Before we get started today, I would like to thank BCtruck for his very generous donation via paypal. Thank you my friend it is very much appreciated and rest assured the money will be used in the setup of my new homestead.
I would also like to thank Joel Skousen for donating copies of ”The Secure Home” and ”How to Implement a High Security Shelter in the Home” both books have some great ideas including several ideas that I’ll be implementing at my new place.
I also suggest Joel’s book “Strategic Relocation–North American Guide to Safe Places, 3rd Edition” if you are still deciding on a retreat area or “safe place” this book has a wealth of well researched information, maps and advice for locations in every state in the U.S.
If you’re east of the Mississippi and wish to stay on this side of the river do consider moving to the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. This area is rated number one in Joel’s book for a retreat location in the east and I have to agree.
Now lets see what did I do to prep this week?
Most of the week was spent in front of the computer up to ten hours per day working on the final edit of my next book “31 Days to Survival” that will be published by Paladin Press next spring. This new hardcopy version of the book will feature some significant changes and updates not found in the eBook (eBook no longer available).
I did find time (made time) to drive up to the flea market in Somerset Ky, where I managed to find several great deals on tools for my shop and garden, some ammo for next to nothing and a number of “Storey Country Wisdom Bulletins” for .25 cents each including:
- Controlling Garden Weeds
- Easy-to-Build Birdhouses
- Improving Your Soil
- Pest-Proofing Your Garden
- Starting Seeds Indoors
- Eggs and Chickens
- Wide Row Planting
Also my mother gave me a new police scanner for my birthday and my girlfriend got me a Taurus Model 94 .22LR Revolver. Thank you and I love you both.
Now over to The Wolf Pack – what did you do to prep this week?
{ 727 comments }
happy birthday, md! …not much prepping here this week. finished the chimney, minus the special order thimble we’re STILL waiting on. cleaned up what had become a construction zone in my basement. began setting up the ops center/man cave down there. made a stock-up run to the grocery, lots of BOGO’s and two-fers. dw started her new job, ya!! feeling comfortable about the food, water, heat, guns, ammo, medical. defense has me worried though. will begin construction of fighting positions and lp/op’s soon, and nasty fences. take care all.
River, my dad said the best defense is one no one sees.
My dad had rose bushes(look pretty but will tear someone up) in front all windows and along the fence line and wall. You can also do any local variety of thistle bushes that be grown and groomed the way you want and as deep as you want.
The front and back doors had dead bolts and security screens. The security screen doors painted the same color of the walls makes it harder for the bad guys to find the door at night. Couldn’t argue with that logic if they haven’t canvassed or scoped out the house during the day.
As for the LP/OP I don’t know what your layout is to make recommendations. But there are cheap CCTV cameras and some with built in night vision and audio. Motion sensors are great as long as they don’t blind the neighbors and they can be ran off solar.
j, roger that. i’m instituting a layered defense. cameras up close, motion detectors far out, booby traps on likely approaches, and dug-in/built-up overwatch positions. my concern is hardening the house(have a plan, but not socially acceptable until tshtf), and manpower. i’m sure some of my inlaws will show up, but they are more drag than asset. guess they could be lookouts. i’m thinking a couple buddies, real soldiers, will show when they finally realize its the real deal, if they can get here. if they come, i’m in high cotton, and we can hold out against a small army.
The idea is not “to hold out”. That’s the route to extinction, the same defensive mentality that killed the Confederacy. We will have to pool our resources – individuals, militias, and National Guard units of seceeding states (Alaska, High Plains, some Midwest, Arizona, Texas, and most of the South) – and quickly clean out the Beltway Treason Gang. This done, the Rustbelt Reds (esp. the Chicago crowd), the West Coast Cosmics, and Mexifornia will fall to us relatively easily.
River and Tom, best example in combat of natural vegetation used to channel and slow down “almost stopping” invaders was World War II France with the hedge rows. It slowed and bogged down the American, English and Canadian troops a bit until they could figure ways of getting through or around.
River, until SHTF be careful with booby traps. Most states have laws regarding them. For tangle foot or to channel you could easily set up some rows of 1′ to 1 1/2′ white picket fence type rows. They look nice and unassuming.
By the way, a brick or concrete pit for bbq and bon fires makes for a nice LP/OP for the back yard.
j, hehehe, no the booby traps don’t go in until tshtf but i’m constructing them now and most are just early warning for now. i’ll put in the good ones when things get tense. yes the hedgerows are great. i was looking at barberry or hackberry too. problem, they limit visability. also 4×4 could run thru them. i’m thinking barbed wire fence, like for livestock, but when tshtf run several more rolls out slack like concertina on both sides. nobody will run over that, n it’ll slow down foot troops and make them exposed. there are a couple areas of our place that plant barrier would be useful. thanks for the suggestion. sic semper tyrannus!
i would like to suggest raspberries, pain to walk through and produces food. my daughter hates that they growe under her window, lol
Robert, if the daughter hates them next to her window then you know they do their job lol.
We grew then when I was a kid and they were the forbidden fruit if not handles properly or if playing to close to them.
Yes…I was thinking Blackberries. Just trying to pick the berries off my father’s bushes is a (literal) pain. Their vines are TOUGH too.
Yep – we are moving the boysenberries to set up double or triple row perimeter “natural razor wire”. These are far more lethal plants than blackberries – the stems are bigger around than a broomstick and 10-12′ long. There are thorns all over the plant – even on the leaf ribs. The thorns on the main stems are over 1-1/2″ long and can gouge out quite a large chunk of meat and the small ones on the top and leaves act as velcro. If you touch it anywhere, you have to stop immediately and gently peel it off you from the top down…if you move at all, you just become more entangled then have to wait for someone else to come help you escape before you bleed to death.
Jarhead, my work requires me to measure the outside of peoples houses. 99% of the time I’m by myself. The hedge plant I absolutely fear, loath and detest the most is pyracantha aka firethorn. There is no way a man can walk through or climb under over or around a pyracantha hedge without HEAVY protective clothing. If I were going to put up a hedge to stop or slow intruders that would be my choice.
Charlie (NC) I know those bushes. My dad was born on a farm outside of east Durham. When I visited family as a kid I ran into a thorn bush and leaned there was something more painful than a spanken lol.
Charlie (NC) I second the Firethorn! An awesome and tough shrub, plus beautiful prolific orange berries for birds and other wildlife. I planted a few this summer, but never thought to use them as a hedge… Great idea!
Nessie, OUCH is all I can say. That and great suggestion.
RR: Jarhead and his Dad have a good point about the bushes… We are ‘urban’ preppers also. We have planted the thorny-est roses our greenhouse manager could come up with. They have taken root rather well over the last 3 years along the East front of the house and the East fence. They are simply wonderful to see in the spring and early summer. two breeds of them bloom into late summer. You can set small sections of wire fence and ‘train’ the rose ‘vine’ sideways along the wire and it will naturaly grow out to the top and bottom.
Like Jarheads Dad has figured out….. beautiful… natural… razorwire…. Thistle and roses are also a good way to channel intruders and defend ops/lps, fill in cover and concelment locations you don’t have the manpower to ‘cover’ yourself.
We have cut ‘hole’ in the fence the size of a large cat for the wild life to get through…. and they do. Third worlders have been using natural vines and bushes for thousands of years to ‘defend’ and protect.
Nopalae, prickly pear juice is in demand and selling for above $30 a gallon. Long history of being a fence.
Azyogi, I helped plant them for a friends house in Carefree north of Phoenix many years ago. He had an issue with people jumping the fence and into his pool while he was out. He was in a wheel chair so we planted cactus along the fence line. We planted them along the border with his neighbor since the both were dealing with the same issue. No more wet footprints at night.
I second the rose bushes but I also want to add holly bushes. My parents had planted holly bushes all along the back of our house when they first had the house built. They grow very large. The night before my wedding a bunch of my DH fellow Marines decide to give him a bachelor party. My DH is not a drinker but that night everyone was drunk, so they decide that they would come sing to myself and my bridesmaids who were staying at my parents house. They were all laughing and joking until they found the holly bushes. All I can say is lucking for them that the long sleeves of the dress blues cover the scratches.
Southern girl, sounds about right. I think at times we are more famous or infamous for events involving alcohol than battles lol.
Quiet week again as Monkey and I were in the Big Smoke with more tests being done… on the positive side it seems the doctors have all decided that spinal surgery will not resolve the issues… big sigh of relief!
Picked up 10 tins of tomato sauce on at 74c each, some prepackaged cookies on at $1.88 a box (that would be half price – sadly we never buy Oreos as they are now $3.99 a package and they never last long enought to make it into supplies – anyone got a recipe?), and 8 x 3lb bags of pasta on at 50c each.
We had our first white out blizzard on Thursday night. Drove home by braille. Never been so glad to see the lights of the house! All the snow was gone by Friday afternoon but I suspect that I’ll be out getting the last of the leaves off the lawn for most of this week. But the snow was a reminder to get the Winter BOB’s into the back of the truck.
If surgery won’t help Monkey, what will? Hope it resolves on its own, if possible.
The basic problem is a global dismotility disorder which centers on a peristaltic colon, in otherwards the muscles which force waste through his colon do not work. This results in chronic and severe constipation. We thought there was a diagnosis with a tethered spinal cord and interference with the nerves, but it would appear that the tethering is not significant enough to interfer and that the surgery is not the best option at this point as consensus is that it would not solve the bowel problem. Mostly we are still at a stage of eliminating (pardon the pun) causes. Sadly we may reach a point where the only option is management of the problem rather than fixing the cause. Its been a long road but everytime we are at the hospital I am reminded that basicly I have a happy, spunky, bright and bouncy kid and things could be so much worse.
Golly, I never even realized there were muscles for that job. I figured everything worked on gravity. Well, plenty of prune juice and keep an enema bag handy – that should do the trick.
Is there no way to strengthen the muscles? Like those exercises that women do to eliminate sneezing accidents? I think it’s called the Kegel Exercise. If he’s got the muscles, seems to me he could strengthen them somehow.
Hi LP – the problem seems to be in that the messaging between the muscles and the brian and back are blocked. So if the bowel is full the message is not being received by the brain which is then not telling the muscles to work. How they sort that out is beyond me, but it is now compounded by the bowel being so overstretched due to not being emptied that it becomes a cycle.
So it is looking like the next step is going to be to surgically narrow the bowel. Again major surgery, but at least it is not the spine…
Thanks for your support!
Lake Lili – Maybe someday the technology will exist where he can have a small electrical implant connected directly to those muscles and he can tell them when to work. In the meantime, I’ve heard wheat grass works well for constipation. My thoughts are with you.
lake lili- i wish there was a way i could help you out. you have my thoughts and prayers for your little one’s fast recovery.
Lake Lilli,
With out getting too graphic I am proof that you can manage the problem. Althought there are medicines you can take to help, they do not work on me. I have had this issue my whole life. What works best for me is grinding my own whole wheat, and not eating preseratives.
I get cramps so sever I can not walk at times. I remember walking down the hall in high school between classes and I got one of these cramps. I couldn’t breath let alone walk. You just have to wait it out. Mine don’t last longer than 3 or 4 minutes but it is enough for others arround you to want to call 911! I was told I will have these cramps my entire life. They don’t occur daily but about every three or four days. When they occur they can occur 4 or 5 times before they stop.
You count the bowel movements by the month – yes that is by the month, not weekly or daily. Very, very painful- sometime you have to call in sick to work on that day because it takes so long to recover.
I don’t know anything different so I know your son can learn to manage his symptoms.
I was told that my nerve endings are dead that is why my colon doesn’t work. It basicly just sits there. I have also been diagnosed as no longer having any working nerve endings to my stomach. That is called gastroparesis.
Such is life! Even with my disorders, I would still rather be here than not!!
It never ceases to amaze me how strong the bond between mother and child. A lot of kids despite having serious issues show such a strength and resilience it is a lesson for all of us to cherish the life we are given. Praying for you and Monkey.
Hi Kate – thank you for writing and being willing to discuss your issues. It is a huge help to know that we are not alone… With Monkey the upper GI and stomach are fine it is the lower part and unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, he has no sensations relating to being constipated or his bowel being over stretched so he is not in any discomfort. It has been part of the challenge because he presents as having no issues and so it has been a long haul to get the doctors to even see him. I’ve been accused of everything from bad parenting to munchausen syndrome. One doctor sent us back for four x-rays because she couldn’t believe he was so full. I am glad that you have found a way to manage your symptoms. Our prayers go out to you.
i agree with the oreo thing. i usually buy the bags of mini cause they only cost $.99 keep an eye out for oreo coupons tho. u can usually manage getting the “to go” kind for free if ur store doubles coupons there are a couple good recipes out there, try this site :)
http://flour-child.net/2011/05/12/homemade-oreos/
nom nom nom!!
I wish we had double coupons! Canadian grocery store policies regarding coupon are one per item and coupons are few and far between – so we watch a lot of flyers.
That recipe looks amazing… Going to have to try those out after church tomorrow… Thanks!
Lake Lili, I have 3 kids with dysmotility. It was rough when they were small lots of hospital visits, tests etc. They have been managed with meds. In the end it was determined that they have abnormal connective tissue so basically everything is too stretchy to work properly. They are now young adults and lead very normal productive lives. They still have to manage their condition with meds, diet etc but they’re happy. You have the best attitude by focusing on the positive. That is the key. Hang in there.
YM – Oh wow is my hat ever off to you for managing three kids with this. I think I’m going to have to name you “Hero of the Week”! Monkey was hyper flexible when he was small but now at age 6, with a lot of physical therapy to build up core muscles, that is lessened. He still has bilateral muscle weakness in the upper body but we are greatful that it does not seem to affect his heart. Good to know that management is possible and that normal and productive are in the future. Thanks for your enocuragement.
Lake Lili, prayers for your little one, it’s double hard when a child is sick.
Hi Laki Lili
I hear you on the coming winter weather, I switched out the vehicle kits about two weeks ago and while still waiting for the snow to hit, I have had frozen water in the morning in the critter dishes, had to switch out the rabbit auto water bottles to the winter open crocks.. its that time of the year.. Glad to hear that he won’t need surgery but tell me they do have a different game plan then?
Hey Lil
give me a call or shoot me an email the next time you drive through to the big smoke, i am on your way and would like to chat. :D
You can shoot me an e-mail anytime. I’m on the meet-up page.
Thanks for the suggestion but yes, we have looked at allergies and done all the diet eliminations. No changes beyond his system not liking too much tomato or any type of citrus fruit. That is a genetic thing and we knew that was an issue.
hopefully everything turns out in the end. Have you looked at allergies as a cause?
Lake Lili,
Hope everything works out ok for monkey. I am happy for you both that spinal surgery was not required. You’re in our prayers.
Ray
Thanks Ray! Really appreciate the prayers.
Finally bought a crank style combination emergency radio/light. I was supprised that for the $20 it cost it is so small but it tested out ok. I have waited a long time to get one but I had that inner voice telling me it was time so I had to get one. I think I will get one for my DD for Christmas. Money is always tight but this is an important item to have.
agreed. it’s one of those items that will pay for it’s self the first time the power goes out cause it seems like that when you NEVER have the right size batteries…or is it just me? lol
MidWest Mrs, does it have the usb port/adapter for charging the cell phone? I picked up one at Radio Shack and a few power outages and a low battery on the cell it definitely paid for itself.
i quess my supply prepping will be curtailed the next several months. my dog (blackie) is still in the hospital. at least 2 more weeks. she has had 2 surgeries and will have to have 2 more. just got back from visiting her. she has tubes from her neck to her hips. we converted the back porch to a recovery room when she comes home.
i decided to try some of the pork i canned. it was pretty good. i made bbq sandwiches for d.h. and he survived! (i always try anything new out on him first). i just make sure his insurance policies are up to date.
i need to ask a question if anyone can help. has anyone ever tried canning link pork sausage?. i remember when i was little my aunt canning blood sausage (that sounds horrible) i like to try but am unsure how to do it.
i hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving and take care if you have to get on the highways.
Pam, I am glad that Blackie is pulling through this.
LOL about making sure his insurance policies are up before giving him new stuff.
Hope your dog comes though her other surgery’s as well as she has the first two, and that soon you will have her home with you and i’m sure it will be a long haul in regards to getting her back on her feet.
Glad that the canned pork was good, I have not canned sausage in the skin, only made up sausage mix and then canned it like crumbles.
farmgal-thank you, i wasn’t sure if was even possible to can the link sausage .
pam s
I did can some sausage in the skin. I had one jar that did not process so I opened it and tried to eat it….much too mushy for me. The cats liked it, though. If I was going to do any other, I think I would cut it into chunks and try that. I saw a video of someone who did hot dogs and I tried that at the same time…yuck..cats liked those, too. Maybe I processed them too long. Don’t know but would love to hear from someone that made a success of this…I love sausage!
maji-tx, i’m afraid it would be to mushy for me too. but thank you for letting me know how yours turned out.
Wow Cool Gun. I want your Mother to adopt me, Please. Oh and Happy Birthday.
Opps I want Your Girl Friend to Adopt me….LOL
I found copies of Where There is No Doctor and Where There is No Dentist on the web, and have started reading the former. This has some excellent information.
I ordered some ‘fish’ amoxicillin through amazon.com. M.D.’s comment this week proved key to the decision to stock ‘fish’ antibiotics. I will keep them on hand but only use them as the last resort. As long as I can get my hands on regular antibiotics, I see no reason to use the ‘fish’ kind. Thanks M.D.
I took advantage of some fabulous sales at the grocery store this week. I bought 40 boxes of cereal, 5 cases of canned fruit, 2 cases of canned veggies, a case of diced tomatoes, 6 bottles maple syrup and 12 packages of chocolate chips—all BOGO. I picked up a ham that was half price. My dh diced up the ham and we used some of it in scalloped potatoes with ham. I put the rest in the freezer. The price was so good on the ham, I might go back and get a couple more so I can can some more ham & bean soup.
That’s it for me.
Remember, do not use tetracycline (a common fish antibiotic) past the expiration, and it has some heavy warnings about usage … http://www.drugs.com/tetracycline.html
David,
Thanks for the reminder about tetracycline. That’s one that I won’t be prepping.
david,
I checked the medical book I have and the explanation at drugs.com is much clearer. I plan to reference that site for every non human antibiotic we consider. Thanks for the link.
thanks for the post David…. nice link to have now.
I also stocked up on the “fish” antibiotics thru CalVet supply (thanks to the Patriot Nurse on Youtube). Ordered from them before and checked the pills online and found out who the manufacturer was and it is the same as for humans. I won’t be afraid to take them when the SHTF. Bought hard copies of when there is no dentist and when there is no doctor. The med aspect of preparedness really has me spooked. Good sale on MH chili mac at the ready store. The grandkids loved it when we went camping this summer (a little salty I thought but good). I bought 3 cans and a can of their rotini, plus MH lasagna and some powdered milk. Hit the canned veggie sale at Stater Bros and now I am broke until the first of the year.
Grannytraveler, are you new here? If so, welcome to the Pack. If not, where you been?
I have been a lurker LOL. Been following you guys for a while getting my courage up to jump in. I’m in SoCal – not the best location but I am stuck here for a while thanks to needing a job to get prepped. Too old to find a job that pays the same in a new locale. Hopefully will retire (if that ever happens) someplace better.
Granny, depends on what part of SoCal you live in. I live in SoCal and enjoying the rain and the snow that is coming down in the local mountains of LA and SB Counties. Should be a nice view once the shy clears up.
Welcome to the wolf pack! Hope things go good, some companies are hiring for the holidays.
I’m in SB county with a great view of the snow covered mountains. I love this kind of weather. Tomorrow should be gorgeous. I’m a teacher and close to retiring. Have to hold out for 3-5 more years. My husband is retiring in 2012 (health reasons) and I have a lot of plans for him. LOL.
Grannytraveler
Welcome to the WolfPack. There are a few here in socal. Jarhead03 is on. There seem to be quite a few of us in NorCal. Not that that is any better. I know the feeling about trying to find a new job that pays the same or equal to at my age. I was just laid off about a month ago. Went into business for myself instead.
Ray
Gayle, this one’s for you. New BCS ratings out tomorrow will be:
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Arkansas
All from the SEC West. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything to compare to this before.
T.K.,
That’s incredible. I haven’t ever seen the top three teams in the country come from the same conference.
TK,
Sorry to hear that a 19 year old football player for Arkansas was found dead in his room. It’s always sad to hear when a young person dies. The article said there was nothing suspicious about the kid’s death. They are doing an autopsy to determine cause of death.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/20/sport/arkansas-football-player-death/
That was sad to read. His whole life ahead of him but we just never know when it is our time. Read a little book recently called Heaven is for Real that reminded me that he is okay, it is his family that has the hard time.
About the rankings, boy do I dread for our Georgia Bulldogs to have to play LSU but I would hate to play any of the three!
Nuttbush,
My dh just finished Heaven is for Real. (His 24 year old son died in a work accident last October.) The book has really helped him.
Gayle, it was quite a shock. Arkansas is a small state, and people feel very close here, so it has been doubly bad. There is an autopsy going on, so hopefully we will know the cause of death, and perhaps make sure nothing like this happens again. I’m afraid it will affect the team Friday. Could be a good effect, or maybe not. I saw how badly Oklahoma State played after the tragedy that hit their basketball program last week.
Regarding “fish” versus “regular” antibiotics.
Say someone wanted to stockpile some Azithromycin, so they looked around and found this company (no affiliation, but I have ordered from them in the past): http://aquaticpharmacy.com/eShop.php
Here’s their Azithromycin product: http://aquaticpharmacy.com/eShop.php?view=productPage&product=11&category=#
They state: “EACH TABLET CONTAINS: AZITHROMYCIN 250mg. 30 COUNT TABLETS USP”
But how do we know that’s what it really is? More homework is required…
Knowing that federal regulations require that all oral dosage drugs must meet USP standands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Pharmacopeia) and have unique markings (http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?CFRPart=206&showFR=1),
I see that this tablet they sell is a white oval shape and marked with a “W961″, so I head over to drugs.com and look it up: http://www.drugs.com/imprints/w-961-13112.html
So far, so good – this confirms it’s Azithromycin (generic Zithromax) and manufactured by a company named “Wockhardt”.
But I’m still wary, so I check this Wockhardt company out… Looks like they received FDA approval for selling Azithromycin in the US back in 2008 (http://www.expresspharmaonline.com/20080315/market09.shtml), and they do manufacture and label their 250mb Azithromycin “HUMAN PRESCRIPTION DRUG” with a “W961″ label (http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?id=32564#nlm34069-5). I’m convinced now.
My preps this week:
Some pyrotechnic testing that I can’t elaborate on, and practiced suturing on a pork knuckle. I need more suturing practice… 100 rds of 30.06 for 65 cents per rnd after manufacturers rebate – should have got more. 88# of dog chow and 250# of feed corn (bait).
Red,
Excellent information. Thank you for posting this. You have eased a lot of my fears about stocking fish antibiotics. I did not realize that the requirement to have a unique color/shape applied to pills for nonhumans. But it makes sense.
Red, great choice of meat for sutcher training. After your done you can make a stew or cook it lol.
The pig is close to human so that works as good as any. I suggest make different kinds of cuts and gashes to perfect your training. So you don’t waste sutcher threat are you using sewing thread or 2 lbs to 4 lbs fishing line?
4-0 Ethibond suture from a Army issue minor surgery kit. Came with two, need to order more now. Only a couple bucks on Amazon, figured I’d try out the real stuff. Lots of suturing videos on youtube, was trying the simple interrupted method with an instrument tie. Didn’t look as pretty as theirs…
After the sutures were removed the pork knuckle went into our bean and ham soup, will have to remember not to do that with a real patient.
Red, only suggestions along with the. Training is
1. Find any books on procedures, does and don’ts as well as what areas can’t be stitched due to nerves and veins close to the skin and how deep to stitch.
2. On real patients avoid the military surplus and go online to order them. The surplus lacks quality control on how its stored and some are knock offs from Pakistan or China. Keep them in a clean sterile environment as best possible. Infections could set up especially if the wound is not properly irrigated.
Red, my suggestion for online, I meant order from a reputable medical supply company. Cost but if your serious about possibly having to do it, best to do it right. You can also practice with thread and the old 4-0 to save the sutcher kits. Good luck!
Thanks Jarhead. I doubt I’d ever decide to close a wound with sutures, my plan was always to use butterfly strips on small cuts, and wet-to-dry dressings on larger ones. Was just hoping to get some practice and maybe a little muscle memory on the technique, since I’d likely be doing it without any injectible lidocaine and would want to work fast(er) for the patients sake. I really only thought about it more just recently when I had to throw out (unopened) some very old saline solution I had stocked for the wet-to-dry plan.
Take care, and Happy Thanksgiving.
I am a died in the wool skeptic! That being said.
On the antibiotic front, have you ever used “colloidal” silver? This stuff works! Either applied externally or taken mixed with food or liquid. It kills most bugs. I would recommend not actually using a colloidal, but an ionized solution. An ionized solution is far more efficient ,more common and will not cause any argyria. I truly believe folks should consider it.
Henry,
Do you have a source for ionized silver?
Back from my hideaway down south. Worked on advancing the winter garden. Cleaned up the final stage of the tomatoes. Got the broc, sugar peas, carrots, chard, onions going. Also planted some garlic for the first time, interested to see how this turns out.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! MD. I got nothing in the way of preps done this week. I did by a really nice video camera for my YouTube vids. It’s a cannon hf m400. Can’t wait to get home to play with it. I’m gonna be stuck on the road for thanksgiving. If you see a fat trucker with his bottom lip poked out that would be me.
PAM S. ,,, I hope blackie pulled through. Have a great week y’all and happy thanksgiving. Brad
Bctruck,
Sorry that you will be on the road this Thanksgiving – we will all be thinking of you. And thank you again for your gift.
Your welcome MD. I’m glad I could send a little of my gunshow good fortune your way. I’m truly indebted to you and all the life saving info I’ve gotten here and can never repay you for the way your blog has changed my life. Thank you.
BC you ever get down this way we could grab a bite at the TTT
Hello azyogi! Not long ago I broke down a bout 3 miles From TTT. I had to walk to the truckstop for a radiator hose and seven gallons of anti freeze. For a fat guy that’s like 103 miles. I go past the triple T 4 times a week. How far a trip would that be for you? Just for laughs,there was a truckstop on I-20 in Texas that was called “Texas Interstate Truckstop”. On Thier sign they had the first letters of the name in 10 foot capitals. So for a mile away you could read the word T I T S. long since out of business now. Just like the diesel fried chicken truckstop. The good old days of trucking are gone forever.
I’m near Kino and I 10 so about 8 minutes. PM me I’m on the meet up page.
bctruck-thank you for thinking about blackie. if i see you and the mrs along the road, i’ll make sure you all will get a turkey leg.
Thanks Pam. I never met a turkey leg I didn’t like ;))
Hello Fellow Wolf Pack
Great Guest Posts this week, really enjoyed the different topics and information shared.
On the canning front, I have been canning up rabbit, chicken and duck, along with lots of the above broths, on the dried jerky front, I have made Rabbit belly flap jerky, Chicken Breast Jerky.
I have made a number of Duck Breast Prosciutto which will be perfectly ready for Xmas. I made a batch of sheep milk soap this week, and have been busy making different flavored vodika’s, my crabapple vodika was ready and is now bottled for gifts.
All bought things this week have come from idea’s from the wolf pack, for those that read this week, I am sure you will be able to figure out what came from what.
2 box’s of steel wool
50 bag of baking powder
300 face masks(taking me up to 600 in storage)
4 bottles of Virkon Tablets-50 each (two bottles good for two years, and two good for another 4 years)
2 bottles of Coppersept
Case of twelve bottles of baby powder
Otherwise, I had a little fun this week, I had one day where I was had to make all my meals with no heat, one day I could only heat one pot and had to do all my meals with just that one heat up, one day where I limited myself to a gallon of water use for myself only, one day where everything single thing I eat had to be from the farm only..
Hot spices are better at making bland food taste better when you are used to having salt and pepper, I used fresh horseradish grated in instead of pepper, worked really well.
I am also really glad I can grow steva to put into my tea’s for a added sweetness.
Hope everyone has had a great week and look forward to hearing all about what you did this week!
Great accomplishment, Farm Gal. Question: How do you deal with storage of the stevia. Do you just dry the leaves? Thanks…
Hi winnabird,
I do just dry it, I just cut the plant and hung it to air dry the first year, as my cheaper dryer was a little to hot for it, and effected the quality but this year with the new big good dryer, I set it to herbs and it came out just beautiful, I just fill the jar with the whole leaves, and then break one full size leaf up into three, and one part in my loose tea ball does the trick for me.
I did spend a good amount of time trying the plants I started, there seems to be a huge difference between plants in the amount of “metal” after taste they can have, I start lots and cull heavy for the good ones, and then save seed from the better ones.
I think you need to start running classes Farmgal! We could all learn a lot from you.
Hi Lili
I did offer a few afternoon “get togethers” this year to share some skills with small groups of ladies, including canning, and baking bread, as well as how to butcher rabbit. Can’t see myself going much further then that, at least not at this time.
Farmgal….. See if you could cut a deal with MD to come down to Tenn. to teach a week ender course. We could try and talk him into turning his old 2 acres into a camp ground and Wolf Pack training center. Only half joking….. well maybe not even half……
Tom the Tinker,
To be honest I have considered offering a “hands on survival course” within the next year or two (If we have that long) after I have my book contracts fulfilled.
Holy Crappolla!!!!!!!!! Consider it really really hard Sir!! If you put up a KISS course on prepping skills Sir… count me as student application #1. I’m on the meet up page. You want or need some feedback and or outreach networking lemme know. If you got 5% of the ‘posting’ Pack… hell 2%…. you would have a full class. This is exciting stuff MD….. the makins of an empire….
That would be a hoot. I would like to meet up with members of the Wolf Pack. Do you live in the eastern or western part of Tenn.?
I be #3. That would be awesome.
Ray
If I could get the time off, I would sign up for one of your classes M.D.
If I could make it out there I sure would.
M.D.,
What kinds of things would the class teach? Would you plan it over a long weekend? Or would it be a full week? Would folks just pitch a tent on your old homestead?
Count me in too! It would be great if you could teach survival skills, but also urban survival for those of us who are planning our retreat and relocation and are still living in or near big cities. I’d love to learn skills from Farmgal, such things like canning and other things that you could learn from your mom, except my mom never did any of that.
Even when I double check I still make mistakes, that should be 50 pd bag of baking soda, not baking powder, on the other hand I forgot to say that last week I added in two pds of cream of tartar, had to order it off the net to get it that big, and I have a barter set up for local who makes wine, that will give me all the scrapings from his barrels from his wine. He wants some strawberry and Elderberry plants for it.
I agree with Lake Lili. I’d sign up for classes. Just reading your posts make me tired. Where do you find the time and energy to get all that accomplished?
Hi Em
I look at the farm as a full time job, when you put in a min of eight to nine hours a day, it just all add’s up. There are days that I need naps before getting up and going again :)
Bought barber scissors, and a smart AA/AAA recharger for Eneloop NiMH batteries, will take it apart to see about supplying it with 12 volts from a car battery or solar.
Being frugal and prepping have a lot of crossover, maybe prepping is getting ready for 100% frugal.
Last year Sears had Thanksgiving sale of Covington brand mens shirts for $9.99. Two pockets with flaps. After a year, I can report they are 90% as good as shirts from Arborwear or Duluth Trading that cost $40-50, which is good enough for me. Get the 100% cotton, some of the colors are polyester.
If you know of a good place for prepper type sales this week, be sure to mention it in your report.
David,I just wanted to remind you of river riders idea of using the solar driveway/landscaping lights to recharge your batteries. Some use AA. And some AAA.
Check out the post Thanksgiving ads for your favorite/local stores on http://www.bfads.net ~ I don’t have any affiliation with them but they’ve been posting Black Friday ads for years. The stores are listed on the left side of the page.
Start “prepping” for Black Friday. :) Looks like CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid will have quite a few free after “rebate” or other reward program items.
David, there is a vehicle cigarette lighter AC/DC adapter so you can plug in your cell phone charger, hair clippers, battery chargers, dremel tool, portable radios etc. It comes in handy. You can pick one up at walmart, radio shack, frys etc.
cur up some wood for the stove.I used my sawzall beacus I do not have a chainsaw.It worked out well because it was tree limbs .
Axelsteve, now that is a prep item that should be in everyone’s tool prep. They are great to have. I have a cordless with 3 batteries.
Jarhead. You can buy blades in sets that give you an assortment pack that is cheaper then buying sepperate blades.You can buy them at wallyworld and sears.The ones seem better then the wallys though.I like the idea of a cordless model like yours.Maybe someone makes a solar charger for the batteries? Semper fi Jarhead.
Axel, that’s hat I’m looking into so I don’t have to use the generator. I’ve seen them charged by windmill on a tv reality show on survival show a while back. I guess with the larger panels and converter it would be possible.
j, ryobi makes a 12v charger for their 18v tools, also dewalt i think. i have a small solar setup with 2 sets of the harbor freight panels (90 watts) , 4 marine batts, a charge controller and an inverter. it’ll charge anything you want and provide power for most all our 110v needs. not 24/7, but as needed. you can always use a small inverter in your car/truck.
River, thanks. Mines a bit smaller of a solar panel than that but I was looking at the Harbor Freight add to see if it will be on sell soon and then having to pick up the battery and converter. My smaller solar panel is for charging cell phones, laptop and small rechargeable appliances with USB port adapter plug in.
Another do nothing week. Did get my bread machine, clean a screen things for the trays in my Ronco. They fit perfect even if they are another brand. And those adorable, just because I wanted them, measuring spoons. Who’d a thunk it, measuring drop, smidgen, pinch, dash, and tad would end up in actual measurements?
===========Off topic
I have an old 1985 El Camino. I do not bath her and she collects cobwebs and dust real well. I do not care what she looks like as long as she runs. Running is the best feature of a car and primo in an old one.
But for some reason the Police department thinks it is abandoned.
Are they in an assumptive mode?
Do they hate old cars?
Do cobwebs put them in attack mode?
Does dust threaten them with harm?
So far this year I have had 3 notes put on my lovely creature, the last with a slip of paper taped to it that was (CA or city) code 6312 said that (dig the venacular) juggling or moving the vechicle to avoid, evade the rules or the impounding the car. And juggling the vehicle is punishable by fine or imprisonment.
But it was parked in front of my place of residence. Why would I want to park it anywhere else. I park it in the same place and my son’s 2007 truck is parked behind it. We are creatures of habit, besides it is easier to park his truck behind the car instead of backing the thing up.
Why could they not come to the door and ask about the said vehicle? I for one do not want an abandoned vehicle in front of my house for years on end. But they just tag and run.
Now this is not the beginning of the story. When I first moved here 13 years ago I had a 1980 Toyota Corona. Faded beige. It too collected dust, cobwebs. They also had a beef with it. Like I said if the booger runs I don’t care what it looks like. When it quit running and I could not find even one person to see what was wrong with it before I spent a kazillion dollars on it so I sold it.
Hence I have the newer-police attention grabber vehicle.
Now the only thing I will admit to is that it needed a battery for about a month. But when that baby got that new puppy she started right up.
And I have been lax in getting it smogged (I will plead the 5th in any other situation) But she is fully operational, I paid for the tags, and she is insured.
So can you deduce what they are after?
Are they prejudiced against what is parked in that spot?
Are they against old?
I am afraid to step out of the house now as I am afraid I will be tagged and be accused of juggling myself back into the house. Because I am old and grey and they probably have something against that.
I do not know how to reslove this problem as I do not feel that washing the car will help. And I do not want to call attention to this address or myself and be marked forever by the dear police department.
Ellen, call your local councilman/woman or Congressional Rep. If you ask me, those cops are profiling your old car.
Ellen, could it be that your neighbors sent in a complaint of “abandoned vehicle” to the police department and that’s what put your car on the watch list? Do like they do in San Jose and Fresno, park it in your front yard – off the street.
I’m curious, how’d you get the car registered if it isn’t smogged? You live outside of the Bay Area counties and outsife of LA area? That’s the only way around it from what I can tell.
Lint Picker
I paid for the tags. Until I get it smogged I will not recieve the little gluey thingy that updates the plate.
The DMV is more than glad to take your money and it is a safety measure to pay it so there will be no late charges.
We took it over to another location so that it will not be ridiculed any farther till I get the energy up to take it to be smogged. This is one of the procrastination moves of mine. I hate hate hate taking care of things did I mention I HATE HATE HATE taking care of things.
Besides when I had the ol’ Toyota it had the up-to-date everything and they picked on it. I asked the guy who in their right mind is going to renew tags for a car that ain’t working?????
I not only think they have something against old cars but this address must be an eye-catcher.
Getting vehicles smogged every other year is one reason I moved to the boondocks. We only have to get smogged when we sell a car. Plus, moving to the coast cut down on my insurance premiums. However, it meant many more libs, hippies, and losers – so it’s been a tradeoff. :)
Lint I used to see hippies in willits calif wearing cammo pants with a tiedy t shirt with dreadlocks. Kinda funny to see.
Here in CO we call tye die (sp), hippie camo.
If the car has a current registration, there should be no problem. I know here in Florida there are laws against keeping cars without current tags on one’s property (laws against running an illegal junkyard, as some might say).
Gayle
Illegal junkyard what a novel idea.
Would make for some cover to surround the place in case of invasion of any unwanted persons.
I have no clue unless they had a stick **&^%&*$# (where the sun don’t shine).
Ellen,
Back in 75 I had a 59 Chevy Impala sitting in front of my house. It sat there for 10 yrs. I would drive it to and from work everyday. One day I decided to ride my Motorcycle to work instead of driving.
When I got home that night my Sister said she saw a cop going through my cars glove compartment. I didn’t think much of it until 3 days later the same cop pulled me over in front of my house while riding my motorcycle.
My sister came out and told me he was the one going through my car. I confronted him about it. He claimed he only looked in the car. I said that is not what I heard. Then he said he did open the door and look inside. Again I said thats not what I heard. He then said well I did get inside but that was it. I told him that I had a witness he was going thru the Glove Box. He then claimed that he had a right to go thru any car he thought was abandoned.
I proceeded to tell him the car has been in front of the house for 10 years what made him think it was abandoned. Claimed he was new on the beat. By this time we had drawn quite a crowd as I was a senior in H.S. and class had just let out for the day and my house was 100′ away from H.S. driveway. There were numerous old cars parked on the street everyday. One of the crowd said “OH A ROOKIE HUH” everyone started laughing and he got P.O’d. Gave me a ticket which I beat. Filed a complaint with Alameda County Sherriff. He was reprimanded. Caused me alot of problems until I moved about 3 months later.
6 years later I was working as a mechanic in Auburn, Ca. I got a call about 3:00 am to come down and fix a car for someone.
When I arrived it was the same cop. He was on his way back from Reno and he spun a wheel bearing on the front of hi Chevy Blazer full size 4×4. Cost him a 1,000.00 for a 250.00 job and he was late for work. Oh Well. He didn’t even recognize me but it was really hard to forget his name. S.R. CROTCH.
WHAT I’M SAYING IS CLEAN THE CAR UP AND PARK IT IN THE DRIVEWAY. You may have a ROOKIE.
Ray
Nor Cal Ray
Don’t think it was a rookie.
I think it was one of those that do not understand the collective use of the word “you”.
When you say to someone in a profession say to the police department “you can’t assume” and the person keeps saying it wasn’t “Me”you know there is a communication gap.
I have been wondering about this and wondering if it was time for me to move. I would love to be able to as I would like to find a place out in the country. But I am handicapped by no funds. This place is realtively cheap and it would be a handicap money wise to move.
But figure if God wants me outa here he will figure it out and have me trip over the oppertunities.
Ellen
I was being facetious when I said you may have a rookie. They will use any excuse they want to harrass when they get it in their heads to.
Ray
Ellen – We had to park a vehicle in front of our house for several months. We would drive it every so often, but the neighbors called the police on us for parking in front of our own house – weird. Anyway, I called the police about it, and they said that they get complaints like that all the time and they would make a note of it so that when the neighbors called again the police wouldn’t worry about it. Luckily the neightbors moved.
Neighbors are seldom neighborly.
Well, guys, I hate to say this but . . . if the law requires that all vehicles parked in one’s driveway or on the street have a current tag, and the tag is not current, then the police are within their right to write a ticket.
To me it sounds like an angry neighbor trying to get some payback. Or it could be someone trying to sell his or her house. If the neighborhood looks run down with junk cars all around, then the property values of the surrounding homes decrease.
I would recommend getting the car inspection done so you can get a current tag on the vehicle. That way, neither the police nor the neighbors have grounds for complaint.
I write this because I have come to realize that when I think people have wrong me, it usually turns out that I did something (inadvertently, of course) to bring on their wrath. It’s much easier to keep my side of the street clean than to deal with the retaliation of others. Rarely do people retaliate without provocation.
That’s just my two cents.
I should probably add that I might be biased here. My grandfather and father were state troopers and my sister was a county cop in rural, Pa.
g, if thomas jefferson thought that way, we’d still be under the queens thumb. resist tyranny wherever you find it.
I realize the tag situation.
But my old Toyota was always freshly tagged and they still left me those love notes.
If indeed it is a neighbor I have no idea who it could be.
As far as property values or the sale of a house doesn’t seem like any are up for execution.
I surmise I am an easy target plus they have nothing better to do.
m.d. happy birthday, wish you the best.
pam s,
Thank you – I think I will stay 39 for the next few years LOL.
M.D., you can remain 39 for the duration. Jack Benny did.
Actually, Jack Benny did finally change his age to twice 39 shortly before his death.
I have a question for everyone. I’ve been looking around and reading about propane verse kerosene. Which one would you choose and why?
This is what I’m currently working on for my prep of the week. Its for both heating and cooking.
buckeyemedic,
I use a combination of the two but 90% of what I use is propane.
Propane works because it lasts almost forever without have to be treated, stabilized etc. But having redundancy is always best. If the SHTF, chances are either could be difficult to get, so keep whatever you have fresh by recyling/replacing as needed.
I prefer propane . It’s easier to store and easier to move and use. It is also cheeper, at least where I am in Ohio.
Oops almost forgot the best thing about propane. When there is no power you can still buy it. Kerosene needs power to run the pumps….just like gas.
I didn’t think about kerosene not being able to be pumped (stupid me). Just been trying to decide which would ne the better option and want to start working on gathering up the heater/stove this week. Still looking at wood stoves, just have to figure out 1. Where it will go 2. What one I want 3of course is cost.
Thanks everyone
I may be wrong about this but, from my experience, propane also needs an electric pump when dispensing from the bulk tank to smaller, portable tanks.
Buckey, the nice thing about propane is like the others stated about the shelf life, ease of storage, transporting and availability even when the power is out you can still get it.
My view for propane is they have various sizes to store propane from huge outside the house tanks that a truck comes out too fill to the white canisters for the bbq grill, there are the familiar green canisters for the coleman type stove and heaters to the small back packing canisters for hiking. With accessories and connectors the smaller canisters and the white bbq grill tanks can meet most needs.
I own a few propane stoves for camping, hiking and the bbq. Power goes out of something happens I’m good to go.
I would vote for propane for sure. I store some K1 and have a heater that uses it; however, we have two 1000 gallon tanks capable of holding 1600 gallons of propane on site. We heat our domestic hot water, our home, and do our cooking. We use it to run a normal gas fired residential furnace (which requires electricity) but also have non-electric space heaters connected to the same source. We also have the gas grill and several buddy heaters that can run from the 20 pound tanks.
Propane is easier to store, and stores indefinitely, where kerosene requires stabilization and does have shelf life considerations, dependent mostly on storage conditions.
Additionally, propane (in bulk) is generally less expensive. Currently here in central OH, propane which produces 91,500 BTU per gallon is less than $2.00 per gallon (my fill up this summer was $1.82 delivered) vs. kerosene at more than $4.00 per gallon producing 127,000 BTU per gallon.
Finally, if you have a gasoline powered generator, you can probably get a propane conversion kit to run as dual fuel. Gasoline also has storage considerations, so propane could be a winner here also.
OhioPrepper,
Any chances for an article on propane and your setup? I’m thinking I would like to go from the local power company to a propane setup with my SHTF location. I will have to check the local laws about this one but I’ve been pricing propane and the savings look to good to ignore. Plus if the lines go down I can still heat my house. I had a nightmare one year when I lived up North and had a gas fired heater. I didn’t know that it required electricity to run the heater and since the power was down for four days it was useless. The kerosene heater I had could almost heat one room but it was still too cold for the wife and kids who had to go stay with relatives. I stayed behind to deter anyone who might have thought our house was an easy target. Luckily the dog was willing to keep me warm. Another good reason to have a dog if you didn’t have enough already. Having no power for days on end is not a position I want to be in again. That same year I went and bought the generator and another kerosene stove.
Mexneck, I moved your request and my response to here so you could benefit from the wisdom of the whole pack. Judy
“Mexneck November 18, 2011 at 6:06 PM
Hi Wolfpack,
Are potatoes a good crop for the novice gardener in South Texas? What are some other good easy to grow limited space crops? No green thumb here. We might see rain this year, but then again might not. Thanks in advance for any advice.”
My response.
Questions. How much water do you have available to work with? How much mulch can you get a hold of?
I would get a hold of the County Extension agency for your area. http://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/ They have all kinds of publications on when to grow, what will grow, yields, pests and how to get rid of them, canning and preserving your crops and people to talk to that live and grow gardens in your area.
You could start this winter with a container in a south facing window with radishes. They sprout quickly and are ready for harvest in 30 days. You will need to decide where you want your garden and start working the soil now because it takes a while to get the soil ready to grow crops. Also understand the first year or two will have poor yields and the weeds will be atrocious until the soil is built up and the weed seeds have started to be eliminated from the soil.
But do understand I live in zone 6a. First frost date is Oct. 15, last frost date is Apr. 15, and winter temps down to -10, summer temps 100 plus. We ave. 30 inches of rain annually with a two week period of rain in the spring and 2 weeks in the fall for the majority of the rain. LOL. Last year was a bust for gardens and field crops in our area. No rain and very high summer temps for over 2 months.
I would not recommend potatoes in TX as a newbie gardner. I would go with sweet potatoes if you need to have a potato. For an easy care veggie I would recommend carrots and peas for the early springtime. If you don’t have any critters that will eat them, spinach, lettuce and other leafy greens will do nicely too.
Try beans in summer, any kind of bean should work. Dried beans such as pinto are the easiest. You don’t have to harvest until the plant is completely brown and you can hear the beans when you shake it. You can harvest earlier if you want to. You may get some bugs but they can be sprayed with chili pepper powder. For plant it and forget it, I highly recommend peanuts and seminole pumpkins. I didn’t even water mine until August and then it was only twice- no feeding or spraying for bugs. Peanuts require sand and compost; the seminole pumpkins didn’t seem to care about what type of soil I had. I planted them in potting soil but they placed most of their roots in heavy clay.
You may also want to try some herbs – you can even grow those in pots. Try peppers and tomatoes if you want to – but they can be fussy. I am sure others will also recommend plants that they had luck with. Since I am a master gardner, the ones that I mentioned above are the ones I usually recommend to people starting out (unless you can give some details about how much sunlight, type of soil, how much time do you have to spend on a garden and such.)
It’s really easy to grow radishes in pots. I did it, so you can, too. That is a great way to start gardening because you get quick results and you prove to your wife that you CAN grow something.
Kate,
You are such an interesting person! Master gardener. I love it. That’s quite an accomplishment.
What do you think about writing a post on growing tomatoes?
I had a neighbor when I was a graduate student living in a really crappy neighborhood. The soil was really bad. I bought eight tomato plants and stuck them in the ground. Since my neighbor was retired and home all the time, he volunteered to “help with them”. (As a young man he owned and operated a nursery.) I wish I had paid more attention to what he did because we had tomatoes growing everywhere. I swear we must have had more than 1,000 tomatoes. And that was with really crappy soil–mostly sand.
I would like to be able to grow tomatoes that are that productive.
Thank you Judy,
I’m looking forward to the looks DW is going to give me for trying to garden. She already can’t stop laughing when I mention it. Something to show in a short time would be good for me. :)
M.D., earlier this week you thanked us for the support for your blog. I just have to say thank you for making it available to us. Through your blog I have learned so much, and now am better able to prep for my family thru the advice given here. Unlike a lot of other sites I have been to, this one actually feels like a community. We all give out advice, squabble, and care about each others woes. I still check out other sites, but this is always the first place I go when I turn on my computer in the morning. Thank you, M.D. and the Wolf Pack.
This week I have been hitting the sales for canned goods and then doubling it all by taking the adds to walmart and getting them again there. That really helps in building up the food stores. I think I have managed to add close to a months worth of food in with the sales the past 2 weeks.
I also went thru all my food stores this week. Making sure that everything was labeled and dated. I had my kitchen table buried under canned goods when my husband came home from work and his eyes got huge. I told him I am trying to figure out what I have, what I need more of, and where I am going to store it all. He said “I guess put them in boxes and put them under the bed?” I was so relieved, as that was my plan but I wasnt sure how he would react to food in our room. With it being his idea, well, that just takes care of that argument.
I found out that by adding a few things here and there, when I could afford it, I have been able to go from having a couple of weeks worth of food in my house, to around 6 months. I still have a bit to go before hitting my goal, but it is nice to know just how much I do have.
I picked up a hurricane lantern and a couple bottles of oil. I remember somebody posted something about the bottles of oil leaking a couple of weeks ago but I couldnt find the post.
Other than that, just a few small things. Some more lighter fluid, matches, candles. I also downloaded a bunch of the net this week.
I am hoping that in the next week or two to start on my first aid stuff.
Oh and just some info for Ron (on the Rio) and anyone else who may be in the Houston area. When the evacuations for hurricane Rita were going on my parents had to deliver a load here in Houston. They then picked up somewhere on 290 (cant remember exactly where) and it took them 6 hours to go from where they picked up to Brookshire. That is usually a 45 minute drive. They also got stuck on back roads. It took on average of 30 hours to get from Houston to Dallas on 45. I dont have too much info on how long things took on 59 but I was in Cleveland at the time and I know that the town got shut down with police officers at the off ramps asking what people were doing trying to get into town, they were also posted at the gas stations, and I seen them at walmart too. They had to do that because a lot of people were running out of gas about there and the town was seriously over-ran. The city did learn a lot from that mess and the evacuation of Ike was not near as bad. So as long as the government is running there is a chance of orderly evac., if not, well Rita showed us how bad things could get.
TG,
Thank you we are glad to be of service.
Tg. That was my post about the lamp oil bottles leaking. Some hade leaked over 2/3,rds Thier contents. My wife and I also were one of the last trucks in during Rita and the first truck back with water diapers and baby formula. Same thing in Ike. Took orders from all my co workers for food water formula and diapers then came back with lumber and tarps when the damage was assessed. I’m gonna miss Houston when I get off the road,,,,,,,,,, ok I really won’t miss it that much. It’s the only place I know that has such high humidity that you need a shower after taking a shower.
Bctruck
I alwas said you had to dry off twice. Once from the shower and once from the humidity.
Ray
p.s. Why’d the chicken cross the road? To show the Armadillo it could be done. or alt. answer To show the Box Turtle it could be done.
Ray
There is only one other Place I’ve been that exceeds the humidity of Houston and that is Miami. I just shot an armadillo a dew days ago that was destroying what little grass I have left (drought). The buzzards made short work of him. Now I’ve got to fix my fence where the deer tore it down. Wild life is tougher on things than kids.
Bctruck……… remind me… us…. what did you end up storing your lamp oil in? Plastic or steel?
Gm I got some 3, 5 gallon gas cans from Walmart and put all the lamp oil in them. The lamp oil had been stored un disturbed on a dark corner of what I call the pump house. It was never to hot or to cold so the plastic bottles disintegrating could be blamed on uv,temperature extremes or rough handling. I lost more than I saved. In hindsight I would have bought the yellow (diesel) plastic jugs be cause I also keep my treated stored gasoline in the same building. I’ve since gone out and written LAMP OIL in big black letters. On this that are holding the oil.
I have no idea why my typing thumb spelled gm instead of Tom. Stupid thumb!!!
Stubby thumb syndrome comes from prepping overload and coffee…. thanks for the tip. A think we’ll go with the yellow plastic diesel jugs.
Tom & BC,
I’ve had the same problem over time with the cheap plastic bottles the lamp oil comes in. I’ve found that storing K1 and lamp oil in the heavy ditty blue plastic fuel containers (which BTW is the proper color for these fuels) works well and I haven’t had any leaking or deterioration issues.
Tom beat me to the question. Thanks BC for the answer. Next time I am in walmart I will pick up some gas cans for the oil.
As for the humidity in Houston, well, we just have a great big sauna in the summer time.
TG,
Be careful when buying gas cans from Walmart. I bought four gas cans from there a couple of years back. They didn’t have an air hole so they don’t pour well. Whenever my dh rotates the gas stores, he gets gas all over his hands. (I have made a mental note to put the disposable gloves near the gas can next time so he didn’t forget we have them.)
I bought 2 5-gallon gas ‘cans’ (red plastic) from Walmart 8 months ago. The other day, I had to use one of them for a trip I had to make. When I refilled the can with gas, and went to lift it into the back of the truck, I felt something wet on my hand that was on the handle. I investigated, and it turned out that the top seam on the can was separating!!! The can had simply sat in the hangar for the 8 months, with no handling. Perhaps heat had weakened it, but because the separation was exactly along the seam, I think it was poorly made. On top of that, I couldn’t find the receipt (and I save ALL receipts!), and Walmart wouldn’t take it back. :( I also had trouble getting the can to vent. They’re “Made in China” of course.
TG, thanks for the concern but I am already plugged into the HC Evac situation due to my job. Where we are now we would be leaving on west on alt 90 and/or south on 59. By next HC season I should have inland contacts to relocate too. We will have bug out checklist ready for both with or without the RV.
Planning is one of my strengths.
Hi M.D.,
How are the moving guys doing with your new abode?
Part of our prepping is to watch how soon it will take a $10 bill to buy a loaf of bread. We hope to build the skills to grind wheat and bake bread this winter, before starting next years garden.
Here’s why; According to Shadowstats.com, when the estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994 are included in the unemployment rate, it is 23%. But, hey, wait, we should trust our guberment, it’s really around 9%, right? According to Shadowstats the inflation rate is over 11%, calculated using the methodologies in place in 1980, not the below 3% reported by the government and the media. I know my buying power has shrunk at least 11% in the last few months and that’s proof enough for me to call the government statisticians dam liars. It doesn’t take a heavy I.Q. to count the money in an empty wallet.
Repackaged 48 lbs of sugar into vacuum sealed, bubble wrapped Glass jars and stored them in 5 gallon buckets (OPSEC).
Bought the DW an EDC pink flashlight at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-73003-Miniature-Keychain-Flashlight/dp/B002IKLATU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321648726&sr=8-1 just like Lint Picker has on his EDC key ring. Amazon has a policy of free shipping on orders over $25. She wanted another item that cost about $18, and shipping was going to be $6. I added the $8 flashlight, the shipping was dropped, so we got the flashlight for under $2.
We bought three 72 oz bags of Nestle Semi-Sweet chocolate chips at $7.48 each at Sams. The sugar was $.50 lb. at a local grocery store. Thanks Gayle for the schedule of seasonal food sales, waiting for the right time is worth it.
We picked the second 2’ X 4’ carrot patch, our yield on both plots was about 15 lbs. Dehydrating them will take a while.
I bought 2 additional four packs of 100 watt incandescent light bulbs (non G.E.). They will be outlawed next January. The DW is teasing me about preparing for grid down and buying light bulbs.
Hunker-Down,
You are correct about the “official” government statistics. The comparison of today’s statistical methodologies with those employed in the 1980s means we are comparing apples and oranges. A better test of inflation is purchasing power. And we know that $10 just doesn’t buy as much as it did even a few months ago.
I really recommend that folks stock up on food stuffs between now and Christmas, because after the holidays the sales will not be good at all. January, February and March tend to be lean months for coupons and sales.
Gayle,
You said, “we know that $10 just doesn’t buy as much as it did even a few months ago”, and I would point out that it depends on what you’re buying. If you’re buying a cell phone, digital camera, or computer, you get seriously more functionality and capacity than you did not long ago, for a lot less money. I actually heard some government technocrat say this (I’m paraphrasing) in order to justify his remarks that on average, the inflation really is lower. Too bad I can’t buy a new computer per week and only milk and bread every few years, or perhaps that’s what they’re hoping for.
Ohio Prepper,
I heard that too. I believe the gov. rep was in Harlem. Fox News showed the reply from the croud. I heard things like “I can’t eat an iphone and computer!” AND this was from people in Harlem. I don’t think TDL even cares.
Ohio Prepper,
I have read that when calculating inflation, the government does not include gas and oil, or food. I suppose this is because the cost of oil, gas and food is so variable.
But this makes no sense. Because it is the increase in the price of gas (and oil) and food that hurts folks financially. By spending more on gas and food, folks have less discretionary income. And it’s buying stupid crap that drives the American economy.
OhioPrepper,
That “additional functionality” crap is what keeps the sheeple thinking inflation is below 3%. Of the things we buy that has additional functionality, we may use 60%, the other 40% is a misfit for us.
Why doesn’t the cost of a new car track the historical cost of a new P/C? (I’ll duck before you respond LOL).
H-D, I don’t own any pink flashlights. Your comment might lead people to believe I do. I’m sure that was just an oversight on your part. To be clear – I own NO, absolutely NO, pink flashlights. Pink, it’s a girl’s color.
Lint Picker,
Sorry, I didn’t think ahead.
real men can carry off the wearing of pink. lol
i cant wear it makes me look way to unmanly. but then again my nik name is shrek and my wife talls me nothing looks good on me
I can wear a pink tie, maybe even a pink shirt if I’m attending a wedding. But a pink flashlight would draw ridicule like you can’t believe. Besides, pink clashes with my lipstick.
Lint,
Don’t worry, it will be dark when you will be using your pink flashlight. Do one buy you will know it’s pink.
I’ll bet your pink tie has a bulb and a battery.
lol
Hey LP,
I think I’m going to order a pink flashlight just for the fact that it may not grow legs so quick. Then again if there are ladies with your flashlight fetish around…..
I used to keep a pink clipboard at work. No one ever tried to steal it.
Lint—-how about Salmon colour?
HD, what do you use to vacum seal your jars? I have been using an “Alvin” vacum sealer (brake bleeder pump and foodsaver jar attachment) to do mine. I was curious if there were other methods out there besides foodsaver or the Alvin.
Ursus,
We use a FoodSaver Vacuum attachment. We add silica gel packets to salt, sugar, and anything we dehydrate, like carrots, potatoes, blueberries, strawberries, peppers,etc.
We are too cheap to buy freeze dried, and want to build up long term food storage without depending on a freezer, so we turn to the dehydrator.
We have a freezer with strawberries, blueberries, peaches, soups, meat and bread but it will all spoil when the grid goes down. Some say they will can their freezer contents when that happens but I don’t know how to can over a candle or propane or wood fire.
MD, the Taurus 990(very similar to the 94) was featured in The American Rifleman(NRA publication) this month, and I really liked it. I think its very similar to the pistol your girlfriend gave you. Sweet gift.
I bought 15 gal. of gas this week and added sta-bil to it. I bought another 100 gal. of propane, and am set for the winter. I got the base to the wood stove laid, and am ready to start on the chimney(help, rr).
I went to Wally World and bought salt, pepper, sugar, flour, corn meal, and various soups for storage. I received my order of two cases of Mountain House f-d food from Ready Made Resources.
My wife gave me the Otis Tactical Cleaning System, so while at Wally’s I bought some Break Free CLP, Rem-oil, cleaning patches and solvent. I bought a couple of boxes of .308 cal hunting ammo, and a box of .22 rat shot.
I ordered some heirloom seeds from Baker Seed Co. That’s about it.
templar knight- it was reported extra patrol on highways through columbia county this week. i got a warning for speeding last month.
The cops are everywhere, pam s. I believe that all these jurisdictions are trying to raise funds by giving out tickets rather than raising taxes. That’s my theory, anyway. I will be heading your way Wednesday morning. Thanks for the heads up.
And as bad as it was, I’m glad to hear blackie has a good chance. It’s a shame the scumbag who shot her couldn’t be shot 3 times and left to die somewhere. Just to see how it feels, and they might get a proper perspective on life. Just saying.
i wish i could find the scumbag. have a safe trip.
tk, what kinda help ya need? physical or mental:) i’m still waiting on the thimble for mine, and a roof guy kit to support the upper sections. are you going thru the ceiling or thru the wall? we went thru the wall as its in the basement. any way i can help, i’m ready… its not that hard, just remember the 2 inch clearances and i highly recommend the locking bands.
We are going through the ceiling, rr. My wife is insisting that we hire a professional to install the chimney. She’s worried about a fire, so I guess I’ll just get to watch and fetch. I’ll just need some financial help. LOL. Just kidding!
tk, LOL- financial help, don’t we all?!….as long as you watch the clearances you’ll be good. i , being paranoid from a childhood chimney fire, also boxed out the area with duroc cement underlament board wherever it was near bare wood. i tried to light it with a torch,and failed:) peace of mind, or the misses’ peace of mind, are most important though. nothing like trying to sleep wondering if you hooked something up right, or wrong:) good luck. if the world is still turning this spring me n the misses are going on a trip out west. we’d be pleased to meet you folks, if you’re willin’. take care.
When you get ready to head this way, just let me know, rr. We will find a way to meet up somewhere, somehow. We are heading out west ourselves this spring and summer. At my daughter’s spring break in March we’re heading to Colorado Springs to see my son, and then on to the slopes. This summer we’re going to visit my son in Colorado Springs, and then on to Bakersfield, California, to visit my niece and her husband. This will be a three-week trip as we are driving.
