Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Added a 24 roll pack of tp, 12 bars of bath soap, 2 gal. of bleach, 3 8-packs of razor blades, 3 cans shaving cream, and 4 doz. canning lids to the stash this week.

How goes it for y'all?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

slowly convincing the neighbors to join me in growing "victory gardens", I started growing last year and enjoying some of my own fresh fruits already. looking to add MREs to the food stash. bulk packs of babywipes take up less space than TP plus you get that clean and fresh feeling & scent afterwards LOL! have given up using snares for boar. if TSHTF it's gotta' to be done the old fashioned way. (or just cracking open the can of spam haha!). letting the wild chickens run for now they just too damn noisy to keep close in. but I'm keeping my eye on 'em. :captain: aloha from Hawaii!

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Building a pole building to house..., whatever. Keeps me off the net and outside working for a change. Just yesterday bought another tractor, a small diesel, 4x4 that I actually bought because we were in the middle of a snow storm like we haven't had here for a number of years. It will be a replacement for an old gas tractor. Luckily the tractor dealer is only about 2 miles away by the road, so I drove it home and put it right to work moving snow. Our drive is 300 yards long and drifts in even with a 6" snow & wind.

Anyone want to buy an old 1955 Ford tractor?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

A Kmart type store here is going out business, but their closeout prices are bullsh*t except for the basic soap products.
Brought home 10 12 packs of Ivory soap bars and 5 1.5 liter bottles of Ivory liquid soap to add to the bootie scrub stash.
These products are for long term storage and potential barter.
Good luck folks

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Spring has sprung! My hubby roto-tilled our garden plot yesterday, and I finally finished pruning our apricot trees. I'm a bit late on the pruning this year; our trees are blossoming already. I've been working like a slave (d@mn day job) and have only been able to prune bit by bit each weekend over several months. Hopefully I'll be able to start getting the garden in before the end of the month, weather depending.

Also bought 3 25-lb bags of rice, and 4 35-lb bags of dogfood, and 2 4-packs of spam.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

how long does dry dog food last in the bag?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

I'm not sure how long dog food last because it has a lot of fat in it. I have a cat who has to have a special urinary formula dry food or his bladder blocks up. I was going to use Mylar bags to store at least 6 months worth of food.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

I went to Wally World today..

10 pounds of Spaghetti
10 jars of spaghetti sauce
10 more pounds of beans
2 tubes of toothpaste

...then I lost my way and got sidetracked at mall and bought a cute purse and new blouse. The blouse was not made out of camouflage material :smokin:

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

We still have 12" of hard packed snow on the ground in Norhtern IL. Hmm, I envie you.

sb

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Whacked 2 chucks, and winged a third only a few minutes ago. Protecting the garden before it even wakes up this year!
Making adjustments for fresh chicks, letting the old gals out to enjoy the neighbor's orchard.
Yesterday: 72 roll tp, 50# rice, 25# beans, 25# sugar. Did same a week ago, too. Also 150# wheat, 50# soybeans mid last week.
Full up on ammo, but still got box of RemGB's last week. $13.89
25 gal more fuel
20# propane , new tank from Costco. Guy who filled it said it took a really good fill, better than most (they're coming pre purged...)
Haven't gotten back to refurb of old propane oven for outdoors, but hitting chucks is more fun.
Maintained aux batts.
Need to show attention to the mower....one tire's looking a little sad, but converted to automotive battery last fall. Started up mid December to cart off dogs with no problem!
Finally, got through to somebody at church about topics near and dear to GIMers.:applause_

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

I pruned mine back in December when it was good and cold, but am starting to think I didn't take out enough. Is it too late to prune once the buds are coming out?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Ooooohhhh! It's been a special week for Lars! (Damn, now I'm like Dogfarm, talking about myself in the third person!)

Anyway, I pick up my Bulgarian AK on Tuesday.

From Frugal Squirrel, ordered:

- A Royal Berkey water filter with 4 Black Berkey filters (I only intend to use 2 at a time, so the other 2 are in reserve).

- Country Living Grain Mill, along with the spare parts kit, corn/bean auger, flour bin, extension handle, and spare grinding plates.

- 250 one-gallon mylar bags

- 25 five/six-gallon mylar bags

- 200 oxygen absorbers (damn, bad math - need more!)

- 30 Quart All-American pressure cooker/canner

- One #10 can (48 packs) heirloom seeds

Locally: 6 lbs. beans; 3 lbs. spaghetti; 6 lbs. macaroni; 20 lbs. Jasmine rice; 1 pack dental floss; 30 rds 12 ga. 2 3/4" rifled slugs; 90 rds 12 ga. 2 3/4" 00 buckshot.

