I know all of us will most likely be glued to the TV watching Peter Jenning's report from Tonga, or thereabouts, to see if the world goes dark. I know I look forward, very much, to this part of Y2k. This segment will be exciting to watch. However, what else will you be doing? Filling bath tubs and getting a bucket so you can flush toilets? Filling jugs for drinking water? Filling a couple of oil lamps (we have large generator, but no way would I use electric lights at night and tip off the people that might drive buy our farm). Making sure you have bread and milk for a few days? Running to the 7-11 for more cigarettes? I will fill bathtubs for use in toilets, but have a deep well water pump so should always have water just out my back door. I will fill some oil lamps and start thinking about what to cook for the next day and how to cook it. Bush Box, gas burner or turn on the generator. The generator being the last choice.

Taz...who is really going to miss her woodstove this winter.

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), September 03, 1999

Answers

We are definitely staying home and most of the kids if not all will be home as well. I think early that morning we will start watching the news and I think I might stay on the internet to see what eveyone is saying and doing.

Hopefully we will be reasonably well prepared, but filling the bathtubs is a good idea. We will certainly have the woodstove fired up and going. We will certainly be keeping in touch with those that might have to leave in a hurry (those that we can't convince to stay with us "just-in-case").

Otherwise, just taking it easy - maybe doing some baking for the kids, playing some board games and just enjoying the day.

Can someone help me out with what time it will be in the midwest (CST) when the new year officially rolls over the international dateline? I always get confused trying to figure things out from the international dateline. I think it will be early in the morning.

-- Beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), September 03, 1999.

Hi everyone

We'll be doing pretty much what you are - watching the news, filling tubs with water, perhaps cooking a big roast. We'll also make sure our cell phones are charged up and our car is full of gas. We'll change the batteries in our watches the week before too. It's going to be a New Year's Eve like no other!

-- citygirl (citygirl@idirect.com), September 03, 1999.

We will be having a small dinner party with all our close friends at our home. We will be cooking steaks, steaming lobsters and crabs, and enjoying what potentially could be our last "normal" evening. The bathtubs will be full, all the preps will be ready, and we will quietly ring in the new year....

scratchin' at the door...

The Dog

-- Dog (Desert Dog@-sand.com), September 03, 1999.

Beckie:

It probably makes little difference when it turns over on the international date line. If major problems occur [that is an open question to me] they will begin when Zulu [GMT, etc.] turns over. That will be [help me here folks] 6 or 7 in the evening of 31 Dec 99 in CST. If no really big problems occur, you may have be patient until the end of March and see what accumulates.

Taz:

We country folks go to sleep early. We will be sleeping the sleep of the pure [or some hype like that]. We will get up like last year and see all of our lakes [takes years to establish these], full of fish, and eat a hearty breakfast; cooked on our electric stove, on our proprane stove or on our camping stoves. We will sit in front of our Earth Stove. We will invite our neighbors, if we can reach them. We will have fun. That is what it is about.....

Best

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), September 03, 1999.

Beckie,

I think that for CST, the GMT rollover will occur at 5pm on the evening of the 31st. When we "fall back" this fall, it will take us from our current 6 hours to 7 hours behind.

-- (cannot-say@this.time), September 03, 1999.

Taz,

I guess we shall be open for business "as usual" but only taking cash !! Car will be full of petrol,the house will be clean,all the clothes washed the day before.

During the day we shall be listening to the World Service on the radio..no TV or Internet here. But in the evening we are going to party big time.Last Lap Carnival & then an all night barbecue on the top of Brimstone Fort(yes we are going there !)& watch the sun come up over the Caribbean Sea.

-- Kittian (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), September 03, 1999.

I will go to bed at about 9 pm, as I always do. I will leave my oven on, in case the gas stays on. With electric ignition I need to leave it on, or I would not be able to light it. The top burners I can light with a match.

My bathtub, laundry tubs, washing machine and all buckets will be filled with water. After that I will sleep the night away.

You can check out the new millenium arriving around the world here. http://www.jrwhipple.com/z2k/

-- Kath (wingy@sprint.ca), September 03, 1999.

Taz,

How deep is your well? What kind of water pump do you have?

-- Jill D. (jdance@mindspring.com), September 03, 1999.

