But Will You Stay Warm?

Some days I wish we had a wood-stove. Finding wood to burn is so easy! Just peek at some of the twigs our sycamore trees dropped in only days:

               (These will be stored in our basement to use for future outdoor cooking.)

Decades ago Tom and I used a wood-stove as our sole source of heat and it made me feel like a true pioneer woman back when I wanted to feel that way. You could even cook on top or use it for baking in a Dutch oven.

But frankly? Since then I've felt a little gleeful just stepping over to a thermostat a few thousand times.

Well, with the threat of attacks upon The Grid looming, our being wood-stove-less is a concern. We could have one installed, but the heat would drive us out of our tiny, tiny living room. 

So we've been seeking-out other heat sources.

At a yard sale years ago, Tom bought a kerosene heater which looks kinda like this. Recently at Home Depot, we bought a few gallons of kerosene and this week we even moved the heater from our garage to our front porch, wrapping it in a white tarp. While lying in bed one morning it occurred to me that if we had an EMP (yikes!), Tom and I would have to push and shove our car out of the garage (assuming we even could) in order to bring the heater into the house.

Simply rolling it to the front of the house on a cart on a pretty afternoon was ever so much easier, not to mention wiser.

Other ideas?

We are very stocked-up on fuel for our gel fuel fireplace. I bought fuel online for around $2.85 per can, then discovered from good ol' youtube (don't you appreciate all the knowledge there?) that you can use hand sanitizer, instead, bringing it down to $2 per can when you use the 10 ounce bottles from Dollar Tree. (The young man on the video is adorable.)

The good news? You don't even need a gel fuel fireplace in order to use the gel for heat. Watch here.

Now, some of you may recall when I tried the ol' flower pots and tiles and tea lights idea for warming a room, but the fumes were terrible. Well, I found a different variation of this idea, and also, bought two brand new clay flower pots instead of ones which had previously housed plants. I'm waiting for a cool day to try this new method and I'll let you know if it's better.

Oh, and I found tealights (for the flower pots) cheaply at WalMart, though I've not yet been able to find the same packages online. Sigh. Oh, how I'd rather not return to that crazy place for more (more I should have bought in the first place).

Anyway, I'd planned to add ideas for cooking off The Grid, but this post is long enough and the links will keep you busy and considering alternate ways to heat your own home. So I'll save the cooking segment for another day.

Above all? Please don't let any of my (or anyone's) information overwhelm you, because that can become paralyzing and then you'll do nothing. The times ahead are too important for that and besides! When God wants us to do something, He gives us the grace to do it.

All that remains is that we learn how to receive that grace. And keep moving forward. In faith. In hope. In love.

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Oh! Nearly forgot. You may have wondered why I didn't mention a fuel-powered generator. Lots of places where I've read say that you'd have to have lots of gas on hand to keep a generator running in an emergency where you couldn't leave home or one which shut down gas stations. And because generators make noise, they attract desperate folks and are often stolen (this happened a lot in the aftermath of a recent hurricane).

But in the case of an EMP? Gas stations would shut down so where would you buy more gas? Plus, only your protected (by way of a Faraday cage) appliances/electronics would still work.

Solar generators which you leave inside your home seem a better way to go, but are expensive and are approaching being short in supply. Yet do-it-yourself-ers may find this intriguing.





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"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."   ... from Ephesians 5


"For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it."   ... Ecclesiastes 7:12