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Chapter 8

0830, Day 1, Garrett Household, Agua Dulce, California

Madison and Logan had been up most of the night. Using the battery powered two-way radio system Logan continued trying to contact Melinda and James but had no luck. He asked a couple of times about taking the Mustang and going for them, but Madison was still against that idea. She was convinced the roads would be hell and very dangerous.

Logan looked through a binder Lee had had created containing a multitude of instructions to follow for emergency situation. Husband and Father Lee had been nothing less than anal on making lists of things to do and ways to prepare.

Logan found a section containing instructions for the power inverter. “The solar panels are connected and will provide AC power to the house whenever there is sunlight. There is a DC power system to run the 8000-watt inverter. The inverter is disconnected, removed, sealed, and inside the EMP proof metal cabinet in the storage shed. I keep it protected to prevent damage from an EMP or massive power surge. The solar panel inverter and battery charger are hooked up at all times. There are extras of both of those items in the large metal cases in the shed.”

Instructions explained how to handle a complete power failure:

1 Power down the main breaker.

2 Turn off all the main house circuit breakers.

3 Plug the inverter into the large battery connection and the large AC connector. They are different, so you will not be able to mix them up.

4 Turn on breakers for the large kitchen refrigerator and extra garage refrigerator.

5 Turn on the breaker for the smaller house water pump. The pump and refrigerators run off the batteries.

6 Unplug all the electrical appliances in the house unless they are specifically needed. If needed, only use them during the day or turn off the refrigerator

7 Only use the LED lighting systems.

Additional Instructions explained other things to do:

 During the daytime, the power inverter should be shut off to allow the batteries to recharge.

 If the water tank is getting low:Turn off the refrigerators.Turn on the well pump and let it replenish the water tank as needed.Once filled, turn it back off and turn the refrigerators and house pump back on.

 The solar panels should be able to keep up on a daily basis and keep the batteries charged. If not, there are extra twelve-volt solar panels that can be set up in the yard to charge single batteries. Extra batteries could be scrounged up. Once charged, any two of like size can be connected in series to provide another 24-volt bank. The inverter runs on 24VDC.

There were detailed instructions on testing the solar inverter and battery charger. This testing would need to be completed during daytime. Logan would do that later when the sun was out in full. For now, the refrigerators and house water pump were working.

There were other instructions for all kinds of things. An index in the front of the binder had the following chapters:

1 Security

2 Water Conservation

3 Septic Considerations

4 Food Items: Storage Locations and Use

5 Electronics

6 Vehicles

7 First Aid and Medical

8 Contact Information for Families and Friends

9 HAM Radio Information

10 Garden Preparation

11 Survival Manual Listing (Manuals in Survival Storage Shed)

12 Miscellaneous Items in the Survival Shed

Logan and Madison perused the binder to see what other information was contained. Madison commented, “I sure hope your dad is home before we need to figure out this stuff.”

“I am sure he will be rolling in anytime, Mom,” Logan said. “Meantime, we might as well get working on stuff. Dad will be unhappy when he gets home, and all we’ve been doing is sitting around eating Bonbons.”

Madison laughed. “But it is his fault we have Bonbons because the freezers are still working. Or we could tell him we decided to eat all the ice cream in case the freezer convertor gizmachi or whatever it is called quits working.”