REDUCED « Robin Writes

Yeah, yeah. Late again. Story of my life.

A group of us went camping this past weekend—and no, I’m NOT still recovering, thankyouverymuch—and we had a blast!

We set up camp on Friday afternoon; slight glitch with a stuck tailgate on the truck, but nothing we couldn’t work around. Setting up the tent in 25 mph winds was interesting. Then the RV arrived, for the “city folk.”

Had a great dinner: campfire stew, cornbread, and Dutch oven blueberry pie. And beer. Of course. Temps in the 60s, in spite of that wind . . .

Saturday morning, the temp had dropped to 37. Hey, I might be roughing it, but I still had my IPhone! So I set up my little stove to start the coffee water while I built up the fire, watching the sunrise. Beautiful! It warmed up pretty quickly, but I was still thinking I should have worn those long johns to bed . . . and I missed sleeping with the lid off. Er, the fly on the tent. Lid. Fly. Whatever.

Since we couldn’t decide between hashbrowns and bacon or oatmeal and bacon, we cooked both. Oatmeal—with dried cherries—was done first. Second breakfast, hashbrowns and bacon. And then the “city folk” wandered over to the fire and made breakfast burritos!

Mostly we hung out around the fire, or close by, played with a parachute—and turned it into a drinking game because, hey, we could! So much for hiking, whiffle ball, Frisbee, etc. But it was great just being outside under all the trees . . .

Dutch oven roast with all the trimmings for dinner—and a pizza for an afternoon snack—and a late-ish night with friends around the fire. AWESOME!

The wind had died down and the temps stayed in the mid-50s until about 3:00 a.m. Until.

Good thing I wore the long johns.

At 3:00 a.m. I woke up to 30 degrees and howling winds, about 35 mph. Those lovely trees were swaying and bending—which I thankfully didn’t notice until I finally got up around 4:00 a.m. And yes, I was freezing. And yes, I climbed into my truck and ran the heat for about ten minutes. Don’t judge me!

In between warm-ups, I hauled stuff from my tent to the truck. VERY thankful we’d pre-loaded the kitchen and cooking stuff the night before! Finally, around 6:00 or so when it was light enough to see, I decided to de-tent.

And it started sleeting.

Lovely.

My point?

I do not like the cold. Not. Like.

So, once again, I’m really hoping that SHTF doesn’t hit until say, spring. Or early summer. Or something like that. Of course, then I’ll be griping about the heat . . .

My second point, the main one even, is that you MUST be prepared. Layers. Blankets. Shelter. Don’t skimp on any of these. You’ll not only be miserable, but cold can wear you out and use up all your energy. Don’t take that chance.

This coming week, Wednesday and Thursday, the DHS is conducting a drill a la American Blackout. Several government sites have put up notices about this, although the information is not widely known. I actually first heard about it from a poster here on my blog – the definitive info, not just the rumors and brief comments that have been around for a few weeks. Quite a few companies are participating in this as well.

Of course, if something can be FUBAR, this might be it . . .

But here’s what I’m thinking:

What if we all “participated?” Now, I realize that these are weekdays and we all have “work” to do that’s non-negotiable. For instance, I have to open the store, I have to take my son to and from school. But what if we actually went about the rest of those days as though the grid had indeed gone down?

Could you do it?

This is how my day would go:

My clock is battery operated, so the alarm would ring. Probably be cold in the house, but maybe not too much more so than usual since the thermostat is set on 65 at night. Guess I’d start with turning that off so it doesn’t kick on at 6:30. My kid is gonna love that! Ha.

No lights, but the sun will be coming up; no microwave for coffee, so I’ll have to use my little camp stove with sterno. Since it’s Day 1, I could probably flush and still have water. Cold water. That shower is going to be a real bite. Or I could heat some water on my gas stove – also good for coffee, of course – but I’ll have to light the pilot manually.

Crud, no checking Facebook or doing marketing – or does that constitute “work?” I’m going to call it “work,” not only because it is, but because this is a simulation and doesn’t include “work.” So, yeah, I’ll see you around . . .

And I’m going to cheat a little too, because before I go open the store I’ll have to turn on the heat for the critters. They already told me that NO WAY are they going to practice this stuff . . . J

So – I won’t be able to use a debit or credit card; good thing I have cash. And yes, I know the gas stations, stores, etc. will be open and using electricity, but work with me here, folks! I’m about out of cigarettes – bad prepper – okay, okay, bad habit, whatever – but I AM going to stop for some. If I’m freezing and doing everything else, I get this one pass, okay??

None of this stuff during the day will be too bad. But in the evening, when my workday ends? Oh, and about that – ONLY work is allowed on the computer. With the lights on. After that, well, um. It’s gonna be hard. I won’t lie. But it might teach me a thing or two . . .

Dinner, of course, could be done on the stove with the manual lighting, etc. And then? What about after dark, which is like 5:00? Hmmm. I typically stop working around 8:00 on Wednesday and Thursday, which leaves a couple hours before 10:00 and bedtime. Candles and blankets for everyone! And no TV, which won’t particularly bother me, but my husband will be a wreck. And our son, the gamer? Uh oh!

So, we’ll talk. Huh? Or play cards by lantern light. Or something. Go to bed at 8:00? J

This could be very, very interesting.