Preparations Update

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Winter is a good time to forge knives, hoes, axes and garden tools.
I am in the process of making a dagger (wall hanger not for use as a knife). I am also making small pulleys to complete my annealing machine.
The pressing project is replacing the siding and waist boards on the house so we can paint it in the spring. I removed the gazebo that covered the patio and will replace the patio with concrete after the house is painted. My wife has agreed to green tinted concrete.
 
musketjim said:
The good guys aren't coming
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No_One_Is_Coming_Patche_1800x.jpg
 
I brought a in-line, water proof, 60 amp blade fuse holder and spare fuse off ebay ( with free shipping) for my solar power build.

Next pension, now that I have a bit more money freed up, I'll be looking at a cable crimper/ strippers, connectors and battery cables and clamps.

I need to really stock up on rice because of the massive typhoon that hit the Philippine's major rice growing region and wiped out their crops completely.
Not to mention that the drought that is destroying Australia's agriculture has moved north into PNG and Indonesia destroying their crops as well.
World wide stocks of rice are going to be hit and the price is going to go through the roof.
 
A friend harvested their apples today and made apple juice. I went over and picked up 10 gallons of apple pulp and started a batch of apple cider vinegar. I should be set for vinegar for the next year
 
Caribou said:
The tile for the heat shield finally arrived. We'll get that installed, then the chimney in and our wood stove will be set for the winter. I'm doing some research on coal locally as I'm not too interested in splitting wood.
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You're pretty lucky down there, up here in our borough they've been slapping fines on people for burning wood when they aren't supposed to. They have borough employees driving around taking pictures of peoples houses to see if there's smoke coming out of their chimneys. Coal burners have almost been eliminated up here. They say it's to improve air quality which me know is a crock. It's actually to get people hooked up to the proposed natural gas coming in someday. All of which is controlled by the utility which the borough assembly formed out of thin air which then bought out the local NG company. Enjoy your house heating freedoms while you have them my friend and keep a close eye on what your councils or assemblies are proposing.
 
Local discount store had golden harvest jar lids for 98 cents. we bought 36 at our store since I had to go to town this morning anyway. Hubby is going to check at the one in the city where he works. The lady over charged my daughter. So when we got home I looked at the sale paper and called back. The manager there can't figure in her head that it didn't sound right. I told her it's in the paper reg.1.50 is on sale for 98 cents. Now what part of that can't you figure? I told her I was bringing them back. she charged 1.20. She called just before we left and apologized and said she would make it good. Had 1.20 been the sale proce I would have still bought them.
 
timmie said:
Local discount store had golden harvest jar lids for 98 cents. we bought 36 at our store since I had to go to town this morning anyway. Hubby is going to check at the one in the city where he works. The lady over charged my daughter. So when we got home I looked at the sale paper and called back. The manager there can't figure in her head that it didn't sound right. I told her it's in the paper reg.1.50 is on sale for 98 cents. Now what part of that can't you figure? I told her I was bringing them back. she charged 1.20. She called just before we left and apologized and said she would make it good. Had 1.20 been the sale proce I would have still bought them.
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We got all set up to can and realized we didn't have any lids. Next time we see them on sale we need to buy a good supply.
 
Well I learnt a lesson, I have my GHB with me, but the lesson I just learned is to make sure it is complete. I was temporarily moved into a new truck because mine is getting fixed. Well some of my stuff is still in the trunk getting fixed. I was under the thinking that if shtf I would just put it in my bag, well that's a opps on my part. I hope nothing happens untill after I get home.
 
I just got half a dozen flashlights with re-chargeable batteries. This is my third order and a few of them were given away last Christmas. I'm in the process of re-charging all my old ones as this is an every month or two maintenance item. One for each of us, in each vehicle, the emergency kit, and scattered around the house in convenient spots. Oh yea, now a few spares as there always seem to be more places that require a light.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074V77QFR/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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Caribou said:
I just got half a dozen flashlights with re-chargeable batteries. This is my third order and a few of them were given away last Christmas. I'm in the process of re-charging all my old ones as this is an every month or two maintenance item. One for each of us, in each vehicle, the emergency kit, and scattered around the house in convenient spots. Oh yea, now a few spares as there always seem to be more places that require a light.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074V77QFR/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
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Interesting. I have one of them that I keep in my car. I was thinking of buying some for Christmas gifts this year. Mine is about 5 years old and is always charged no leaky batteries.
 
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A family at the fair didn't want to deal with butchering their 6 turkeys so they gave them to us. That's about 160 lbs of Turkey for the freezer for free.

Just have to figure out where to put it since we have a pig and 25 chickens moving to the freezer at the same time.
 
We have a "ditch" that is usually dry in the summer and winter. Local Box store had retaining wall blocks on sale plus %13 off. Stacked the blocks and back fill with some free dirt. Wife is pleased I dressed up the ditch. Unknown to the wife its secondary use is as an excellent fire position/OP for TEOTWAWKI. Third purpose, dam the narrows for back up to the backup water supply.

ditch.JPG
 
Posts cemented in and rails added to fence to extend it at BOL. New solar panel and 2nd system wired in. Busted a lot of brush and split a lot of wood over the final 2 trips of the season. Boat is getting winterized and next 8 months of trips will be on foot most of the time for arctic training. A couple will include our tracked vehicle so wife and grandkids can go I over Thanksgiving and Christmas.
 
Today I'm buying another battery and battery leads for the solar system build.

Yesterday I rolled out the cables that are going to run from the solar panels to the batteries.
Climbing under the house is always interesting.
I live in an old collage and there are gaps in the floor boards along some of the walls.
It's an easy enough job to ease the carpet way and use a drill with a large bit to discreetly
widen the gap in one spot to feed the cables through.

I need to get this built and have the bugs ironed out because time is running out quickly.
 
My battery finally showed up!

Now I can get down to the business of building my system.
I've also had to rethink where I'm situating the panels.

I've been watching the shadow fall of a nearby tree and the spot I picked for the panels is shaded
for part of the day.
The ideal spot would be the front yard but putting it there would be handing a huge neon blinking sign over it
saying "Please steal me".
The leads I brought for the build are only 15 meters long so I'm kinda stuck.
Looks like I'm chopping a tree down..or at least giving it a buzz cut.
 
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