Preparations Update

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I went to town (this week) for the first time in "Over" 17 months. Only store I entered was Walmart (Super-SUPER) store. It is like an entire shopping mall. You could find every possible food, everything was packed-full. "Everything".

Was 100% inconsistent with reports of empty shelves. The one exception was ammo. The store has a large guns and ammo department. There was only (1) "ONE" box total of any centerfire ammo, 30/30 Winchester.
 
Jim, it's not my $, but to me, this says it all:

It's expensive, but dollars ain't gonna be worth squat soon.
If the water facility should shut down , grid dead, we would have to go about 300 yards behind house for lake water that would have to be purified. We're not really able to do that .
Don't forget , we're old, serious heart problems, probably ain't got many years left.

Would something like this provide some peace of mind to your children, so they won't come looking out for you when they really shouldn't leave home?

To my way of thinking, getting it has more pros than cons.

If things get REALLY bad, most of us ain't got many years left. But we can take what time we do have left taking care of ourselves and our loved ones to the best of our abilities - and in your case, Jim, your knowledge makes you such an asset to your community.
 
@phideaux, if you have kids or grand kids who would want the house ask them what they would want. I don't give a lot of stock in not having much time or having a lot of time for that matter. They gave the wife less than 6 month over 3 years ago and she is still here. We have friends that were in great shape suddenly up and die in their 50s from something unexpected. One of the guys I work with had a stroke last June, he was 15 years my junior...

What I'm saying is if you have family who would want the house after you are gone, talk with them about it. They may be willing to help out more if they have a vested interest. Heck, if you are sure who will get it, put them on the title in such a way that it is their's as soon as you are gone..

Then again if you live to be 100 do you want to be hauling water from the lake?
 
Most of you know we sold our farm and downsized to a small farmhouse on 1 acre last Sept.

Would like your input on this.

We are on county water.
We like the water just fine. No problems.
But,
We been talking about drilling a well and tiring it into the line in the basement so we could use either one.
(Btw , I have a 220 generator and plenty LP to run it for an hr a day for 5-7 years.)

It's expensive, but dollars ain't gonna be worth squat soon.
If the water facility should shut down , grid dead, we would have to go about 300 yards behind house for lake water that would have to be purified. We're not really able to do that .

What would y'all do.

Don't forget , we're old, serious heart problems, probably ain't got many years left.

:dunno:

Jim
Do you have a septic system?

Our sewage cost is based on our water usage. Revenuers may not be happy if you aren't paying for sewage.

Ben
 
@phideaux, if you have kids or grand kids who would want the house ask them what...

. Heck, if you are sure who will get it, put them on the title in such a way that it is their's as soon as you are gone..

...

Careful with that.

If 5he kid is in an accident abs is sued you could lose the house.

A trust may serve a similar end. A lawyer should be consulted to do it right.

Ben
 
I would do the well, Phideaux. Don't rely on city water being there. And get a Berkey if you don't already have one.
Went to Glenn's bulk foods for their spring celebration today, dragged husband and little granddaughter along because there was a deli lunch there. Only place around to feed three of us with drinks, too, for under $20. Ha. Bought 50 lbs of food grade hard red wheat for $22, and some empty buckets with lids. The white wheat is $79 for 50 lbs, and that price went up. Bought some corn meal mush, large blocks of margerine for the freezer. We went to the plant nursery and got some seed potatoes...yukon gold and russet. Some icicle radish seeds for husband, and more banana squash seeds. They had a spring celebration going, too, and were giving away 6pk of pansies and tote bags.
 
Most of you know we sold our farm and downsized to a small farmhouse on 1 acre last Sept.

Would like your input on this.

We are on county water.
We like the water just fine. No problems.
But,
We been talking about drilling a well and tiring it into the line in the basement so we could use either one.
(Btw , I have a 220 generator and plenty LP to run it for an hr a day for 5-7 years.)

It's expensive, but dollars ain't gonna be worth squat soon.
If the water facility should shut down , grid dead, we would have to go about 300 yards behind house for lake water that would have to be purified. We're not really able to do that .

What would y'all do.

Don't forget , we're old, serious heart problems, probably ain't got many years left.

:dunno:

Jim


Jim your call to make. But a well is high on my list of things I want to get done. I have a spring fed pond next door I can use at any time. But I just like the idea of having my own. Being able to use it for irrigation would be a huge plus
 
Most of you know we sold our farm and downsized to a small farmhouse on 1 acre last Sept.

Would like your input on this.

We are on county water.
We like the water just fine. No problems.
But,
We been talking about drilling a well and tiring it into the line in the basement so we could use either one.
(Btw , I have a 220 generator and plenty LP to run it for an hr a day for 5-7 years.)