Of course, all this is tentative, subject to what happens in Washington. The debt reduction talks have broken down, and markets will probably react negatively. But I truly think, in my heart of hearts, that we will have until the election in November before the SHTF. This OWS crap going on right now is just a test, and it will fizzle out in the cold of winter. But look for it to start up in the late spring, gain strength throughout the summer, and then reach a violent crescendo just before the election. TDL will then position himself as the Savior, suspending the election, stealing it, or getting people to vote for him out of fear.
We are heading toward the most predictible economic collapse in history, a slow-motion train wreck that could easily be prevented. But the Democrats won’t cut, and the Republicans won’t raise taxes, or at least not enough to suit Democrats. I fear all is lost.
As Lynn said, Plan Big-Plan Long(PBPL). I think that should be the motto of the Wolf Pack.
TK, when you head out this way to Bakersfield and if you want to meet up, let me know. I’m about an hour away. Summers have been hit and miss on 100+ temps.
River, where out west? Packing up the wagon for Donner Pass? Lol, if out this way and you want to meet up let me know.
Will do, j. I’m hoping the world as we know it lasts that long.
j, would love to link up. no donner party,LOL. we’ve just been planning on going to the grand canyon n such. i went on my scooter before i met my wife. she’s never been out that way except w/me to montana. hoping to spend about a month on the trail,situation permitting. then we’ll be digging in for 2012 :)
After 25 years of being married(to the same woman even) I learned that sometimes spending money to keep your wife from worrying is money well spent.
You are a wise man. It took a second wife for me to learn all the lessons.
TK,
Just my $0.02 worth, but the easiest chimney installations I’ve done were through the wall (don’t have to worry about incessant roof leaks), and built with a masonry stack, using concrete half blocks (square blocks with a single center hole, and clay/tile chimney/flue liners. The half blocks are normally 8 inches in height and the flue liners are generally 2 feet in length, so for every three block you lay, you can insert a single liner. Additionally, you can place a cleanout door on the bottom of the stack, outside of the house, making cleaning easy and without any indoor mess. Whether you do this yourself or have it done for you it takes a little time since you can only stack3 or 4 courses of block per day in order to give the mortar time to set up. I’ve found these to be reliable, relatively inexpensive, and a pretty easy DIY project.
OP,
Since we are going to hire it done, at the request of my wife, I will get the opinion of the installer, but I like your idea, and I will do it this way if possible. The ease of cleaning is a big plus. Thank you, sir.
TK,
As you probably already know, the one thing to be aware of here is the old hammer and nail concept. If the only tool I have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. If this is a real fireplace/chimney company, then they will be familiar with insulated (used to be called metal-bestos (not sure how they insulate them now), and both double and triple wall pipe, as well as masonry styles. If they specialize in only pipe based chimneys and have no masonry experience, then they may opt for the pipe which is a more expensive option from the dollar perspective, but can be more quickly installed (and easily from their standpoint) vs. the masonry chimney which is only installed at a rate of 2-3 feet per day. I’ve built several of these chimneys and I am by no means a mason; however, I can lay a square block with a little mortar, and so can most people with some care and practice.
I agree with Ohio Prepper on this type of flue installation and if we install in our wood oven in the den, that’s the route we’ll probably take. We’re also talking about a small addition that would be downstairs off the basement so that we could have a room for the genny to be inside, venting out. This would give us some extra space for workshop overflow and we could move the wood oven into the workshop for heat in that zone when needed. The workshop is at the opposite side of our woodstove and it’s the chilliest part of the house, being about 58-degrees in the worst of our Winters with no heat on but the woodstove. Not bad but not easy to play in the workshop.
Definitely, get a cleanout door and set this up so that you can clean your own flue — it’s very easy.
lynn, i used the double walled steel flue.it has a cleanout at the botton. just unscrew it, insert brush and scrub:) i think i’ll pretent its TDL…but then i might scrub right thru the steel,LOL! we had a masonry chimney catch fire when i was young that nearly burned the house down. got so hot it cracked all the liners and had to be knocked down n rebuilt. the steel is supposed to eliminate that, but if not, all i have to do is unscrew it and replace it. besides, try n get a good mason to put up a chim for 600 bucks, HA! to each his/her own tho. take care.
riverrider,
I do not claim to be a mason, but have put up perhaps 6 of these in my lifetime, most back in the 1970′s and early 1980′s. I was taught that if you mix your mortar smooth and uniform, apply it evenly, and make sure your starting block and all of those above it are level, then you should not have an issue. The masonry chimney I’m talking about here is also external to the house so I think the fire threat would be minimal. In any case, keeping the crap cleaned out of any chimney is a requirement for safe operation.
Lynn & TK,
One more thing to take into account with a chimney is what type of service it will mostly be used for. If you’re building an occasional fire for a little heat or ambiance, then the masonry chimney may not be the best choice. It has a lot of mass and takes a while to get the draft really going well, so it is probably more suited for someone running the woodstove 24×7 as a primary heating device.
Interesting points, RR and OP. Might be worth rethinking this since a second flue would be used for the woodburning oven and only part-time.
Our current flue was installed when the house was built and is a masonry flue. It was constructed for long burn sessions and boy do we do that! Prior to our addition, the flue was on the outside of the house with a brick face just like the brick face on the house. Our woodstove burns very clean due to the catalytic converter we installed and so our cleanings aren’t bad at all.
Tk, I was looking at the patches at walmart while picking up 100 rounds of .45acp and the prices jumped. Its why I cut up a bunch out of old white t shirts.
Addendum: I just got back from the grocery store. The sales are just too good this week to pass up. I picked up two more hams. Tomorrow I will can some more ham & bean soup.
I picked up 10 bottles (64 oz) of white grape juice, 18 lbs. of butter, another 20 boxes of cereal and another case of canned peaches–all BOGO. I am doing the happy dance.
I need to do another inventory but I am pretty sure I now have a year’s supply of dinners and I am getting close to a year’s supply of breakfasts. I am starting to feel a bit more comfortable now.
From what I have read it is demand in China (together with crop losses due to both flooding and drought in different parts of the world) that is driving up the cost of food worldwide. Purchasing food is a guaranteed 10 percent savings (likely more). Bonds might net 1.5 percent. Stocks are even more uncertain. So for the time being, I am investing in food. A lot of folks talk about investing in silver and gold. The problem is you can’t eat silver and gold.
gayle, yes and silver/gold are already inflated beyond limits. i don’t buy the shortage reports. romania had such a good harvest, they were afraid of flooding the market. the problem lies in the decreased value in our dollar due to printing too many, “quantatative easing”. they are yapping about shortages to fool us that everything is fine with the sawbuck. thats also why oil continues to cost more dollars even tho there is a huge drop in demand in recent months. pretty soon the euro will replace the dollar as default international currency, and it’ll be all in the fan for us. take care n keep up the good investing.
RR,
I think it is more likely that the euro will fail. And that will have an even bigger impact on the U.S. dollar, since Europe is our biggest trade partner.
gayle, you might be right. i think germany will hold it up longer than our dollar will last tho. jmho:) i’m just afraid that silver will take a dive when/if the economy gets a little better and my 30 dollar ounce will be worth 3. can’t take that kind of loss.
riverrider ,
I think Germany is getting ready to tell the EU to shove it. Their citizens are tired of footing the bill for the likes of Greece and Italy who refuse to do the right thing and accept the responsibility for their actions. Hard working Germans don’t want to pay so 50 year old retired greeks can play instead of work.
Ohio Prepper,
I think you are right on this. Ordinary folks in Germany are not pleased at having to pay for the playboys in Greece and Italy.
I just don’t know enough about the German economy (other than it’s on steroids) to saw whether they would benefit more by returning to their old currency or sticking with the euro.
Gayle,
I agree with you in that I don’t know enough about Germany and the Euro; however, it looks a lot like the UK desision to stick with the pound sterling was in fact a smart idea. I think they understiid the logic of the situation of putting UK & Germany on the same stage and on equal footing with Greece and Italy, and they were right.
You are missing a piece of the equation there RR.
When that silver drops to $30 on the new economy our 30 us dollars from the current economy will be worth $0.30.
Exactly. Silver & Gold prices are being manipulated (what isn’t?), but these metals will still be worth something when paper money and modern coinage are not. Diversify – have the Beans, Bullets, and Bandaids, but also have some Bullion.
Now is a good time to buy gold & silver because they usually go up in December. That’s when people are buying jewelry for Christmas presents, so the metals experience a spike in commercial purchases. (Disclaimer: anything can happen, so don’t blame me if you buy and the price goes down.)
If anyone keeps money in the bank, you are earning negative interest. As the dollar loses value, the pile of stuff it will buy goes down. Preps come first, but if you have extra, going to the coin store and buying a few American silver eagles or gold is a good idea. Easy to turn back into Federal Reserve Notes, not as easy as the ATM but preppers plan ahead so no worries there. And it is not an investment, earning interest or selling for more than paid for at a later date (even though it may). It is wealth preservation. Gayle is on the right track. Even though the price of gold/silver may go up faster than food, food may not be available at any price later on, so preps first. I am not a financial advisor and this is not financial advice.
Gayle,
No, you can’t eat gold or silver, but you can’t carry all your food if you have to bug out in a hurry, either. I’m a firm believer in having a large food supply on hand(2 yrs minimum), but a fire, hurricane, earthquake, tornado, or man-made disaster(riot, confiscation for hoarding) could cause you to lose it. Gold and silver store a lot of value for their size, and are portable and easy to hide.
If, and I said if….after you have squared away your beans, bullets and bandaids, you have additional funds you should buy 90% silver coins(pre-1965 American silver coins), silver bullion, and then small gold bullion coins(1/10 ounce). If in Canada, I believe silver coins were discontinued in 1968. I love Canadian silver dollars and have bought them over the years. They are a great coin, and have about 6/10s of an ounce of silver per coin. Canadian Silver Maple Leafs are also nice if you don’t want the American Eagles. I just don’t recommend buying Gold Eagles or Gold Maple Leafs as they are not easily divisable. Just my 2 cents.
Or if you have the room and ability to do so, add a couple breeding pigs and raise up some beef calves LOL
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/herd-mentality-price-gains-for-cows-pigs-outpace-gold/article2232631/
10-4 on the livestock, but the portability issue becomes pertinent again.
okay you win, i’m buying some silver eagles. i read the other day tho that the gov wants to declare them illegal and confiscate them. something about illegal coinage, but they minted them,didn’t they? i don’t really care. if they come they will have to talk to mr. browning first. anybody dealt with provident metals?? prices/terms seem good.
rr, I go to a local coin dealer and buy direct and pay cash. That way there isn’t a paper trail to link you to any precious metals. Of course, that’s for silver, if you buy gold they get your name and address as it’s required by law. But silver is still safe. I also keep an add running in the local paper, and from time to time I get a call from someone wanting to sell their coins. These are cash only transactions, of course. Good luck.
tk, thanks! i checked that company out. they have some complaints as does that rosland capital that i see on tv all the time. i’m a little leary of buying from someone i don’t know. i hear there are counterfeit coins coming in from china now days. i’ll keep looking.
riverrider:
When I can’t get my PM’s locally I’ve used Lear Capital. Prices are competitive, shipping usually w/i 10 days. No minimum but shipping is a fixed $26.
jp, thanks! will def check them out.
Gayle
Do yourself a favor. Get a little silver. Especially now that it has dropped in price.
omg Gayle!! WHERE are you shopping?? i want ur bogo sale!!!
Chonte,
These sales were at Publix. This is the best sales week I have ever seen. I ran into another customer loading up her cart and she had her 9 year old daughter pushing a second cart.
This week Dollar General has 40 cent Libby’s veggies–the regular size cans, not the small ones.
I noticed lard on sale at the Sobeys in the big town. Our local store doesn’t carry it except at halloween and christmas times.
A year and a half ago I was paying a $1 a block for store brand lard and $1.50 for name brand. A few months ago the Sobey’s stoppped carrying the store brand as it and the name brand where both up over $3 a block (getting close to 4 lately). The Sobey’s had a sale yesterday on Name brand lard… 2 for $5. I picked up 8 blocks. I think I need to start thinking about making my own lard.
What I did to prep this week? Nada! Nothing!
Read a few blogs and the posts here. Picked up this link: http://www.stilltasty.com/ which might be of interest to everybody. It’s about the shelf life of foods. Got three rows of my next quilt done. Pulled out an afghan I am knitting with left-over worsted weight yarn and started to add some more mitered squares to it. We’re just waiting for the side effects of truck repairs to wear off.
Everybody have a wonderful Thanksgiving and have a blessed week!
Judy(another one), thanks for posting that link.
Wasn’t able to do much this week since we are still dealing with issues from DH’s surgery and some medical things of my own. We also had to put my vehicle into the garage to fix another problem. Fifteen year old car not as reliable as it once was but even with repairs now and again, it has been a good car. Can’t quite bring myself to part with the cash to replace it yet.
I received my solar battery charger and paracord from Amazon, still waiting on the rest of my order. Picked up some generic pain medication that we had filled after DH’s surgery and he ended up not needing. Ironically, with all the bandages I have in my first aid, I didn’t have any 4 by 4 bandages which is what we needed. Guess I need to order those next.
Picked up some clearance tshirts and women’s tank shirts to use as layers under winter shirts and sweaters. Only picked up a few food items this week just to replace used items. We have some Thanksgiving family dinners coming up tonight and Thursday and DH was reminding me I needed to pick up things at the store to make what we were supposed to bring. I smiled at him and walked down to the basement, collected the needed items and brought them up and laid them on the counter. All of the items were bought on sale and put up for this reason instead of having to buy them at the last minute when they might not have been on sale. Plus no extra trip to the store!
Everyone stay safe if you have to travel this week and enjoy your time with your family. This our first Thanksgiving since my father passed away this spring and I know we all will be missing him. So hug your loved ones and be thankful they are with you.
Nuttbush,
Don’t you just love “shopping” from your own food storage? I have been working on a big editing project for a textbook publisher so my dh has been picking up the slack on domestic stuff. He made a grocery list. HeeHeeHee. His eyes popped out when I cross off every item on the list but one (stamps) and said, “We don’t need this stuff.” Then I opened various cupboards and pulled out the “needed” items. My dh is just about fully on board with prepping. In fact, I lost a beloved Swiss Army knife. He was at Walmart yesterday and picked one up for me and just said, ” I thought you might want this.” How about that?
Gayle, is the price of stamps going up on January 2, 2012? If so, may want to load up on Forever Stamps before then. I think I have about 200 Forever Stamps, but the PO might be shuttered before I use them all. Paying bills 6 months in advance whenever I can sure saves on stamps.
Yep, I just loved the look on his face when I laid it all out on the counter. His latest joke is that I get a bigger thrill over the coupons and sales flyers than I do over him. But he is wrong, I still get a thrill over him too. LOL And thanks for mentioning the stamps, I need to get more of the Forever stamps too.
http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/aboutus/news/pr/2010/2010_jan_rate_increase.jsf
Reminder: Canada Post’s New Pricing Plan To Take Effect
Jan. 8, 2010
Canada Post’s new rate for domestic basic Lettermail™ takes effect Monday, January 11.
The plan notes that the basic domestic stamp rate increases by three cents from 54 cents to 57 cents for letters weighing less than 30 grams.
Domestic stamp rates will increase two cents a year from 2011 to 2014, according to the approved five-year plan.
Once the plan is complete, Canadians will still enjoy one of the lowest rates for domestic stamps among developed countries based on current trends.
_____________
I love the part of the press release saying we have the cheapest postage rates. Ours is 57 cents vs 44 cents in the US. Yup that’s cheaper all right.
I switched to paying bills on line and it saves me $10 bucks a month, more now that I’m not getting late charges. I love how the electrical company would mail bills and I’d get them on the due date. If I mailed them that day they count the recied by them date (plus the lenght of time to clear a cheque) as the payment date. I remember when you paid at the bank and if they stamped the bill that was the date you paid it, now Telus no longer back dates the payment to the date you paid it but uses the date they get the transfer from the bank and since it takes upto 10 days (7-8 banking days)for the banks to transfer the funds and process the paperwork that means you need to pay at the bank 2 weeks before due date, even though the money came out of your account on the day you paid it.
Speaking of Swiss Army Knives ( SAK ), the evil empire of eBay has gobs of airport confiscated knives. You can pick up anything for dirt cheap compared to new. I speak from experience as I have a tackle box full, which I like to dip into to trade or start a youngster off with a quality piece. My 19 year old daughter just lost hers on the way to AZ, left it in her purse, TSA got another windfall. Bet it didn’t make it to the property room. Best SAK to own ( A possible post on its own M.D. ), Explorer Plus.
i know this thanksgiving will be hard for your family and my thoughts and prayers are with you.
Nuttbush, each year at Thanksgiving (in particular), I miss the people who used to fill the chairs at the dining room table. You never forget them, you just learn to tell stories that include them and keep their memory alive.
Nuttbush
I know how you feel about missing your father at Thanksgiving. This will be our first Thanksgiving since losing my sister in September and the first time at my home since my dad passed away 5 years ago. I can still see him helping my wife mash up the potatoes, I will definitely be hugging my mom, #2 sister and brother (whether he likes it or not).
Every little event this year has been different without Dad being here. Unfortunately, he suffered from dementia so “he” hasn’t been here for a while and we began “missing him” several years ago before we actually lost him. One thing I know, he would have approved of the prepping. If you could have seen his basement and workshop, it was a tool and thing-a-ma-jig heaven.
Guess my brain wasn’t fully engaged when I wrote this so…
Happy birthday, M. D., thanks for all you do.
Nuttbush…I am sorry for the loss of your father. I have such a hard time with mine (I am living with him to help out, and he is getting very senile and cranky), I forget sometimes to appreciate this time I do have with him. Thanks for the reminder. :)
MtWoman,
The only thing of value we take into eternity is the charity of time, treasure and talent that we give to others.
Thank you MtWoman for your thoughts. After having been one of my dad’s caretakers, I know how difficult it is taking care of someone with senility issues. The best thing is to try and find the things you can laugh over or find some humor in. My Dad was never a funny person, but when dementia takes away that “filter” that most people have that keeps them from saying what is on their mind, they can truly be a hoot. Some of the things that he did and said the last couple of years gave us some laughs and some good memories in spite of the troubles. Bless you for being there for your father.
Thanks Nuttbush. :)
Not to much done lately – went deer hunting- saw a doe running at mach 3- so needless to say she’s just getting bigger for next year- re-organized pantry —- talked with some cousins they agree something is happening and is a matter of time — hope everyone is doing well
Better luck next year Rob,
what is happening? Good chatting with cousins, especially if they are on board with prepping
WRO– they are not sure what is goign to happen but one thinks its a complete ecomomic collapse–encouraged one to stock up on ammo- have to start some where
Excellent and good luck
M.D.
Sorry I am ig-nurt.
Happy Birthday.
I think Jack Benny was 39 until the end. If he can do it so can you.
Ellen,
I think I can pull it off – at least for a couple more years. I hope. Now what did I do with that hair dye and wrinkle cream… LOL
I also picked up what I would think is a p-51 can opener at the local miliatry supply store for $1.20 they do have older candian built ones that are heavy duty for $10
Rob, the P-51 is a much better model than the P-38, IMO. Bigger and tougher, easier to use. Here’s an example, for those who don’t know what we’re talking about. (I have never used this exact vendor, so I cannot vouch for it.) http://www.amazon.com/P-51-Stainless-Steel-Can-Opener/dp/B004WXV6R2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1321742550&sr=8-5
Lint –thanks sure looks same mine says US Shelby Co— I tried it out works ok – the Canadian ones are twice as large and well built will get one later when I can afford it
Hey Rob and Lint,
I just got my new p38 and p51′s in the mail. Yes the Canadian ones are much heavier and larger, I have one from when I was issued it in Cadets, long time ago. The Canadian ones are meant to be used in the cold with mitts on.
My new ones say Shelby Co.
Much smaller and very sharp, but small if you are wearing mitts or gloves.
Lint, got me a package of 6 led flashlights with batteries for only $8, the price of the batteries alone. Wal Mart does have some good deals, sometimes.
WRO, I swore off flashlights for the remainder of the year. Please don’t tempt me.
Love the P-51. Sportsmansguide.com had 100 for about 20 cents each a while back, great barter item and the kids love them. They worked well and make a good back-up screwdriver.
Hey Rob,
is that a store in Peterborough? Nobody anywhere has any Canadian ones, even KW surplus in Kitchener does not have any.
yes on Geaorge St- its called — Sarge’s Army Surplus— 291 George St- and Link home depot had some awesome 2 per pack 9 led with batteries incluced for $4.99
Happy birthday, MD. Lucky you — you get great gifts! :-)
We gave up on our Sprint/Nextel service after 6 years and went elsewhere. And our bank has been changing their checking account policies (with fees now) so we’ve moved the basic checking account elsewhere.
We’re spending like drunken sailors these past couple of months but I’d rather invest in ourselves and spend it than allow it to evaporate from hyperinflation or plain tax-theft.
We bought heirloom seeds for the 2012 gardens, selecting different varieties. Sorted through the plastic pots and trays, getting them ready for a bleach and water wash so they’ll be ready for the greenhouse in a few months.
We purchased 3 more rabbit hutches and more feeders because we’re planning to grow out more litters in the near future.
We bought a registered buck and a wether to increase our goat herd. We decided it would be smarter to have a herdsire here at our place rather than driving to a breeder. I’m very excited with the selection of this buck since his dam (mother) is a Champion with excellent milking records. Her line will help further the genetics of our current milker who is designated as having Superior Genetics (an ADGA earned classification) while giving us the needed genetics for our yearlings. Some people breed for show and conformation, some breed for milking qualities (our goal).
Needless to say, we can’t put a buck in with the does, much less nearby, so we need to provide a different pasture area that we’ll need to fence off. And they need a shelter so we’re starting to build the buck-house today. Then it’s fence time. We’ll pick the goats up right after Thanksgiving. Wish my Mister didn’t have a full-time job…we got important things to do around here and that job keeps getting in the way.
Bought 30-pack of TP, paper plates, and a 5-foot string of LED lights that could be used with small solar charge if necessary.
Food purchases include 25# rice, 1 case canned pears, 1 case canned peaches, 2 boxes decaf tea, 2 containers ground cinnamon, 3 jars of rubbed sage (more sausage!), and 1 case diced tomatoes.
Bucketed up more beans, buckwheat groats, and rice in mylar. I have 9 more buckets to wash out and fill so that’s on the do-list. The EE order should arrive this coming week and the cans will fill the remaining holes on several shelves. Trying to fill the shelves all up quickly. Also, I found a few glass jars that were saved many years ago and will hit the store next week for some bagged beans. My motto: “leave no jar unfilled”.
Dealing with The Big Ugh: I have given up with my aging mother about the economic collapse because it’s too frustrating and a waste of my time. She is 81 and although she has lived through the Depression, she just doesn’t believe that America will fall and doesn’t see that the corruption runs as deep as it does, or as globally as it is. She and my step-father live in the suburbs, not far from Baltimore and less than ¼ mile off of I-95. They have 1 case of water stored and about 2 weeks worth of food in the pantry. My mother cooks from scratch but does not see the need to store a quantity of food or more water. So, despite the talks and begging, and all of the global mayhem and fraud that crops up daily, she’s still complacent and not interested. This week, I resigned. I gave up. I have realized that I’ve exhausted all attempts to try and convince them to plan for problems. My husband and I had a sit-down to plan how we will handle the load when they come a’runnin’. And if for some reason they cannot get out and get here, we have to be content with knowing that we tried as hard as we could without getting abusive. Lol
From here on, the goal is “plan big, plan long”. Anyone else share this perspective?
Tanner that wicked puppy got a puppy time-out last week. He got into my wool roving and made snow with it.
Lynn,
Thank youa bunch…
lynn, plan long and big…roger that. i finally realized that one or two folks can’t defend the retreat, so you gotta make room and lay in more food. figured some sheeple relatives will show up anyhow. trying to recruit real soldiers, but they still think they can hold out against the zombie hordes individually. they don’t have near enough food, so i may get them yet. like you said, pretty soon cash won’t buy anything, or the gov will grab it, so may as well spend it. i’m pretty happy prep wise now, except the recruiting thing. there’s a few good ones in the hood, but just as many sheeple or otherwise useless folk too. theres even one that will “take amissing” at first sign of tshtf. its good that i stored fuel for my backhoe:) prep hard and long, ten dash four!
I hear you, Riverrider. Around this hood, there’s only 2 men who could man-the-fort. Neither of them are talkers but honest to God hard working guys who runs heavy equipment, build houses, have real experience, and hunt. Fortunately, both are behind our property so our back-40 would be covered.
Everyone else around here is living like they’re in the ‘burbs but instead of walking to the mailbox they ride their ATVs (I kid you not). Most have horses but no chickens or livestock, lots of idle land, manicured lawn in the country, no gardens. They’ll all come knocking, I’m sure, but they won’t have anything we’d need unless it was for a work horse (they only have thoroughbreds) or they’re willing to plow and grow grain for our animals. And promissory notes don’t buy nuthin’.
Keep your bucket at the ready, RR. Up here, ours came in handy when it was time to get rid of the remnants of Michelle. lol
Lynn, lots of our loved ones are not going to survive. There is nothing we can do about it, if they won’t listen. I have come up with my own personal way to accept the inevitable: it may be more humane for them to go early-on than for them to suffer through the months and years that will follow. The famines, the diseases, the violence – they wouldn’t be able to survive those things anyhow. So love your mom while you’ve got her around and don’t beat yourself up.
LP,
I second your post. We drove up to Ft Worth this weekend to see my mom who is visiting my older bro. She lives with my youngest bro in TN and I have to trust him to be ready for what ever happens. How long and how well she survives a shtf scenario will be out of my control. Completely.
But when you think it it’s no different then life today. We can only do what we are able to do.
Lint and Rio, I understand what you guys are saying, it’s just frustrating to try to explain what’s happening with facts, only to see no real reaction from her. She will listen but I believe she doesn’t want to be bothered with “negative” thinking. She’s a retired psychologist and although she understands human behavior, she’s never worked with drug-crazed zombie-types during her career. And because she has lived “sheltered” through most of her life, she just doesn’t think that the political greed and corruption is as deeply entrenched as it is.
I like the suggestions of loving her while she’s around and to acknowledge that we really can only do what we’re able to do. These are rational thoughts I can grasp. Thanks.
Oh, tanner was a bad boy, into the wool roving will for sure get you a time out! Had a pup once get into my dried cat tails, I must have had a foot of fluffy white stuff on the whole main floor.
Did you get outside Rabbit grow out hutches or indoor hanging ones, I have the big outdoor hutches for the momma’s and the bucks but have really come to like the hanging indoor ones for the grow out hutches. I was able to pick up six pre-made hanging ones at my spring bird sale for steal of a deal.
My garden catalogs for 2012 are just starting to come in now, and I need to sit down and do a solid list on what I have from keep backs on the garden and what I need and or want to try, There are set of three new cherry tree’s that just came out for my area and I know they will be joining me in the spring.
So sorry to hear about your mom, my mom stores a few months worth of food still but she has none of the ability to function any longer without power or without her medication, my mother in law has even less, she might have two weeks worth of food but no saved water for even 72 hours etc. I have talked to both, its water off a ducks back..
As for “plan big, plan long” o yes, I hear you, hubby said the same thing a few months ago, and we switched to buying things now for the farm, raither then into long terms investements at the banks.
FarmGal, we have all hanging cages. I bought these 3 because we’re lacking in time. Usually, they’re made with the rolled cage wire and clips.
I’m ordering online because I’ve only gotten 1 catalog so far. I’ve already seen some seeds are unavailable or out of stock!
My mom doesn’t take any medication, even at her age. She’s healthier than most in their 40s. She walks 3 miles a day and goes to a gym 3 times a week for the circuit she developed. She used to be a PE teacher before she got into counseling and has always been physically active and fit, taught me quite a few sports and is still my role-model with keeping active. You know how cleaning out a barn is better than a 1/2 mile treadmill walk, huh? lol
Yes, we all need to do the “plan big, plan long” and remember that our best investment in in ourselves. If we can’t purchase something, invest time in learning something. This week I’m going to start looking at coiled string-making (lucet cord). You’d probably love learning something practical like this. Look at this video, FarmGal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y5K7FiT2Og Won’t cost anything but my time and brain cells. lol
Lynn,
“Plan big, plan long” sounds like a smart viewpoint.
All of our appliances are pushing 20 years of service. I wish we could replace them before the new ones double in price but life gets in the way. Good idea.
Hunker-Down,
Check out the black Friday sales at Lowes. You might find some appliances as much as 40 percent off. And Lowes has free delivery.
Oh, I forgot. You can shop and order online and still get the sale price. And you can arrange deliver online as well.
Lowe’s also gives a 10% military discount if you have any kind of military or dependent ID card (retired or active duty). It’s worth while to ask.
Hunker Down, we replaced our 24-year old freezer out of fear that it “might” break down. Freezers going belly-up scare me more than any other appliance. We sold it to a gal who was raising meat chickens and needed a holding freezer. She was tickled to get it for only $20 and we were happy it went to what we thought was a great use.
As far as Lowe’s appliances go, gotta be very careful with their appliances. Lowe’s has quite a few that are not their regular manufacturer’s models, they’re made for the big box stores. When trying to do cost comparisons, you won’t find them anywhere but Lowes. That’s the tell-tale sign. So if you shop there for an appliance, get the model and manufacturer, search online to locate it at the mfr. website. If it’s not listed there, it’s a “made for Lowe’s” variety. They’re usually assembled in Mexico and not as reliable, so be careful. We learned this while shopping around for a refrigerator a few years ago. We opted for a bonafide model and bought elsewhere.
Lynn,
Thanks for the warning. That situation is why I stopped subscribing to Consumers Report. Over several years we never found in any store the model they profiled. I guess we will have to go to a few appliance stores and put up with the yapping of the sales people, then do our own analysis.
Lynn, Bad dog! That is funny. It reminds me of my sister’s dog who tore open a tightly stuffed down sofa pillow. The picture she sent me was her floor with about six inches deep of feathers and the couch and end tables with a deep pile of feathers too. Said it took her forever to clean them up and the AC kept blowing the feathers around.
ROFL Nuttbush….that must have been hysterically funny! Flying down feathers is a Three Stooges stunt!
plan big, plan long
you put into words what i have been trying to wrap my head around for over a year. have a brother who was a marine grunt (dragon gunner) for four years and we are on the same page abot politics, whats wrong in America and just about everything else but when i approached him about prepping he believes his riffle is all he needs. need his riffle and experiance badly so we have to add in his family to our preps. because unfortunatly he is the other on my opsec so want to welcome him in not have to worry about him.
Robert,
Jarhead made a comment that might light a fire under your brother’s butt. He said that diarrhea took down his fellow marines more than anything else. And you if you don’t have the right stuff stocked, you are going to get sick. –just a thought.
