Introducing Betty White

[tarasgirl06]

Gah! Still without power. It’s cold and dark in here. And I’m starting to feel not so great. I’m working up the courage to call in sick. I have no hot water and I’m starting to feel nauseated. Betty is also not interested in eating this morning. I choked down another cold bagel. Most of it anyway. I sat next to Betty’s plate and she sniffed and snubbed it a couple times. Even offering her a carpet morsel didn’t go anywhere. I picked up her tap room treats and brought them to her. So she has two kibbles and two treats in her since second dinner.

We need our power back! I’ll be calling the cat friendly hotels later this morning if we don’t get power restored soon. I don’t want to do another night without power. And I am running out of charged battery packs.

I wondered about you two. Yeah, the candles are great and so are working flashlights just in case. My roomies gave me this little Japanese device that has radio and light, battery-powered, for emergencies. I've never used it but hey, it's good just in case.
The only thing here so far is that the audio went out on one of my TV's last night. Watched with SAP for awhile and then moved to the other TV, which had audio. This morning I was set to call DISH but the audio is back on the main TV and I'd noticed that the box powered up after I turned that one off, so it was definitely them, not me, a big relief.
Stress kills and it really kills me. Had nightmares last night, which I never do, and think they're tied to this and other stuff going on in life these days. HOPING things get back to normal for you two quickly. And stay that way.

 

[daftcat75]

Feeling nauseated. Just sent the sick mail to work and canceled my morning meeting. Going down for a nap and hoping power will be restored and Betty has made a first pass on breakfast. I really hope Betty doesn’t barf today. I don’t want to try to clean that without power to the upright Bissell or hot water to do it manually.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Feeling nauseated. Just sent the sick mail to work and canceled my morning meeting. Going down for a nap and hoping power will be restored and Betty has made a first pass on breakfast. I really hope Betty doesn’t barf today. I don’t want to try to clean that without power to the upright Bissell or hot water to do it manually.

Really sorry to hear you're stressed but that's a good call you made and I hope you feel better after some rest. I tossed and turned and stressed all night long, thinking about my TV. But so often with these problems, if they're not originating from us, they do get resolved overnight, or quickly. This may be a little different as the meteorologists and news stations are screaming about it; but bottom line, no one truly knows. So I'll choose to hope it resolves soon. Hoping Ms. Betty continues to put the food in the cat (and keep most of it there!).
Just in case, if you have enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle or similar, it works just as well in cold water, with cleaning rag. I do this all the time.

 

[daftcat75]

Betty ate something. Far less than usual. But if I’m freezing, she’s probably feeling cold too. Sun is coming out. I have a battery pack with a solar panel that is starting to collect charge.

And while I would rather not try to sleep with the blinds angling the sunlight towards the bed, I have to collect heat any way I can. I’m glad I have lots of blankets. Betty is getting very clingy because warmth. Two reasons I haven’t moved into a hotel room yet: the one cat-friendly hotel I know of also seems to be the outage map. And even if I can get a room, I likely won’t be allowed to check in until afternoon anyway. May as well give PG&E to lunch before I start making calls and reservations.

 

[daftcat75]

Power finally came back on. That was about 18 hours without it.

One of the most asinine and blood boiling things about power outages is how ing fussy the smoke detector is. Power goes out. The thing starts chirping because it lost hard wire. “Can’t you shut the up about it? You have a battery backup!” So I took the battery out when I couldn’t shut it up. Power comes back on. Before I could even wait for the Wi-Fi and smart devices to come back online, the ing smoke detector is chirping because it has hardline restored but it’s pitching a fit over not having battery backup. I already feel preemptively terrible if the power ever goes out while I’m not hear and Betty has to listen to that thing chirping every few minutes.

