You miss it when it goes
Posted by GruntDoc on December 3rd, 2009
I like living on the edge of built-up civilization, but it means our little development has one electric line coming in.
Today it wanted some time off, fortunately only 4 hours. Didn’t get that cold inside, but having an all electric house has some drawbacks in that circumstance.
My wife figured out the electric-less coffee, thankfully.
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December 3rd, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Gotta have your coffee, yes? LOL Great site. Happened on yours visiting so many other med-blogs since I started my own two weeks ago. I’ll be following.
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
You need to submit that to thereifixedit.com
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
LOVE IT! I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, but Mrs. Gruntdoc’s a keeper. ;) haha
December 3rd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I salute Mrs. Gruntdoc’s MacGyver chops.
Back in the day, I lived at the end of the power line, and any significant storm meant at least 8 hours sans electricity. We bought a generator and installed a gas cooktop.
In the recent home remodel, I ended up with an all-electric kitchen (magnetic induction cooktop + electric oven). A little imprudent, here in California where we will have a power-grid & gas-supply disrupting earthquake someday (maybe even soon).
So I have a propane-tank 2 burner cooktop to add to the gas barbeque. The cooktop comes in handy when we have a big party.
December 3rd, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Yes, indeed, Mrs. Gruntdoc IS creative! Glad the two of you didn’t have to suffer caffeine withdrawal.
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Necessity IS the mother of invention! Good for the Mrs.
December 4th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome!
December 4th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Good for Mrs Gruntdoc!
December 4th, 2009 at 9:46 am
With the amount of gasoline, wood, and gunpowder you have at hand, that’s the best you could do? For shame.
December 4th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Amazing. Simply incredible…Excuse me for my lack of words, but I’m stunned speechless!
December 4th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I was just thinking about this again (it’s been a boring day…)
Are you old enough to remember C-Rats? Back in the day, you could take an empty C-rat can, make air holes with the trusty P-38 can opener hanging on your dog tag chain, and, using a triox heat tab or small piece of C-4( don’t ask!), heat up a canteen cup of water the same way.
Was COMNAVSURFWIFE a grunt?
December 4th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Navy field coffee is the worst tastin’ stuff in the world. Nothing like a good cup of chlorinated coffee made from the water in the water buffalo and served in a dusty canteen cup.
Tammy
December 5th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
DocV,
No, I was a second-gen MRE guy. The triox tabs were still around, and made good coffee warmers.
As for the Mrs, she”d have been more of a MARFORPACDOCWife, which results in its own challenges.
December 5th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Gotta have the coffee! Good for her ..BOTH of you! :)
December 6th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Great idea, Gruntdoc! However those soup labels are a fire hazard. How about simply using 3 empty, labeless cans instead?
December 10th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Everyone should have at least 2 weeks worth of supplies in the event of an emergency such as this one. A smaller kit should be in your vehicle especially if you drive in snowstorm prone areas. After reading this I got my decades old catalytic camping heater out and fired it up. It still works like a charm but I might upgrade to one of the newer ones with a ceramic head instead of the old fabric one. The propane stove and Coleman gas lantern work fine.
Doc V, I remember C-rats fondly but still shudder when I remember the ham and lima beans. Most troops would rather go hungry than have to eat them. It was a shock in 1970 to see that most of the C-rats had been canned in the 50′s
I lived on MREs during my first deployment to Somalia and liked them a lot. In those days we only had 11-12 different menu items. I read an article the other day that said their are dozens now, they even had bread