It's expensive, but dollars ain't gonna be worth squat soon.
If the water facility should shut down , grid dead, we would have to go about 300 yards behind house for lake water that would have to be purified. We're not really able to do that .

What would y'all do.

Don't forget , we're old, serious heart problems, probably ain't got many years left.

:dunno:

Jim
Have you contacted the place you get your water from to see if they will allow you to have a well? It was my understanding that some don’t allow it and if not that may decide it for you. I think it’s an awesome idea if you can do it though! It would be some chemical free water for your garden and plants.
 
Most of you know we sold our farm and downsized to a small farmhouse on 1 acre last Sept.

Would like your input on this.

We are on county water.
We like the water just fine. No problems.
But,
We been talking about drilling a well and tiring it into the line in the basement so we could use either one.
(Btw , I have a 220 generator and plenty LP to run it for an hr a day for 5-7 years.)

It's expensive, but dollars ain't gonna be worth squat soon.
If the water facility should shut down , grid dead, we would have to go about 300 yards behind house for lake water that would have to be purified. We're not really able to do that .

What would y'all do.

Don't forget , we're old, serious heart problems, probably ain't got many years left.

:dunno:

Jim
I agree that this is a decision only you can make given your circumstances. However, even having an outdoor well with a manual (or electric) pump would be nice to have. Even better would be to be able to hook up to it for your home. I guess I would first make sure it was possible to do and then get prices to have it done. It would be a nice asset for your home for sure. At this point, if it makes you feel more secure and helps you sleep at night, it would be worth the expense, especially considering water is very high on anyones list of priorities. It sounds like it would be money well spent.
Careful with that.

If 5he kid is in an accident abs is sued you could lose the house.

A trust may serve a similar end. A lawyer should be consulted to do it right.

Ben
Not if it's done with a Ladybird Deed. Those deeds are set up so that you are listed as primary with the kids as secondary so that your deed reads: Mr. and Mrs. Smith, then to; Mr. and Mrs. Smiths sons. That way as soon as Mr. and Mrs. Smith die, the deed goes immediately to the sons when they produce the death certificate to the county, and their sons actions have no impact on the primary owner while they are alive. It's a great tool to use if your state allows it.

On the preparations front we have filled up some fuel cans that we used during the winter. I also picked up a 50 bag of fertilizer and some seed for the deer plots. It was almost $100 but at least we can get that going now. I also stocked up on some dog meds....another $100. I had a weird dream that pectin was going to be in really short supply, so I took delivery of a 2# bag of pectin. I also got some long range walkie talkies that were on sale. Hubs bought some equipment.......I have no idea what he bought, but I don't care. He wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't a good deal and if he had no use for it. I'd much rather have assets now than cash. Plus, it makes him happy.:) I swear I'm married to Tim the tool man Taylor. ArrrrArrrrArrrr.
 
Most of you know we sold our farm and downsized to a small farmhouse on 1 acre last Sept.

Would like your input on this.

We are on county water.
We like the water just fine. No problems.
But,
We been talking about drilling a well and tiring it into the line in the basement so we could use either one.
(Btw , I have a 220 generator and plenty LP to run it for an hr a day for 5-7 years.)

It's expensive, but dollars ain't gonna be worth squat soon.
If the water facility should shut down , grid dead, we would have to go about 300 yards behind house for lake water that would have to be purified. We're not really able to do that .

What would y'all do.

Don't forget , we're old, serious heart problems, probably ain't got many years left.

:dunno:

Jim

im thinking like you, dollars wont be worth that much for much longer---if a well on your property will help you long term and make life easier thru hard times, it will be worth it. im late 60s an keep thinking what will be smart to get now that will help me when im older. and more worn out water is a very big deal.
 
…We been talking about drilling a well and tiring it into the line in the basement so we could use either one.….
Jim

Your private well will be considered a possible source of contamination by you public water supplier. Therefore legally you can not physically connect the two together.

You might be able to have a private well for the purpose of watering your garden and lawn. Install a “Y” in your water line. Swing the top of the “Y” one way for public water, swing it the other your on your well. Physically impossible to have public and private water sources connected at the same time.
 
Your private well will be considered a possible source of contamination by you public water supplier. Therefore legally you can not physically connect the two together.

You might be able to have a private well for the purpose of watering your garden and lawn. Install a “Y” in your water line. Swing the top of the “Y” one way for public water, swing it the other your on your well. Physically impossible to have public and private water sources connected at the same time.

In my mind I had both county and well coming into basement with both having shutoff valves to use one or the other , but not both at same time..
If the well was funtioning good , I'd have the county turn theirs off.
I'd check around before I did that.
If it was a problem, then I wouldn't connect the well until the county water didn't work.

Jim
 
A neighbor from down the road a bit called. He had just finished the initial processing of two cows and had the livers, hearts, tongues and tails set aside for us if we wanted them. Sure do.

Just picked them up and now I am spending my afternoon getting them ready for the freezer. Later I will dehydrate some liver for dog treats. Right now the dehydrators are full of eggs.
 
Busy working so just had the chance to take my Ruger PC9 apart. It's as easy as it looks. While I had it apart I swapped my ruger mag well for the Glock. That was easy as well. I have a G17 33 rd stick magazine. I'll have to set some time to see how it runs with it. Ran great w the ruger mag.
I'm curious how accurate your carbine is because mine is rather poor for accuracy. (I have the same gun)
 
I have made progress on expanding our food storage. I have doubled my solar array, but it is still a little Mickey Mouse, I plan to run conduit to the charge controllers and use single runs of cable with fused disconnects, that will be sometime over the next 3 weeks.

The garden is getting ready to go into operation by the end of April. I am using old posts to make adjustments to my planning on the garden, the ability to learn from the past is something I need to be better at.
 
I have made progress on expanding our food storage. I have doubled my solar array, but it is still a little Mickey Mouse, I plan to run conduit to the charge controller

s and use single runs of cable with fused disconnects, that will be sometime over the next 3 weeks.

The garden is getting ready to go into operation by the end of April. I am using old posts to make adjustments to my planning on the garden, the ability to learn from the past is something I need to be better at.

I forgot to reply to your post about garden journals. I keep one, not as detailed it should be, but better than nothing. I've kept it for lots of years now. I do good with planting dates, moon signs and phases ( I try and grow by the signs in the almanac), and seed varities. I don't do very well with harvest dates, quantities, any notes on how types did vs others. And I should add what we thought about storage and taste of what we got.
It could be endless, but lots of things you could track.

I am working on a quote for a customer at work that will require solar power, batteries, etc. While researching parts I have started forming thoughts on putting together a small system of our own for the house to run a few things. I did notice Urban's post about new panels being different sizes from previous. I'll keep that in mind
 
Just stocked up on more supplements before prices go up. (or they are banned or you need a prescription. they're working on NAC which helps eliminate toxins like the vaccine)
Saved $62 with sales and a promo code
 
Bought our solar panels/batteries and the rest of the system as well as a wind turbine yesterday! What a relief. Should be shipped out shortly. My FIL has agreed to house them for us until we can actually get back to the build site.
 
shoes

was looking at my shoes, slippers, sandals and decided its a good idea to get another pair of each favorite. my favorite slippers werent bad, got them on sale 1.5 yr ago at walmart for 9.99 but they were now 12.99 on sale, i grabbed 2 cause these are the best and most comfortable rugged infoor-outdoor slippers ive ever had..

shoes-sneakers--already had backup so thats good.

sandals. i love crocs and have the basic open toe sandal, got mine maybe 1.5-2 yrs ago for runder $20 on sale. today same sandal is over $50. found a knock off for $25 but wont be shipped til middle of april. im gonna keep looking.

check your shoes, got to have good comfortable ones, might be the last ones we can get for a long while the way things are looking..

listening to some economy show and they said shipping-trans costs for food and supplies is going up triple digits. thats gonna add to the hurt. i dont think we make shoes, socks or underwear in the US anymore.
If there would be the possibility of never being able to buy shoes again, this would be the wise thing to do.
I have a pair of Crocs that I bought when they first came out, around 20 years ago. They are what I wear when I work in the yard and garden. They can get wet and dirty and I can rinse them off, let them dry and no worries.
I recently bought a new pair of leather winter boots from Costco on clearance, $20.
I do need new sneakers.
My sandals, Chacos, are at least 10 years old, and still have lots of life in them. I do think having another pair is a good idea and I plan to look for another pair of Chacos, or something similar.

With the shortages going on now, I would hope that it would bring production of clothing back to America.
 
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Setting up carbine with sling and picatinny rails. If you get a PC9 carbine with the floating hand guard become familiar with the M-LOK system for attachments. For the first time in a couple years we used one of our military grocery stores, they have loosened mask mandates. We really filled our larder with fish and meat taking advantage of sales. Just had a physical that went very well, first one in 10 or 15 years.
 
Finally got my new 5 shelf unit set up in my herb room/pantry. I think I bought it in Jan, been busy with other things...

While I was working in that room... I have 22 jars of vacuum sealed medicinal herbs to throw out, they've lost their potency with age. I'll refill them this growing season. Get them emptied here in a bit, then get them washed so they'll be ready. I have plenty of lids...

I need to wire a new 4 outlet in that corner also. The wire is run, ready to connect to an outlet and to a breaker. Currently I have to run an extension cord to power my dehydrators.

I need a little shelf unit to place on a larger shelf... I have dozens of tinctures in 1 & 2oz bottles. They take up to much horizontal space, time to go vertical.


Herbrm shelf.JPG
 

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