Power Outage

Yesterday, July 24, 2010, there was no electricity when we woke up. The power company said electricity will be back by 9:45 am. By that time however, there was still no electricity so we call the power company again and they said electricity will be back by 12:45 pm. Come 12:45 pm still no electricity and the power company said electricity will be back by 6:00 pm.

Wow! No electricity and we don't have propane stove - how do we cook our lunch? Well, I guess its time to use the hobo wood stove again. Here's a link on how to make a hobo wood stove.


Hobo wood stove and bag of dried twigs.


In just a few seconds I have a blazing fire.


My grandchild's arroz caldo (porridge) first.




Caldereta is next. Caldereta is beef cooked in tomato sauce with potato, peas, green olives, and bell pepper.


And lastly, our staple food - rice, fried rice that is.

The hobo wood stove performed very well and we're able to cook our food with just a bunch of twigs.

Given the outstanding record of the power company for broken promises, I made a lamp so we will have a light during the night. The lamp is made from a glass bottle, pop can, old cotton t-shirt for wick and vegetable oil for fuel. Just punch a hole in the bottle cap, make a cylindrical tube out of a piece aluminum cut from a pop can, insert the wick into the tube and then insert the tube in the hole in the glass bottle cap. Fill the bottle with sufficient vegetable oil and you're done.


Here is the lamp being tested. But I was not able to use it because the power company made good on its promise this time - we have electricity by 6:00 pm. I wonder how those people who rented generators feel.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.