I’m not really rugged enough for these outages. Neither is Betty for that matter. She was sitting on my chest and shoulder in bed, her face pressed into mine, and she was shivering. I tucked a blanket over her and I could feel her shivering stop. I don’t want to strain the grid too much. But we got down to 66 in a room that never goes below 72. Doesn’t sound like much. But it was enough for me to get out extra blankets and for Betty to tuck in closer than usual. Now both radiators are on and I’m sure she’s going to spend some good time hugging one this morning. Maybe I’ll go hug the other.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Power finally came back on. That was about 18 hours without it.

One of the most asinine and blood boiling things about power outages is how ing fussy the smoke detector is. Power goes out. The thing starts chirping because it lost hard wire. “Can’t you shut the up about it? You have a battery backup!” So I took the battery out when I couldn’t shut it up. Power comes back on. Before I could even wait for the Wi-Fi and smart devices to come back online, the ing smoke detector is chirping because it has hardline restored but it’s pitching a fit over not having battery backup. I already feel preemptively terrible if the power ever goes out while I’m not hear and Betty has to listen to that thing chirping every few minutes.

I’m not really rugged enough for these outages. Neither is Betty for that matter. She was sitting on my chest and shoulder in bed, her face pressed into mine, and she was shivering. I tucked a blanket over her and I could feel her shivering stop. I don’t want to strain the grid too much. But we got down to 66 in a room that never goes below 72. Doesn’t sound like much. But it was enough for me to get out extra blankets and for Betty to tuck in closer than usual. Now both radiators are on and I’m sure she’s going to spend some good time hugging one this morning. Maybe I’ll go hug the other.

I had a hardwired smoke alarm in one apartment. It went off with no reason before anyone's get-up time. I tried to disable it. I finally had to call upstairs neighbor to sabotage it. Luckily, he was tall enough to reach its wiring. *Ducking thing.* And yeah, the stuff you NEED and want to work? *Good luck with that!* *Although I will say that that's getting better these days. But we never used to HAVE power outages. Of course, we never had all this stuff we can't live without, either.*
Oh, you would hate it here. Big house, VERY $$$$ heat so I can't afford, and it's in the 50sF in the house, and clammy. Blankets are plentiful and so are heavy sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets and coats. Sometimes I feel like a female version of the Michelin Man. I envy you your radiators. In that same apt. with the smoke alarm monster, there was a radiator and since utils were included, it stayed on quite a bit.

 

[daftcat75]

I had a hardwired smoke alarm in one apartment. It went off with no reason before anyone's get-up time. I tried to disable it. I finally had to call upstairs neighbor to sabotage it. Luckily, he was tall enough to reach its wiring. *Ducking thing.* And yeah, the stuff you NEED and want to work? *Good luck with that!* *Although I will say that that's getting better these days. But we never used to HAVE power outages. Of course, we never had all this stuff we can't live without, either.*
Oh, you would hate it here. Big house, VERY $$$$ heat so I can't afford, and it's in the 50sF in the house, and clammy. Blankets are plentiful and so are heavy sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets and coats. Sometimes I feel like a female version of the Michelin Man. I envy you your radiators. In that same apt. with the smoke alarm monster, there was a radiator and since utils were included, it stayed on quite a bit.

My radiators are not central. Krista peed in that so I have that shut off at the breaker. I have two oil filled electric radiators. One has lasted longer than Krista. I hope the other will have that kind of longevity as well. These may be the last radiators I ever buy. I also have a Dyson Cool/Heat. Between the Dysons smart functions built in and the smart power strips I have the radiators plugged into, I schedule when each one runs. They each run for several hours in the morning with the office one coming on sooner so that I can maximize my sleep time in the other room. I like to sleep in a cold room. But only so cold. Last night was too cold. The living room radiator comes on a few hours in the late afternoon/early evening. It goes off early enough at night for me to have a comfortable bedtime and a cool night. Meanwhile the office radiator comes on for several hours after dinner and before midnight so that the office will be a warmer room. Betty likes to sleep in a warmer room. And considering how aggressively she will snuggle if the room isn’t warm enough, I like sleeping in separate rooms. We catch up for third sleep and breakfast. And right now after I finished a hot breakfast, I’m enjoying a hot cup of coffee with Betty in my lap. I’ve got a blanket over her until the room gets warmer.

Oh will you look at that. It’s about time for lunch for her. Seeing as she’s showing little interest just yet, I’ll finish my coffee and then I’m sure she’ll be happy to have a warmer lunch than the breakfast I set out. It was fresh cans since they weren’t getting a hot water bath. But room temperature food when the room is this cold, I don’t blame her for a weak first pass.

 

[tarasgirl06]

My radiators are not central. Krista peed in that so I have that shut off at the breaker. I have two oil filled electric radiators. One has lasted longer than Krista. I hope the other will have that kind of longevity as well. These may be the last radiators I ever buy. I also have a Dyson Cool/Heat. Between the Dysons smart functions built in and the smart power strips I have the radiators plugged into, I schedule when each one runs. They each run for several hours in the morning with the office one coming on sooner so that I can maximize my sleep time in the other room. I like to sleep in a cold room. But only so cold. Last night was too cold. The living room radiator comes on a few hours in the late afternoon/early evening. It goes off early enough at night for me to have a comfortable bedtime and a cool night. Meanwhile the office radiator comes on for several hours after dinner and before midnight so that the office will be a warmer room. Betty likes to sleep in a warmer room. And considering how aggressively she will snuggle if the room isn’t warm enough, I like sleeping in separate rooms. We catch up for third sleep and breakfast. And right now after I finished a hot breakfast, I’m enjoying a hot cup of coffee with Betty in my lap. I’ve got a blanket over her until the room gets warmer.

Oh will you look at that. It’s about time for lunch for her. Seeing as she’s showing little interest just yet, I’ll finish my coffee and then I’m sure she’ll be happy to have a warmer lunch than the breakfast I set out. It was fresh cans since they weren’t getting a hot water bath. But room temperature food when the room is this cold, I don’t blame her for a weak first pass.

*Yes on all of the above here, too* except that I can't sleep well without a cat. Elvis loves to spoon. But he usually won't stay for long.
We had an oil heater, like the kind used in auto shops, in the barn in the Mojave. It had a thermostat and it heated the 12x12 room very well. I brought it down here but it is a power hog and unfortunately, this house has mostly ungrounded outlets. So unless I want to use it in the kitchen or the laundry room, I'm basically out of luck because I'm not using an adaptor on that--what do you think? Do you trust yours?. I have a portable electric radiator and a little ceramic heater if needed. So far, I haven't used, but roomies used the radiator a lot. It's also a power hog.
Blankets. We love blankets.

 

[daftcat75]

I have had one of these for Krista’s lifetime and still running. One of the switches broke. So it’s now limited in how warm it can get. But that’s plenty warm enough for the office. I was lucky enough to find another of the same model all these years later. That’s in the front room. The cats and the radiators embrace from November to March or April every year. And neither cats nor radiators have caught fire yet. This year I put the radiators on smart plugs so I can schedule when they run. Technically there is a way to do that on the machine themselves. But that tab wheel interface seems klugey. I’d rather just not supply power to the radiator for those hours I don’t need to run it. My electric bill went down quite a bit year over year. I also turned down the brightness on my TV and I’m seeing a month over month reduction in usage. These are power hogs. But as this morning proved out, I’m miserable without them.

 

[tarasgirl06]

View attachment 469646View attachment 469647View attachment 469648View attachment 469649
I have had one of these for Krista’s lifetime and still running. One of the switches broke. So it’s now limited in how warm it can get. But that’s plenty warm enough for the office. I was lucky enough to find another of the same model all these years later. That’s in the front room. The cats and the radiators embrace from November to March or April every year. And neither cats nor radiators have caught fire yet. This year I put the radiators on smart plugs so I can schedule when they run. Technically there is a way to do that on the machine themselves. But that tab wheel interface seems klugey. I’d rather just not supply power to the radiator for those hours I don’t need to run it. My electric bill went down quite a bit year over year. I also turned down the brightness on my TV and I’m seeing a month over month reduction in usage. These are power hogs. But as this morning proved out, I’m miserable without them.

