Text 16063, 124 rader
Skriven 2014-08-21 10:53:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av RUTH HAFFLY
Ärende: Re: camping  was: Mother'
=================================
-=> Quoting Ruth Haffly to Nancy Backus on 08-19-14  20:29 <=-

 RH>> Those are the main needs to keep stuff like that around. We don't
 RH>> have any MRE's but can put together some survival food from the
 RH>> pantry without too much trouble.
 NB>> When we bought this house there were some MREs in the basement left
 NB>> behind... haven't a clue how long they'd already been there... but the

 RH> Were they MREs or maybe C-rations? MREs started hitting the supply
 RH> chain in the early 80s; when Steve joined in 1983, they were the "new
 RH> thing" and he saw some C (and K) rations. 

I was speaking loosely, I guess...  We bought the house in '75, so I
guess it would have to be pre-MRE's... Brown boxes...

 RH> They also experimented (don't know how long, but had some while we
 RH> were in Frankfurt) with something call T (tray) rations. It was a pan,
 RH> about 13x9, of something like eggs, cherry "pudding", etc, designed to
 RH> feed a number of troops. Once he brought home a cherry pudding--it
 RH> looked exactly like cherry pie filling so I made several pies from it
 RH> and sent them into the unit. They were well received. (G)
 
I'm sure they were...  :)  Not quite your run-of-the-mill rations any
more...  :)
 
 NB>> mice got at them at some point later... I'm sure they are long
 NB>> expired, unless they never do...  ;)  Fortunately, we've never really

 RH> They expire after a while, but the shelf life is quite long. Actually,
 RH> you could eat them after expiration but the quality will definatly be
 RH> lacking.

At this point, I doubt there's be any quality left at all... ;)
 
 NB>> needed any such for any emergencies, any power outages have been
 NB>> short-lived and/or very localized...  :)   And we'd not have any

 RH> Not had any ice storms or other things taking out the power for
 RH> extended times recently?
 
We were really lucky during both the major ice storms that our area has
had over the years... we never lost power at all, although other people
we knew did (and for over a week, for some of them).  What's taken out
our power has been things like transformers blowing, or some other
relatively short-lived power disruption... so the outage was measured in
hours instead of days... 
 
 NB>> difficulty putting together survival food from the pantry, either...
 NB>> especially as we only use a hand can opener any more...  :)

 RH> We use the electric most of the time but have a hand one available
 RH> as back up. It's easier on my wrists to use the former.
 
We have a really nice hand one... isn't as bad on the wrists as some
are...  ;)  We went through a few electric ones before we decided that
the mechanical one was doing as good or better a job at opening cans,
and didn't replace the last electric one that died...  :)  You'd
probably still prefer the electric, though... :)

 NB>>> Actually... the cabins at VA /have/ AC...  And, they supply
 NB>>> linens, cookware and dishes...  
 RH>> That is real luxury for a camp ground. When I was a kid, we'd call
 RH>> that sort of camping "cheat camping" as you were away from home but
 RH>> had all the comforts of home.
 NB>> One, of course, pays for the luxury... And I suppose that some of the
 NB>> comforts of home are missing... It's a smaller space, they wouldn't
 NB>> have their large-screen TV, they have to share space with other family
 NB>> members, and so forth...  ;)   But, this place even supplies a
 NB>> microwave along with the stove/oven and refrigerator (full-size)...
 NB>> but no dishwasher... one still has to do that by hand, but there's hot
 NB>> running water... :)

 RH> Such hardships! (G) One thing Mom always checked the Rand McNalley
 RH> camping guide for was flush toilets. Everything else could have been
 RH> lacking but the toilets had to be flush for us to stay at a place.
 
Quite!  (G)  Flush toilets were never a necessity for me... I don't mind
using a pit toilet, as long as it's properly maintained... :)  In fact,
a pit toilet close by trumps a flush toilet that I'd have to walk a long
way to get to...  ;)

 NB>> That's pretty much how my sisters look at it... especially Lydia...
 NB>> she still does mostly tent camping...  :)   My money saver was usually
 NB>> to find friends or family along my route... or to use our (non-converted
 NB>> but with a mattress in the back) van for sleeping in a campground...

 RH> We just sort of aged out of it, plus health issues have made it less
 RH> appealing in recent years. I can breathe easier in an air conditioned
 RH> hotel/motel room when temps and humidity are high than outside in a
 RH> primitive camp situation.

I can understand that...  :) 

 RH>> It's OK when you're young but the older the bones get, the less fun
 RH>> it is.
 NB>> When I was a kid, I might have agreed with the it's ok part... The
 NB>> latter part, of the older bones, definitely is true now...  Some of my
 NB>> sisters have decided their bones got too old for the tents, too...
 NB>> Just not Lydia, and to a lesser extent, Tait...  :)

 RH> They'll probably come around as they get older. (G)

Possibly...  ;)  Depends on how stubborn they get...  (G)

 NB>  NB>>> diffuser
 NB>> Haven't come across one yet... actually looked for it at Wegmans last
 NB>> grocery trip, in their kitchen supplies area, but maybe our store
 NB>> isn't big enough to carry such...

 RH> Check some place like Wal-Mart, in the housewares section. K-Mart and
 RH> Target might be other options to look into as well. Ours has a handle
 RH> that folds on to the diffuser part, essential letting us store it
 RH> flat, in a smaller (about the size of a stove coil) space.

Not usually in those stores... not much of a shopper...  ;)   But I'll
keep it in mind.

ttyl          neb

... True character is measured by what you do when nobody is watching.

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