Robert in Mid Michigan, In my eyes, the only problem with totally relying on wild game is that there are millions of others who have that same mindset. Those who are active, skilled hunters will get the game, and they’ll return for more and more. Those who have a gun but don’t shoot or hunt but THINK they’ll become the big outdoor Boone-man will be in for a life-changing experience. Then they’ll starve, or steal, or high-tail it to someone’s stockpile.
thats what scares me about him he can shoot and shoot well we go out once a month and he proves it to me everytime. i want him on my side so i will add food for his family because i need his weapon pointed out not in. he doesnt believe it will ever happen is probably the biggest problem so he doesnt think he needs to plan ahead.
Robert in Mid Michigan, It may be that after a month of cold weather, he’ll come to realize how cozy your place could be.
I wonder how bad our economy needs to be before the non-believers come to terms with the inevitable endgame. I wonder how bad our society needs to degrade before the non-believers realize the game really has changed.
Robert, remind your brother of three things!
Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
Beans Bullets and Band-aids
Grunts don’t move on an empty stomach and that’s the reason Beans comes before Bullets.
Plan Big, Plan Long – and Plan Fast! As soon as I started prepping, this has been my plan. With limited income and probably not a lot of time to prep, we decided to concentrate on long-term preps. There is a difference in aims and purchases…a short-term prepper is primarily a consumer of stored goods – short term because storage space will be limited unless you have a warehouse out back. A long-term prepper is primarily a producer of needed goods for use and barter. Everyone is probably a mix of the two types, but there comes a time when you have to make choices. For instance, do I spend this little money I have on a 1-yr. supply of propane or a wood cookstove that we can fuel forever from the 23 acre forest out back? Do I use this next bit of money to buy a 1 yr.supply of meat or do I invest in livestock, housing and fencing for a perpetual supply? Do I stock up a year’s worth of food and livestock feed or get the necessary equipment, supplies and nursery stock to grow, process and store what we need forever? Couldn’t afford to do it all in a limited time, and things were looking so grim, just made more sense to concentrate on long-term survival. Especially when you realize that if you wait too long and things go even further downhill fast, it may be impossible to get what you need at any price later. Producing as much of what we can will allow us to use what little money we have to stock up now (or barter later) for the things we can’t produce for ourselves.
History’s lesson on this is that it has taken over a thousand years for a few of us in developed countries to regain what the ancient Romans had – centrally heated homes, running water, efficient sanitation.
Just an Update. Ive found a place to stop for a while. Been putting my gear to the test over the last 2 months. Am officially homeless but have my truck and gear and State and Federal parks and lands make living free possible. Also public library’s for internet connections. Met my Granddaughter for the first time. In many ways that made all I’m going through well worth it. Have found ways to work and or barter for items needed. Hang in there folks life is possible. :-)
Good to hear you’re okay, Dave. I have to admit that I get concerned when one of the Pack doesn’t check in for a while. (Ok, I’m a worrier. Sue me.)
Hope you will be someplace warm over the winter.
dave, good job. we’re praying for ya.
Good luck out there, Dave, and be careful. I used to never worry, but public land is more dangerous than it used to be. A friend of mine stopped to help a young lady in Yosemite, and received a tire iron to the head for his trouble. He lost his car, and is lucky to be alive. Oh yeah, he got his car back, but not his money. The perps are still at large.
Dave, I’ve been thinking about you. Glad you took the time to give us an update.
You aren’t totally homeless when you’ve got your truck. I always consider my vehicle my home-away-from-home because I can sleep in it, eat in it, and find shelter from the storm in it. Hope you find whatever you’re looking for and can find comfort. Take care.
Congrats on meeting your granddaughter, and thanks for the update on your time on the road, I have wondered how you were doing.
we can all learn a lot from your experiences. take care and everyone here is thinking of you.
Dave NV/AZ, Been thinking of you and just today wondered if you’d resurface soon! You have the right perspective and yes, indeed, the public lands are there to use. Stay safe.
In an effort to perplex me I was once asked ‘What is the meaning of life?’ I answered grandkids, my dad swears it’s great grandkids. Silly me.
Dave glad to hear you’re OK. Happy to hear you got to see your Grand Daughter. Hang in there and good luck.
Ray
Dave, glad you found one great thing during a tough time. Will pray for you and not sure if your staying in AZ or NV. I know the temps are dropping so stay warm.
Happy Birthday M.D. and Many more!
I didn’t do anything to prep this week since I spent crazy past couple weeks. It’s so hard Not to storage shop, but I managed just to shop for Thanksgiving. (couple extra cans here and there, can’t help it).
Had a sick kid all week too. Kinda limits our running around to him “running” to the bathroom. Hopefully he’ll get over it soon, keeping the fluids going in.
I took a break from all the bad news and watched a show my friend sent me, Game of Thrones on megashare for free. It was an HBO series, kinda medieval/fantasy. If you like that genre it is AMAZING. I actually bought the books and started reading them yesterday. (5 of a 7 set series are in print now). Author George Martin. Good stuff!
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and a wonderful week!
Vienna,
Thank you. Many more – I hope!
Vienna (Soggy prepper)
I’m not going to give anything away, but I can tell you that those books are great. Both myself and my daughter have read them and watched the show on HBO. Books are always better in my opinion.
I absolutely love that series of books! I’ve never seen the tv show but, you are correct, the books are amazing!
loved the first three so so on the fourth the fifth well i will finish it adventually. my biggest problem is the long times between books i started reading it rite after game of thrones came out seems like twenty years ago not sure how long. good books i just have a problem with marrtin.
Got the ITEOTWAWKI CD this week.
Thank you M.D. and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Didn’t do much prepping as I am in transition for a promotion at work that includes a $4.50 an hour raise. This will aid in my prepping. A rough start at the end of the year ending very well.
Took in some great info from this weeks posts and printing some things from the ITEOTWAWKI CD into binders.
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE and GOOD PREPPING!
What you add is better than what you had!
That CD is amazing, isn’t it? My daughter and I have been pouring over it.
Congratulations on the promotion. I work with a couple of marines. Never “ex”, once a marine always a marine they have taught me. Hardest working S.O.B.’s I know. Glad to hear somebody appreciates that.
Congrats, Jarhead. Extra cash always comes in handy, and good luck with the promotion. Of course, they always seem to want you to do twice the work for a small pay raise.
Tk, thanks and you know it. The paperwork along on the benifits package was more paperwork than I’ve done in years. More benifits than my previous position. To me the benifits out way the pay increase.
Jarhead 03, congrats on the promotion. Hope you enjoy your new job.
Lint, thanks! My gf was saying she may want to a road trip up north near Sacramento to see an old friend of hers. If I do, maybe I can hook you up with a couple Underwater Kinetics flashlights over lunch. Not sure when but will let you know, with the new promotion I’m not sure when I would be able to.
Sacto is a far piece from my place, but let me know when and where – it might work out. Thanks!
Jarhead 03
Congratulations on the promotion. It’s funny how raises are converted into canned good s so easily.
Mexneck, your right! I will be considering what things I need to add to the pantry and the cabinet I am about to assemble since the pantry is full.
Have been looking at this website for a while. Started prepping. First purchase 6 gallon buckets from Costco. Filled a few with staples but have a long way to go. I am interested in figuring out how to store fresh vegetables. Husband worried about me trying canning. Says botulism could be the end result. I am a total city gal with a small summer garden. I have to say I totally enjoy the comments you guys give to each other.
Welcome to the Wolf Pack, Gschnauzer. There are plenty of ladies and gents here who will answer your canning questions and offer suggestions for the equipment you’ll need.
Welcome Gschnauzer! Feel free to come and comment and ask questions.I may not know but someone else may be able to answer you.
Thank you, Axelsteve,
I will try and get my husband on this site. I tell him about the discussions on guns etc and he like that.
Thank you Lint Picker and all who have given me advice. I realize that as a newbbie, I should stick to the basics. I think I will start with dehydrating vegetables and see how that works. I will also look into purchasing some of the books that were mentioned. I think I will need to gain some confidence in dehydration first, before venturing into canning. Thanks again all, for your advice.
Gschnauzer,
Check out this link for food in # 10 cans. You can’t beat the price.
http://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category3_715839595_10557_21158_-1_N_image_0
Gayle thanks for the site. Will be looking to compare prices with Costco and shipping, on rice and grains.
And don’t forget freezing. I still prefer frozen food to dehydrated or canned. If you suffer a major power outage, then you can still thaw and cann the food.
Thanks Ohio Prepper looking to get a large chest freezer from Sears, next week.
Gschnauzer. The basics of survival are.#1 Survival good. #2 not surviving is no good.
Axel…I do worry about trying to surive in the city when the zombie apocalypse happens. Hopefully I can have my secondary place ready when the time comes.
Gschnauzer, my wife and I canned something like 50 pints of tomato sauce last month, and something like 20 quarts of pickles. Neither of us has done any canning in 25-30 years since helping our parents way back in the day. We didnt even have a canner, just used pots on the stove and some mason jars. Still waiting on the pickles but the tomato sauce was great and we had a ball doing it. We havent tried pressure canning yet, need to purchase a pressure canner, but water bath canning is easier then you think. Give it a try.
Welcome to the WP.
I suggest getting a pressure canner with the metal to metal seal vs. the kind with the rubber seal. In a SHTF situation the metal ones will last way longer is taken care of.
Chilly Beaver, reading the wolf packs comments is giving me the confidence to try it out, right after Thanksgiving. Thanks for the motivation.
Gschnauzer,
Welcome to the Wolf Pack. Don’t be intimidated by canning. If you follow the directions, you will be absolutely fine. Get a reputable book on canning and follow the recipes. Start off with something easy like salsa or corn relish or bread and butter pickles. Then as you gain more confidence, tackle recipes that are more involved.
Thank you Gayle for your great welcome. I will be using Amazon. com a lot this week to get books on canning.
Gschnauzer,
Click on the book links from this site and M.D. will get the advertising points. It doesn’t cost you more and it helps our host.
Ok, I will purchase from Amazon via this site now. I have prime, for shipping.
Hi Gschnauzer, Pressure canning is fun, easy, and very satisfying. However, I also was spooked about it when I first started doing food storage; so, I started out dehydrating veggies for almost a year before I got the nerve and encouragement from other members of the wolf pack to start my canning adventures.
The “experts” are quick to advise us that we are not smart enough to take care of our own food needs without killing ourselves and that we should be afraid to try anything that does not meet with their approval.
There are other ways to preserve and store food for the future without unnecessary stress being added to your life. Do what you are comfortable doing, keep reading; and, you will know when you are ready to move onto new fields of food preservation.
Nancy, thanks for the advice. I will try dehydrating vegetables first.
Buy a good canning book, Ball Blue Book guide to Home Canning, Freezing, & Dehydration, and or Growing & Canning Your own Food, by Jackie Clay, (www.backwoodshome.com).
I was a city girl, many moons ago, and tonight we had home canned roast, that was to die for. We’ve been eating our own canned veggies and meat for several years now and still haven’t died from botulism. The number one reason, I follow proper canning procedures, and don’t take any short cuts.
If I can do it so can you!!! Once you start you will wonder why you were afraid to start, I love canning!
Texas Nana, thanks for the info on a canning book. Did try looking at some canning books, but was a bit overwhelmed. I will be purchasing that book soon.
Gschnauzer, I would venture to say that more people have gotten sick from tainted veggies sold at the stores than through home-canned foods. I’ve been canning for decades and I’m still kicking! :-)
Start with something easy using the water-bath canning process, maybe a jelly or jam.
I started out with just a water bath canner and did jellies and jams. Now I have graduated and use a pressure canner and am doing meats. My pantry is looking great and I love to stand and look at all my hard work and know I will be okay food-wise. Take your time and read, read, read. I watched lots of videos on you tube to find out what to do and of course the Blue book. Good luck! You can also dehydrate your fresh vegetables and store either in vacuum bags or canning jars with the sealing lid attachment.
Maji-Tx, thanks for the advice. Fruits in my house always goes bad. It would be nice to fix that problem by canning or dehydration.
Lynn, I think I need to a lot of reading. Living in the city most people look at the supermarket as their life line. They would think I was crazy if I mentioned canning. That is why I love this site. You guys are open to sharing you knowledge.
Gschnauzer, Become our first “covert canner”! You really don’t even need a large canning kettle if you have a soup pot and lid, plus a few canning jar rings wired together as the base for your jars to sit atop. You could do half-pint jars and try canning some store-bought produce to see what you think about it all.
If you’ve got the will, we’ll show you the way.
Thanks Lynn for the vote of confidence. I do have a few jars and lids, and may try canning after Thanksgiving. How long does canned food last? I have a few bags of fozen berries, do I need to boil them with sugar first? I got a few referrals of canning books from the wolf pack, and will be buying them soon. My husband is also looking at a dehydrator on Cabelas. Thanks for your help in advance. I need to get my storage up, because stores in most major cities only have food for a few days….
Gschnauzer,
This is my favorite book for canning.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Small-Batch-Preserving-Year-Round/dp/1554072565/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322055487&sr=8-1
This is the gold standard of canning books (this is an older edition which is way cheap).
http://www.amazon.com/Ball-Blue-Book-Guide-Preserving/dp/0972753702/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322055533&sr=1-1
Look into a locally given class that you and maybe even you husband can take as a “Profesional” introduction. Your Husband may be more comfortable with the process then. It is not hard but yes it can be scary. When we do not understand a process then worry or fear can set in.
i definatly second the ball blue book.
a year ago was afraid to can now i can just about everything that comes in the house. its intimidating with all the horror stories about preasure canners exploding and stuff have yet to find a credible case of it ever happening.
take your time use what you trust and keep reading, watching and learning you will make the jump when you are ready.
Welcome Gschnauzer,
The Wolfpack is the place to be for a variety of subjects all worthwhile in improving our lives and self reliance.
MD – somhow missed the part about is being your birthday. Hope it was a great one. Looks like your loved ones know that the best gifts are the ones that keep giving…
Lake Lili,
It was and thank you. BTY good to hear from you again.
Thanks! Miss you guys too! Great support system you have built here for all of us. Once again appreciated.
M.D. Happy b day and thank you for your hard work in this blog.I truly enjoy it and the wolfpack.
Hello Mr. M.D. Creekmore,
Happy belated birthday. Live in the NYC area. Trying to figure out how much food storage I would need for two adults, 1 child and dog. Just got my husband on the food storage bandwagon. Still trying to figure out at this late stage what we will need. Water storage is taken care off. Any info will be great. Have been following some of the wolf pack, and started picking up sale stuff. Thanks for any info that will be given. We do have a second place outside of the city, that is our go to place, but also need to have supplies there. Will be purchasing you CD soon.
Thanks in advance…
Gschnauzer
See this page for some ideas and guidelines.
http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm
Thank you for the food calculator. It really gives me an idea of what I need to store, and how much.
Gschnauzer,
I can’t remember if I already said this, but the cheapest place to buy staples (rice, wheat, beans, oatmeal) is the LDS online store. You don’t have to be a Mormon to buy from them.
You can also download a spreadsheet to perform the calculations AND keep a running inventory from here: http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/?s=foodstoragecalculator.xls
O read some additional details here: http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/03/09/long-term-food-storage-calculator/
Not sure what to do for the dog.
Thank you Ohio Prepper, I will definitely be making use of those sites.
Gschnauzer. Don`t tell me,let guess.You own a schnauzer? My wife and I own 4 dogs. One of them is a great Dane.
Yes Axel, my giant schnauzer is my baby. I call him my beast because of all the destruction he does. He does do a great job taking care of his family, so I can overlook the thousands of dollars worth of damage he has done since being a puppy. But, my family and child is safe with my beast.
Side note, while writing this comment my 85 lb beast is sleeping next to me, with his feet up in the air. What a cute picture….
Not much done to prep this week :( just a couple of thing to the medical kit. (I have a larger toolbox on my wish list for Christmas, that I want to move my medical preps into). Also a 50 lb bag of kibble for the fur babies. Other than that not much. Although I did figure out that a 25 lb bag of flour WILL fit in a 5 gal bucket (YEAH me, this makes my storage goals easier )
Everyone have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving…
on that note, some of the things that I am thankful for are the ability to have access to this site. I have learned so much from MD, and all of you here. I have become much more organized upon this journey since I found this site around a year ago.
So thank you very much ya’ll. I am most grateful for your experiance and sharing of your thoughts and lessons learned.
Mel
you may want to look into the amount of time you can store flour think it loses a bunch of it nutrition rather quickly.
Hi Melinda,
May I recommend a heavy duty material bag rather than a toolbox for your medical preps. I have carried many forms of heavy items in many different configurations and I would say being able to put something on your back is the best way to carry. A toolbox will add weight and if it’s rigid may cause uncomfortable chaffing if you have to move it any distance. This can become unbearable quickly causing you to think about leaving it somewhere you may not want to.
Melinda, is the tool box/first aid kit your home primary kit or mobile? If mobile a good pack designed for it is one option.
I have some set up in large fishing tackle boxes with the 3-5 insert boxes divided into meds, ointments, smaller band aids/tampons, prep wipes/tongue depressor/small forceps/gloves/flashlight. The other areas hold 4×4, 5×9, larger band aids, pressure bandages, spider wrap and the top holding tapes, wraps, blades, forceps, mouthpiece to bite down on etc.
I have a basic combat style first aid kit for my GHB and its has the basic needs.
M.D. Hope you had a great time on your birthday and that the year to come will be filled with wonderful things.
U.S. Wolf Pack folks Hope you will all have an enjoyable Thanksgiving.
I got a great deal on veggies this week, and made some progress in the restocking of my shelves. One good thing about having to live out of the pantry… I’m rotating pretty much everything!
Not much else going on here. I got older this week, too. (Boo, hiss) and with the colder weather we’ve been having, I’m starting to feel it.
The Other Ellen,
Happy Birthday to you too.
Thank you. I spent the day reading here… and enjoying every minute of it!
the other ellen-happy birthday! hope you have many more.
Thank you!
The Other Ellen, happy birthday to you. I could have sworn I posted a birthday greeting yesterday, but no harm in wishing you happy birthday again, right? Have a great weekend. (But don’t eat too much cake.)
Hey, MD, since everyone is saying happy birthday, the Squad here sends birthday wishes your way also! Hope it is/was/will be a good one!
Well, as far as preps go, I took a “stay-cation” this week…the new company that took us over said we had to use our vacation time by the end of the year so there are 11 guys clamoring for a share of 6 weeks off. I got lucky! With the time off I got some stuff done….
1. Got the chicken coop about 85% completed this week. Kinda ran outta money for this project for the month (three of us live on my 12 bucks an hour job so we make money go as far as possible so c’mon Overtime) so I’m looking for free stuff I can use, namely plywood is all that’s left that I’ll need. I’ve got a neighbor that says I might be able to have a few of her chick hens if I can get this done in time. We’re really excited. With the cost of food going ever so higher and the amount of eggs this house consumes, it’d be a welcome respite.
2. Picked up another #20 of rice, #20 of beans, some more canned goods and canned some stuff. We’re getting to the point where we’ll be able to feed our squad for over a month with three meals a day. Even though we don’t usually eat 3 times a day, it is nice to know its there.
3. Secured the fort a little more. We’d bought our house in July and there were a few things that I wasn’t happy with, namely the doors and the vegetation outside. Cleared the overgrowth, redid the doors and am ready for some outside security doors. Once this project is done we’ll work on some other stuff.
4. Cleaned all the guns and did an inventory. I really need to work on getting some more ammo haha.
5. Finished the first aid kits. I am now comfortable knowing I have all the supplies I can possibly use within my skill set of being a paramedic, minus some of the cardiac drugs (hee hee).
6. Picked up some water-can fire extinguishers, and re-certified the dry chem ones.
7. Took the wife thrift store shopping yesterday. This was a hoot. We found a Coleman fuel stove for less than 5 bucks, picked up a couple of Coleman lanterns for 5 bucks, picked up a non-motorized lawn mower for 5 bucks (one of the old fashioned push mowers; we don’t have a lot of grass in our yard and spending 100 bucks or more on a gas mower just wasn’t practical), a couple of file cabinets for a dollar, a couple of outside chairs for a dollar, a handsaw, level, hand drill, and a couple of other hand tools (non-motorized) for a couple bucks each. The list goes on and on and we didn’t spend more than 40 bucks!
8. Finished winterizing the well, tank, and most of the outside faucets. I found one that is leaking and not looking forward to fixing it. I have to go “under the house” to do this and going under the house is creepy and claustrophobic for me. I’m 6’1, #220 and don’t fit in some of the spaces under there….ugh
That is it for now. Off to Amazon to get some more mylar bags and see what other trouble I can get into.
Chris,
Thank you – it was a great day.
Chris, that’s a serious accomplishment.
Have you checked craigslist or look around and seeing if anyone is trying to get rid of their plywood for free?
If money is tight and your trying to increase the ammo capacity try picking up a box of ammo one paycheck and a box of rifle and shotgun the next paycheck. This way your building it up and anytime you do any overtime or have a bit saved throw on an extra box of whatever your lacking on. I also cut up old t shirts for patches for barrel cleaning. If you need the sizes if you plan on doing it let me know.
chris, if you live near a built up area, ride around and look for construction sites. some of them will let you have the scraps for free if you’re willing to move them. hit n miss, but worth a try.
There’s an online org called “Freecycle”, where people post things to give away, and things they need. No-one is allowed to seel anything, only give it for free. Here’s the link: http://www.freecycle.org/ (as others seem to say: I am not affiliated in any way with this org). Perhaps there’s one for your area, with free lumber available from someone for your coop, Chris. I have found all kinds of things I needed through this org.
Happy Birthday M.D.! Mine is in two weeks and I asked my wife for a girlfriend who would buy me a gun. She didn’t find it humorous. Go figure.
Prepping was limited again this week. Too much time at work, but with all that overtime I have decided to buy a Big Berkey water filter. We are up to a little more than 6 months of “real” food, plus my MRE’s. Yeah I know, I’m weird I actually like them. Water should not be much of a problem with that Berkey filter and Mother Nature for about the next 5 months. Melting snow next to the fireplace and running it through the Berkey will be nice. Once the snow is gone I have a point well with an electric pump. If the electricity quits, I have one of those old fashioned pitcher pump. Note to self—-get second pitcher pump. I looked but did not see any of M.D.’s advertizers who sell Berkey’s. I would really like for him to get credit for it since I first heard about Berkey here.
My question for the “Wolf Pack” for the week. Everyone knows Friday is that fateful day when all the sales start. I like to get my shopping done early and online. Wifey-Poo is all for the prepping we do, even brings home (legally) things that are prepper orientated from the pharmacy. But I want to get her more involved by getting her something that is more her forte. I was thinking either a dehydrator or a pressure canner. Which would be more useful? What is a good model? Price isn’t too much of a concern here. Not rich, but I work plenty of overtime and have learned that you get what you pay for. Thanks for any input.
God Bless
Saratoga Prepper, I have an Excaliber which is the gold standard for dehydrators. http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/ Your wife will have a hard time getting a turn because once you discover how wonderful it is you will run it non-stop. Highly recommended.
I am in the market for a pressure canner. I have one from Walmart but I want an All-American. Again, top of the line. I believe it pays to have the best tools that won’t need replacing. Does anyone know where to get a good price on these?
Saratoga Prepper, you won’t go wrong with either (or BOTH) of these.
Lane,
I would check the Black Friday sales. I bought my All-American from amazon.com. If you get it from there, remember to go through M.D.’s site so he gets the advertising credit.
Lane,
And one more thing. When choosing a model for your All-American, if you have a microwave over your stove, make sure there’s enough room for the size canner you want. (The biggest I could order was the one that holds 10 pints or 7 quarts. The next size up wouldn’t fit on my stove.)
Lane, I haven’t used either a pressure canner or a water bath canner, so take this for what it may be worth (nothing). But I believe a pressure canner can be used for both water bath canning and pressure canning, whereas a water bath canner can only be used for water bathing. IOW, the pressure canner would be more versatile.
OOPS, I meant to address the above comment to SaratogaPrepper. My bad.
Depending on the size of the pressure canner, it can be used as a water bath canner. But not all pressure canners are deep enough to use the water bath method to can quart sized jars.
If you (whoever asked) are interested in canning, I would recommend starting with a water bath canner. Then as you are more comfortable with caning, get a pressure canner. (The water bath method is easier to learn.)
I use my water bath canner to cook large batches of soup that I then can using my pressure canner.
I use my pressure canner as a water bath canner when canning fruits.
Saratoga Prepper,
Here’s the site that M.D. recommended to me for the Big Berkey.
http://www.directive21.com/big-berkey.html
Gayle
Thanks for the link.
SaratogaPrepper,
I think which you get her depends on what you’re currently doing. Do you already can and/or dehydrate? If you do neither, then dehydrating would be the easiest to start with (or at least less intimidating) and least costly, since canning requires jars & lids. If you already do one of them, then perhaps you purchase the other to give you a second option, and another hobby (LOL). If your already do both, then you might want to look at your current equipment, keep the best one (can or dehydrate) and replace/upgrade the lesser of the two items. In short though, I don’t think you can go wrong with an All American canner or an Excalibur dehydrator. Although I have both canning and dehydrating equipment, I don’t own either of these brands; however, they are on the short list.
Looks like a Dehydrator is going to be the way to start. At present we are doing neither. We are always tossing fruit that has been bought but not eaten in time and it is usually organic ($$$). I was wondering do most of the nutrients stay with the stuff that has been dried? I checked the Excalibur website and the price range is perfect for what I had in mind. Thanks for your input, everyone.
SaratogaPrepper,
I think most of the nutrition stays with the dehydrated product, but I suspect there is a lot more expertise and information here: http://www.dehydrate2store.com/. Also keep in mind that you can dehydrate frozen vegetables, so when that frozen corn is on sale, buy a bunch, dehydrate it and store it away cool and dry, at a discount and without worrying about electric for the freezer.
Saratoga Prepper,
Your birthday wish to your wife reminds me of a sign I saw in a bait shop:
Single male looking for a long-term relationship seeks single female who is sincere, honest, pretty, funny, likes to fish and has a boat. Please send photo of boat.
Happy Birthday
May God grant you many years to live.
For sure He must be knowin
The earth has good people all to few
And heaven is overflowin.
Happy birthday M.D.
This week I bought a Red Cross emergency radio. Seems to work well so far.
Canned 24 half pints and 9 pints jelly (blackberry, blueberry, and raspberry).
Bought more rifle ammo.
Bought two new pistol rugs.
Read Dirt Cheap Survival Retreat (thanks M.D.) and started complementing some of the procedures.
HandAx, the Red Cross Radio’s work great for me and I have a few.
Love the fact it has a usb port to charge the cell phone by hand crank (5 minutes of hand crank per 1 minute of use) or by solar (left it on the dashboard all day and got a half charge) if the power goes out its enough to get out an emergency call with the hand crank.
Plus the NOAA is better than waiting for local news on weather conditions as it covers regions micro-climates a bit better.
Happy Birthday MD!
Still new to prepping and this blog, but I wanted to say thanks for setting up this website and compiling all the info on the ITEOTWAWKI disc. Got it in the mail this week too!
Thanks again MD :)
OOOPs! I meant implementing. Old Timer’s disease strikes again. lol
MD, didn’t you have a birthday last year, too? How many are you going to have before you ask everybody to give it a rest? LOL I stopped counting my birthdays about 15 birthdays ago.
Between the weather turning lousy and the doctor not allowing me to do much physical work for awhile longer, I didn’t do a lot. So I went to the hardware store and bought the following:
1-Shotgun cleaning kit with brushes that fit 12, 20, & 410 gauges. (Thanks to Jarhead 03 and his homemade cleaning patches last week – his comments reminded me I need to get another cleaning kit.)
1-Kershaw “Chive” Knife – Made in the USA. It will be a great sharp little blade for my BOB. Here’s what it looks like: http://www.amazon.com/Kershaw-Onion-Chive-Pocket-Knife/dp/B0009VC9RW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321743887&sr=8-1
Read a lot of emergency first aid info. Printed off some info from online.
Planning on doing a little demonstration at Thanksgiving to show the siblings and their families just how much the gooberment has been lying to us about our money and inflation. I hope that by comparing a 1964 (90% silver) half dollar to a 2009 (mostly copper) presidential dollar coin they will see that the newer coin is slightly smaller in size and bears no silver, yet the govt tells us it’s worth twice as much as the older coin. (Yeah, sure it is.) Of course, comparing a 1976 Half (mostly copper) to a 2009 dollar coin would show the same thing – the half is slightly larger in diameter, but the govt tells us the dollar coin is worth twice as much. (Yeah, right. )
Coinage is a history lesson. Our older coins were gold, silver, copper, nickel. Our newer coins are copper, nickel, zinc, manganese – lesser valued materials. Our coins in the next few years will probably be stainless steel or zinc with a stainless coating. All this shows the creep of inflation and the decreasing REAL value of our coins. A healthy country doesn’t do this.
OK, enough opining. Time to make a shopping list and go to the store this evening. The supermarket is finally offering some items as BOGOs. Yeehaw! First time ever.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my countrymen and women on Thursday. May you have safe travel, full bellies, and lots of good times. God bless.
LOL! If we stop having birthdays that would also be bad. We can’t win for losing…
Lint, I’m thinking the gooberment will be issuing wooden nickels before long. So don’t take any.
And here’s a little test I use. Drop a silver coin onto a hard surface and listen to the noice it makes. Do the same for the newer coins. Even an untrained ear can tell a big difference.
And Happy Thanksgiving to all, and a Happy Birthday to MD. I think I mentioned your present, MD, but forgot the birthday wishes. Have a happy one.
L.P., that Kershaw knife is a nice one. Have a couple that are similar, they do come in handy. Best of luck with the education of the family, hope they learn.
Thank you, AZrp. The family is asking about gunz, so maybe they’re getting scared. Being scared is a great incentive. I remember the flack I received when I told them 15 years ago that I was starting to collect bang sticks. They thought I was nuts (that may be true, remains to be seen), now they are asking for some. How the tables have turned. (I get to gloat a little, don’t I?)
L.P., I have the feeling that a LOT of folks are getting scared out there. More and more I see lots of attention being paid to gunz, knives, long term food storage, etc….Gloating is certainly authorized, but I would also suggest that it adds a certain satisfaction when you see those late to the game beginning to understand and learn. Lets hope for the best and keep prepping for whatever may come.
Amen, brother, amen!
Lint, you are more than welcome on the cleaning patches for all the advice you’ve shared. If I missed a size you need let me know. I thought about cutting up some older black t shirts but you can’t see the clean as well as white or lighter color patches.
In years past, I used to donate old clothing to the Salvation Army. But for the last couple of years I’ve been keeping the old clothes. Figured they might come in handy as rags, as clothes for people (family/friends/neighbors) who might need a clean change of clothes, and now I’ll be saving the old clothes to cut up as cleaning patches. I like things that have multiple uses, so thanks for giving me another reason to save the old stuff.
Lint, my husband goes through jeans like crazy due to his work. I take his old jeans and cut patches out of them. I also pull the zippers and buttons to put up so it is less that I have to buy for the sewing kit.
Lint, another use for old T shirts, they can be cut to larger sizes for oiled rags for cleaning the guns, if you store gas and oil they can be soaked as wicks for a certain russian cocktail, bandages and the all important toilet paper. When we ran out of tp in the field one of the t shirt in the pack would get cut into strips for that.
