My wife had to take her mom to the hospital this evening, so I had a few hours to spend with my boys (10 and almost 13) tonight. I've been looking at Ryan's Soda Can Stove website, and a friend had talked about using one while camping with a friend. So I decided to build one with my boys. We didn't have a ruler, so we just eyeballed everything, and slapped it together. I used 5 minute epoxy to seal and hold everything together, then built a simmer ring, snuffer, hardware cloth pot stand, and an aluminum foil wind break.

We put about an inch of water in a large tin can, and used the yellow HEET as fuel. With the wind break around the stove it only took a couple of minutes to boil. I think the stove is a little too short because the fuel burns out in about five minutes. It does get plenty hot though. The wires on the pot support were bright red when it was running full blast.

Anyway, my boys loved it, thought it was a good experiment, and it kept their mind off grandma in the hospital.

Thanks Ryan for all you do!

-TheKindlyVikings

Anyway, my boys loved it, thought it was a good experiment, and it kept their mind off grandma in the hospital.

Before they knew my MIL was dying from cancer, and she was in the hospital, bed-ridden from it, we dressed up for Halloween, my wife, me and our 3 boys, not to trick-or-treat, but to make her laugh and smile. We marched into the hospital like a bunch of idiots, and that is still one of my fondest memories to date.

Celebrate life and each day you have. That's why I don't care for holidays - every day means something, whether you realize it or not.

Thanks Bubs,

You're absolutely right.

-TheKindlyVikings

And btw, I hope that didn't come across as "Go visit grandma in the hospital". I meant it as I'm glad you did something to help the boys cope. Its funny how some of those memories you make come up 20 years later just outta the blue.

"Remember that time grandma was in the hospital and we made that stove thing..." ;)

Nope, I understood the intent. :) It did help me to start thinking of ways to make those kind of visits more upbeat for the kids though. I have a feeling that we have a few rough years ahead of us. Fortunately, the in-laws live downstairs, so we can be there to help, and are more involved in their day to day lives.

Thanks again,
TheKindlyVikings