~ Trophy Prepper ~

My Captain jokingly referred to me as his darling “Prepper” today.  I had no idea what he meant.  Food prepper?  Get the kids to school prepper?  Laundry prepper?  What? What does he mean?

Apparently he was making fun of my penchant for behaving like a girl-scout-survivalist-prepare-for-the-worst kind of PREPPER.

He teased me like it’s a bad thing! What the heck?!  Who wouldn’t want a partner who always has what you need?  No one, that’s who.

How did he come to this affectionate little moniker for me?

Well it sure as heck wasn’t because I bought a year’s worth of freeze dried food from Mountain House, to go with the gallons of beans and rice packed in the basement shelves.

And it probably wasn’t because I bought two emergency water purifiers, to be able to re-hydrate said food.

And it most likely wasn’t because I have stored enough chocolate and toilet paper to last this family generations.  (Priorities, friends, priorities.)

It was apparently because I asked him to help me build a planter/candle heater.  THAT was where I crossed the line….you know, the line between a delicate trophy wife who needs to be taken care of,  and a bad-ass, self-sufficient, get-you-through-the-zombie-apocalypse, she’s-a-little-bit-scary kind of spouse.

And despite my unmitigated, saucy leap over that line, he grinned at me indulgently, and drove me to Lowes, where he braved the pre-blizzard crowds to buy terra cotta pots, nuts, bolts, and washers.  He might have been concerned that I’d crossed the line, but he was still willing to humor me.  Is that love, or what?

Why did I want those things?

Well, imagine in this blizzard that we lose power.  (We live in the styx.  We’re gonna lose power.)  And suppose I am unable to get our generator started with my wimpy noodle arms.  How am I going to get heat of any kind?  The Little Cottage doesn’t have a fireplace.  We’d have no heat source whatsoever.  I must keep my babies warm!!

Check this out, my friends:

VOILA!  A few tea lights, and I’m in business.  Oh sure, it’s not going to heat the whole cottage, but by golly my kitchen will be toasty!  And where does everyone like to congregate, especially during a storm? That’s right, the kitchen!  (The place where I’m rehydrating all of those beans and rice packets….)

You can go to Youtube and find a ton of videos on how to make one of these, but in a nutshell, it’s different sizes of terra cotta pots, attached with a bolt, with nuts between to create insulation space.

You put these in bell formation over some tea lights, securely balanced on something to raise it (in this case bricks), with something flame retardant below (in this case, more bricks).  The radiant heat can get to around 200 degrees, which can really help you out when you’re powerless!

Cheap, but genius, and certainly easy.  All the things he loves in his wife.

Now, if only I had a way to work my well without electricity.  Once I overcome THAT challenge, then I really could accept My Captain’s PREPPER nametag.  Though, to be honest, I prefer to be called ‘Love Of My Life, Who Makes Me Complete’.  But I can understand how that might be too long on the tongue.  Why don’t we all agree that when we hear him call me PREPPER, he really means ‘Love Of My Life, Who Makes Me Complete’?

Deal?    Deal.

And chuckle as he will, while he’s out saving the world on Friday and Saturday’s blizzard, and the kids and I are alone fending for ourselves…he will know that we won’t be human popsicles when he gets home.

Always a good thing in a family.  That whole thawed out, warm to the touch thing.

See you all on the other side of Blizzard Jonas !!!

Love,

Mama