Lint what do you think about a post on the many uses of the t shirt?
Jarhead 03:
I know you addressed your comment on larger T shirt uses to Lint, and you are both from Kalifornia (I believe) which would, in my book, explain why you would use gas soaked rags for “bandages or the all important toilet paper”. In Montana we find that to be a bit irritating.
JP, did you misread the directions again? At least you won’t have to worry about rust on the caboose lol. That’s what the commas were for lol. Don’t try this at home kids lol.
Jarhead 03:
I just had to laugh at it when I first read through it. I too use old T Shirts for gun and general cleaning (although not of body parts). Lately I moved to those red cloth “shop rags” but they are getting harder to find as more people are going to the disposable ones.
JP, we use those all the time but instead of red they are blue like surgical towels. You said you were heading this way during the summer, I can try to get you some.
Jarhead 03:
Thanks. Not sure when, as we are looking at a new(er) travel rig. I want one with the range to get me back home without needed extra fuel. Got a good line on a setup that will get me 1700-2500 miles (depending on the headwinds), but cash flow being what it is (and with the potential instability caused by Europe and the East Coast, if things go bad, we may not get much notice).
I want to know where the BOGO offers you people are getting are!!! None like that around here, and with the crowds out there not just worth going to the store. Got Patriots this week and will start reading it. Did not do any real prepping this week, saving money to go to my sisters next week in Texas for the holiday. Any one know of any good places in DFW to get food storage and supplies. Am going to start looking for a crossbow, sold my old compound bow a few years ago during one of my moves, wish I would have kept it, kind of like the idea of a crossbow since it will stay cocked and not have to hold the draw, any suggestions on the crossbow will be apprecitated also. I am always on the look out for deals wherever I am , helped my Aunt clean out some of her storage sheds, she loves auctions and is a bit of a hoarder and picked up some good stuff for free. Got about 4 dozen canning jars, a couple of old kereosene heaters , a few laterns and crapload of candles of different sizes, and about a dozen different kinds of flashlights, will have to see if any work, will have to go through more of her stuff when I get back. Hopefully will get some of those goods sales here when I get back.
George,
What part of the country do you live in? If you live in the South, go to SouthernSavers.com and check out the grocery stores you have where you live. If you live out West, I would recommend couponmom.com. You need to register to use couponmom.com but it’s worth it. These sites will tell you what’s on sale where you live.
Gayle,
I am here in the central midwest. I mainly shop at a Kroger and Aldi’s about 30 miles away since the two stores here in my small town don’t do big sales and I just don’t really like that well. I will shop at a super wal-mart if I need something and will not be going to the big town soon. I do shop the ads and use coupons and like the deal on your reciept at Kroger where they tell you what % you have saved on your bill, and I feel like I have failed if I have not saved over 40%. Thanks for the sites will check them out.
George,
Kroger and Aldis have good sales. If Super Walmart is closer to your home, then just take the Kroger and Aldis coupons into Walmart–Walmart will honor competitor’s coupons and sale prices. If you have any of the various dollar stores in your area, Walmart will honor those coupons as well. Log onto couponmom.com and register. You can give them a fake email and a fake name, if you are concerned about OPSEC. Then just click on the stores in your area. Find out what days food ads come out in your local paper and make sure you get a copy of the paper that day.
If you want more information, check out the guest article I wrote called “Strategic vs. tactical shopping”–it is possible to cut your grocery bill in half. I did.
George, I am horrible at couponing. I just shop the flyers as best as I can. With kroger, they usually have a 10 for $10 type of sale and I will load up on those items. There are sites you can go to that will allow you to load up your kroger card with coupons but I rarely do that anymore as they are usually name brand items and I buy mostly store brand. The best coupons for them are the ones that print out when you check out, and they usually focus on the stuff you buy. Kinda sucks that they keep track of it but the coupons are usually for a dollar or more off.
I usually double everything by taking the flyer to walmart and getting it again there. Also I get flyers for a grocery store that is too far away for me to bother with so I take their flyer to walmart as well. I havent really kept track of how much I save but I have noticed my grocery budget goes a lot further this way.
I too am wandering how they can find all those BOGO.
All I seem to find is Buy One and Get Out.
LMAO
BOGetOut! Love it Ellen! Around these holidays I tend to only go to the grocery store after 11pm! Insanity! It’s like some people never cook unless it’s a holiday.
Ellen, agreed. My gf wanted to go to Walmart for dinner items and since I hadn’t done any prepping all week it was a chance to grab a case of soup, peaches and 100 rounds of .45 ammo.
Now I know why I shop after 11PM. Between the crowds, kids screaming and rain I picked up all the ingredients for home made eggnog to relax after that ordeal lol.
Happy BDay MD! Many more to you!
I spent most of my week consumed with work. I’m VERY pleased to tell everyone that my home based business I started recently (vending machines) has really begun taking off, much faster and better than I had even hoped! They are churning out profit already, and I’m very excited, as this is providing me self-reliance money. I’ve ALSO accepted a job offer this week! It is approximately 50% more $ than I make in my current company and has the added benefit of being only 7 miles from home! God is good! Prep-wise, I did my 8 hours volunteer time with the local rescue squad (first time ever popping a displaced shoulder back in, now THAT’S a sound that will stick with you). Also went fishing with the signifigant other, taught her how to gut and filet.
Hope everyone had as good a week as I did! Prep on!
Congrats on the good financial news (new job & profitable vending machines).
tinfoilhat,
Keep an eye out for silver coins in the vending machines. You may go weeks without finding anything, then some kid will deposit dads dime or quarter collection in one of your machines.
Tinfoil, congrats! Like HD said, keep an eye out for silver and older coins.
I check every coin. Good stuff goes into the left front pocket. The rest goes into the right.
Happy Birthday, M.D. The most precious gift is to be surrounded by family and friends, especially ones that give guns and gadgets. HeeHeeHee.
Had a good week overall. Made a Costco run to stock up on dog food for the new Dogo. He has been great so we decided to prep for him as well :)
Got lots of canned goods at Costco as well, also got some at Food Fair. Made a trip to LDS Cannery for last 100 lbs of wheat to make our year supply.
A couple of months ago my military Hubby got his second 1/2 of his re-sign bonus. We purchased a few things we had been saving for. Berkey water filter, country living grain mill, global sun oven. (Funny how priorities change from decorating and electronics to prepping). Decided to try out the wheat grinder, that took more muscle than I expected, but over all a good upper body work out.
The sun oven has become mine and my kids new favorite gadget. We baked honey wheat bread (super yummy), then I decided to try rice. That turned out very well. At the 5 year olds suggestion we also baked brownies. So impressed. Super pleased with those purchases. Way better than another useless electronic that you can’t eat when the SHTF.
The garden has depleted itself. I tried tomatoes, just to see if I could grow them late Fall in Houston. Well they grew great, they just never ripened. Not even when picked and brought into the house. Oh well, the green beans and squash more than made up for that.
I am also playing around trying to see what I can get to grow in the fall here. I have a cherry tomato plant that is doing ok. I had one lone little tomato on it, until my 2 yr old decided to pick it for me. Now I have one more that is growing, I am hopeful that it will ripen.
Happy Birthday MD!
It was a nice, slow week here. Picked up some extra canned goods via Thanksgiving Day sales, a canvas bag for carrying wood to the house, a 5 outlet plug unit – learned when the power was out that using a strip was tough w the big plugs – this one has an “octopus” type of design and a 50′ ext cord (we accidentally whacked ours with the hedge trimmer while cleaning up from the storm).
I also hung the winter curtains, cleaned the oven and washed/saved an old wool blanket found at my mom’s house.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and thank you for your posts!
First week back at work from my ‘big vacation”. So I have been totally swamped catching up. Now that I am home, I am clutter bustin’. Taking it one room at a time and cleaning out cupboards. It is time to sort out a lot of the keep sakes, split them up and pass them on to the children.
I have too many places to live and despite the economy, I am working towards selling one of them. Haven’t made up my mind which however. One is closer to work, one is just a nice place to sit and veg. One has room to grow more stuff, but candidly I have found I can do a lot on a lot less land and not have to deal with paying for the help to get things done. The one with some land has redundant heating systems, a well and two septic systems. The other, with the smaller footprint has redundant heating systems, a well but is on the sewer system. Both have back up power generators, but we all know that in a bad situation, we may run out of fuel for those. The one with land needs a new roof, some road grading and is far enough out of town that I get visited by coyotes and once a bear. Raccoons get into the trash, the garden etc. This one backs up to national forest land, sounds good doesn’t it? Until you know that your neighbors are using that area to grow dope. So it doesn’t feel all that safe. The smaller homestead has had extensive remodeling and is more cozy, comfortable, but still will fit all my family if necessary. It also has better access to an extra water supply. Both places get visited by deer. What to do, what to do………
I have been told that after the death of your primary loved one you shouldn’t make any big decisions like this for at least a year. It hasn’t been a year, but it is time to start thinking. Both of these places pull at my heart strings so it is not an easy decision, but after speaking with the family, we all agree we are at the stage of one too many places to keep up with.
After reading all the discussion last week, I got out one of my DAK hams and tried it in a bean recipe I have. It was good enough that I wouldn’t be ashamed to serve it in tough times and did it all with dehydrated or freeze dried vegies. Gave myself a 4 out of 5 wolf pack puppie tracks for my efforts. But decided I would probably not buy any more of them, I have 10 left. I will can real ham and freeze ham hocks and be closer to my own standards.
All else for this next week will be about Thanksgiving; children and grandchildren and continuing to catch up on work.
Hope you had a great birthday MD and hope you got your trailer moved onto its site. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I became a widow 11 1/2 yrs ago at age 41, leaving me with 3 teenage boys to raise. It took me two years to come out of the fog. Take your time if possible to make your decisions. I know this is a difficult time of year and I am praying that you have a great holiday season shared with your loved ones.
Worrisome,
I agree withMaji-TX, I became a widow 4 years ago today at the age of 37. Take your time with the decisions… all the time you need. The first year I barely left my house. I still have tons of his stuff that I know I should donate/see, but still can’t.
While difficult, know that it DOES get better. I wish you all the best and will keep you in my prayers.
DG
Worrisome,
Our thoughts and Prayers are with you this Holiday Season. I lost my first wife to an Auto Accident. I think I know what you are going through. Take it easy and don’t rush into anything you may regret later. I can now understand why you have been doing so much the last month or so. It helps to keep busy and not dwell on things. Nightimes were the worst for me.
Have a happy Thanksgiving and a safe one too.
Ray
Thanks Ray. It happened the middle of July, and my family and friends have hardly allowed me a week end to myself. Which is good and keeps me occupied. The whole prep thing was his idea, he had been watching this whole situation develop since about 2006 and had pretty much called everything that has happened. We promised him that we would take the problems our country is facing seriously and make sure that we had good plans in place. The problem with the plans are that no matter what you do, there are possibilities that you will still have a tough time for one reason or another. We are all trying tho. I consider myself blessed because no one in the family is fighting this, they are smart enough to recognize things are significantly going down hill and taking steps.
Worrisome, like others said, go slow and really think about things. My first wife was only 37 when I lost her and I wish now I’d waited longer to look for another. I made some really bad decisions that could have been avoided. More prayers and reading this blog have done me a world of good…..
Thanks Blindshooter, not in any way ready to look for anybody, that may never happen, but I am beginning to consider consolidating things and letting go of some stuff. Haven’t made up my mind and most of the time, I get a plan pretty much figured out and then find some big thing I have forgotten to include and I am back to square one. I have ongoing appointments with attorney that helps keep me on track. I have always thought that I had good common sense, but right now? I find that there are times when common sense isn’t enough and other times when I just flat miss points to ponder and can’t believe that I did miss them! In the meantime, I am doing what I always do, make lists, put them in a notebook and refer often! It helps!
Your smart using a lawyer, they are good at helping you cut the emotion out of decisions.
Good luck going forward!
Worrisome, are your excess properties in California? I’m interesting in finding a small piece of land to live on, away from neighbors. If you decide to sell sometime in the next several months. please let me know. Thanks.
LP, yes both my properties are here in Ca. I will let you know, but right now, it is all kind of just running around in my head, making excess noise and creating a kind of confusion. There are tax consequences and such……I am a pretty smart person, but perhaps it is still too soon and that is why I seem to be in paralysis over making a decision. Neither of them are perfect for a Bug Out/Hide out place, but they are better than an urban neighborhood, but both have their downfalls. The plan had been to wait until I retire, then sell them both and go somewhere else. We had a list of what we wanted………but we aren’t going to be doing that now, so I am in an adjustment period. But, once I get some clarity, I will try to let you know. Thanks
Lint. I have a relative who is a realtor in Lake county. I can pass your name to her if you would like.
The week around here has involved the canner:
14 # of boneless/skinless chicken canned
6 quarts of potatoes canned
12 # of roast canned
Due to the drought we didn’t make very many sweet potatoes, but I found a good buy and will be canning them in about two weeks.
Went thrift store shopping great finds:
cloth napkin, thanks to the wolf pack no more buying paper napkins
11 quart jars $4.00
6 odd & end sheets $6.00 great for all sorts of stuff
5 shirts for DH $20.00
Took advantage of the great sales:
2 – Flour 5# $0.99
2 – sugar 4 # $1.98
4 # butter $10.00, not such a great deal but needed to spend $20, to get a cheap turkey. Plan on smoking a couple of turkeys after the 1st of the year and then can them up. It was worth the $20, turkey is only cheap this time of year.
Going to teach our dear daughter in law how to can deer the season, so I purchased 2 cases wide mouth quarts to give them as a gift. Hope them get a extra deer to share with us, as DH is having knee surgery Monday there fore he will not be hunting.
Happy Birthday MD!!! Thanks for all you do, your site is very informative, I learn some thing new every time I’m on here. As our grand daughter would say, you rock, as does this site
Keep the faith & keep prepping!!
I forgot, made a run to LDS, it’s a 4 hour round trip, but it’s still cheaper than buying at the big box store locally. We make two trips a year, our last trip was in March, I had been checking their web site and knew prices where going up, oatmeal had double in price, but remember there is no inflation. Had the vehicle full and the pocket book empty, it was still a good day.
Also ran the generator, check the solar system, all systems go!
texas nana, i hope all goes well with your husband’s knee surgery. (will keep my fingers crossed so you get some deer).
Texas Nana, hope all goes well with your husband’s knee surgery. Don’t pamper him too much. ;)
Thanks ya’ll!!
Don’t worry about him getting pampered to much, this will be his 10th surgery in 8 1/2 years, so I’m out on the pampering.
He has degenerating joints, shoulders, hips, knees, and back, no they don’t have a clue why. It would be different if he was older, he’s not even 55, so it’s not a good deal.
Just doing the best we can, with what we got, but it’s been a real help that we are preppers.
Rearranged one of my storage areas, added more canned meats to the rotation, finally found an all-metal construction apple-peeler-slicer-corer at the second hand store for $5.99 (been looking for one for almost a year), started rotating the water supply, and cleaned the propane stove before putting it away with the rest of the camping gear for the winter.
Acquired a few more useful books for the library, and got my first 2 seed catalogs in the mail, so I updated my price tracker.
as i said most of my prepping is on hold till after the Graduation but i did get a large box of canned and dry goods for free!! there’s some sliced potatoes, pork, assorted veggies, beans, fruit, pasta sauce ,couple baking mixes and some more stuff i haven’t gone through yet. great additions to my stock. the community where my grandmother lives gives all the Senior citizens a big box of canned/ dry goods every month and Nanny has been cramming it all into her cabinets. even stuff she doesn’t eat…well yesterday one of the shelves gave out so she finally cleaned them out. I was happy to take the stuff she didn’t want :)
happy birthday md hope you have many more.md lets hear a review on the model 94 someday
To Pam S,I haven’t tried tried canning link sausage yet.I would look in the Ball book for preserving,I think it tells how to can sausage.If not its time to experiment.My suggestion would be to fry up the links and drain the grease.Place in jars,cover with hot water and follow the pressure cooking instructions you used for the chicken.I’ve canned chicken,pork and beef and the pressure cooking instructions were all the same.I even tried canning sliced hotdogs and they turned out okay.Good luck with this and let us know how it turns out.
connie-i’ll put the ball book on my list to look for when i go into town this week. i’ve been wanting one but i keep forgeting. (don’t they say memory is the first thing to go)?
Pam S.,
You can pick up an older edition from amazon.com cheap. I think I paid $6.99 for mine. And that was new. The recipes did not change in the current edition–just the introductory mumbo jumbo.
thanks gayle. i’m checking it out now.
First of all I would like to thank M.D. for having such a great site for us to express ourselves. Especially those who feel alone because they haven’t been able to get family or friends onboard. I would also like to thank him for forwarding emails to me.
Been a great week for prepping. To start with I landed a contract today that will give me a new Mini Van to drive, gas & insurance paid for plus a monthly salary. I just continue calling on my existing stores with the added convience of being able to supply them with bait also. This will allow me to add even more to my preps.
On to physical preps. Added (3).308 & (3) .30/06 cartridge adaptors that allow me to shoot .32acp ammo thru the big guns. Added .32acp ammo, 5x5rd. 20ga. Slugs, 100rds. #7 1/2 20ga. 2 3/4″, 25rds. .410 Shot Shells #7.5, 2x100pk. #209 Shotshell Primers, 2x3pk 100gr. Broadheads, 500ct. Bag 12ga. Shot Columns, 36x.50cal. Hollow Point Sabot,Lee Loaer .308, Lee Loaer .30/06, Barnett Phantom Crossbow,
6 Esbit Stoves, 6x12pk. Esbit Tablets, Esbit Stove & Tabs Kit, L.E.D. Micro Flashlight w/ Carabiner, Owl Decoy, 6 sets WindWhacker Duck Decoys, 1 set WindWhacker Dove Decoys, 1 set WindWhacker Goose Decoys, Lawry’s Spaghetti Sauce Spices, McCormick Beef Stew Spices, McCormick Chili Spices, McCormick Tex/Mex Chili Spices,
Evaporated Milk, Tomato Sauce (on sale @ FoodMax .25 ea)
Any of you who sent me email if I didn’t respond that means I didn’t recv it so please try again.
Ray
By the way happy Birthday M.D. It sounds like you had a great one. It also sounds like you have a very loving Girl Friend. When is the big day going to be. You should have a Wolfpack wedding. Don’t let her get away from you.
Ray
NCR…I sent a request to MD to forward my email….did you get it? If so, haven’t heard from ya. Wanted one of those keychain car safety doo-hickees.
MtWoman,
No I didn’t rec’v it. You can email me direct @ irep4you2@yahoo.com. Mine are not the key chain ones. Mine are a folding knife w/ the window breaker and seat belt cutter built in. they come in a sheath which you can either mount anywhere or wear.
Ray
hello all…
- made 2 daylight trips – followed by 1 late evening drive around on 2 alternate routes out of town…and – found 1 more – with yet another that is a ‘no through road’ – ends at a cattle property gate, yet it’s a short distance through the paddock to the highway…to be used as a last resort only…made detailed written notes on the railway/water crossings etc.
- more canned food and assorted condiments – all on special – put these away.
- thrift shop best buy was a ziplock bag of assorted first aid stuff for $2 as follows:
1 x bactigras,
1 x opsite post-op,
1 x melonin,
1 x pack of gauze swabs,
1 x 5cm x 2.4m knitted elastic fixation bandage,
1 x 7.5cm x 2.4m knitted elastic fixation bandage,
1 pack of safety pins
betadine solution swab, REMOVE adhesive remover wipes,
1 nail brush
1 pack x 30 tablets Milton Anti-bacterial Tablets.
Also, 7 x military can openers taped together .50cents for the lot,
2 x keyhole can openers – 50cents each.
1 x wool blanket – $2,
more first aid books and books on vegetarian meals etc $4.
more AA and AAA batteries – seems everyone has them at 1/2 price.
cheers to all and happy prepping…buying now to save later…
pam.s – glad Blackie is recovering…he is one tough dog to survive 3 gunshot wounds…
chloe- i think everyone’s prayers are part of what is helping her get through this. thank you and everyone for thinking of her.
I was wondering if anyone has used a timer for their hot water heater? We installed one this week and wondering if doing so would save any money– along with wrapping it? Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Tricia,
I have read that insulating your water heater and putting it on a timer are excellent ways to save on your electric bill.
Thank you Gayle–I’m going to track it and post next month about my bill. Every little bit helps.
Tricia,
Check out this site for more ideas.
https://www.gru.com/YourHome/Conservation/Energy/energysavers.jsp
An expensive, but will pay-for-itself-quickly alternative is a tankless hot water heater.
We installed one when we built our house – hot water on demand, for as long as you need it. Compared to neighbors, our electric bill runs about $30 – $50 cheaper than anyone else’s. Part of it is our well-insulated house, but I’m pretty sure part is due to the hot water heater. BTW, I do a lot of laundry in warm water (our well water is so cold, that the powdered detergent sometimes doesn’t break up). When I make the liquid homemade lsaundry soap – I can wash in cold water. :)
We switched to gas (propane) from electric years ago and have never regretted it. Electric bill went down and the additional gas cost was negligible.
When I had my house built, I opted for gas water heater (if it’s a water HEATER why do we say “hot” water heater. Isn’t it just a water heater?) and a gas stove. I love them. I do regret having put in a gas fireplace. A wood fireplace would give me more options.
Gayle,
That “Hot Water Heater” has always befuddled me also. If the water is already hot then I have no need to waste energy heating it.
Tricia, I’ve been through an energy natzi phase around my house. The water heater is 3rd on the list of biggest consumers of electricity. Preceded by heatin a cooling. My wife and I just shut out water heater off. We turn it on an hour before shower time and shut it off again. Between that and a few other changes I made around the house,I’ve been able to cut my bill in half with no suffering at all.
Thank you for the response, I do think I drive my family nuts with money saving strategies. We have it turned on from 5am-9am then again from 5-9pm. There are 7 of us so it gets a little crazy, weekends are challenging. I already wash clothes in ‘cold’–that is questionable in NC (I think it is warm) compared to where I used to live.
My father is in town for Thanksgiving and was intrigued by the system, my husband offered to install it in December when we return home for Christmas.
Cutting my electric bill in half would be great!
Tricia, Our tank is blanketed. Also, we installed a timer several years ago. I wish we had done it years ago! We only keep it on for several hours in the morning, then again at night. Laundry is almost always with cold water. We scheduled the timer around our schedule and shower times. The unit we put in has an over-ride switch so if we would happen to need hot water, more than is stored, we can manually switch the heater on.
If you have a newer tank adding insulation might not be worth the cost and effort. Hold your hand on it in several places if you feel anything that’s warm you might consider wrapping it. I’d be surprised if you can find a warm spot on a newer tank. If your water use schedule is consistent the timer will help and you won’t even notice it. I would do like BC does except my schedule is so mixed up I’d wind up taking a lot of cold showers.
What I did to Prep;
Talked to a CBC reporter on Prepping and Survivalism, on and off record, will see how that turns out.
Email negotiations with Vidographer who wants to do a Documentary on a Canadian who is starting preps to the Finish. Might be a consultant to that one, will see.
Came up with an improved system for Winterizing my 4 season Canvas Tent.
Started looking for another Van as this Astro piece o crap is dying fast.
In mail, picked up my new p38 and p51 can openers. The p38′s are smaller than what I expected and the p51 is about half the size of my old Canadian issue can opener, and a lot lighter as well.
Talked with my buddy who is organizing another Prepper/Survivalist meeting on the First weekend of December. It will be a makeshift Teepee Dinner and kit comparison meeting.
Started looking at ads for a Bull/English Mastiff, I miss my fur-friends
Heading up to the property Tomorrow to secure some tents, create some snow tarps over the dining and living tent to allow the snow to cascade over and down the side and not cave in the rooftops.
Heading into the bush on my Bike to pedal and think, allow Nature to reset into my Soul, my Favourite Church, the Church of Nature and God, the Creator.
family issues.
No sympathies please, just your silent understanding and SHFT thoughts on the following.
Phone call from my Mother went like this;
“Your Nan (my grandmother her mother) is in End Stage Dementia, and they are leaving her in the Nursing Home, giving her pain meds only and no intervenes, expect a call in 4-15 days about funeral/death”
My Mother then said, “I have I.P.F. and the diagnosis is 3-5 yrs, it is non-operable”
My Grandfather seems to have given up now that his 100th has passed and although he eats, he seems to want to go to the final Retirement, as he puts it.
So putting all feeling and emotion aside I told you this because, it is relevant to Prepping and Survivalism. In SHFT situations and scenarios, you will get similar if not worse news than I got today. Not asking or looking for pity, just think on your own scenarios, and prepare yourself for news that will affect you and your family. I new some of the news beforehand, as I am an adult with some very ageing Grandparents, so it is not looked forward to, only known it would be coming sometime.
You say you are not looking for pity, Ok Then I will pray for you instead, Trust me I know the hurt., With love and many Prayer’s Wayne
with my mom and dad passing away 3 months apart, i can relate with you. like wayne, my prayers are with you.
WRO, I don’t have pity for you, I have empathy for you. Been there, it’s very painful. Love them while you can, then you will have no regrets and they will pass more peacefully. I hope you get a chance to say goodbye.
And stay warm up there. Living in a tent in the Canadian winter – you must have bigger……blankets than I do.
Thank you for the heartfelt responses everyone.
WRO – the army surplies store in Peterborough has the old Canadian openers on George st
Thanks for sharing your situation. It’s certainly thought provoking. I’ll be keeping a good thought for you and your family, WRO.
My Grandmother passed away this afternoon peacefully in her sleep. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.
You are in my prayers…
WRO, my condolences on the passing of your Grandmother. What a great way to go, though.
Pray she is in a better place and you can take comfort she passed peacefully…
WRO, I extend my sincere condolences for the loss of your grandmother.
You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers at this time. May you have good memories of your Grandmother.
Well first thing’s first THANK GOD ( And I really mean that ) as he is the ultimate survivalist, ( Who else can say they have lived 999 quad zillion plantillion oh forget it FOREVER ) my wife has been offered a job after many many month’s of being laid off, So thank you lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, So now it’s just me looking for a job.
I brought some more of the coleman propane tank’s as I have a Heater and stove, Also some clover honey, some powdered milk, also my moisture absorbing gel pack’s that I ordered arrived and I placed them in all my ammo can’s and battery can’s along with putting some in my weapon bag’s.
And have plenty of them left over for food storage.
Now a question I save the gat litter bucket’s they hold about 5 gallon’s, I Wash them carefully with dawn anti bacterial soap and Very Very hot water and only store pre packaged mountain house and Jack links’s in them, Would it be OK to store Rice and Bean’s in them or would you guy’s go a different route ? Thank’s guy’s keep the idea’s a comming and oh by the way HAPPY BIRTHDAY M.D.
wayne, definetly do NOT store rice and beans in direct contact with the cat litter buckets. Maybe if you used mylar bags inside the buckets, but dont let the food tough the buckets’ plastic.
Should read “touch”.
They will be fine for that. Make sure to use Mylar bags and you will be fine.
Ray
wayne, are you talking about storing your rice and beans in something before putting them into the former cat litter buckets? Or directly into the buckets? I would NOT use the buckets without putting the food into jars or bags first. I don’t think you can wash the buckets enough to make them food-grade if they didn’t start out as food-grade. When we’re talking about longterm food storage, I would not take shortcuts. You want that food to be there when you need it, and to be of benefit not detriment to your health. Just my 2 cents.
if you store food in them definatly use mylar bags or jars.
i am using them for container gardens (hopefully self watering) i just dont want to trust the food we may have to count on in substandard containers.
wayne,
What kind of cat litter? If it’s just plain old cat litter with no additives, then it might be OK assuming you’re using Mylar bags an O2 absorbers first. If there were any kind of additives, like odor absorption, etc., then I would err on the side of caution. In general, if it’s not a known food grade plastic, my rule of thumb is to not use it. We’re talking about saving a few dollars versus your long term health.
Thank’s guy’s I was thinking about putting the rice and such in Ziplock Freezer bag’s first before putting them in the container, However it seem’s to be the overwhelming concensus to use Mylar bag’s first.
I think that is the route I will go , Thank’s guy’s
Last week was an exceptional week, prep-wise. That’s all I’ll say.
Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans. It’s going to take me more than one day to count all my blessings.
M.D., may you live to be toothless.
Happy Birthday M.D. Awesome gifts!
The DH and I built additional food shelves in the unfinished side of our basement. Super simple 1×4″ cut to fit between the exposed studs and screwed into place with 4 screws. It is so BEAUTIFUL to see all my canned goods right there in front of me… And now the DH can’t use the ‘couldn’t find it’ excuse. The cans are more stable now and it freed up a ton of space on my gorilla shelving.
Need to brace the underside of the crappy particle board on my gorilla shelving since they all seemed to have bowed quite a bit. Anyone have super strong shelving ideas?
20lb turkey for $5.50 or an amazing 28 cents a pound! Bought two so far and hope to make that three by tomorrow. Gayle thought of you and smiled!
Cooking down 4 gallon bags of heirloom tomatoes ( pushed out of the freezer by mr. Turkey #2) for an interesting sauce.
Potted up my rosemary bush in hopes it can live inside over the winter.
For the bracing, think about how an I-beam is constructed. If you take a couple of 1×2 boards, attach them to the end-support points of your shelves, and then have the shelves resting on the narrow edge of the board, it may strengthen it.
I agree with Kelekona and think a couple of 1×2′s or furring strips would indeed do the trick.
Nessie,
That’s a great price on turkey. I would seriously consider buying a few more. You could make turkey soup or just can the turkey for use in turkey pot pies. That’s too good of a deal to pass up.
You may get a couple of 2×4 boards and cut them to length underneath the plywood and see if that helps.
3/4″ exterior grade plywood would be good as replacements for the particle board. Plywood is expensive, but it is strong stuff. Otherwise, you could get some 1x4s and cut them to fit. I’d cut them to go the short dimension rather than the long one so they are more stable.
Roger that Pack. We were thinking of bracing with 1×4″ across the short span, for the time being. The DH had no clue we amassed so much food stores. ;)
Happy Birthday M.D.! We didn’t purchase any preps this week. But, I did realize that that where I was parking my car at work was a risk. (near a tree and under power lines) So, when I started parking farther away, the other staff in the office was asking questions. I just told them the pine tree was dripping on my car. :)
Mostly read this sight for more information! As many others have said, this is a great place to come learn and share. Made my grocery list for our Thanksgiving dinner. It is VERY short compared to last year.
At an auction a few weeks ago my DH spied a reel to reel tape player. My mother had given him some of the families many tapes a few years ago and ask us to seek a way to transfer them to another medium for listening. But, at the time we had no way of playing them. Well, the tape player worked, and we’ve been able to listen to many voices from the past! Going to play it for family this Holiday season. Off topic I know but I’m a sentimental old fool at times.
To those having surgery, recovering from one or illness in general, GET WELL SOON!
God bless each and everyone of you!
My aunt used to tape everyone back in the day on a reel to real when I was a child.. (and take the old home movies too). Neat memories but kind of weird hearing the voices of my grandparents etc..I’m sure it will be very sentimental at the holidays..hope it brings back good times for all.
Yes, it is strang, haunting,etc but so fun too! Hoping I can get other cousins to send tape too me to listen too.
C.R.,
Since your most likely using a computer, since your on this forum, look for a free application called Audacity. With a cable from the line out on your tape recorder to the line in on your computer, this program can save the audio from all of those tapes in a digital format that can be archived and passed around.
THANK YOU!! OP, just told hubby about this info and he’s gonna look for it this evening……
This week:
- reorganized my food storage according to Spigarelli’s system of vitamins, calcium, protein, etc.
- counted cans (and boxes, water jugs, etc) and typed it up according to vitamins, calcium, protein, etc. We are officially stocked for 3 months. Which may not sound like much, but it really hasn’t taken that long and now we are on to the next milestone. I told DH that if SHTF today, three months would get us to the end of February. Here in Minnesota there would be nothing available in Feb/March. So, now we are talking about a greenhouse, but how to keep opsec with it.
- went out and bought more food because there are great sales now.
- found interesting recipes (potato candy?) in my mother’s collection that I will keep for Just in case.
Garden Mom,
If this is the potato candy I ate as a kid and still occasionally make, it is wonderful stuff, and really only uses the potato as a binder for the sugar and peanut butter. Hmmm, might be time to make some more.
Happy Birthday, MD!
In purchases – not much other than restocking used items, but I did start Tai Chi lessons this week as I figure that anything that helps my health as I get older is a Good Thing. It’s a class for wrinklies, so I fit in just fine and it’s subsidised too so it’s only costing me £3 for an hour’s class. :)
Long Term Prepping – A Cautionary Tale
Anyone who followed the “45-70″ post will see that on Friday, I was told of a hog hunt in Texas next year and thought it would be a good opportunity for a pack rendezvous. Figured I would take 2 weeks off for the experience.
Imagine my shock and surprise when the landowner (my boss) says – “Can’t Go”.
Whaa!? – Was my reply. Here I was thinking that I was a modern day Mountain Man, wild and free to roam the land, when in fact I’m just a ploughboy, a serf.
Seems it goes like this; I have convinced the landowner that prepping is a good thing to do and the more the better. He has taken this to heart and we have set aside land to be used for livestock (goats,pigs,rabbits, chickens) and I will be in charge of that and responsible for the “product”.
Yes, I say but I figured that you could handle it for a couple of weeks I tell him. He laughs and says, “Bob your a farmer now – ain’t no vacations.”
So, a word of caution – If you are thinking about owning a farm, be aware:
THE FARM ALSO OWNS YOU!
another way of thinking about it is:
Careful what you wish for – you just might get it.
Lurker Bob, this is when you identify yourself as being eccentric and reclusive. Then everything else just falls into place……
Lynn. according to the axelsteve dictionary an eccentric person is a wealthy person who happens to be weird. a poor weird person is just weird.
Axelsteve, that’s a whole-lotta-weird….
Thanks Lynn – ( I think)
Unfortunately I have been here 15 years, that truth is self-evident.
I really can’t complain, Its a good life, and I’m exactly where I wanted to be, but the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence you know. I traded some freedom for long term security. I still have many square miles of forest and mountains to roam.
What was it Janis Joplin said?
Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to loose.
And Axelsteve;
I am wealthy – Just not rich, I control my own destiny, I am master of my own time. A lot of rich people cannot say that. They live for and are owned by money. Then at the end of the game they find that they have squandered their real wealth.
I am still weird though…
LurkerBob, you’re in good company here…
Bob,
Welcome to the farm. We’re down to dogs, cats, and a single horse now, but a vacation still costs extra money and logistics to have someone take care of all of these critters. The more critters, the more logistics and cost, something I remind the DW every time she talks about getting goats again, or wishing she had a mule. For now the DD is in college and these new critters are on hold, but long term I suspect I may lose this one.
HBD M.D. heres to another good year. May you find few rocks to clear, good water and few folks to close.
1. One Rem870 express 12ga. with smooth bore slug barrel, Glock 19.
2. One 40lb draw recurve bow, 15 carbon and alum shafts, field heads and broad heads.
3. 150lbs of shelled dent corn.
4. recieved order via EE, mylar, oxysorbs, bug out bucket MREs.
5. upgraded otc meds and Rx antibios.
6. skill sets, reading, practice, practice.
7. Page after page of good notes from you guys on gardening, Rxs, canning. Thank You all.
Tinker……….
Tom,
Is the shelled dent corn people food, and if so, where are you getting it? Corn is one of the biggest holes in my long term food right now.
Preps this week have been rather small. Workmens comp tried to settle $1000.00 for one crushed leg that they tried to take 2 times a broken leg and still he can’t get around for crap. It has been 3 yrs but hubby has to much nerve damage that the drs dont expect him to ever be able to drive truck no more.
Anyways we did manage 25# wheat, 25 # flour, some cas of potted meat. Hubby says it isn’t the greatest but it will keep you from starving.
We have 4 -25# turkeys that i plan on canning this week.
Thats all been busy fighting workers comp that we haven’t had much time.
Very sorry to hear this, workers comp up here in Canada are criminals as well. Best of luck and keep fighting it.
Hi Candy! I am in Nebraska as well. Sorry to hear about WC not paying up, I think they must have some rule that makes them try and drag things out as long as possible. Hope things get better.
Lawyer told them that $1000.00 is not going to get it. If they keep thie crap up he told them he would go for maximum state allowence. Whatever that is. In the mean time Lawyer says to keep track of dates paid and how much.
Oldest daughter and son-in-law expecting to be out this way come Feb. hopefully thier plans hold up. They are having to many diffaculties in New York and would like to moe where they know they can be able to feed the kids. She buys nothing but Turkey as she says beef to friggin high there. I don’t know never been east of Michigan.
Here if food gets to high if need be dh will sneak into a feedyard and get a beef to feed eveyone. Plenty of deer and elk around along the river so there is always something.
This week’s prepping is a week of simplification and reduction.
I have been on Craigslist getting rid of things I really don’t need, computer equipment, camera gear, guitar amps, a car, furniture, a treadmill and whatever else I can think of. In return I am getting things I do need. Dollars, of which I will spend on my subsistence. As poor as I have become since I became unemployed in March, I need every penny I can get. But, I just can’t bring myself to sell my old silver coins yet. But they are there if I need them.
hang tight henry….had to sell my gold to help my situation out…at least got it cheep and sold it in this market…kept the roof overhead for me and mine…
The major deal was getting a new metal roof on this old farmhouse. Quite an investment but I’ll be long dead before the warranty expires! It is a cheery red and the neighbors have all stopped by to comment on how much they like it. Logging money in…roofing money out. Oh well.
Spent a good share of this week canning venion…DIL got a giant doe opening day with a heart shot…to the chagrin of her fellow male hunters who didn’t do so well! Put up 13 qts and 4 pints of stew, 15 pints of burger and ll pints of stew meat plus 12# went in the the freezer. Big job. Love the new All-American double decker canner I sprung for this year. Especially not having to hover over the stove watching the pressure constantly like I have to do with my 40 year old model.
Tried the rye berries I got from Honeyville…ground in the Nutrimill and made two loafs of super delicious bread! Having ham for Thanksgiving per my familys’ choice and now we’ll have great bread for sandwiche and I’ll definitely stock up on the rye.
Turkeys are really high around here..at least I think so at $1.19 a lb. No deals, no sales, no buy so many dollars worth of groceries and get a cheap turkey. Was hoping to be able to can up a couple. One disadvantage of living in the boonies with no big supermarket chains competing for our dollars! We always buy one fresh turkey from our Mennonite friends who raise pastured poulty but like to save for doing in the Weber.
discovered that somebody in the neighbourhood thinks my car is for spare parts! does anybody know of a way to lock your tires onto the vehicle? i have been staring at the twin of my car for the past two months and its flat tire, which has suddenly appeared on my car.
otherwise… cleaned up some more of my recently acquired cast iron, rearranged the book pile to make subjects easier to find, stocked up on my favourite canned salmon on sale.
Lillias- you can go to any automotive parts store and buy keyed lugnuts. Buy one for each tire and keep the keys hidden in your trunk with the spare- maybe even tape the keys to the rim of the spare. (That way you’ll know where they are when you have a flat.)
Lillias:
Auto Parts Stores sell “locking lug nuts” that have a special shaped attachment to remove them. They come in 4 packs,
one per wheel. Just be SURE when you have a Dealer or
garage do something that requires your tire to be removed
you still have the adaptor when you pick up your car.
If you can’t afford that, I think modern tires have serial
numbers for warranty purposes. Writing them down could
help…maybe. HTH
lillias, go to your local auto parts and ask or go online and search for keyed lug nuts. The lug nut has a “barrel key” type key that attaches to the lug wrench or 4 way star to install or remove. They normally have one lug per tire and may sell them as one or up to five keyed alike.
They are common for 4x4s, SUVs and vehicles with high end rims. Good luck.
Mcguard makes a good locking lugnut.They are so good we sold them at the toyota/lexus dealership that I used to work for.Just don`t lose the key. if you do you can get it replaced at a dealership.At least a quality dealership.Just remember to have the key handy when you get your tires rotated or other car services.Techs hate digging through a car looking for a key.
This was a good week for us. Got to check out our cold weather clothing and snow removal equipment as we had very low temperatures and/or snow every day! So much for the chiggers and ticks!
The basement is coming along nicely. As ours has a dirt floor, I can’t spend too much time in there due to dust issues, but with the grandkids here most of the week (their Mom has an opportunity to work some doubles and is taking all she can) we had extra hands. The upstairs is no longer looking like “Hoarders” and the preps are getting more organized. I had a good handle on the food, but I’d put up some equipment over the years and had just plain forgotten about some of it. Getting the ammo organized too. Being a long time shooter, and hating to have to go to the store just because I got to go shoot with someone, I have quite a store of ammo. I also dug up my reloading gear and will start producing target loads for the handguns from all the supplies I/we uncovered. So although we didn’t spend much this week, our preps took a GIANT leap forward!
Thanks to The Pack for the ideas and moral support!
This Weeks Preps:
Operations:
More work on the basement, 4 more sets of shelves up
General Purchases:
6 pr cotton workout socks
1 21 LED Lantern
$20 in Trade Items
Ordered:
Dollar Store:
Guns:
Ammo:
100 rnds 9mm JHP
Food (into Storage):
3 box of Instant Oatmeal (10 pkg/box)
2 box of Instant Rice (28 oz)
4 lbs of Navy Beans
JP, its always nice to have free labor I mean kids to help lol.
Sounds like you need to lay down some concrete in the basement and cut down the dust; remember the dust masks. I missed the gun show today, felt like I’m coming down with a cold or the flu so its hot tea with Jim Beam. And the gf taking me to for all I need for homemade soup instead of the canned.
Jarthead 03:
My favorite cold remedy was 3 fingers of Jagermeister and a hot bath. Not sure if it was medicinal or not but didn’t care as I slept like a baby!
Forgot, I also found a M92 357 mag Lever Action rifle, 16″ bbl in stainless to go with my 45 Colt. Won’t get it until late next week, but that’s due to having to mail checks and paperwork, no Government Regulations.
JP, I stock Jager! I love making Jagerbombs for concerts or parties. I do two parts energy drink one part jager in 24oz Gatorade bottles.
I have mixed jager in my coffee or tea when I have a cold. I found out my boss had the flu so I decided to go with the Jim Beam and a couple hours later did a shot of NyQuel and knocked out.
I made very little actual progress, but I did take stock of my situation. We’re likely to move in the next two years, and having an overfull pantry would be a liability as far as weight. Plus, we’d be in trouble if we spent all the money on being prepared for a nationwide emergency and then nothing happened. I’m focusing on being stuck inside for a month or two, or being able to evacuate to a relative’s.
For some reason, I’d been stockpiling the jugs that the kitty litter comes in. I’d like to say that I was planning on building a raft since they’re empty, but the “you might need it someday” got trained into me. They are #2 so those would be flushing water. One task for this week is to buy more of the kitty litter that comes in #5 buckets for potable water storage.
I decided that crackers, liver pate, sardines, and pickled herring are back in my diet. I haven’t done any footwork, but a web search leads me to believe that pate is hard to find in this area, and canning my own is ill-advised. I told my mom that I wanted several cans of the cheap stuff. Potted meat seems easy enough to find, but I learned in college that it’s not a food you want to pay attention to.
I also need to figure out what a #10 can of tomatoes looks like so I can get the main piece for a rocket stove. I also want to find an old drill motor or something for cheap so that I can build a hand-crank generator my rice cooker.
I ordered a fruit leather sheet for the dehydrator. I dropped hint that I was looking for a copy of the Blue-Ball canning guide “because I have a small freezer.” And I decided that I want “Eton ARCPT300W American Red Cross Axis Self-Powered Safety Hub with Weather Radio and USB Cell Phone Charger” before next hurricane season.
You can usally find pate in the catfood isle of your grocery store.Just take the label off of the can and no one will know the difference.
LMAO. My preferred pate says SPAM on the label.
This junk is for me and what I would consider for protein. I think I would rather eat the cats than eat the catfood, judging by how it smells.
Happy Birthday M.D. (and many more!). Sounds like some nice gifts from some great people.
My preps this week consisted of adding more to the pantry, and ordering some seeds for next years garden. Ordered some winter squash, some bush beans, and sweet peas. Also adding some flowers that work as medicine too.
I am at the stage where I need to continuously sort through the pantry to ensure I am rotating out stock that is reaching its “use by” date. Yesterday went over my stuff and will be donating a bunch of canned goods to the local soup kitchen. I do so anonymously for opsec. The bad thing is I let a lot of stuff go past the expiration date, I might eat it but cannot give it away due to liability issues. Oh well, more motivation to do better inventory in the future.
We smoked 3 turkeys then canned it all off the bone. Birds are on sale here for $.59/lb.We will do 2 more smoked for the Thanksgiving feast as well as a fried one to be sure everyone has a take home share. About 12 people eating here.
This was our first shot at canning. We used wide mount pints, everything sealed up tight. We ended up with 16 tight packed jars.
I want to catch boneless country style ribs on sale and try them as a raw pack in quart jars next.
let me know how the boneless ribs come out love the things but never thought of canning them.
I bought an AR10 20inch,and 5 mags and 1000 rounds, and worked on my outdoor water barrels this week .
John…. envey is a bad thing so lets just say OuRah fella!!!!! what style upper did you get on it?
John, I shot my buddies RR LAR .308 some Sat. What a blast, 20 in barrel, I guess the weight around 10 lbs and even with cheap ball ammo it would shoot about 1 MOA. I wish my back and neck would let me own one, I’d start saving right now. Hope yours works as well as his does.
John, congrats on the AR10 rifle. Its a great all around platform for plinking, target, hunting and SHTF rifle. What did you go with on the optics and or sights?
I’ve seen some nice 16″ barrels if your looking at close range/ease of moving around and 24″ for long range target shooting.
The availability of mags are great and if you look around they have 20 and 25 round mags.
Hey All,
Just in case your missed my earlier comment–Dollar General has an excellent sale on Libby canned veggies, 40 cents for the regular sized cans.
Found flour, canned pumpkin, and eggs at good prices, so added to larder. Also got a turkey for .69 per pound. It’s the second one, so plan to can one after the holiday. Celery was at a good price too so will fill dehydrator today. Butter was at lowest price in a year or so, so freezer is full. Huge sweet potatoes were well-priced, so have a winter’s worth.
Brought a clump of chives in for winter use.
Started free arthritis exercise class at Senior Center.
Gamrich,
I was able to find butter this week for $2 lb. That’s the lowest price I’ve seen it all year.
How is the trigger pull in the model 94? I have two, bought them a year apart in different stores. The lowest poundage was #14, my favorite gun had an #18 pull.
Yes, both needed an after market action job, still about 12 pounds though.
Those are not triggers they sound more like doorstops. I would never own a rifle with a trigger that heavy.
Well went to the grocer to get the stuff to make bread in my new machine. Decided I would use the stuff in the recipe book to start off and then venture further out into the bread world with the regular stuff I have.
There was not much on sale at my grocer. I think they had canned hams on but my bunch growls at that. Personally I like them and they are a decided step up from spam, but no shelf life.
Prices are getting ridiculous. Dennison chili $1.50 a can now. That is a 33% mark up over the last 6 months or less and about 13% in the last month and a half.
When I checked out a man had to go get more money for his purchases. My son told me the last time he was there the person in front of him didn’t have enough money.
If that had a been a women she would have taken something out of the bags so she could get out of the store.
I told my son we were going to see more and more of that.
On the internet yahoo news they had a best taste test for instant potato’s. Idahoan won, so expect there to be a surge on buying them and the shelves empty. Jeepers!!!!
Well here is to the future with prepping. Hope we can further our endeavors and to the max.
I am not a real canned ham lover either. But we have learned to like Dubuque 5# hams which are on sale now for $8.50 (reg $14 around here). Soak ‘em and smoke ‘em is the way to go… and we do really love to eat them this way.
Bought a case of pilot crackers from Ready made Resources for 25% off. Not much else, trying to prep and get the kids Christmas goodies is going to be tough. Looks like all of us city employees here in the “D” are gong to take some serious pay cuts, oh boy.
What is the D? DC? Detroit? just wondering……thanks
Matt is a policeman in Detroit.
I was wondering also. Only place I’ve heard referred to as D is the big D,,, Dallas.
(singing off-key and outta tune with no perception of rythmn…)
‘Happy birthday to you… happy birthday to you… happy birthday MD.”
Didn’t get much done this week for my own preps: spent most of it helping a neighbor cut, split and stack his wood. Then getting the house ready for this Thursday, so company (like Mom) don’t think I’m as big a bum as they think I am. :-\
Forgot to add that I found a free source for pint and quart glass jars which can be vacuum sealed, thus freeing up my Masons for the canning I’ve learned to do.
Happy Birthday, M.D., I am late joining the pack in wishing you a happy after-birthday. This week, I pressure canned 16 pints of chicken and made 36 jars of jelly ( for Christmas gifts). I picked the last of the green tomatoes ; but, haven’t gotten the green tomato chutney made, yet. It has been a slow week prepwise.
Have you seen the post on the weather channel about the most congested roads for holiday travel? I looked at the title of the article and thought to myself “… or when the SHTF”.
M.D. Hope you had a great birthday. My 59th birthday was on November 19th. Just cleaned house. Tryin to downsize and get rid of some stuff so I can find a house in the country by next summer. So I don’t have to take it all with me. Happy belated birthday again
terri- sorry i forgot to wish you happy birthday.
Happy birthday to you, Terri.
Well another productive week. Our chicks arrived. I have 16 dual purpose birds in the brooder. The chicken coop is done and the run is nearly done. I have 17 more chicks on order for february!
I canned another dozen quarts of chili. Made more ammo, bought a couple thousand rounds of shotgun shells of various calibers at an auction for CHEAP.
I hit Kroger last week. They had canned veggies, broth, and cream of chicken soup for $0.50 a can. I bought several cases of each. Turkeys were on sale so I bought 4. This week they are even cheaper so I’ll be heading out for more.
I posted several weeks ago that I bought a wood burning cookstove and have been restoring it. Two weeks ago we attended an auction and picked up another in great condition. So, I’ll be selling the other one after I get it cleaned up. I’m not looking to make a killing, just want to get out of it what I paid which wasn’t much considering I think they will be priceless.
Its really funny how just 6 months ago I was clueless. Now, my lifestyle and focus is preparation.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MD!
very encouraging Sista…we have a woodburning stove that heats the house..and the flat top makes for a great cook top in inclement weather…got a spider cast iron and a grill for it…works like a charm…also when I push the coals back, I can grill sausages so I get that wood smoke flavor…had some nice lamb Margueze sausage this week to test out that theory…
going thru our inventory this week, found about 3 doz. cans of freeze dried beans, corn, veggies, stew veggies, and such from our Y2K stash..so we broke them out..cooked up a sample from each and were very pleasantly suprised (not really!) how well they held up…beans were soaked overnight, and there was no discernable difference between the old stuff and the new stuff…even the color was good with the peas…so GOOD storage practice is important to maintain your stuff folks…cool, dark, DRY places keep cans, jars and containers away from UV lights, critters and moisture…
Got my order of Gigante beans this weekend as well…my goodness are these tasty…they look like gigantic white Navy beans about an inch in diameter…and they cook up buttery and mellow…
more drying mushrooms this week as well…the rain has returned so I am glad I got my mushroom stash will filled…
got all the bills done and hope to finish up with Uncle Sugar by June now…picked up a couple more of those flashlights…and some led lights for the trailer as well as a head lamp or two for reading…must be the water on the coast or Lint is rubbing off on us up here in SoOr.
breadmomma, if I rubbed off on you, you’d know it! (Your clothes would be linty.)
linty with a hint of pink flashlight….oh that is right..no pink…!!!
love ya linty…hope you have a great thanksgiving…
I’m envious of you- here we can’t use older wood stoves the gov’t has a program called WETT- and only those with the licence can install new wood stoves and insurance companies will refuse to insure you unless you replace older stoves –
replaced an ancient one when we purchased this place..it is all legal and all insured…and it is very good for all uses..it is an energy efficent design that burns about everything that goes into it..the gases are recirculated and burned almost completely…very little ashes at the end of a Week of burning…the fire brick lining and the way the top was designed does this…
This week I bought 2 12 volt SLA batteries as a back up for my CPAP battery. I also bought some more ammo for my Mosin and did an ammo inventory. I tried to get my Christmas shopping done early, and ordered hand crank/ solar powered emergency (Eton) radios for my brothers and a bigger model one for my parents. I also ordered “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” by Carla Emery for myself as a bonus. Also bought some more quart jars. Thats it for this week.
My son has a mosin model 38. he likes it it is built like a tank and is fairly acurit.It is loud and has a good kick but not too bad.
On another note, I broke a can opener last week. I’m not sure, but I think that leaves me with one that I actually keep track of, so I’m buying two more.
I also occurs to me that I don’t have a picnic set in the car anymore. Last spontaneous trip we took, we just bought sandwiches on the way out, but plates, silverware, can opener, knife, and cutting board would expand our options. Being prepared for comfort is frivolous, but something to think of.
MD, glad you had a good B-day, may the Lord give you many more!
I spent the last three days with some old friends in a cabin way off grid. I learned just how much work a hand pump is when that’s all there is. We did haul in some water in 2 large coolers but we saved that to drink. One of my friends got a buck and it seemed like I lived on that pump handle! On top of that it warmed up Sat. so one of the guys drove back to get more ice for the dead deer. If we had to take care of the meat without ice I guess drying/smoking what you don’t eat may be the only way to save it at least here in eastern NC where you can’t count on it being cold enough outside to hang it for any length of time. We talked about the possibility of curing/smoking like pork but don’t know if that would work because the deer meat is so lean? The trip with friends did reinforce my belief that I would be in trouble if we suddenly lost the grid. One of my friends said his wife would probably kill herself if she had to live without electricity, he was only half joking. I think I could make it but I have no illusions that it won’t be very hard on my aging self. I have tomorrow off and I’m going to look for a shallow well hand pump. I think the Ag supply store about 30 min away carries them.
My only prepping was to finally get the first aid kit pretty much together in the work vehicle, now I want to work on a small “blow out” kit to keep with the range gear.
Hope every one has great week.
For all you Wolf Pack-ers out there that raise chickens, my DH found this website you may like. I keep trying to talk him into chickens, so far he ain’t budging. I think he is trying to keep me satisfied with just looking at chickens. One day.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/default.aspx
Nuttbush,
My DH doesn’t want me to have chickens either! But I mean to, even if it takes a couple more years of softening him up.
M.D. – Belated birthday wishes to you.
About a month ago I told the husband that I wanted to buy a Taurus 94 with a blue 4″ barrel. I am quite happy with my Taurus 85 but wanted something to target shoot with. I plan to buy one after the holidays.
We just got back from a 2 week trip to visit DD and her family in California. Our 100 + pound German Shepherd went with us and this was her first long trip. She did quite well on the trip except for a panic attack at the DD’s place and pretty well torn up the passenger seat back. This was the only time we ever had a problem with her. She was real good on the trip back home.
First of all a word to M.D., 39 and holding is not a bad thing, just don’t expect pretending to stay young will actually affect your joints, muscles, or memory, LOL
This was a pretty good prep week.
We had an appointment at the LDS cannery and a large group of us canned things for nearly two hours. 10-12 people are able to can a lot of things in two hours. I brought home 2 cases of rice and flour, and a case each of Macaroni, Potato Flakes, and sugar. Other than some additional sugars and oils, this gets the 4-person 1-year supply almost completed. I bought two #10 cans of the Fruit Drink to try, and I was expecting Kool-Aid or Hawaiian Punch, but this stuff is really good, and is kind of the generic LDS version of Tang, complete with the 100% RDA Vitamin C. I’ve been using Tang for a long time but will be switching since this stuff is about 40% less expensive. We also made an appointment and a group will be heading back in February. We generally run into new people there and actually have a really enjoyable time.
DW scored 20 boxes of Kleenex at a 10 for $10 sale. I asked her why only 20 boxes and she said she didn’t want to clear off the shelf. That was probably ethical and a nice gesture, but I’m not sure I’d have done the same.
Attended a range oriented first aid class this morning at the gun club. It was kind of informal, but had enough participation that we’ll probably be adding some additional hands on training into next year’s schedule.
Forgot that I also picked up 100 1-gallon Mylar bags and 200 O2 absorbers.
OP I’m not supposed to be jealous but it’s too late. I already am. One time I bought 17 boxes of kleenex because of a great deal. The checkout lady gave me such a hard time. She says “What in the world do you need all these for?” I just said we have allergies at our house and she just kept it up yelling at me. If she did that now I think it would turn out a lot differently. You people have given me a LOT of confidence!!!
Just tell the nosey old bat that you’re doing the shopping for the Duggar family. ;)
well preps for the week were real lite. planned on putting 50-60 pounds of vennisen in the freezer well they had other plans.
i have been rained on, snowed on way to warm at times and loving every minute of it. i do love deer season saw a deer but so far away that i could not tell what it was and way to far to even consider taking a shot. might have to break down and actually buy a scope for the riffle i use as teh eyes are starting to go.
funny bought the wife the savage edge so she could try deer hunting kicks way to much for her, she doesnt like my 30-30 eather so not sure how she is ever going to hunt, but i thought great i got me a brand new riffle to hunt with. come opening morning what do i grab the old 30-30 i have carried since i was 14 just doesnt feel rite to leave her at home. almost like cheating on the wife just cant do it. oh well my son needs a good riffle.
to all keep on prepping and remember its better to be wrong and the tin foil hat guy than it is to be rite and considered a geniuse.
god bless to all and happy thanksgiving
im going back to the woods
Would your wife like a Ruger 6mm rem? Not cheap, but a great rifle and should be something she could feel comfortable shooting.
Hope you get a big buck this week.
always hoping to get a big buck but the time outdoors is plenty good enough.
6mm i will have to look into that probably cheaper than a mini 14 in 30-30 being semi might kick less going to take her to the range and rent the weapons and see what she likes and go from thier. thier are a couple around that will let you do this.
Hello All!
M.D. – Let me add my belated Happy Birthday wishes. It sounds like you had a great day. I hope you have many many more to come!
I have been organizing and inventorying my preps as I move them into the new storage room. I have about 12 months of food on hand, clothing for all seasons for several years, and a fairly complete set of tools (and duplicates). I received a large order from Augason Farms this week. I have ordered another rocket stove. Bought some prepackaged kerosene on sale (5gal metal cans). Went to Sams and bought more rice and olive oil. Made a trip to Aldi and got more flour, sugar, and canned veggies and fruit. I read that the cost of food to supply a Thanksgiving Dinner has increased by 13% compared to last year and I believe it.
I purchased a number of containers of honey also. Does anyone have any tips on the best way to store this for the long term?
I have been considering getting some plastic barrels and using these for gasoline storage. I have a small shed that would be perfect for storing them (away from other buildings) and I believe that the plastic used in the barrels should be same or better than that used in the small gas cans. I think this would be more convenient and economical storage than dozens of the 5gal cans and less obvious than a large outdoor gas barrel on a stand. Any thoughts on this would be very much appreciated.
One more question for the Wolf Pack. Any suggestions on storing larger quantities of olive oil for the long term? This is useful for both cooking and as a fuel for a light source if necessary. I question whether the plastic bottles that it comes in are sturdy enough for the long term (bctruck’s post about the lamp oil bottles got me thinking) and I am not certain about the best container and the best storage conditions to keep this useable for extended periods.
I hope that everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!
Honey is an eternal food. If you keep it in a cool dark place (cupboard, for example) it will keep forever. If it crystallizes, just warm it up in a pan of warm water.
You can freeze olive oil from what I’ve read. If you freeze it in the original bottles, make sure there is enough headspace so the oil doesn’t freeze and blow off the bottle cap. You can buy olive oil in 1 gallon cans. You might want to check for them the next time you’re in the grocery store. The can should hold up better than the plastic bottles.
Thank you LP! I am also wondering if you can recommend a good heavy duty flashlight for everyday use. What is the best value for the money in your opinion? I am planninhg to buy several for myself and as gifts.
Well, JEin IA, without knowing your price range per unit, I’d have to say the Maglite is a good all-around flashlight. You can get them in various sizes. The 3-cell D size Maglite is a good bright light and also makes a good club, if necessary. It’s not too heavy to carry around the house during power outage and it’s bright enough to check the backyard from the safety of the house. Prices range $20-25. Made in USA Here’s a picture (I like pictures). http://www.amazon.com/Mag-Lite-ST3D016-Cell-Flashlight-Black/dp/B000IXAJVY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321909833&sr=8-2
If you get a flashlight that has replaceable batteries (as opposed to rechargeable batteries), be sure to check the condition of the batteries about every 3 months or so. Leaking batteries will ruin a flashlight fast.
If you want a great flashlight, also made in the USA, I recommend the Streamlight brand. They are expensive, but will take a beating and keep on ticking. And many are rechargeable. Here’s a link to their website. http://www.streamlight.com/ You could look at it to see which light meets your needs and then check on Amazon or elsewhere for a better price. This brand is favored by firefighters for its bright colors and toughness.
For a wide selection of LED flashlights, try the Fenix brand. Some of them are very pricey, but good output of light and the LED uses less power so the batteries tend to last longer. http://www.fenixtactical.com/
If you want a very inexpensive, yet reliable, flashlight, I suggest the Garrity brand or the Dorcy brand. These are often found on sale at grocery stores, Ace Hardware, Rite-Aid, etc. And at Amazon. They come in D battery size as well as AA size. I have a couple of each brand and although not as bright as some, they do the job.
Ah, flashlights – as different as the people who use them. LOL
Thank you very much LP. These are very helpful recommendations. I have decided to try to standardize my equipment a little more than I am now. Instead of a motley collection of misfits, I prefer to have several of the same, of good quality. then if one is damaged I can atleast salvage it for parts for the others, and know they will fit without any problem. The misfits are going on the pile for later barter.
Standardization is a good idea. I’m working on acquiring radios, flashlights, walkie-talkies and scanners which will all work on rechargeable AA batteries. These will be my secondary (backup) gadgets. My primary gadgets will be in D-cell and C-cell sizes for their power and generally stronger construction. Then for further redundancy, I have the crank-up radio and flashligh and the 12v adapter for the scanner and some solar stuff, too.
Standardizing the flashlites is a great idea! Interchangeable bulbs and parts can be helpful. My families on both coasts chose Maglites for every room in the house, with a couple of “special” Steamlites for the vehicles. We did the same thing with pretty much anything we decided was of good quality and where we needed redundancy. It also helps because it is familiar and therefore not a challenge to learn in an emergency.
JEinIA, you are right on standardizing.
My primary flashlight is a C cell battery throughout the house, work and car and like you said they can be cannibalized and reused. The flashlight is a standard issue at work so if one goes down, I give new ones to my crew and keep the old one for parts. I have a few mag lights and lanterns in D cell, Pelican flashlights and small lanterns in AA, quite a few cheap AAA LED flashlights in every bag and vehicle. I have a couple Streamlight Stingers so if one goes down I can cannibalize the other and two Surefire flashlights mounted on the 12 gauge and M4. I need to cut back and see about getting rid of the cheap flashlights in AAA as I replace them with Pelican AA flashlights.
For my closest friends and family that prep firearms we all have in rifle: one of or all AR/M4, SKS, AK and all have 1022s. Shotgun: Remington 870, Mossberg 500 or 590 and for pistols that’s the hard one but most of them have 40 or 45. This way we can share spare parts kits and ammo.
For com we have our company radios which have a 50 mile radios, we all have CBs (same model) and looking into HAM radios time for training and test permitting.
thanks lint for that info…Dorcy brand it is… as I only want AA and AAA in my preps. All my current headlamps/radios/flashlights are standardized. good info here…cheers.
JE,
You can freeze your olive oil to extend its shelf life.
Thanks Gayle!
before doing a 55 gallon drum a couple things you really need to do.
1. check with teh fire marshal their may be rules about the storage of such a large tank of fuel. high school chemistry butu i remember that a gallon of gasoline is equel to 11 sticks of dynomite. not positive on that number but few firement will get close to 55 gallons of fuel.
2. make sure that the barrel can handle gasoline as it eats most plastics the plastic used in fuel cans are a special mix that can handdle it but most plastics cannot.
Thank you robert. I guess I will have to stick with the small containers or come up with a way to hide my old metal gas barrel on stand. The barrel stands are common in my rural IA location and serve their purpose well, but they have become a magnet for thieves. I stopped using mine after I came home one day and found the lock cut and the tank empty. Several neighbors lost their supply the same way. I have tightened up my security measures on all the buildings since then, but the old barrel stand still seems like a sitting duck. Any ideas on alternate bulk storage methods or ways to camoflage the barrel stand?
Bug out cabin almost done!
Queen futon put in cabin, mattresses put on built in bunk beds, bathroom sink installed, brick hearth for wood stove put in, final bathroom wall finished. Still about 20 things to do, but……its livable as it is :)
Next on our list is a huge root cellar. We have all our food at our house & we want it at our bug out property. Third on the list is a very simple bunkhouse cabin.
Purchased Preps:
9 cans of chicken
2 cans of bacon spam
2 cans of milk
Lots of gun cleaning products
10 cans of veggies
6 cans of tropical fruit (what we cannot grow here)
Good news, a close relative of mine is on board. He volunteers twice a month at a shooting range in town & said that 90% of the regulars are “prepping”. He said all they talk about is the economy, buying & storing guns & ammo & buying farm land. My relative has started stockpiling food.
He is going to put a bunch of fruit & nut trees in our orchard and he is also going to go in on the root cellar with us.
This just made my week :)
Oh, and a Happy Birthday to you MD! Thanks for your site!
GA Mom, I love reading your weekly updates and feel your excitement. Quite the accomplishment! You are so blessed!
GA Mom, still hoping to see photos of your place. A Guest Post about it would also be great.
Happy Birthday MD! Nice scores on those gifts!
I’ve spent the past cpl of weeks trying to get all my taters dehydrated….lol…and bought 10 more lbs this week. I also cubed some of them yesterday and they turned out great! I’ll be doing more in cubes.
Also bought carrots, celery and collard greens to dehydrate this week.
Picked up a can of corned beef (its finally on shelves again) but had to pay $4.49 for it! I love the stuff but sheesh!!! Will try to buy 1 or 2 a week til I get a good supply. Too expensive to buy more!
That’s about it for me. Hopefully I’ll have more time with a 4 day weekend this coming week.
We plan on spending Thanksgiving with the Indians. LOL Going to the Creek Thanksgiving Powwow….hoping to find some good stuff in the craft booths!!! And oh that roasted corn!!! YUMMMMYYY. Does anyone know how to make it like they do?
Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. Count your blessings! You have more than you know! ;)
we went to the creek powwow the last year we were in florida, it was really fun. hope you have a great time and be safe on the highway.
This week my preps included trying to get my cash stash together for a 3-6 month emergency, I went to my credit union and tried to take out $3K in small bills. You would have thought I had asked for the moon. The teller gave me all $100s. I asked for fifties, twenties, tens and fives. She claimed she didn’t have any in her drawer. I reminded her this was a credit union and I was certain somewhere in the building there were some small bills. Over a two day process, she grudgingly gave me some of the bills I requested but even on the second day she claimed she misunderstood me and gave me half in 100′s again. I plan to call the manager tomorrow. It strikes me odd that it’s so difficult to get small bills. I recall a time when all you could get were small bills and large denominations were the exception. Be aware of this phenomenon as you work on stashing cash.
marti, the fed has been printing more 100′s in prep for ultra inflation and bank runs. i take the 100′s because it’ll take 100 to equal 5 soon.
marti, if you have an Indian casino near you, go there to get your large bills changed into smaller denominations.
Happy Birthday M.D! Stay Low and Watch your back brother.May God Bless You.
Hi All,
Just a heads up: The LDS store online now has white flour and white wheat berries. This is the first time I have seen the white flour on their site.
Gayle, do you happen to know if people can order any of the foods offered by the LDS cannery through the online order form? Or can we only order online those items that would come in the Starter Kit? IOW, can we only order oats, wheat berries, beans, and rice? Or can we order online and have shipped to our homes the powdered drink mix that OhioPrepper mentioned and the flour, etc.? I would like to get some of their foods besides the Starter Kit (which I have), but cannot get to the cannery which is 400 miles roundtrip and gas is 3.70/gallon. Woe is me!
Anybody know how long the canned flour will keep? Sure would prefer the flour instead of the wheat berries.
LP,
I will second Ohio Prepper. That powdered drink mix is really good. Storage life of the drink mix is 2 years. My church resources says the flour will store for 10 years.
You can order more than the starter kit from the church. Go to store.lds.org – then under Home and Family, click on self-reliance. You can order cases of flour, oats, pinto beans and other supplies like O2 absorbers. Unfortunately, I don’t see the drink mix on that page. However, you can call the global service center and ask if you can order it from the online store. The phone number for the USA is 1.800.537.5971.
If anyone in Canada is interested, the Service Center number for Canada is the same as the US. I know we have people from Australia here so I will include this number as well: 1300LDSCHURCH & 0011-800-8680-5650
If anybody needs a different number for LDS customer service, please post here and I will add it. (You can also find the phone numbers for all countries at the store.lds.org website.)
LP, if the online store won’t let you order the drink mix and you just REALLY have to have some – I will send you some. MD can give you my email. Send me your address and I will send you some.
Oops! For the non-US folks:
I should have looked in more detail – the web site says that food items can’t be shipped outside of the US.
However, you can call the customer service center and ask what to do.
Kate & Lint,
If you look at the order form (available from http://www.providentliving.org/ under the “Home Storage Order Forms” item on the left), you will see three basic sections: Longer Term Storage, Shorter Term Storage, and Prepackaged Items. The Longer and Shorter Term items come in some type of bulk pack, either a bag or a box, which can be purchased in bulk for pickup, or canned in #10 cans at the cannery, generally with an appointment. That is what we did last Saturday with Drink mix, Cocoa mix, sugar, and some other things. I suspect that the only things that might be orderable to be shipped are those in the prepackaged section of the form, since no work other than labeling and shipping would be required.
Lint, I could send you some Orange drink to try also, but you might save your cash, make an appointment and make that big trip to the cannery. Mine is only about 55 miles away, so I generally spend quite a bit each time I go there, but it is IMO well worth the trip and the cost. Good deals on almost everything.
Kate, you are the greatest! Thank you for the offer, but I can get along with just Tang if I can’t get the LDS powdered drink mix shipped to me. But I really do thank you for offering.
I’ve cut and printed your post, all that info is very useful. Thank you, ma’am.
Tang and vodka the preppers screwdriver.
Lint,
The LDS order form lists flour at 10 years (with proper storage conditions).
Thank you, OP. 10 years is great, I’m going to try to get some. Cool! No need for a grain mill!!!!!
LP
anybody can order online the whole product range. The powdered drink mix is basically Tang. It is great.
Ray
Thanks for the info, Ray. Send me your email, please.
LINT
irep4you2@yahoo.com (picked up something you may be interested in. Compliments your reply to my post about the free flashlight I got a week or so ago.
Ray
Gayle,
Glad we both got good deals on butter.
Happy Birthday M.D. may you have many more. My trick is that I’ve started to count my birthdays backwards now. My eldest daughter thought it would be funny to make me feel older by giving me another mouth to feed. So I have that to be thankful for.
My only prepping this week is to read through all Gayle’s sales information and compare prices from Costco, Wal-Mart and our HEB. We don’t have any double coupon days that I know of but I was able to save money by using coupons for the first time. Made me feel like I was getting ahead. Looking forward to more coupons and saving even more money.
From my family to all the Wolfpack out there even the lurkers. We will pray for you and hope that the good lord will bless you and yours. Keep safe and be prepared to answer the call.
From the stores you list, mexneck, it looks like you might be in Texas. Kroger stopped doubling coupons and I’ve never seen Walmart or HEB double any and don’t know if Costco even accepts them….but Brookshire’s still doubles coupons up to 50 cents, and TRIPLES coups up to 35 cents. I have priced some of their canned goods compared to Kroger and Walmart and you can make out pretty well if you put in some thought and research before shopping.
Hi MtWoman,
You are correct, I’m in God’s Republic of Texas. I learned real quick that HEB has eliminated just about all other stores here. I haven’t seen a Kroger or Food Lion. Costco will not take coupons that don’t come from Costco. Walmart takes coupons and I was in line behind a lady who filled six baskets with some fleece blankets and pillows she had coupons for. Ended up paying like $20. Don’t know how she pulled it off but I was envious. I will do a search for Brookshires. Thanks.
mexneck,
If you are in the Houston area Foodtown and Food Fair are great places to stock up. Foodtown just has super good prices and Food Fair doubles and triples coupons. They aren’t the nicest stores, but who cares. I always walk out with a huge amount for very little. Have to say HEB has the best fresh produce and Kroger has the best meat. I use a website (not affiliated with it) dealstomeals.com. This site gets all of the circulars from local stores and compares them to Costco and Sams and Walmart to let you know who has the best deals each week. I have saved a TON through this method. No coupons needed.
Anti-prepping?
I sold my Springfield A-1 and another weapon. Next I intend to sell my pair of matching custom tuned SP101s and accessories. I intend to reduce my cache of firearms by eleven more until i am down to 3 rifles, 1 shotgun and 3 handguns. Not counting Mrs. SurvivorDan’s 2 weapons. If that sounds counter-productive to prepping, I have my own reasoning. I recently went through my several cans of ammo and evened out the various calibers so I could grab any can and have ammo for every caliber I own. That made me realize how foolish it was to have so many different calibers. I will use the proceeds of my gun sales to acquire more quantities of ammo for the remaining calibers and use the excess cash to buy more medical supplies, food and a new generator. S.D.
Survivor Dan….
Makes sense to me.
I’ve collected guns for years and probably have fifty plus. In the past, I collected them for their own sake and now have about ten different calibers of bullets on hand. That’s not necessarily bad, just sort of unnecessary given my more recent emphasis on survival. I have given some thought to thinning out the collection and using the cash for other supplies, the list of which is limitless.
What prompted you to shed the Springfield M1A by the way. Just curious since I have two of them now.
Hawkeye: Am ancient warrior, so I cut my teeth on old slabsides but as I spend more and more time in the woods I want to keep my Ruger BlackHawk 45 LC. Have two other smaller caliber handguns which are very concealable. Don’t intend to get in serious social situations without a long gun so they are my back up and means to get to my long guns if I get careless. Keeping my BushMaster, 1895 guide gun and a .22 Henry lever and an 870 12 gauge. I can overload for the BlackHawk and still it will survive incredible pressures. Oh hell…I don’t have a good reason for getting rid of the Springfield in favor of the BlackHawk. The 1911 proved it’s worth in combat long ago. But I can hunt with the Ruger if I need to. Simply, I had to choose. Likes my six-shooter. Mrs. SurvivorDan has another BlackHawk and 2 back ups same calibers as mine. She has a Browning in .270 with great optics for hunting or serious social situations. Sold the A-1 to a young Marine. May he use it in his work. Semper Fi!
Hawkeye, Just realized you asked about my M1A. Not M1A but .45 A-1 pistol. Was at one time my walkin’ in the wilds sidearm.
I suppose my hi cap Glocks would be even more practical after teotwawki than the A1 or Ruger but I can’t imagine not toting a long gun. I an predisposed to believe that 3-4 shots of well placed .308 or 45-70 will be more effective than a spray of 9mm or .40. And that BlackHawk is a HAMMER at close range.
SurvivorDan….
Gotcha now. I missed it before. Still looking for a source (if one exists) on ID of head stamps on ammo. Any hints?
Thanks,
Hawkeye
SurvivorDan:
I have been a fan of the 45 LC for a long time but good defense loads were few and far between. I also have Rugers along with and original Colt and a clone S&W #3 Russian in 45 LC. I just found out that Buffalo Bore (www. buffalobore.com) has a 225 gr standard pressure/low flash anti-personnel (their words) load. I also found the site for just the bullets if you want to reload.
It really looks like a stack of dimes, flat and wide. They also make it for 38 Spec.
I ordered 2 boxes of each last night to try.
SurvivorDan,
This seems logical to me and was a choice I made a lon time ago. There are a lot of neat guns and calibers out there, but I decided that a gun with no ammo is really just an expensive club. I currently only have .22RF and .22WMR (for one gun), 9mm/.380/38 Spl/.357 Mag in handgun, and .223/.308 in rifle. I also have 12 & 20 in shotgun plus a sweet little .410 that technically bwlongs to my DD. The only guns I’m currently looking for are an AR-10 in .308 at which point I will dispose of my M14/M1A and some type of 9mm rifle/carbine.
Damn it OhioPrepper! Now you’ve got me thinking about keeping the .410! Lol! Okay. I will. Now you’ve done it. ;)
Survivor Dan, I don’t own a .410 but I do love those 000 buck loads. They do come in handy if you own them.
sd, awesome plan, tho if you’re selling those, i’d hate to see what you’re keepin, LOL. i have been pondering the same thing, but so far i can’t part with my babies just yet:)
Yeah….parting with them is difficult. I justified the A-1 because it went to a young gung-ho Marine. Maybe if you get lucky with the buyers being ‘worthy’ then it’s easier? :) I have way, way too many cans of too many calibers of ammo!
SurvivorDan,
I think knowing that your baby is going to a good home where it will be loved, cared for properly, and used, helps a lot. I have some vision issues that make owning a 1000 meter rifle kind of a waste of good hardware, but I held onto my Remington 700P in .308 for several years after I was not able to effectively use it. Part if it was emotional in that I suspect I didn’t want to admit I would never be able to use it again; however, I finally did sell it to a good friend who treats it well, appreciates it, and uses it fairly often.
SuvivorDan, if anyone can respect your M1A its a Marine. If I every add another caliber its a .308 and my 3 rifles would be an M1A/M21 configuration, AR10 and a Remington 700PS. Its hard parting, I parted with a FAL to help my sister out when her husband lost his job.
Survivor Dan, that is exactly what we did a few years ago. We did some trading for same caliber and also lowered cost of ammo for those guns. We now have two 9mm pistols and two 9mm rifles, here ammo is much cheaper for those than other calibers. We do have some smaller calibers and are well stocked for them also.
Good call!
C.R., good call on the caliber match ups. I wish Glock or Ruger manufactured .45ACP rifles or carbines. All of my calibers are Noah’s Arc! Two 7.62×39, two .223, two 12 Gauges and three .45 soon to be two. I don’t think Marlin makes the Camp 45 anymore for my 1911 mags.
j, beretta makes a 45acp carbine. rather pricey tho.
Plenty of frantic work this week but little sleep. Oh well, the paycheck will look good.
Picked up some ammo, work gloves, first aid supplies and a nice focusing LED flashlight.
My partner made me the best tomatoe trellis I’ve ever had, 6′ high 3′ wide and 24′ long, sits over 2 rows. He’s half way through making me a second one and 2 sets of pea/bean trellis similar in size. Nice to have stuff that will last for years. Have managed to get 20 x 600lb bales of feed hay at a great price, brought 10 home so far. With the silo full of grain we will have 12 months of feed stored, very nice feeling. Set about 350 eggs in the incubator, chicken and duck. We will sell quite a few as day olds to help pay for feed for the rest. Spent a lot of time with our new livestock guard dogs, they are doing very well. Started another 1000 assorted seedlings on the heat bed, direct planted corn, lettuce, dwarf beans, potatoes and shungiku. Spent a day working on our “ornamental” gardens, although they are designed to look good they are planted with a large number of edible or otherwise useful plants. Food hidden in plain sight. I’m hoping to have enough in these areas to feed us for a few months even if our vegetable gardens are plundered. I want to continue this theme throughout the farm, in hedgerows and windbreaks.
Wellrounded,
What did you plant in your “ornamental” garden? This sounds like a great idea and I would be interested in trying it. This is another example of the great ideas that come from the people on here!
Quite a lot, lol. I’ll compile a list over the next few days and if ready post it in next weeks WDYDTPTW. My climate is cool temperate so the list will reflect that.
Picked up a very nice Springfield M1A with an 8-32X Muerrel target scope, several Smith Enterprise’s upgrades. It has a duracoat finish, on the synthetic stock, in Desert Digital. Now I’m really feeling broke…and rightfully so! Anyone had any experince with the Muerrel Scope or know anything about it? I had never heard of it before. The salesmen said it was “great” but then he was selling it.
Im also looking at 1500 rounds of .308 ammo from an individual for $325 ($.22/round). A thousand rounds of it is brass cased and the other 500 is steel cased. I haven’t inspected it yet to determine it’s origin and am leery of ammo that I can’t identify.
Anyone have any info on headstamps or know anyone who does so I can ID this stuff?
Hawkeye:
Check out m14forum.com/forums.php before you buy the
ammo. Some of the surplus stuff is not safe. The steel cases
are probably Russian and are famous for ripping off extractors.
The guys there may be able to help you with the scope too. HTH
cosmolined…..
Yes, it sounds like Russian ammo to me too. The thousand rounds of brass cased ammo is what I’m most interested in but am weary of that even. Too many $$$ in my M1As to be ounce wise and pound foolish!
I browse the “M14 Forum” often too. Very informative isn’t it?
Thanks for the help……..Hawkeye
A belated Happy Birthday to M.D. and a Happy Thanksgiving to all the USA WolfPack!
I have an idea for a Christmas present…I received as a gift The Original White House Cookbook, 1887 Edition. Though not as good as the Wolf Pack cookbook, it is very, very interesting and you gotta know that they used shelf stable products. It’s a great read, shows how to cut meats to how to set a table (tho I already knew that!!) It has chapters on health care and how to make toiletries. It’s on Amazon and about $8.00, just make sure it’s the 1887 edition.
What did I do to prep? I bought a 24 inch tool box to put first aid stuff in, bought some extra TP and paper towels, plates and glasses, more cans of pumpkin and evaporated milk.
To boost my enthusiasm to prep, I read the book One Second After! That will definitely energize your prepping!! I didn’t know much about EMP’s, but I do now! Really shows the importance of saving water, too.
It has also energized me to really get into cutting clutter…after Thanks-
giving.
Oh, and a Happy Birthday to Terri and Other Ellen, also. My thoughts and prayers are with you Pam S, for your little Blackie to recover and get back to good health.
All take care…
thanks copperhead. i was there this morning and they were doing another surgery tomorrow.
Black Friday Alert
Tractor Supply has a 2000w gas generator for $150 (reg $200)
http://www.tractorsupply.com/sportsman-trade-2000-watt-portable-gasoline-generator-4458506
Not top of the line, but Small and Portable
Nessie,
This is the same on I looked at last year at this time. It’s actually 1500W continuous and 2000W peak, but not a bad deal @ $150. When I got to the local TSC they had this one sitting next to it (http://www.tractorsupply.com/champion-power-equipment-trade-3500w-4000w-portable-generator-4434023) It’s 3500W, 4000W Peak and was IIRC $219 instead of $299, so I went with the larger one since I’m hoping not to need another in my lifetime.
Hey Wolfpack:
Happy Bday M.D. and all the others celebrating.
This week I hit up the same sales at Publix as Gayle.
10 boxes of pasta BOGO
10 jars of sauce BOGO
10 boxes of cereal BOGO
20lbs flour
10 lbs sugar
8 packages chocolate chips BOGO(altho many of these will be used when I make holiday cookies probably)
6 cans tomatos
8 salad dressings BOGO
I know there’s more but my brain doesn’t want to remember it offhand.
Got my ITEOTWAWKI CD but haven’t perused it yet since I was finally able to get out on the water and work since the seas calmed a bit.
On a side note, I get my 38 year old death trap on wheels back weds. Time to break out the driving gloves and take a mini-road trip. Can’t wait to see the road racing by under my feet. I’m beyond excited.
Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!
DG
Food acquisitions: **
-Bought 4 cans chicken broth, and one 4-can package each of corn and green beans on sale at Walmart. It came out to 50 cents a can…not bad. Bought a can of that Campbell’s Steak & Potato soup someone mentioned. Will try it. In fact there were all kinds of good looking soups there that I haven’t noticed before. I’ll try them and stock up as I can.
-While at Walmart, I looked through all those bagged cereals in the cereal isle. Most were very sugary, but I found some bags of ‘natural’ puffed brown rice & red wheat for a $1 apiece. Puffed grain is bulky and not very nutritious in itself, but I like it once in awhile, so bought 2 bags and vacuum-packed it in small amounts.***
-Bought extra boxes of herbal tea bags for my ‘long-term’ storage; had coupons that made each box less than $1.
-HEB had sweet potatoes for 20 cents a pound. I got a couple dollars worth. It’s a lot of sweet tators! I’d like to preserve some in some way…any ideas?
Food prep:
-canned 9 half-pints of Prickly Pear jelly. Came out great. *Only* have 3 more gallons of frozen prepared Prickly Pear “juice” to process, plus blueberry juice & pulp, pear juice, figs, peach pulp, and blackberries. Want to get all done before Christmas. Whew! Wish I had a resource for cheaper jars.
“Scrounging” this week:
-Picked pecans from a “wild” tree across the way. They are the nice big kind. Got about 15 lbs.
-Traded jam for some yellow squash, jalapenos, and black-eyed peas.
Item acquisitions:
-got my ‘survival’ whistle and love it. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s well made and inexpensive. I ordered two more; one for my son, and one for my grandson.
http://www.amazon.com/SE-T026-7-in-1-Survival-Whistle/dp/B001C31AGC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321843944&sr=8-1
-Got the last needed dry-bag for my BOB…this one for my camera, data cards, and batts. I have dry-bags for all my individual things in my BOB. When we had a huge storm here and I had to BO to the hangar through drenching rain…and then it flooded… I figured out I needed these. Nothing was ruined (lucky me), but my BOB was soaked. I have also sprayed it recently with waterproof, as I have all my bags, shoes, boots, hats, etc. I also got another can of waterproof spray this week.
This next week is about emptying my storage unit over in the big city, and bringing everything here. BIG job, but has to be done. Thank goodness my son will be able to help. Why did I have to collect rocks and fossils instead of, say postcards? Or feathers? The one good thing about that is: if I have to, I can just go dump them outside somewhere. Imagine a rock hound coming across THAT pile: 10 years of collected rocks & fossils. :)
**If TS doesn’t HTF before next holiday season, I want to have some $$ saved to take advantage of the prices this time of year! It is frustrating to see the lower cost of things, and not have the $$ to purchase anything.
***Anyone know where to get FoodSaver bag material cheaper than the stores? That stuff is EXPENSIVE!!
A suggestion about the Foodsaver bags or rolls: Watch the coupon websites and they sometimes have coupons for $2 or $3 off. Right now Kroger has the rolls on sale and Walmart and Samsclub have good prices. I used a $2 off coupon at Kroger today that made it $16.99 for two rolls. Hope that helps.
P. S. I know what you mean about rock collections, I have always collected and picked up rocks and brought them home too. DH reminds me not to bring home the “boulders”!
Thanks Nuttbush. I guess I have to thinker BIGger than I am….multiple roll packs…to get them cheaper. And I will look for coupons. :)
Mt.Woman,
If you have Ace Hardware in your area, go to coupon.com and print out the coupon for 50 percent off any one item less than $30, and use that to buy some canning jars. (You can print the coupon twice by hitting the “back” button.)
About the rocks & fossils: call around to some of the local elementary schools. There’s bound to be a teacher that would love to have them–who would love to have them that he or she would be willing to come pack them up and drive them off for you. And you would be getting kids interested in science.
About sweet potatoes: you could cook and mash the potatoes as through you were making sweet potato pie and freeze them.
Thanks Gayle. Great info.
Gayle:
Thanks for posting about coupon.com and printing 2 sets. I went there tonight and am off to shop tomorrow!
Mtwmn,
About your rocks I have sold meteorites, at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show just by wandering around the nearby motels. It is in Feb. PM me if you’re interested in trying that. I settled for wholesale on them, but not bad for something found in an arroyo.
I went out to a hunting camp in the foothills of Alberta this last weekend. We hiked at -26C temperatures (it was -34-36 with the wind chill) and I tried it with my bug out bag. I brought along some MRE’s with the heaters in them and they worked great, after heating my meal and drink, one of the other guys used the heater to warm his sleeping bag a bit. We hiked a couple of km’s to the tent which had a wood stove in it. With my winter gear I stayed fairly warm. It’s good the tent was set up up because it gave us a base to work from and they had used quads and a truck to hall in the tent, stove, cook gear and half a cord of lumber two weeks ago before the cold and snow came.
I learned that the camel pack in my back pack gets ice in it, but worse is that the drinking tube froze solid . On the second day I tried putting one of those hand warmers beside the water pack to keep it from freezing, it worked but the drinking tube still froze up. I also learned that when you have to pee at -26C (or -36 with wind chill) you need to be very quick or parts of your body get really really cold and it takes a while to warm them back up. I learned that sticking a hand warmer into each back pocket up your pants (which I wore under the insulated bib overalls) keeps your backside nice and toasty for about 4ish hours.
I learned that with my sleeping bag, 1st aid kit, 2 days of mre’s ,my 22lr rifle strapped to the pack, 2 litres of water in the camel bag and another 1 litre in plastic botles and with 40 rounds of 308 and 500 rounds of 22 ammo in the pack plus other things like some matches and candles etc that my pack weighs me down way more trudging through the snow than it did in the summer when I took it for a hike. I also found that if I put the 22 in the special holder on the outside of the pack then I have to carry the 308 and I can’t sling it on my shoulder with the pack on. I also figured out that the 308 is heavy enough with the stupid bipod on it that it makes me carry it 2 handed. I also realized the bipod was a dumb idea.
Exile1981:
I have a suggestion for those carrying a rifle in their BOBs (or any other bag). Shotgunners have had a pouch like devise that they put the butt of the shotgun in between rounds. I found that when I put on on the belt of my hunting back, the rifle got MUCH easier to carry “at the ready” than any sling I’ve ever used. I still have the sling on it, just stopped using it to “take my gun for long walks in the woods”.
What do they look like? My pack has a compartement/strap system for carrying a rifle vertically at the ready built in. It just works out that with the 22 I have to carry the 308. I could have swapped them but then I would have had only the 22 at the ready if I ran into a bear.
Good lessons learned, Exile1981. Maybe something like this will prevent your camelback hose from freezing. http://www.backcountry.com/camelbak-thermal-control-kit
Mine has one of those already. The mouth piece just kept freezing up. I think the best bet would be to blow into the mouth piece after drinking and before I close the valve so it clears the water out of the valve. If you took apart the valve and knocked out the ice bit it worked fine.
As a side anyone know what they put in MRE’s ? The one in my pack was in the same main pocket as the camel bag and it never froze, while the water had ice in it. The 2 water jugs where in outside pockets so I think i’ll move them into the main one for next winter trip.
Exile, that sounds like some serious testing of not only your gear but yourself as well. When training in Korea, northern California and Alaska I would cary empty plastic water bottles or the old hot water bottles for bed and urinate in them and it would keep me nice and warm with the body temp in a sleeping bag it won’t freeze and you pour it out in the morning. I’ve slept in more than a few snow caves in my life.
You have my respect, it reminds me of an old cartoon drawing for Stars and Stripes: World War II Soldier is in the Battle of the Bulge, Europe, covered in snow and he is reading a letter from home from dad. Son, been staying in. Too cold with all this snow.
I learned that I need to be more serious about dropping the extra weight I’m carying around… and I don’t mean the kind in my pack. I also realized that if I had the other bag that has all the medical gear (vs the basic 1st aid kit in my bag) with me and had it strapped to my pack like I’m planning for a BO situation then I would have had too much gear to make any real time.
Lastly I now realize that if I had to do this with the wife and kids I’d be in a world of hurt. I’ve been slowly updating the wifes gear to have extra warm stuff in case of winter situations, but finding good quality womens winter trek gear is hard. Even harder is find good kids stuff, it just isn’t as warm and mine are all really little and none are chubby so it’s not like they have extra body fat on them to help keep them warm.
I’m thinking that if I had to BO wih the family I’d be best off doing a leap frog situation. I’d move ahead of the 1st shelter; set up a 2nd shelter of some kind then move them family to it, then go take down the 1st shelter move myself to the second where the family is and warm up. Then start the process over again. Bugging In is my best option for the winter months up here.
Have people thought about what specific “situations” they are prepping for? I mean there is a completely different set of priorities for economic collapse vs. zombie infestation vs. police state. In the first two you’d probally be better off bug in at a retreat, while the third you’d likely be better off going wild and bugging out. Also in the first one you’d want more food and seeds, while in a zombie situation (or a pandemic) there is more likely to be food available as there will be less people scrounging.
exile, as a former cop and military, you can’t beat the police state. too many of them with too many resources. local cops even have armoured cars now and swat teams w/ 50 cals.and they don’t mind violating the posse comitatas act of the constitution and calling in the military(ruby ridge,waco).. as ragnar benson said, better to hunker down. if they come, fight and go down as a free man rather than become a refugee or fema camper. likely they won’t be a problem unless you do something to draw their attention. they’ll have enough on their hands, if they don’t bug out themselves. they have family too. my philosophy is prep for what i can do something about, pray for the rest. good luck.
I guess I don’t understand the concept of women’s gear vs. men’s gear. Men’s size footwear is two sizes smaller (size 9 men’s equals size 11 women’s) than women’s; I don’t know if there are other differences since I’ve mostly worn men’s shoes and don’t have the “sharpened toe mass” that comes from wearing women’s formal shoes. Maybe your wife will need to “rag wrap” her feet to wear proper outdoor gear.
For the children, you might be able to buy overlarge thermals and use a basting stitch to take up the bagginess, maybe moving the basting stitches as they grow, then just cut off the excess if it is needed when SHTF.
-36!!! I shall stay in the SouthWest or go back to Hawaii. Yikes! Good info for those hardy souls who can brave such cold. Not this hapa haole! I found that my Go-Bag is heavier this year than last but I think it’s just me. -36!!!!!
Back in 2007, I worked outside for 8 hours a day in weather that was much colder. -40C plus wind chill pushing it to -55 to 60 (70km an hour winds wipping across the prairie).
At that temperature you run into an issue with even ball point pens freeze in about 10-15 seconds, we switched to pencil. Also we would work on a site for no more than 20-30 minutes and then move to the next site, so 10-15 minutes of warm up in the truck between sites. Lastly at that temp you leave the truck running constantly. If you shut it off when you get on site and it won’t restart 20 minutes later from the cold you will freeze before help can get there an hour or two later. Also the winds tend to make the snow pile in weird ways. You can walk for half a mile and see no more than a few inches of snow on the ground then find a spot where the winds caused the snow to drift taller than you.
Given the winter storms and winds we get here in Alberta cold weather survival has been on my mind. Murphy’s law says that if a situation arises where society collapses it will be in winter, people would survive shorter times then because the cold will take them out before lack of food or water does.
Last year they closed a segment of the Transcanada highway. Dozens of vehicles got stuck in snow drifts upto 7 feet tall in places. The fire departments and RCMP had to brave the storm because so many of the people where unable to sit tight in there vehicles till the storm ended. People went out on the highway (where towns are usually 30-50 km apart) in vehicles with no winter gear. A friend who is a fireman in that area told me how one family they rescued had only sneakers and light jackets on and no hats/gloves. They didn’t figure they needed them driving across Alberta from BC in the winter. They had no blankets, candles or food other than a bag of chips and a couple of cans of pop.
Exile, that puts things into perspective in a worst case scenario. When I drive to Las Vegas (about 290km), Phoenix (400km) or anywhere that requires driving 3 hours or more or simple trips up the local mountains (14km) I throw the tent, rain gear and snow gear because you never know when you get stranded in rain storms, snow, dust storms or a major accident to close the freeway down for hours or overnight.
A friend of mine is a tow truck driver. During that storm he was out trying to get people out of ditches and rescue them. He came across a big huge RV in the ditch and with snow drifting around it, the elderly couple told him they were fine as they had fuel and heat for a while. He went to leave and found out the ice was so bad his 4×4 tow truck just spun the tires. The elderly couple offered to put him up, so he went back out to his truck to get his radio to call into the RCMP to tell them he was ok but stuck. The wind died for a moment and he saw down the road a way a school bus with no lights on but what looked like a flashlight moving in it. He took all the roap he had and the tow cable from his truck and made a line to go check it out. When he got to the bus he found it had gotten stuck and was full of a junior high sports team, none of who were prepared for the weather and a gym coach. The bus was out of fuel so he tied the line to the bus and went back to the RV and got the seniors permission to bring the kids over. By the time he got the kids over and got the line unhooked and back on his tow truck the old lady had boiled water and made hot cocoa for all the kids and they spent over 24 hours crammed into the RV together. If it hadn’t been for him going out for his radio or the blowing snow dying down those kids would have froze to death.
The seniors and him got a letter of thanks from the school.
I hear you, I did some pipeline work back in my early twenties, and there were some cold work days ahh.
For a couple years my folks had a small farm down by three hills way and I remember the first winter when we put up the rope line that ran from the big barn to the house, and mom explaining that it was a good idea for bad snow storms, I can remember coming out into snow storms after night chores and you found your way by walking that rope..
But the coldest and the worst winds I have ever lived in was up on Baffin Island when we were in Iqaluit. We had some amazing storms, the snow drifts could cover two story house’s, the wind chill is bad enough that if you don’t wear wrap around sunglasses, you can freeze the mosture on your eyes.
I know that this is going to seem like a dumb story and feel free to have a chuckle on me, I had made it though my first winter and learned alot but it was spring that caught me, I had the gear but we had really nice spring weather about -20 with light winds and the sun was shining, I decided to drive to a park area and walk one of the few roads outside of town that are plowed out and give me and the dogs some sun time..
I had told hubby who was at work where I was going and when I should be back, anyway I walked to far and failed to take note of just how dark it was getting, anyway the wind picked up and I decided to head back, only the wind started gusting so hard and blowing the snow, it was a white out. I lost the road, and to be honest, all sense of direction, found a rock outcrop and went down wind side and had a think about it.. wait it out, or see if I could figure out a way to get back on my own, problem was it would be total dark in about an hour, The answer was a bit crazy, but I had been training my one dog to follow our tracks and to find the truck..
So that is what I did, I wrapped my head up tight from the windchill, put the dog on leash and told him to find the truck.. anad follow him.. having trained a number of tracking dogs over the years, there is nothing quite as hard as trusting the dog, but I did that day and while it seemed like forever, he took me right to the truck, I ran into it before I could see it, and we all went in, warmed up and waited out the storm, and then waited some more before they plowed the road so I could drive our 4 by 4 home..
To be honest it was one of those freak moments in my life, with the huh.. that might not have been a good choice to make..
I’ve worked around 3 hills a fair bit, also worked in Ft. Nelson, High Level, Cold Lake, GP and other not nice places.
To put it in persepective I see that most of southern Alberta currently has a 100km per hour wind warning right now that is expected to die off this evening and be replaced with 20-30 cm of snow. This time of the year the joke is if you don’t like the weather wait 5 minutes. Winds and snow come quickly and with out warning, especially if the weather survice isn’t up and running. When going out always pack an emergency kit.
My father bought me a coat that was warm enough to spend all night on an exposed train platform. The reason was that I was commuting to Chicago in a lined trenchcoat with a cloak over it and I pulled my back muscles while shivering for a late train.
When I stopped needing to wear that coat, it still rode in my car just in case I suddenly needed it. I have it now so it can go back in the car the moment I need to travel to a snowy climate.
I may lose my toes or get dehydrated from burning fat, but it’s going to take twice as long for me to die of cold. (I also tend to keep some sort of candle or car-safe heat source in the car.)
Survivor Dan,Hapa haole.Thats funny,haven’t heard that since I left Kona!13 years in the islands opened my eyes to another lifestyle.Island Life.I am in Idaho now and I sure miss fresh,ono,ahi,and mahi mahi! Aloha braddah.
MD: FYI
I picked up a Model 94UL last year and put a 6# Wolff Trigger Spring (replacing the factory 12#). Got is from Brownell’s. Made a world of different in the trigger pull.
I picked up some items from leevalley a while ago and wanted to write a review. One was the nogent can opener, it’s really robust and I’ve had it for about a year now and it’s way better than any can opener i’ve ever used before and it’s small enough and light enough to go into the BOB. I’m going to add one to each of mine and the wifes bags. They even survived my little tester ( 2 year old) tossing it down the stairs.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=66521&cat=2,40733,40734
The second item, which I tried out this weekend, was a set of silicone bowls I also got from leevalley. They fold flat and the smaller one makes a great cup for hot beverages and the larger was good for eating soup out of.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=67855&cat=1,190,44133
The last item i’m going to review today was my Pelican tracker 2140. I’ve used it as an emergency back up flashlight at work for a few months now and it is really bright for such a tiny flashlight. It’s class 1 div 2 so it is safe around gas wells. I took it on my hike this weekend. I had a larger flashlight in my pack but I just clipped this one (it comes with a key ring attached) to the zipper of my jacket and when I needed it (it’s full dark at 5PM this time of the year) it was right there on my chest and I could use it to illuminate the ground in front of me or ahead of me easily (useful for the quick run out to the bushes at 1 am).
I’m sure in a SHTF situation I would certanly not want a really bright light clipped to my center of mass but it never dimmed even after a day in the cold.
http://www.envirosafetyproducts.com/pelican-flashlights-tracker-2140.html
There is very little sold by Lee Valley Tools that I would not try out. Their reputation for making quality products (and a catalogue that should be in every bathroom) is unmatched and for anyone wanting to purchase surgical quipment, they are one of the biggest suppliers of surgical instruments in Canada.
We are lucky enough to have a huge Lee Valley Tools in the big City, about an hour away, and they have some really amazing hand tools.
All our sythe’s are from there, and are holding up very well, our oldest one is seven years, we did finally wear the blade down to the point of making it so narrow from sharpening that it will have to be either used for a shorter cutting work in garden or lawn care etc, and or replaced by year eight. We are planning on stocking a number of extra blades and handles along with the sharping wet stones, as you need to stop and sharpen after so many strokes when cutting hay.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?cat=2,2160,40710&p=10198
I also really like their broadfork for the garden, been very happy with it, will most likely add another one this spring so that we have at least two.
http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?cat=2,42578,40769&p=10521
Good to know about the surgical instruments, I guess I was to focused on the farm stuff, I will have to check that out.
Medical I’ve never noticed them selling medical stuff? Is there a seperate website for that?
Found the website, the medical division is called Canica.
http://www.canica.com/productlisting.asp#dynamicwoundstabilization
Forgot to say: HB MD! And ditto all the thank you’s for this site! I just spent the WHOLE day reading through a bunch. I really feel so much better to know I am not alone in my thinking about the state of affairs in our world, and what to (try to) do about it. THANK YOU> :)
Heads Up: I just received an email from EE. It looks like they are going to have a pretty good Black Friday Sale. Here’s the link if you are interested.
http://beprepared.com/article.asp?ai=709&
Gayle, Even though EE has my email and I signed up for notification of specials, I am not getting these notices and this page says all the mystery discounts hidden will be revealed in an email today. If you have gotten the email, can you forward it to me? nuttbush54 (“at” sign) gmail.com
I have a question and I have been searching the internet to no avail. Does anyone know how many cups of oatmeal come in a #10 can? The can weighs 2.5 lbs. Does anyone know how many cups are in a pound of oatmeal?
I am having a hard time planning my year supply of breakfasts.
Gayle, according to the label on a #10 can of Regular Rolled Oats from Emergency Essentials, there are 33 servings of 1/3 cup (36 gms) for a total of 42 ounces.
Just found this Gov site for food preservation: http://nchfp.uga.edu/index.html. I’m sure most of you all are familiar with it, but there’s a lot of info there, so thought I’d post it. :)
Hello everyone! I have spent the last month getting things together for my cars. I only have 2 things left to add. What a relief! Feels good to get that done and one thing I wont have to do again. I would like to put an “instruction’ list in my daughters bag but not sure what. Any suggestions? I used a large laundry basket, lined it with a wool blanket and wool sweater. I then filled a backpack, and a men’s shaving bag (for the glovebox) and a small cooler. Did everything in doubles, so my daughter has this stuff for her car too. I also added a sleeping bag and pillow that I ‘lined’ with a large piece of fleece. I put a wool blanket on my back seat, and a piece of fleece on my front seat. Added 2 gallon jugs of water. I am now ready for that Nebraska snow, wind, ice, cold, freezing, below zero wind chill …….
Went through my inventory this last week and found things we havent used so will go to the Church Christmas Food Drive. And I found a couple of sealed jars that werent sealed — so I resealed, hoping that works.
FYI— The food sealer works great ….on some things and not on others…like marshmallows-they get all soft and stick together. If I measure them out before hand I can still use them for rice krispie treats. I sealed up about 8 boxes of cereal 2 months ago — the rice crispies were okay, but the cheerios stuck together in one big ball. And I havent opened any of the other cereals yet. And I did wash out the used bags and reused them to vacuum seal some things (clothes) for my car bags.
Hope everyone has a Blessed Thanksgiving; great food, family, and of course, football!!
M.D. – Happy Belated Birthday and may you have many more!
An insstructions list? Do you mean instructions on how to use the stuff you’ve given her or do you mean instructions on where to go and how to stay safe?
If you want your daughter to learn how to use the stuff you’ve given her, now is the time to do that. If she has to take the time to read instructions, she’ll be wasting valuable time. But if you want to provide instructions for where she should go or how to get there safely, then keep it as simple as possible and use a simple map. Tell her where to find safe places to hide and rest for a few hours along the route.
Just my 2 cents.
New guy here.
I’d begun to feel I was all alone in this prepping thing. My neighbors think I’m paranoid and that the little they have in their freezers will hold them. A little background…I’m retired (USN) and live at my Bug Out location. If they find their way back up this canyon, it’s stand-off time.
Over the past year I’ve:
- Built a tabletop Rocket cook-stove that with just some twigs and branches will boil water faster than my propane stove (3-burner cook-top and oven salvaged from an old camper).
- Begun work on a portable Rocket mass heater to use as a space heater. (one thing I have in abundance is plenty of Mesquite twigs and branches)
- Built a blacksmith forge out of an old roll-around BBQ.
- Traded for an old arc welder and am learning to use it.
- Resurrected some of my old Ham Radio gear and bought a modern transceiver. Been getting on the air to keep current and playing around with “invisible” antennas to see which works best here.
- Picked up a pressure canner and have been teaching myself canning. Also picked up a little 3-liter pressure cooker that’ll use half the fuel for a meal.
- Discovered that pickling is a neat hobby.
- Obtained a reasonably priced pick-up truck, fixed it up and found a small camper that I could live in if necessary.
- Bought a 50cc scooter that claims 120 MPG. It’s 15 miles to the nearest gas station/convenience/hardware store and another five to a grocery store. (I need to take someone along to smack me whenever I go to that cycle shop!)
- I figure I have a year supply of food for one. I need to build on that for family and authorized drop-ins. Anything with plastic lids, caps, etc., is stored in rodent proof containers (a must out here in the boonies). Plenty of extra spices and booze for barter.
- My container garden is in salvaged bathtubs as is the worm farm which is where all junk mail goes. (Little buggers will eat anything)
- Found a generator big enough to run the 220V well pump at a Pawn Shop. Seems a lot of folks on hard times are pawning their big tools. Also have a 400 gallon water tank that I can isolate from the rest of the system.
As for this week…I ordered a case of dehydrated eggs and some heirloom seeds; canned eight pints of Italian sausage and bought some roasts to make jerky.
This is the first time I’ve listed all this stuff. It’s actually been a good exercise to see where I need to concentrate my efforts.
Welcome to the Wolf Pack, Hey it’s Dave. Thanks for sharing, we all learn from each other.
Dave, welcome to the Wolf Pack. I like the old bathtub idea. They could be used as defensive positions, too, I bet.
Welcome Hey It’s Dave! Yes, posting here really helps get organized.
Welcome here, Dave. So glad you took the time to post your set up and accomplishments. Worms are serious little work-horses — so under-utilized in America, too. Mine will all congregate around the crushed egg shells. They love ‘em!
Dave:
Welcome aboard! I understand how you feel. Plus looking at what other people are doing gets me ideas. Not to mention some of these folks are just fun to be around.
Hi Dave,
You will fit right in with the Wolf Pack. They are crafty, shrewd, knowledgeable, helpful, forgiving and funny. I’ll bet you can teach us many things.
If that scooter is two stroke look into getting a spare carb and setting it up to run on alcohol and vegetable oil. Or at least get a spare set of jets to drill out. Early two strokes ran on alcohol/ caster oil. [1915-26] an option to run it on what can be grown and or home made is apealing.
Dave, welcome aboard shipmate! We are here to learn from each other and share. A 50cc bike will get you up and out and light enough to lift over obstacles if needed. Will save some serious cash just getting around.
Haven’t seen a worm farm in years, didn’t know anyone does that anymore. Great for fishing and goes great with quail eggs.
Finally getting over my cold and an unexpected gout attack. Have holiday guests coming tomorrow, so not even enough time to read all the posts this week, but wanted to drop in and wish the Wolf Pack a very Happy Thanksgiving, and MD, a belated Happy Birthday.
Aha, all that Brie and Wine finally got to you – GOUT!!! Ouch! Well, my beer and hotdogs (especially the hotdogs, since beer doesn’t have any fats) is what got me with gall bladder disease.
Cherry juice is supposed to provide some relief from gout. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving.
After several painful attacks of gout, my DH was put on allopurinol, a gout preventative. It is a very inexpensive generic and has done wonders on preventing new attacks. I believe it is on several of the pharmacies’ $4 Rx lists. Maybe your doctor can prescribe some for you.
Two things: my son sent me this today; thought I’d share it here.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-11-20/police-encrypted-radios/51319598/1?csp=34tech
And: does anyone know where in N Texas I can get bulk honey….UN-heated and UN-filtered RAW honey? Seems the rules changed, and now the designation RAW can be put on honey that’s been heated/pasteurized. I want the anti-allergy benefits of true RAW honey. If you know a source, I’d appreciate being turned-on to it. :)
Check out desertcreekhoney.com. They’re in Collin County.
Thanks Lantana. I’ll check it.
Man. If you have the time today listen to Ann Barnhardts radio appearance on the Andrea Shea King’s radio show today. Barnhardts website has it.
Finances (ie: math) is not my strong suit. She explains the market very understandably. Think the Wolfpacks feeling of needing to step up preps is very warranted. Stepping up preps is an excellent idea.
Seems like the SHTF is going to be an explosive liquid event when it happens.
Wanna raise your anxiety level today? Listen to Barnhardt then come over here and read some back articles from the survivalblog. At least by reading here you feel empowered.
Thanks again M.D. for providing this blog. And those out there that pray, keep it up, our Country seriously needs it.
Individually… Prepare you Ark!
I listened to her earlier and couldn’t agree more!
Finance fraud, poverty, a Congress up for auction to the highest bidder, how much can the country take? Facts: 94% of federal election winners had the most $
60-70% of all contributions come from banking
NOT ONE POS went to jail for all the lies and fraud!
Another great show to watch, if you can handle the truth is The Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC. I know it is corporate, but he has the guts to tell the truth and call all the corrupt politicians out daily. He inspires me and gets me so pissed off that I pulled all my $, little that it was, out of the market and stuck it in a local small bank. I am now trying to figure out a way to liquidate my 401K crap and not pay the penalty. Any ideas?
MSNBC is the home to more socialists and nutjobs than the current WH.
There is no way around paying the early withdrawal penalty on your 401K if you are under 59.5 years old, unless you qualify under some very strict exceptions. http://taxes.about.com/od/retirementtaxes/a/early_penalty.htm And when you make withdrawals from it, you might kick your income into a higher tax bracket. If you pay state income tax, the state is also going to take a piece of your pie as a penalty for early withdrawal.
You want to avoid paying taxes? Become the Secretary of the Treasury or the US Representative from the 15th District of New York.
We did the same. We paid the penalty. It was worth it to get out with something.
I waited until I was 59 1/2 to take my IRA money out. It had been there for over 20 years and my investment (initial deposit with nothing else added over the years) was around $40,000 and when I cashed it out I got a check (minus 30% for federal taxes) for a little less than 4,000. If I had know earlier I would have gladly paid any penalty. Not only were they killing me with the stocks they invested in but they charge a service charge every month just to “manage” my money. I’d rather have it all here now in crumpled $1 and $5.
In the same vein I had a small saving account at the bank and when I got my last statement they are charging a service charge to keep my money and they have whittled away most of the little bit of value I had with that service charge.
I’m going to cash, silver and a little bit of gold. To heck with the stock market and the bank.
I can handle the truth, but have rarely seen it on MSNBC. As for Dylan Ratigan, I never pay any attention to partisan Obamabots who play loose with the facts. Don’t mean to offend you here, but if you’re looking for inspiration, let me mention a few here who are truly inspirational:
MD Creekmore, Lynn, farmgal, chloe, Ohio Prepper, riverrider, Jarhead, Lint Picker, Kate in GA….I could go on, but you get the point. Turn off MSNBC and start reading here, where you will get the kind of information that is truly useful instead of wasting your time with talking heads. Just my .02, and no offense intended.
No offense taken. I just disagree with the assertion by many that there are no good “Talking Heads”. It is the only daily show that I watch. After decades of looking for some credible source on the Boobtube, he has struck a cord. He gives patriots like Gary Johnson. Ron Paul, Tom Coburn, and many other true conservatives a chance to educate us. I agree that the networks are f^*k+d, but he is a breath of fresh air. I have heard him bash Obama far more than placate.
As far as the list of people you mention, I completely agree. Hence the reason that I spend time everyday reading what you and them have to say.
All of us here, I believe, strive for sustainability, fairness and a brighter future. I honestly don’t think it is forthcoming in my lifetime, but work for it for my daughter and her friends.
Dylan is actually putting his career on the line, by trying to shine light on the corruption and giving us ideas on how to change it. He is the only one that I have found. My Republican friends refuse to even listen to the arguments that he makes because of the station he is on, my Dem friends think he is a conservative plant or crackpot. That tells me he is right on track. Sorry for the rant, but I will continue to try and get people to listen to him. If we don’t change things soon we stand to lose it all. It might already be too late.
Power to the preppers.
Hear here, well said TK
Hey Pineslayer, We’re nearing the end of FY2011. If you decide to cash in your 401K, take some out this year. Wait til FY2012, then take out some more, if not all.
If your Federal taxes are fairly straight forward and little has changed for you financially in 2011, you can use your 2010 Federal return as a prototype to cost-estimate what your tax return would change to if you cashed in some of your 401K. Try not to be taken by surprise if this is the route you go — estimate the taxes you will pay on the “income” that a cashed-in 401K will become on the 1040 for you this year. Hope this helps.
That seems to be the best way to go. I’m just PO’d that I got sucked into the system. It sure seemed like a great thing, with matching contributions and all. It ends up just being another tax.I am leaning towards dumping it into another rollover CD, at -.1%. Pick your poison. Thank you for another perspective.
Lynn,
I sold the stock in our puny little Fidelity IRA last Monday morning. They had 3 business days to complete the transfer to the cash account but today, Thanksgiving, the money has not yet entered the cash account.
I’m worried.
I wonder if what happened at M.F. Global by Jon Corzine is occurring elsewhere?
I went to the Andrea Shea King website and listened to her podcast. Very interesting. Thanks for mentioning it.
Glad to know other people feel as I do – that TDL is trying (and succeeding) to destroy America and we need to pay attention so we can thwart his progressive movement. Once he’s out of the WH, he needs to leave the country. Maybe Iran will take him.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/askshow/2011/11/22/the-andrea-shea-king-show
Oh Linty….The Dark Lord was elected in, turned tyrant on us, and you expect him to leave graciously? With that big, fat ego he has, you think he’ll go gentle in the night????
In 2008 I told my wife that we had seen the last free election in the US.
None of the current crop of politicians is planning on going quitely into the night. I seriously doubt that there will be a 2012 election cycle or if there is it will be rigged. Most likely civil unrest will ‘tearfully’ require a brief stint of martial law and a ‘temporary’ suspension of elections… just till we get these ‘unfortunate’ protests behind us, then we can begin to ‘heal our nation’ in the era of ‘post partisan politics’.
for those who don’t read double speak i’ll include the 1984 style translations.
tearfully = happily
temporary = for the rst of my life
unfortunate = planned and perfectly executed
heal our nation = build my empire
post partisan politics = Stallinist type gulags and secret police.
I have a German girlfriend that married a military guy years ago and they live here in the U.S., 17 years now. Her family is still in Germany. The news reports there of what goes on here is so totally favorable for Obummer, all her family thinks he’s awesome. That’s how he’s portrayed.
When obummer got elected she said it gave her chills because he reminded her of stories her Grandparents told about Hilter. She has said from day one that he will be elected again even if he has to declare martial law because of some “unfortunate ” crisis that he and the administration can’t let go to waste.
That has always stuck in my mind since he got elected. Things are looking more and more like she might be right. Especially since other people are starting to bubble up with that thought.
Anyone listen to the audio of the occupiers shouting down the president? Then chanting, “obama, obama, obama.”
Could’ve been Heil hitler for the sick feeling it gives one.
Not a patriotism and fidelity to the Nation, but to a leader.
Vienna, I so agree with you. We have a lot of blessings here in this country, and we have become way too casual with who we vote for. We are impressed with a marketing plan instead of really investigating the values and ethics of the candidate for ourselves. As a result, they may just get brave enough to take that next step and use all the occupy wallstreeters that they are paying to riot enough to justify martial law, and then we are stuck with that cretin………scary thought………..
Vienna, When TDL was campaigning fiercely before the election, he would get into a trance-like behavior and his eyes were very telling to me. His eyes were piercing and he was on-a-roll — the ego was truly maniacal. That’s when I saw Hitler-reincarnate.
Glen Beck mentioned that in one of his interviews the other day …. that they already know that they are going to stay in office and that they have something planned………don’t think it takes much imagination to figure it out. Now, will any of our pentagon folk be smart enough to put a stop to it and return this country to a republic???? That is the question.
Oh Lynn, I never said HOW he would be leaving. LOL There are some things that shouldn’t be written on a public blog. I don’t want to get a midnight visit from the JBT (jack-booted thugs).
I thought about you today, Lynn. I got a phone call from the local utility company about SMART METERS. I had told them several months ago that I didn’t want one on my property and then I called the California Public Utilities Commission (an agency that oversees all public utilities in this state) and told them the same thing. Well today I finally got a call-back and was informed I could opt for a different style of meter if I didn’t want the smart one. I don’t know the details, so the option could be worse, but I know that me and about 1 million old hippies called to complain about the smart meter and somebody was listening. LOL The old hippies don’t want the utility (more likely the govt, IMO) to know when our peak energy use is or when we’re home or how many times we do our laundry, etc. First time in my life that I ever agreed with a hippie and vice versa. LMAO.
The utility company will explain the optional meter in a few months, I’m waiting with bated breath.
Lint, the best argument you can throw them is the danger of the radiation that’s emitted. Sounds like your region has a fight on its hands.
You have to wonder what or if thinks about the consequences of what he is doing to this country and who is going to protect him when he finally gets dumped. I am betting he is going to back to the middle east idealic that he picked up from his father. Wonder how Michelle is going to like living in a small straw hut in indonesia.
Could mooschelle fit in a small grass hut?
Maybe if they left the door open so she could keep her butt outside.
Wishing you all a warm and toasty Thanksgiving! May your bellies be full, and your hearts too. :)
Happy Thanksgiving all around. Hope everyone is planning on being with family and eating way too much and sleeping in the recliner tomorrow.
Due to our families consisting of older people and younger people and everyone having their own plans for Thanksgiving we had our annual get together last Saturday. Turkey and all the trimmings. After dinner (and have you priced pecan pies lately :( my nephew, who is a detective brought over a large portion of his gun collection. We ate at my inlaws house and they have miles of woods and a nice valley with some huge fallen trees with big root balls that make a great place to shoot. He is trying to find something that his mother is comfortable with. She can’t work the slide on an automatic. I don’t want her to have a large caliber handgun because while there is a lot of space out back the neighbors are not that far away on either side. She shot a lot of different guns, all the way down to a 380 with a laser and up to a .45 and none of them work for her. He brought a 20 gauge pump with a pistol grip and she can’t handle that. I showed him why it was a bad choice, one emptied and cleared and I stood to the side like a burglar might in the dark and had him walk in front of me, knowing I was there. I was able to get a grip on the foregrip of the weapon and had enough leverage to take it out of his hand. He had no leverage with just the pistol grip. He’s young and strong but you can’t beat leverage. So, he’s still shopping for her something else and I got to fire a few hundred rounds of someone else’s ammo. All in all a very good day.
As for prepping this week, work has turned heavy so I haven’t even left the house except to check the mail and then right back to the office. On the good side I’ve finally figured out where the new prep store, True Wilderness is in Marietta. I called them a few minutes ago and they will be open on Saturday, usual hours (they’ll be back Friday but I’m working Friday) so I have pulled together some cash and will make a trip up to visit them. I need a new Gerber knife, 4 or 5 pails of rice and beans and wheat, plus I want to get a couple cases of MRE’s and some survival bars. Also want to shop the Alpine Aire stuff and see if it is any good. They said they are having some specials on ammo and I may pick some up if the price is right.
I will make an order on the LDS web site. You can’t beat their starter kit for $30 for 6 #10 cans of assorted stuff and it has free shipping and no one has come knocking on my door. They have about 6 individual items that come in case lots of 6 cans at really good prices. Nothing to round out meals but a lot of staple food for the price.
Tomorrow I’m on call and will be around the office but I wish each and every one of you a peaceful and pleasant day with the ones you love. And, if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with…..
Speaking of making things different than they seem, I ran into the local photographer the other day. He is selling his business since there doesn’t seem to be quite the demand for family pictures that there used to be. Anyway, his studio is a house and out back he has several different settings for outside work. He has a small waterfall and jungle scene, a beach scene and attached to the back of his building is a front porch setting. The steps are wide and are made of brick. It has wrought iron banisters, a little portico over it and a screen door and front door. Makes for very home like shots. He came in last week and walked around back and someone had tried to break in that door. They had managed to open the screen and then used pry bars to open the door. They demolished the door. It would open in but the set is built against the side of the building and there is nothing behind that door except the cinder block wall. Can you imagine the look on their faces after all that work and all they are faced with is a blank wall.
Well, I discussed future living options with the husband, not really touching on survival aspects. I don’t intend to keep a non-habitated property at any time in the future, the hubby doesn’t want to live any place where he has to drive two hours to check on the boat he intends to own.
It’s probably five years off, but I’m mentally preparing to live in a sailboat for six months as we explore the coast for areas that I would want to live in.
My mom is wanting to move from one survival-ready home to an area that’s conducive to having another survival-ready home. I’m hoping that I could help out financially or handyman-wise to give her more space than she needs just in case I need to camp in her knitting room some day.
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Gayle,
Northern part of the Cumberland Plateau.
Gayle,
Classes would be divided into categories such as, preserving food, self-defense, primitive skills, homemade weapons etc.
MD, there are members of the Wolf Pack who could handle a number of these categories, leaving you free to manage the entire operation. This is an excellent idea, and I wish you could make it happen. I wonder if there is a public venue near your retreat that would be available for such a how-to meeting so you wouldn’t have to compromise your OPSEC.
templar knight,
This something I’m considering for the near future – right now I could not find the time needed.
Or you could do it online. I uses gotomeeting to teach a class to about 20 people a few years ago. They have a new version specifically designed for virtual classrooms that would be good for anything but a hands on class. Then there is no opsec issues and everyone can even log in under there screen name so no one has to give a real name out and it means we are all not in a single place which for some of us would be really far from our usual BO locals.
TK,
Good point–a state park with showers would be nice.
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