House Camping!

stabman

stabman

Gold Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
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21,327
Last night the power went out for four hours.
We'd been told it would be out for more like 14 hours.
As we have electric heat, that meant no heat either.:eek:
So, instead of panicking, I decided it was time for house camping!:D
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The candles actually kept it warmer in the living room as well.:thumbup:
And the tea turned out good too.:)
I was actually saddened when the power came back on.:(
 
You were sad when it came back on after a few hours. After a few days you would have been happier. :D
 
adaman04 said:
You were sad when it came back on after a few hours. After a few days you would have been happier. :D
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True enough.:D
But I was just getting the bits of wood ready to do a small "fire can" fire in the kitchen to make some oatmeal.:grumpy:
 
stabman, we live in a rural area, house is back a private lane 1500' from the road, power lines are above ground, etc. etc. Any type of rain/snow/hail/sleet/ or fog storm shuts our electric off. Last year we were "hammered" (according to the local weather guy on t.v.) with 5"-6" of snow. Electric was off for 3 days. Like you, it was pretty neat building a fire & "house camping" . . . after two days, I agree with adaman04, I was "happier" the electric came back . . . :D
Be safe.
 
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hey i think i had that same exact book when i was a freshman in college and had an anthropology class.
 
We did 11 days here after IKE. My neighbors over the fence is on some medical machines. I swear if it wasn't his health (life) I would have drained that damn generator oil and locked the bastard up. We did just fine with myself, my wife, and a our 1 yr old at the time. What I remember the most was how thankful I was that it was cool for a week and 1/2 after the storm. It woulda been a bloody massacre in this city if it didn't cool after...
 
JUST1MOR said:
Like you, it was pretty neat building a fire & "house camping" . . . after two days, I agree with adaman04, I was "happier" the electric came back . . . :D
Be safe.
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When we lost power in the last snow storm, it was fun for the first few hours. Once my room dropped to the high 40º it wasn't fun anymore lol. Luckily our power came back on 6
hours later.

It felt crazy being unplugged from everything. No internet, laptop etc. I had my cell, but the battery was almost dead lol

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We had a big ice-storm in central KY about 10 years ago, and my apartment was without power for 10 days. Had a gas grill to cook on, so food wasn't an issue, and I had all my camping gear, so staying warm while sleeping wasn't a problem (two dogs helped, too - the only time I've ever let them up on the bed with me). The only real hardship was not having any hot water for showering. I'd drive to the other side of town, where a friend still had electricity, and use her shower on the days when I had to work. That got old pretty fast.
 
the_ferret said:
hey i think i had that same exact book when i was a freshman in college and had an anthropology class.
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It's still used in anthropology class.:)

Flexxx said:
Were is your Bar-B-Q grill, thats always nice when the power is out...
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I don't have a barbeque (or a space heater for that matter).
Candles and a small metal can are the closest things I have.:)
 
This is a good thread, Stabman.

I have electric heat as well, although I have a gas fireplace, so assuming that still works, we can at least stay warm. I also have a good 20 degree bag for everyone in our family. And I keep a couple of propane tanks on hand to use the gas grill outside to cook. And a few other things.

Here's a tip someone passed on to me regarding candles. Most of those survival candles are expensive--you know the 30 hour or whatever jobs? But, what is real cheap are the candles that the hispanic catholics burn. You get them around here at all the little mexican stores. They are like 10" tall, 2" in diameter and will burn for 6 days straight...that's over 140 hours straight. (Ive tested them, too.) They come in their own heavy glass casing and the wick is down below the top so they are not easy to blow out. You can easily walk around the house as fast as you want to without them going out. The glass also prevents the melted wax from falling all over everything.

They don't put out a ton of light but at only about $1 a piece, you can afford to buy a few dozen to stash around the house. I get the clear ones but if you're into that sort of thing, they come with some ridiculously scary skeletons and other mexican dietys.
 
Expatriated said:
This is a good thread, Stabman.

I have electric heat as well, although I have a gas fireplace, so assuming that still works, we can at least stay warm. I also have a good 20 degree bag for everyone in our family. And I keep a couple of propane tanks on hand to use the gas grill outside to cook. And a few other things.

Here's a tip someone passed on to me regarding candles. Most of those survival candles are expensive--you know the 30 hour or whatever jobs? But, what is real cheap are the candles that the hispanic catholics burn. You get them around here at all the little mexican stores. They are like 10" tall, 2" in diameter and will burn for 6 days straight...that's over 140 hours straight. (Ive tested them, too.) They come in their own heavy glass casing and the wick is down below the top so they are not easy to blow out. You can easily walk around the house as fast as you want to without them going out. The glass also prevents the melted wax from falling all over everything.
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I'll look into those.:)
I'm also going to stock up at Wal-mart on tea lights and pillar candles.
Some of those 3-wick fat candles would rock too.:thumbup:
 
A couple yrs ago we lost power for 11 days. 1st couple were fun, got to practice a few bush skills outside in the ice and snow. My son was only 2 at the time so I was glad to see the power co.
 
Looks kinda cool actualy. I've camped in the bathroom before, but that was from bad salmon and hot banana peppers.
 
After my Dad died, we didn't have a lot of money. I think it was the Fall of 1983 - the (oil burner) furnace wouldn't run right. Then it wouldn't run at all. Tech came out and said the pot was rusted through because the rain guard on the top of the exhaust was rusted through, Spring and Summer rain came down, rusted it out. We didn't have the money to fix it so we went without heat that Winter. Because my remaining parental unit didn't put an electric heat tape on the pipe, pipes froze. No water all winter after about Christmas. We had electric though! We had a kerosene space heater for the living room. I just slept in my bedroom in a Army mummybag with some old wool blankets for good measure.
 
I use a wood burning stove for heat in my house. I also have a couple of electric heaters, but primary is the stove. Its the first thing I did to my house when I bought it.

I grew up in the mountains, where old folks still heated and cooked on a WBS. We have only had one outage of power, and it was due to an ice storm. We just kicked back and played board games by lantern light. I have 2 "hurricane" lamps, my Coleman lantern, and flashlights galore. I love having that wood burning stove though, its like a big, black steel security blanket for cold weather.

Moose
 
stabman said:
Last night the power went out for four hours.
We'd been told it would be out for more like 14 hours.
...I was actually saddened when the power came back on.:(
Click to expand...

Power outages use to be a real hassle down here, especially during our warm summers where food preservation becomes a real issue; and, tropical storms have been know to knock the power out for weeks at a time. Then I rediscovered astronomy, and now I find myself happly hoping for a good storm to pull down the grid and kill the darn light dome over the city.

n2s
 
I am not for laws, but it should be against the law, NOT to have a wood stove in your house.
 
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