YOU KIDS.........do realize their are people here who are old enough to have lived in what you guy would consider barbaric times. i was born 1945. and some here are older, but from my upbringing in the part of the country i grew up in,(washington county, pa) was at the time 40 years behind the times then. you make jokes about walkin to school up hil in 4 ft of snow. I KNOW PEOPLE WHO DID THAT!!! for real. 1950-51 winter in western pa, stopped everything for almost a week. no power, no telephone. but then, we were not so "dependant" on either. we had a COAL STOVE. gravity heat. no electric blower on it. so it didnt matter. WATER, we had a well with electric pump, but within walkin distance of the house was a SPRING, ran year round with the best tasting water you ever drank. when we went grocery shopping then, you did it for 2 weeks. so we didnt have any problem of getting fed. we also had a wood stove we could cook on. didnt get an electric stove till bout 1953. my mother "canned" vegtables in the fall we grew in the big garden all summer. we picked walnuts in the fall and hulled them. so we had nuts all winter. everybody hunted then.......so getting fresh meat was no problem. we had chickens. picked eggs everyday. when we wanted chicken for supper, go get one dad would cut off its head, put it in hot water the feathers would come right off, out in a pot. EAT IT. we had an OUTHOUSE!!! we took a bath once a week. drag in the big tub off the porch into the kitchen, heat water on the wood stove, all 3 of us used the same bath water!!!! didnt get hot water and a shower till 1958. so for me, i pretty well seen it all come in, take over and make everyone totally dependant on someone else to keep them comfortable. i was here in pcola in this house when HURRICANE IVAN hit. we sat thru it. was 2 weeks no electric, we had water, and hot water, cause we had a gas hot water heater!!!! city water. we still have a septic system. we faired a lot better then most. also coming from where i did.........helped.