. Some folks have to learn the hard way I reckon. But, that is why I love a good power outtage, or a crazy snow storm, or a hurricane....we and others took those as warning shots across the bows and made some simple and inexpensive changes.

Perhaps doing things for neighbors requires knowing them....are they starting out and need a leg up, have they the means but heads in the sand?

Also, as brenndatomu says, there is a risk of everyone noting that YOU have power and every light on. Standing out is not necessarily a good thing. The first few days fine, but after that, yup, a good exhaust pipe with mufflers and the rest is a real good idea.

real good question about feeling guilt. If HHO prices go too much higher, those of us who have slaved to build multiple years of wood inventory, will be facing those same feelings when others around us can't afford to heat their homes. I can't figure out how we'll deal with it. So far, I'm overpricing my wood.

SCA

 

Gotcha if someone came up 1/4 mile drive got past 230#s of dogs that love their friends BUT are loud/intimidating.. I leave keys in tractor and vehicles Because it’s easier to find the keys.

Do I feel guilty heck No! When a soldiers mom, was upset because she didn’t have enough wood. Her son deployed before it was finished. We (army guys) brought her 3 cord of dry; from my stacks! She likes dry wood now

I have house keys BUT not sure where they are

 

Nope. I suspect most are like me. Procrastinating . Been here over 30 years and lots of power outages. Every time, i swore I would get a generator.
Finally did it this year. The big HF inverter unit. Electrician came by this week to set up my outlet and tend to some things on our patio project.

he recommended upgrading our breaker panel, to deal with all the new additions. I said do it. With my OWB taking care of heat on my total electric house, I will be in good shape. Doing that Monday.

so many of your neighbors will be motivated by seeing you still living in luxury. Set a good example and turn on as many lights as you can.

I believe anyone building a new home should budget in a home generator, even if it means the wife doesn't get her dream cabinets. But here i am hoping no power outage with our wind storm.

 

You getting hammered with wind ? SE Wisconsin and it's finally settling down now, was nuts.

 

I've been gathering parts to put in a carbon monoxide/fume exhaust in my garage, complete with at the source capture. Start the tractor to plow snow and I have to suck out all the heat to get rid of the smoke.
Have most of it scrounged already. As for now I run them in the garage with a large exhaust fan on and a overhead open about a foot and a half. It is not attached to the house.

 

It’s called being prepared, you can lead a horse to water, but, you can’t make him drink. Sometimes, hard times are good teachers. I’ve always been one to try to be prepared for tough times. Call it beings scrounger or, what ever you want, but in the military some tough times meant scrounging things for bunkers, shelter, food even water. You adapt, and overcome, just to survive. Now days, everyone is used to getting what they want, now, not later, then, it might be to late. The ole scout motto comes to mind, “be prepared”

 

No
One of the neighbors has a gen that turns on automatically.
Their house sits back further from the road than mine.

Power doesn't go out very often here. I have a new unused small gen . I went small to use less gas.

 

Just as I didn't feel guilty for having TP, or plenty of dried/canned food when there were shortages, I wouldn't expect anyone to feel guilty because4 they have what they need to get thru trying times.

At my old house, we had a portable welder with its own generator (that is what my ex did), along with a wood stove (with 2-3 dry cords at all times) on the main floor to keep warm. We didn't feel guilty for having limited electric to run the fridge, boiler for the basement heat, a few lights, and the well pump. We would have welcomed neighbors if they needed, but most at least had a heat source and wood. Did teach a couple of people that moved fromm the city that they could flush toilets during the winter even if their well pump didn't work. One year our well pump died and I spent a week stopping at a stream and filling 5 gallon containers with water.

Where I live now there are rarely power outages and I'm on city water so don't have to worry about that. But at the same time I make sure I have plenty of water for me and the cats if the weather guessers say that widespread power outages are likely (I fill large pots and have a couple of gallons of bottled water). That is just in case something happens to the plant during such times. I'm super happy this house came with a water heater that doesn't use electricity and I recently invested in a battery backup system that I can run a pellet stove for around 10 hours of continuous run time if needed.

 

I'm thinking of something like this.

 

Nope. And never will.
I spent half the summer making a new garden and pulling weeds and hauling water, and several weekends canning and putting up food. I've got no reason to feel guilty for being prepared.

We spent the last 2 afternoons cleaning up the garden and garden beds getting them ready for next year. If i can bless someone else with my bounty, great, but feel bad for someone who didn't prep when they could've...nah...

 

Guilty?
Looking out for myself and my family's safety and wellbeing is part of my job.
So , No. Zero guilt here.

 

PFFT!
Chrome don't getcha home...I'm thinking I could scrounge something up...like this