Looks like a good unit and obviously very PAWpular.
Yeah, we're slaves to our electronics and gadgets, like it or not. I actually know a couple of elder dino types and IDK how they survive in this world...

 

[daftcat75]

I ordered two more of these



And 48 batteries. 24 each of AA and AAA. I also ordered two 2- packs of 9 V batteries because that dumb detector seems to drain them like nobody’s business.

I am now on the lookout for a battery powered water kettle. There’s one on Amazon. Only one. And it doesn’t have great reviews. But in an outage, I guess some hot water is better than none.

Maybe I should instead look at a solar panel charged battery generator. I wonder if I can get a panel I could just put in the window and use this to offset small charging tasks like keeping phones and battery packs charged by the Sun. That could possibly justify having to keep this thing always charged for the very rare outages. Possibly less rare with increasing climate change. Something to look into…

I made Betty’s meals slightly richer today and I’ve just been spending all day with her trying to reassure each other that we will be warm again and we will have warm food and we will sleep in warmth tonight and wake up to warmth. She’s my cat alright. Or I’m hers.

 

[Margot Lane]

if you’re

I ordered two more of these

View attachment 469663

And 48 batteries. 24 each of AA and AAA. I also ordered two 2- packs of 9 V batteries because that dumb detector seems to drain them like nobody’s business.

I am now on the lookout for a battery powered water kettle. There’s one on Amazon. Only one. And it doesn’t have great reviews. But in an outage, I guess some hot water is better than none.

Maybe I should instead look at a solar panel charged battery generator. I wonder if I can get a panel I could just put in the window and use this to offset small charging tasks like keeping phones and battery packs charged by the Sun. That could possibly justify having to keep this thing always charged for the very rare outages. Possibly less rare with increasing climate change. Something to look into…

I made Betty’s meals slightly richer today and I’ve just been spending all day with her trying to reassure each other that we will be warm again and we will have warm food and we will sleep in warmth tonight and wake up to warmth. She’s my cat alright. Or I’m hers.

If you’re shopping around, Goal Zero is great, at least for hand cranked/solar lamps, that can be pre-charged w/ a little plug built into it. They also come with cute foldable feet (that double as a handle when you carry them) and the charge lasts forever. Everything else looks good & durable, but pricey.

 

[daftcat75]

if you’re

If you’re shopping around, Goal Zero is great, at least for hand cranked/solar lamps, that can be pre-charged w/ a little plug built into it. They also come with cute foldable feet (that double as a handle when you carry them) and the charge lasts forever. Everything else looks good & durable, but pricey.

I’m okay on light. Those switches are alkaline battery powered. They work well and last a long time. Same with the battery powered candles which also work well. I just didn’t have enough good batteries last night. Except my USB packs. I had two of those that got me through the night and a third that sits on my desk because it’s one of the few USB-C packs out there that’s charged by micro-usb. I seem to have more A-to-micro than A-to-C. I also have a huge battery pack with a solar panel that also has a light. I got light and I got usb power handled. What I really needed last night was a heat source. I know I can’t run a heater off one of those battery generators. Not for very long anyway. But if I could heat up water, that can warm me inside and out and also provide hot water to cook and bathe with.

 

[artiemom]

Where I live, I grew up during blizzards, hurricanes, black-outs, etc. I learned to have back up lighting. I used to have a camp stove, until I moved into an apartment building... I have a couple of small portable lanterns for light, a great flashlight, and a hand cranked/solar powered/battery back up, radio with a flashlight and a charger. I got it on Amazon. It is tiny, Not as good as my old boom box, which finally hit the dust, but it is something affordable.

Nothing for lack of heat.. That is what will get me in the end. But for lighting and news, I am all set.

a month ago, we had a transformer which went down. We did not have any electricity for 4 hours. Many of us congregated downstairs, to keep each other company.. Geoffrey was under my bedspread, for warmth..
Geoffrey will eat room temp food. He does not seem to mind it. I take the food out when I get up, wait about 15 minutes, and give it to him with room temp water added to the mix.

I am like you. I have shut the breaker off of my main radiator line. I cannot stand hot in my bedroom-- which it seems to be, when it is on. I have an electric fireplace, which I use in the living room. Also have a fan/heater to alternate with, if needed for all day heating.
The bedroom is cool.. If it gets too chilling, I have a small ceramic heater for that room. I have to be careful, because the wiring in her is weird. I can trip a circuit breaker, if I use too many things.. But I manage.

 

[tarasgirl06]

The window solar idea is a good one. Now to find it! You have a good supply of emergency batteries. And it sounds like you and Betty are/will be pretty comfortable.
artiemom I forgot about boom boxes. I have a couple. And a good supply of batteries. Another alternative if need be. That's a good idea about mixing a little hot/warm water in with Geoffrey's food. Elvis will eat food right from the refrigerator. I imagine it would be pretty good on hot days.

 

[daftcat75]

I was starting to think it didn't exist--especially after reading a site that mathed it out to 67 AA batteries to boil a cup of water and it would take 30 minutes.

Well, thankfully someone else didn't accept that answer and developed a thermos that can boil water in 10 to 20 minutes (depending on how cold the starting water was) and has a 10 hour charge. It recharges from the wall in 2 hours. That's so much better than the other option I was looking at which was essentially a butt-load of rechargeable batteries, had two boils on a charge, and took 24 hours to recharge. No thank you!

Next paycheck (Friday), I will be getting one of these:
Cauldryn Battery Heated Mug - Best Heated Electronic Travel Mug

I may also go back to the AT&T store and see whether it makes sense to pre-load some more data onto my mobile router. I actually used it quite a lot this week. Last night the Internet went out in the middle of the night and I was able to shift the Roku to stream through the mobile router until Xfinity came back up in the morning. I know I could use the mobile hotspot I just added to my phone. But I don't know how much more of a battery drain that is.

I haven't done an earnest look into battery backups. But the few that have started popping up in my Instagram are more than a month's rent, starting at $3000 and going up from there.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I was starting to think it didn't exist--especially after reading a site that mathed it out to 67 AA batteries to boil a cup of water and it would take 30 minutes.

Well, thankfully someone else didn't accept that answer and developed a thermos that can boil water in 10 to 20 minutes (depending on how cold the starting water was) and has a 10 hour charge. It recharges from the wall in 2 hours. That's so much better than the other option I was looking at which was essentially a butt-load of rechargeable batteries, had two boils on a charge, and took 24 hours to recharge. No thank you!

Next paycheck (Friday), I will be getting one of these:
Cauldryn Battery Heated Mug - Best Heated Electronic Travel Mug

I may also go back to the AT&T store and see whether it makes sense to pre-load some more data onto my mobile router. I actually used it quite a lot this week. Last night the Internet went out in the middle of the night and I was able to shift the Roku to stream through the mobile router until Xfinity came back up in the morning. I know I could use the mobile hotspot I just added to my phone. But I don't know how much more of a battery drain that is.

I haven't done an earnest look into battery backups. But the few that have started popping up in my Instagram are more than a month's rent, starting at $3000 and going up from there.

Hoping that mug will be good for you.
And I'm sure you know about newegg.com, being where you are...but if not, it might be another place to check.

 

[Furballsmom]

So I took the battery out when I couldn’t shut it up.

Does your smoke alarm cover have a round "button" in the center of it? If yours does, as I understand it when it starts to chirp you can press that button (think of using a broom handle depending on how high it is located) and stop the chirp.

 

[daftcat75]

Does your smoke alarm cover have a round "button" in the center of it? If yours does, as I understand it when it starts to chirp you can press that button (think of using a broom handle depending on how high it is located) and stop the chirp.

It does. I will try that next time.

 

[daftcat75]

Caught Betty having a banana party this morning.

A Betty and Her Banana 🍌

• daftcat75
• Feb 8, 2024

Caught her going to town on this for several minutes.