Re: "Americans don't live in tents."

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 21:47:18 +0000, Larry Caldwell wrote:
> (Ann) says...
>> > Most of the posters here can probably go a couple months on their
>> > own, aside from medicines.
>>
>> With no electricity or land line phone; I don't think so. How many
>> people regularly have enough fuel on hand to last 2 months+?
>
> Fuel for what?

Vehicles, generator, chain saw, etc.

> I am never without at least a 1 year supply of firewood, so I can cook
> and bathe, as well as stay warm and dry for an entire season.
> Additionally, I have enough propane on hand to easily run the travel
> trailer for a couple months. It has an ammonia cycle refrigerator. I
> could probably keep the freezer frozen for a month by siphoning gas out
> of vehicles. The worst that could happen is that I would have to jerk
> a bunch of meat. I have plenty of salt on hand to do that. I have a
> creek in the back yard and a backup hand pump on the well.

I didn't question whether you personally could, but you said "most of the
posters here".

> I had neighbors once who were transplanted urban sorts. We had a big
> ice storm, and power was out for several days. Not only were they
> living in a cold house with no supplies, but they both had the flu.
> There was no way a vehicle could make it down to the valley for
> supplies, so we were completely cut off. The woman came trudging next
> door, and thought we had power. We were listening to a battery powered
> boom box radio, had a couple Aladdin lamps going, a fire in the wood
> stove, a pot of spaghetti sauce on the back of the stove, and I was
> popping popcorn in a cast iron pot over one of the burners.
>
> I took pity on them, and fitted them out with a catalytic heater and
> fuel, a camp stove, plus a supply of candles and a Coleman lantern. I
> also fed them a few hot meals. For them it was a disaster. For me, it
> was a vacation.

Been there, done that. (It's called camping.) And, until I was about 10,
I lived in houses that didn't have central heating. None heated with wood
though; coal was the preferred fuel.

> The world lived fine for millennia without electricity. As for a phone,
> I don't see why that is particularly important.

In case of emergency, not necessarily to get in touch with the outside
world but for the ouside world to get in touch with me. And without a
phone line, no internet.

> BTW, if you would like an oven during a power outage, just put a big
> metal box on top of your wood stove.

They're outragiously priced, but Lehman's still sells a stove-top oven.
http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=110&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=oven


.

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