Note to self: when collecting live mosquito larva from a pond outside, to feed your aquarium fish inside the house, do not set the container down in the fish room and forget it's there. Some larva will hatch inside your house.

This is very annoying.

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What do you do when the power goes out? How do you cook? Will you have safe, drinkable water? How will you stay warm? 

Did you know these things won't work in a power outage (unless you have a generator): 

• Furnace: needs power for the blower to circulate air in the house
• Air conditioning
• Electric stove. Gas stoves will work, but might need to be lit by matches.
• Electric heaters.
• Cell phone: cell phones will not work if the cell tower does not have power.
• In the city, water will only be available for a few days, until the water tower runs out of water.
• In the country, where homes have their own well, water pumps will stop immediately.
• Gasoline pumps at the gas station will stop working, unless the gas station has them on a generator. So you won't be able to buy gas for your home generator.

In my research I wanted to mention that alcohol stoves are the safest stove to use indoors. They emit the least carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) which can be dangerous.

On my site below I have some links to hints if the power goes out, and links to alcohol stoves. They work well, and are cheap and easy to make. The simplest stoves can be made from 2 soda cans of the same size. If your state collects 10 cents per can, you are only spending 20 cents on a stove.

These stoves can be used to boil water to make it safe to drink (not applicable in a flood zone where dangerous chemicals will be mixed in the water), cook food, and provide a little warmth. However, never leave an alcohol or any stove burning when you are asleep.

home.comcast.net/~chuckr69/

I have spent years collecting this information and testing much of it myself while camping. It works. I hope you find it useful also. One page "Building your own emergency kit" is presented as a single page so it is easy to print out. Your computer won't work if the power goes out!

The topic of emergency preparedness is a broad one, so big I cannot cover it here, but my pages will give you a good start. Be sure to make the process fun for the kids also, and practice your preps by turning off the main breaker switch to the house. Make it a "camp at home" night for the kids, and test your camping stove, cook meals with it.

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This Instructable shows a good design for a home made Japanese beetle or fly trap. It will also trap fruit flies, if the attractant is sugary soda.

www.instructables.com/id/E-Z-Catch/

For trapping Jap Beetles, buy the attractant refill at the store. Place some rocks in the bottom of the bottle so it won't blow away, and the attractant sponge on top of the rocks. Place outside in a location where beetles have been seen. Check every day and empty if there are beetles in it.

To catch fruit flies, put some soda (not diet, it must contain sugar) or fruit in the bottle. Also add 1-2 drops of dish washing liquid. This lowers the surface tension of the liquid. When the fly lands on the soda, it falls in and drowns. Check daily. Rinse out and refill if it smells bad.

To catch house flies, put in soda or fruit as the bait. See instructions above.

This will also catch minnows. Make this model, but secure the inverted funnel with zip ties. Most glue will not work underwater. Also punch holes in the sides so all air will escape. Place bait in here like bread or meat. Meat will attract crayfish at night. Then tie to a heavy weight with string and place in a stream. Return the next day to grab minnows or crayfish.

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I mentioned in an earlier post that Michigan has hot, dry summers. It's common to get barely a sprinkle of rain for 8 weeks in a row. I was looking for a flower that would be acclimated to such conditions, and I found one.

WARNING: beach peas are not edible.

I found beach peas. One recent summer I found them far away, on a sandy beach. Then I found them in an open field near my house. So I collected some seeds one fall, and planted them the next spring. Simply cover the seed with 1/4 inch of soil. It works best if you soak them in warm water the night before.

That year they grew up but didn't bloom. That was last year. I figured they were annuals and I would have to plant more seeds this year. But they grew back from the roots!

They like to climb, so I put them next to some juniper bushes and they are climbing up that. They will bloom around July with flowers that are purple and white, and they love heat and dry conditions! Though they will survive heat and some drought, they do still need water. Water twice a week, or if they look wilted, and you should be ok.

 http://www.blupete.com/Nature/PictureFlowers/BeachPea.jpg

Images:

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I got some odd sized candles from a dollar store, but had no holder for them. They were bigger than birthday candles but smaller than typical tapers. So I made a candle holder. (The candle is about 1/4 inch wide by 5 inches high.)

• First I got a large metal bottle cap from a wide mouth drink jar.
• Then I mixed some plaster of paris (PoP) and filled the bottle cap up 3/4 of the way.
• Then I put my candle in it. Every few minutes I twisted the candle so it wouldn't get stuck in the PoP.
• When dry, it worked like a charm!

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Michigan has cold winters and hot, dry summers. The dry summer is starting early this year, it's only May 25.

To water my plants I make a watering can that I set by the plant. Take a 2 liter bottle, cut off the top (save it, it can be used as a funnel for many things). Poke 2 pinholes in the bottom. Put 4-6 rocks in the bottom to keep it from blowing away. (Do not use sand, it will block the pinholes.) Now put the bottle next to a plant and fill with water. The water will slowly drip out, watering that plant only, and not spreading to areas where it's not needed.

The only issue I have is, every spring, I have to rinse out the bottle as debris collects in the bottom and blocks the pinholes.

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