Mental note - 3 lbs of spaghetti takes up a lot less room than 3 lbs of macaroni. So if you're limited on storage space like I am, you might want to consider the possibility of spaghetti and cheese instead of macaroni and cheese. If you have young kids, maybe something to try at home before TSHTF - they might like the novelty of it.

Then again, you know the difference between broccoli and boogers, right?









Kids won't eat broccoli....

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

My thought is "better late than never" on the pruning, at least to get most of the branches that cross over the center of the tree (I use "open center" pruning style), and to shorten the very long branches. Also, now that they're blossoming I was able to identify a few rather large dead branches that I had missed earlier. I used a chainsaw for the first time ever on those--my kids called me "chainsaw Momma". I don't think the apricots will mind a bit being pruned late; gotta lose the dead wood, anyway for sure. I worried a bit that the grapevines bled a little sap, but I made very few cuts on those since I had pretty much finished those in Jan.


Hmmm...Now that you mention it, I'm not all that sure. Couldn't find anything definitive after a quick google search either. I put the bags into plastic storage bins (2 each), so they're pretty airtight. Hopefully they'll be ok for a few months. I have 2 German Shepherds, and they go through the chow pretty quickly.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

I consider my cats part of my long term food storage preps...

JK. Our cats have the same problem. I often wonder if an outdoor natuaral diet would make this better.

For preps I watched "after the impact" on Dicovery channel about a meteor strike event. It actually had some interesting hypotheticals about how prepared people are very successful in emergency situations and then went over several different scenarios. Good stuff. It also covered what the planet would be likely to do in a scorched earth event and things like that. Watch it if you can. Good stuff. Also, fixed a head gasket on my subaru.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Here is a good link that describes a homemade diet. I will ask my Vet about it. The last time I was out of town the cat accidentally got feed dog food for two days and had a UTI by the time I got home ... My understanding is neutered, chubby male house cats are most prone to the problem. Ill let you know what my Vet says about this.

http://www.2ndchance.info/homemadediets.htm

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

picked up 5 gallon blitz can for fuel storage@walmart in salem[24 hour] on way home from work. 10 pack of bungee cords for backpack and vehicle use. finished van carpeting, refastened folding bed,stocked up vehicle with water, empty water container[collapsable], canned food, hand crank light,hand crank radio,bABY WIPES, BUTTWIPE,coffee pot. installed propane 2 burner stove and spare fuel cansfor stove. waiting on rear cv axel to complete running gear to new status. have portable insulated cooler for perishable items between front seats. fire extinguisher and first aid supplies next, have baking soda for field expediant extinguisher, first aid kit is in house, can be thrown on board at last minute. have a vehicle specific one, will inventory and restock and install this week. spare fuses,wiring and tool kit complete for vehicle. packed up 240 rounds in chest bandoleer for sks all on stripper clips. rifle in float enabled case with cleaning equip. and 50 rds loose ammo in side pocket. wife and i will live in van next week in backyard while in laws visit to field test and fine tune the preps.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

visiting my mom soon to check in. she's been through rough times so understands but dang if I can get her to clear up a room or something for storage. maybe this time wish me luck!

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

I'm taking my CCW class on Saturday :ridinghor

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

I got my 2 sets of 12 #10 cans of their starter sets from Provident Living website (LDS). Very reasonable prices and shipping is free. Too bad you can't buy more from them. They limit the other food stuffs to members only.

It definitely stimulated me into doing a better job at buying more food and ammo. Coin show this weekend in Orlando..will be buying some silver for sure.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Ah, yes, another 250lbs. of rice. Now where the hell are my bags. The F. Squirrel isn't as fast as he/she? used to be. Probably runnin' as fast as a squirrel can go. Crap, I haven't even bought the buckets. I think I'm doing CO2 this time. Oh, and more tuna and chicken. Beans, now where did I put the beans?

Anybody know of a good way to get ahold of old mason jars? Auctions, classifieds, word of mouth??????????

sb

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

OH, and more soap, and tampons for the daughter(hopefully she'll thank me later). I think soap and tampons will be a good bartering items. Basics, Guys, think basics!!!!!!

sb

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

2 widescreen HD plasmas
Blu-ray player
Chrome spinner rims for the Escalade
2 cans of Vienna franks (for tonight's midnight munchies)

That's my neighbor, at least...

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

I had to break down and buy a new bed and mattress. I went for a pretty expensive mattress (friends family owns the store so I got a couple hundred dollar break), but right now my stuff is 10 years old. I can actually see the center of the mattress is begining to cave in from being old and the supports underneath being week.

I hated to spend the $ there, but I actually catch myself on the edge of the mattress holding onto the side, and wake up having slid into the center.

My back has been hurting lately and I have not been sleeping well. I wonder why?

This will delay my continued gathering of food and water preps about a month while I pay off the discover card.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

I don't know that I would bother with old jars. I got them at Wal Mart last year for about 8 bucks per dozen. Some others on this board know where to buy them by the pallet at a much better price.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

For informational purposes only...........

