Being prepared. Or: ZAP!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I pulled into the driveway this evening, with a couple of trucks parked out front. Cable guys. It seems that there was a very local power outage – my house and a couple of others. Fortunately, I’m prepared for such an eventuality. I lit a Coleman lantern, then took the 3 Kw Honda generator outside. Plugged in the TV, cable, etc., and the computer, and Bob was my auntie’s live-in lover.

Amazingly, the PSE guy was out front by the time I got everything started and connected. So I (personally) was powerless for only about ten minutes. I was contemplating pulling out a Svea 123 to heat up my dinner, but now I can just use the microwave oven.

As for the ZAP!? An animal had ‘touched the third rail’, so to speak, in a transformer and blew a fuse. It was either a crow or a squirrel; the PSE guy said it had fallen into a tree and he couldn’t see what it was. Probably a squirrel, as there are a lot of them out here and they seem to be active after the crows go home to roost.

2

Yep. I still keep a Svea 123 in the bugout kit, just in case. I’d probably use the propane grill first, but you never know. Sometimes the nostalgia can get you and you start putting together bags of gorp, “just in case.”

3

Heck, I’ve got a dozen Svea 123s! (Well, maybe only nine. But there are a couple of Primus stoves, and a Svea #1 and a smaller version thereof that run on kerosene.)

Anyway, I heated up my fried fish. Whew! For a minute there, I thought I’d have to have a napkin sandwich! :smiley: