Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for January 21, 2025

If that’s the worst complaint that you can muster

Okay. So no with no power, how are you going to heat it, unless you have a gas stove?

I’m not in Arlo’s class but I’ve been drinking coffee every morning since I was 4. Haven’t used a percolator since I was a teenager. Strictly instant unless we’re eating out

Had a bit of a problem with our (electric) coffee maker today. Forgot to put the pot under the dripper. I thought, if that’s the worst thing that goes wrong today, I’ll be happy.

Then the TV went wonky. Not happy.

Non-electrical solution?

The gas stove must be working?

This is why we keep a kerosene heater in the garage.

So they still have a heat source?

I bet the hotel would have coffee and heat.

The real problem is lack of preparation. It’s 9 degrees F here right now. If the power went out we’d be fine. We have a wall mount gas heater that we installed years ago as a back up heating source. We have a gas stove, but even when we didn’t, a good camping stove will do the trick (which we also have). Then there’s having a generator, etc.

A lot of camping supplies double as emergency preparedness supplies, most of which are fairly inexpensive.

A little preparedness goes a long way!

Wake up and smell the coffee crystals, baby!

-1 F here in Youngstown Ohio

We’re up to -9 F in Central Pa now. Was -11 an hour ago.

Primitive campers still use those, they work over campfires.

It is bitterly cold and I worry about the power a lot.

Rinse that dust out Arlo or you will really be griping.

No, there are worse things than perc’ed coffee. Actually it tastes better than drip, it just takes longer. We have an old 1940s percolator in our campervan so I know of what I speak.

Ok, y’all are missing the point. That is NOT the worst problem. The worst problem, for some, is not flushing the toilet.

We are on a well. Which means that when we lose power we also lose water. And, like @VictoryRider said above, preparation is always key. We keep water on hand. Just in case.

But we also never know just how long we’ll have to go without, so we try to, uh, limit how often we flush.

Sounds like a First World problem, Arlo . . .

The lack of morning coffee was one of the worse thing, the last time we had a extended power outage in our area(due to a wind storm). The little main road got their power back after on a day and a half, so it was a morning walk to the convenience store, for some coffee(and to charge my phone).

Our house has a heatpump, so a power outage would be a royal pain if it wasn’t for the two gas fireplaces downstairs. But we have underground utilities and didn’t lose power even in the major ice storm a few years back. 90% of the area did lose it.

All Electric or no pour over coffee maker?

Reminds me of my mother’s kitchen.

Gas stove, obviously.

Old school percolator. Coffee is much better than today’s single serve pre-packaged coffee. That actually is a plus for the power outage.

This is why we have a generator.

They are about to go cold turkey.

Well, they’re cold, to say the least.

Coleman camp stove

..need to camping more often, Arlo..

Oh and most gas water heaters are self contained and don’t need electricity either. If they have city water there’s often a water tower and backup generators for the pumps to maintain pressure for a nice hot bath and sanitary service.

I used to have a well. I know what a bummer that can be!

No it’s not. You can still cook on a gas stove but without heat you freeze.

A few days without a bath? Now that’s a bummer! And up here in the north we usually keep at least a couple of propane heaters handy to keep the pipes from freezing.

I’ve been around people before their coffee. Seems a legit frustration, lol

It’s been so long since I’ve used a percolator I to look at the comic twice.

What is that horseshoe shaped stand with a pot on top?

I can almost hear the old percolator blipping away.

When we were newly married we never minded power outages. All we neede were lanterns and the floor……the power outages produced 3 children………

OMG we don’t have an old timey coffee pot. The humanity!!!!

Da weather…

-19f last night in far northern Maine. -15f scheduled for tonight. Absolutely tropical!

We have a garage full of cordwood, a lil’ propane heater, an oil furnace, candle and oil lanterns and the wife learnt to cook on a wood range. That and a lot of Bambi from the dam’ deer that ran out in front of the truck a couple of nights ago.

We figure that if we had a three day power outage up here it’d be business as usual for us but we’d have to keep an eye on all the people that suddenly wanted to be our best friends.

Nope, no tinfoil hats here but events of the last decade have served to remind us that food, shelter and heat are not constitutional entitlements.

And the wife likes cowboy coffee so strong you can float a horseshoe in it. Coffee that bites yer leg!

Oops, forgot to mention that we have a propane kitchen stove and a couple of little Coleman gas camping stoves as well.

You mean you have a proper percolator, yet you use one of those infernal machines?

Shame on you!

I do miss my old Pyrex percolater.

I assume the car still works, so head to……

If the power is out, how are they going to heat the percolator?

Get a battery powered carbon monoxide detector whenever shifting to a temporary power and heat solution. They are also good for unforeseen failures in regular living.

That’s the type of percolator I use everyday. I’m just surprised I haven’t lost the spring, but I have crawled on the kitchen floor to find it!

I use the Chemex system for 40 years. Who needs power? Just boil water on your gas stove, and wala, coffee!

Repeat after me “standby generator, starts automatically…”.

If you had a generator, that wouldn’t be a problem. Geez, thought you guys were smart.

It’s no problem if you have a Chemex and a means to heat water. We have a Coleman stove, but we also have a gas water heater. We can turn the temperature up on the water heater and have hot-enough water flowing from the kitchen tap to make coffee, or tea—maybe even poach an egg. (Our problem would be remembering to turn the temperature back down.)

Haven’t seen a coffee pot like that since I was 11 years old. But you still need some way of getting it to boil.

I’ve been iced in at my place on the side of a small hill in the Texas Hill Country , once for 10 days with no electricity. Also, no natural gas or propane. No way to get out. Lowest temp I recorded was 2 F. Anyways, the life saver was plenty of split oak for the fireplace. Kept me and my basset hound warm enough.

Coffee beans (I prefer Jamaica Blue Mountain). Manual grinder. Heated water in a soup can in the fire. Then a nice pour over. Heaven on Earth. :-)

We were without power for 27 days due to an ice storm. Kept a kettle of hot water on the wood stove and made coffee with a stainless Thermos French Press.

It’s National Squirrel Appreciation Day too.

My son got me a French Press for Christmas a couple of years ago. We have a local coffee roaster here in Memphis, J Brooks. I bought a few dark roasts and their Ethiopian coffee. Best coffee I’ve ever had. Best way to make coffee. Stove top percolator is second best.

Funny how people are so totally obsessed with coffee that they are ignoring Janis today…

I have not had coffee in decades!! I used to drink coffee when I was in high school and college. Later I would have coffee at the office when it was “coffee break”. I drank coffee black and unsweetened. (Husband never drinks hot coffee and EXTREMELY RARELY – maybe once in a blue moon – ice coffee.) I reached the point that my stomach was not happy with black coffee and I had to stop drinking it.