Pruning can be done anytime you want to take off a branch here and there, but only do the major pruning during the dormant season as the tree will bleed where you cut it. Then if I prune out a larger branch, I'll spray the wound with a special paint you can get at most garden supply or even the garden shop in major chain stores. If you don't treat the wound you stand a chance of doing real hurt to the tree. Good trees are expensive, treat them like pets, they will live long and supply you with many renewable preps.

If you plan on fruit trees as an addition to your preps, as I do, you should buy a book or ask an old timer about how to best do it. I learned from an old guy who hired me to prune about 500 trees in his orchard. It was hard work, the pay was not great but it was fair. The education was worth a hundred times more than I made. It also helped me survive a winter of being unemployed from my regular job, which didn't pay all the great either.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

SB, did you know there is an alternative to tampons? I ran this by my Daughters and they were not happy about it but still it is a viable alternative, reusable and chemical free.

http://www.kalyx.com/store/proddetai...D/610/file.htm

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

I'm taking mine at the next gun show. I was really against the whole CCW thing but after considering all the benefits and the fact that the gov't has all my info already, it just makes sense. :beer:

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Even better http://www.divacup.com/

And
http://amazpadz.com/

While we're at it for babies www.evolutiondiapers.com

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Nope, didn't know, not exactly my area of expertise. I have always wondered what women did in the "old days". I have a feeling we have all been spoiled by our modern conveniences, which is very understandable. Indoor plumbing, water, toilets, showers, bathes. I know exactly why they were made. They are really, really nice and convenient. But....all of us here feel that will change, right?

Anyway, thanks

sb

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Goodness posted some links for some great alternative products too. I wont get too specific but your Daughter will probably say yuck, like my girls did but too bad. If the time comes tampons will be a true luxury.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Goddess, when we get our own ladies board we can compare products :D

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Squirrel Bate.. I wanted to add this.... God bless you for being such a good Daddy and considering those types of needs for your Daughter. I know men do not enjoying browsing the feminine product isle. I sent my husband out once for an emergency trip of pads and he returned home with a box Depends Undergarments instead. :confused_ma:

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Jaima you're killing me. Now I have to clean my monitor cause I laughed so hard I spit pepsi all over. :D

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Wife and I set out two more pear trees. Went to Wally World and got more Food Saver quart, gallon and roll paks. We're packing the beans n rice in smaller quantities rather than the 5 gal bucket full to see if it works better for us. She bought a couple of rubber maid type tubs to use for storing.

If it stays dry this weekend, I'll start discing the garden. Maybe set out more fruit trees and some blue berry plants.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

I'm laughing pretty hard too! Look I'm just trying to be pragmatic. If TSHTF we are not going to quit being human. But we have lost lots of the little techniques of the past that simply made life easier, more pleasant. These sponges might be something that should be bought and stored until there is no other option. By then maybe the Yuck factor will have subsided a liitle. Who knows, maybe all this will never happen.


sb

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Growing up, we were poor, and mom canned everything. Got us through the winters. She also made us open the jar lids, slowly, with our fingernails, as to not damage the rubber seal on the bottom of the metal lid. If the lid was in good shape she would use it again the next year. I think I would prefer to use new lids every year, but if times get tough, well.
We sealed all our jams, with parrafin.
Aloha
Turtleguy

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Woohoo...Just passed my class.

Perfect score on the written and had the tightest and most centered grouping on the range...it's a good day :D:D:D

Now I just gotta submit a $105 check to da gubberment and wait 4-6 weeks :thumpdown

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Congrats Captain! What do you have to do to get a CCW? I live in CA., which is a major problem, but I do live in a conservative county. I hear it's all up to the local Sherrif, as to whether you can get one or not. Is that true? Congrats again, time to go get Morganized to celebrate!

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

Today my brother and I built a chicken coop. This is new territory for me so I'll start out with four hens. Also, I live in the suburbs so I can only have 4 max with permit. I figure I'll sneak some more in once the neighbor gets used to it. The man has code enforcement on speed dial. :thumpdown

Also worked some more on the garden, adding a few more veggies. I plan on getting a pressure canner and putting up most of the veggies. Keeping busy with prep work takes some of the stress out of what is happening all around me. I feel I'm working toward a solution not just talking about it.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 9 Mar - 15 Mar
 

It was an 8 hour class with a 25 question exam at the end. That was followed by showing proficiency with a handgun and putting 30 rounds through it under the supervision of the instructor. If you paid attention it wasn't too difficult.

Now I send in the paperwork, FRN's and some passport photos and the local gun board reviews the application and sends the card to me. Our state is a "shall issue" state, so it shouldn't be an issue as I have no criminal background. :s9: