Preparations Update

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Heartbroken said:
Peanut you made me chuckle, I saw the containers and thought "oh, he's putting out geocaches" but then I read the post and they're actually match holders. I've seen them hundreds of times but they were always called bison tubes and were uses as caches.
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I usually see them in the camping section. Funny, got a buddy who also has german sheppards. He is always losing his house key but is too paranoid for a hide-a-key. I told him to put a key in a match tube, clip it to his dog's collar. No one would take it!! 🤣

Know nothing about the geo stuff... but i had thought they'd be handy for leaving clandestine messages, even submerged.
 
Just spent a romantic hour over a cuppa with husband looking up water filters/ canning water etc... he knows how to treat a gal 😂

Your thoughts on this please? I can't get it here, but when the relations are back over they will bring it. I'm not too worried about accessing water, and we know how to filter- it's more to hang this over the bath and have indoors.
https://www.amazon.com/Membrane-Sol...8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
 
Are you just wanting a shower with pure water? The one illustrated has a output thru the filter that is pretty low. I always look at the micron level of fitering...I also stock lots of coffee filters to prefilter.
I have used something like this on a sunny day, they work. Or a coupe of gallons heated over the wood stove.. some folks seem to like the garden sprayer set up as well.
https://www.amazon.com/DkOvn-Portab...9399&sprefix=solar+shower,aps,150&sr=8-6&th=1
 
I think if you're looking at having potable water availability, the first selection would work well. The bulk storage and the filter have you covered for both drinking and washing. My caution would be the weight, it might be too heavy to hang from the shower head or curtain rod or whatever. But if you get a good quality hook into a stud, it should be fine. (At first I thought wow, how would you even carry it; the picture made it look like a five gallon bucket which would be around forty pounds. But I looked up the metricness of it and it seems like that bag would only be around 13 pounds. Still more then I'd want to hand from the shower head.)
The second option would be better for actually taking a shower but I'm not sure I'd want to use it for drinking water storage, it seems like the camp showers leave a taste/odor in the water.
 
Yes it would just be for boiling/ cooking- they can wash outside in a barrel or I would rig up a camping shower in the polytunnel.
Hanging it not an issue- husband is a carpenter and if I remember correctly when he built the extension hanging something over the bath was considered in his fitting of joists.
Finding it hard to source decent price long lighters. They are on amazon as a pack of five, I thought great but they won't ship outside the mainland. Here it's only one in a pack and they are the same price. I'm going to visit my sister soon and I'll get some near her hopefully. I can get the ordinary ones no problem, but I want a few of these for lighting the gas oven.
1707387251072.png
 
Tootsie said:
Magpie, aren’t those refillable lighters? A small container of fuel might be available easier. Here they’re in hardware stores and at the checkout at Walmart by cigarette supplies.
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Thanks Tootsie! For some reason the few I have are not refillable - no idea why, but that's why I'm looking for new ones. But I'm not in the States :) no Walmart here
 
montanabill said:
Are you just wanting a shower with pure water? The one illustrated has a output thru the filter that is pretty low. I always look at the micron level of fitering...I also stock lots of coffee filters to prefilter.
I have used something like this on a sunny day, they work. Or a coupe of gallons heated over the wood stove.. some folks seem to like the garden sprayer set up as well.
https://www.amazon.com/DkOvn-Portab...9399&sprefix=solar+shower,aps,150&sr=8-6&th=1
Click to expand...
Used those when I was sailing. I used sea water to clean myself and rinsed with the warmed fresh water to remove the salt. I got about three showers per bag. I had two solar showers and would shower every three days. On the long crossings I'd shower every week. Fresh water was easy in port, not so much out of sight of land.
 
Magpie said:
Just spent a romantic hour over a cuppa with husband looking up water filters/ canning water etc... he knows how to treat a gal 😂

Your thoughts on this please? I can't get it here, but when the relations are back over they will bring it. I'm not too worried about accessing water, and we know how to filter- it's more to hang this over the bath and have indoors.
https://www.amazon.com/Membrane-Sol...8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
Click to expand...
I've not seen that brand but the LifeStraw is excellent. This brand is rated almost as well so it should do fine. I like the kit with the bag, I'd not seen that before. You could rig the bag as a shower but you would be happier if you had a solar shower for that.

You probably won't pack the water in the bag very far. Just fill the bag, drink what you wish, and fill all your canteens. If I was using the bag to haul water I would be crossing desert or other dry areas where every drop counted.
 
I decided to retire my old ‘British Berkefeld’ water filter, old company that’s been around for generations. I’m not sure who bought out who… but about 20yrs ago the ‘Big Berky’ appeared in american markets. Same products, different name. Berkefeld went away.

I had the cheap plastic model. It’s been a great filter but I noticed the plastic container started to feel stiff a few months ago. Eventually plastic will get brittle and crack. Only a matter of time so a new one was in order.

I bought an Italian made Berky knock off, stainless steel, same filters. It has a sight glass which is an improvement. The old filter weighed 23lb filled with water. So when it ran low I’d weigh the tank so I’d know how much water to add. I had a cheap water pitcher I marked in pounds so it was easy to top off the Berkefeld.

I assembled my new filter, running a tank of water now to clean it out before regular use. It’s a different size, holds about 6lbs less water. So I have to figure out where to mark the sight glass for pounds so I can check the glass and know how much water to add. If I get this right and I’ll never have to weigh the tank again… just check the glass then add the correct amount.

20240227_Berky_435sm.jpg
20240227_Berky_444sm.jpg
20240227_Berky_825sm.jpg


Old Berkefeld, it's been a good one!! Looks smaller but is actually bigger than the new stainless model.

20240227_Berky_826sm.jpg
 
Peanut said:
View attachment 125249

Old Berkefeld, it's been a good one!! Looks smaller but is actually bigger than the new stainless model.
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I have something like this that used to heat water in a restaurant. It was being thrown out as the element went. Husband rigged it a bit, and I use it for filtering honey now.
 
Today we tried some of our oldest beans, we have 25# of them from 2000 They were under the stairs and got over looked during food rotations. I don't care what they say they were not good enough to stay in our stores. I will be throwing them out 1 or 2 pounds at a time. I also ordered another 25 pounds of fresh beans to replace them with. At least now we have a new rule, beans are okay for 5 years or less, after that they become iffy.
 
UrbanHunter said:
Today we tried some of our oldest beans, we have 25# of them from 2000 They were under the stairs and got over looked during food rotations. I don't care what they say they were not good enough to stay in our stores. I will be throwing them out 1 or 2 pounds at a time. I also ordered another 25 pounds of fresh beans to replace them with. At least now we have a new rule, beans are okay for 5 years or less, after that they become iffy.
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Are they still viable as seed?

Ben
 
UrbanHunter said:
Today we tried some of our oldest beans, we have 25# of them from 2000 They were under the stairs and got over looked during food rotations. I don't care what they say they were not good enough to stay in our stores. I will be throwing them out 1 or 2 pounds at a time. I also ordered another 25 pounds of fresh beans to replace them with. At least now we have a new rule, beans are okay for 5 years or less, after that they become iffy.
Click to expand...
How were they packaged?

Store packaging or mylar with oxygen absorbers?
 
Hardcalibres said:
How were they packaged?

Store packaging or mylar with oxygen absorbers?
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They were purchased in the big cloth bags and promptly repackaged in plastic bags with oxygen absorbers, then stuffed into #10 cans and sealed using a dry pack canning machine. At the time we did a lot of them and we ate them regularly, no problems. But this box of 6 cans was sitting under something and was forgotten. I think that we paid less than $1/can at the time, back then it was a lot of money to us, it will cost about 10 times that to replace, but it's now more about having what we need and using our time wisely. The value of our time has grown much faster than the value of our money... I've already put together a plan to empty the old cans, refill them with brass and lead and keep those cans at the bottom of the boxes of beans - I'm thinking ammo cammo... :)
 
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Two things to consider for preps. Both from last evenings reading. First is to carry chalk. You can mark trails for yourself or as a message for others etc. It is not permanent and can be easily washed away. It stated that you can also write SOS on a big rock or such thing if lost. I just thought there were quite a few ways it could be useful.
Secondly is the pix below. Seems like I'd heard of this years ago but had completely forgotten. Anyhoo, here ya go.
IMG_6963.jpg
 
My replacement LTS Beans arrived today, I only went with about half of what we used to keep, the goal is to have just enough to cover 5 years of normal usage. That way I don't end up with 25 year old beans again.

It's not a "true" preparations thing, but I have been working on automating my growing station watering and making controls to utilize the maximum amount of power from my off-grid stand-by solar station. These things are force multipliers from my perspective.

I was going to buy a set a automated sprinkler, irrigation pump, and automatic valves for my garden, but my computer is having periodic crashes and I used my sprinkler money to buy a re-manufactured computer.
 
I hope tomorrow (the eclipse) is a big nothingburger. But, I wouldn't be surprised if TPTB use the day for a FF event. There's rumblings that some think it would be an opportune time for 'them' to use HARP to create some chaos.....as if this world isn't chaotic enough right now.:( There's also rumblings that it may usher in Jesus himself in the clouds. I guess we shall see soon enough.

I don't really think it's going to be much different than any other day, but I've gassed up the vehicles, filled the frig, and did a bunch of chores that require electicity (vacuuming, laundry, dishes, etc.) in case of a power outage secondary to a FF event. If nothing happens, then I have my chores done and I can relax.:)
 
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