I believe it will be 6 am Dec. 31, 1999 when the other parts of the world first see Y2K. Here in the Midwest, CST is Zulu minus 6 hours. I think there are other parts of the world that are in Zulu plus hours zones. If I figure it right, Y2K will hit other parts of the world 18 hours before here (that's our 6 hours behind zulu, plus their 12 hours before, which equals 18). That would make it 6 AM in the Midwest (midnight 24, minus 18 difference, equals 6). At least I think thats how its figured. I recently saw a copy of our electric utility's contingency plan, it mentions that their Y2K center will be staffed starting at 6 am on 12/31/99.

e.m.

-- Eyell Makedo (make_do@hotmail.com), September 03, 1999.

Will have the news on and will be talking to friends on the net untill/if it gos down, maybe a bit of bubbly :-) For me it won't be any big deal other than what's happening elsewhere. Already live mostly off the grid and if the net goes down? The only thing I will miss.

-- CT (ct@no.yr), September 04, 1999.

I will do the last load of laundry, make sure everyone has bathed or showered, filled everything I can find with water, and have camp stove sitting ready on the patio to cook breakfast, if needed. I will run an extention cord out to the moterhome earler in the day to get RV fridge cold(it is AC/propane) of course all tanks except holding tanks will be full. I might add, our RV toilet is a recirculating toilet. It uses the same water over and over by running it through a filter. We can go a long time before we have to dump toilet water into a very large holding tank.

We will pray a lot.

-- Homeschooling Grandma (mlaymon@glenn-co.k12.ca.us), September 04, 1999.

addy.available@my.webpage

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

I believe that anyone who already "gets it," which includes everyone reading this, has a social responsibility to not draw water on New Year's Eve. We have enough advance warning to obtain alternative water containers and fill them well in advance. If you have the containers already, fill them now. Do not contribute to the panic dynamic.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage), September 04, 1999.

KATH: "I will leave my oven on, in case the gas stays on". NO NO NO. Say you're fast asleep, and the gas goes off, even just for 5 minutes. Your oven goes out. The gas comes back on. Your kitchen fills with gas. That is dangerous. If you've got matches to light the other burners then, if the electric supply fails, use the matches to light the oven. Do NOT leave the oven on all night. That is asking for trouble. You wouldn't (I hope!) do that now, so why do it over new year?

-- Startled pyrophobe. (fire.prevention@your.house), September 05, 1999.

I have to second Startled pyrophobe's comments on leaving the oven on. It could be the last mistake one ever makes.

As an aside, though, most of the ovens out there these days require electronic ignition. You _can't_ light the oven with a match, even in cases where you can light a burner with one. Thus if the power goes off, no oven.

That's propane or natural gas stoves...

It does make me wonder who the brilliant person was that came up with a way to make appliances that use non-electric fuel still be dependent on electricity.

-- winter wondering (winterwondering@yahoo.com), September 05, 1999.

ww:

I believe that it was the same person who decided to write code with a two digit year.

Best,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), September 05, 1999.

I've been using vintage wedgwood stoves all of my life. On friday we bought a new stove, I was suprised to hear that all gas ovens for about the last 30 years have a 'no light' safety device. My question is, has anyone used a coleman camping oven or equivalent on a propane or natural gas burner on top of the stove? Any thoughts or warnings?

-- flora (***@__._), September 05, 1999.

I expect that I'll be called in to our rural hospital to act on a "standby" basis. In the early Spring they sensibly issued a memo stating that there would be no leave or vacations granted from Christmas through the 3rd week in January. My neighbors and I have already laid groundwork for y2k and neighborhood watches on homes, woodpiles and stoves. Jan

-- Jan Cunningham (janhame@midcoast.com), September 06, 1999.

I will be skiing at Steamboat Springs, Colorado!! My preps are complete, or as good as they'll get! :) I have friends who will be at my primary residence and know how everything works and where everything is at. I can get back to my place from CO. if need be in a couple of days. I've "stashed" the means and the necessary tools to do so if it's called for. I'm a solo and travel light.

I'm going to bring in the New Year doing something I enjoy and if the SHTF at least I had a "last" fling. :) Besides I've still got good friends in CO. who GI so I will have several "bolt holes" if I need them.

Now how steep did you say that run was!!!! :)

-- (owner@yahoo.com), September 07, 1999.