Preparations Update

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Well we got the metal for the roof and sides this morning. Left at 5 am and got back about 9:30. Its a drive. Something interesting I saw, every farm we went past is growing corn. there was an occassional soybean field but it was all corn in Pa.
So glad we sold all those army trucks and motorcycles. They are making this possible
 
I went for an extra long drive to a bulk food place yesterday. I had ordered over 2 months ago, and they kept saying it had arrived but then disappeared. By chance the regional manager was in the store the day before yesterday and answered the phone. I explained the problem and he said he would call back in half an hour. He actually did.

My order had come in several times, but the worker bees kept selling it off. He promised he would have my order put together by 3pm yesterday. I arrived and there were 4 carts stacked to the ceiling and about 6 rolls of duct tape must have been used to tape every thing together like a mummy.

A note was taped to the whole lot stating that whomsoever cut the tape other then for said customer, would find themselves taped to an empty cart the same way with no toilet breaks.

It was obviously meant to be humorous and a message to me that his word was good for something. I was gifted with a 25 lb bag of pot barley for my troubles; apology accepted.
 
Got scheduled for next week to get wife tires for her car and a set for my Daily driver. Both were due before winter. I figured better do it for cost go higher
That's a really good idea. My tires are good for this summer, but when I put the studs on for winter was going to get new tires. Might just get them and have them for when that day arrives.
I went for an extra long drive to a bulk food place yesterday. I had ordered over 2 months ago, and they kept saying it had arrived but then disappeared. By chance the regional manager was in the store the day before yesterday and answered the phone. I explained the problem and he said he would call back in half an hour. He actually did.

My order had come in several times, but the worker bees kept selling it off. He promised he would have my order put together by 3pm yesterday. I arrived and there were 4 carts stacked to the ceiling and about 6 rolls of duct tape must have been used to tape every thing together like a mummy.

A note was taped to the whole lot stating that whomsoever cut the tape other then for said customer, would find themselves taped to an empty cart the same way with no toilet breaks.

It was obviously meant to be humorous and a message to me that his word was good for something. I was gifted with a 25 lb bag of pot barley for my troubles; apology accepted.
Awesome! Isn't it refreshing when someone keeps their word?
 
Yes it is, and it's also very refreshing when a mistake is made and someone takes care of it without an attitude. It means that I too can be graceful about the situation and don't have to give up what is usually a good place to do business with. It's not like I have a lot of choices in that department.

My philosophy is that.... mistakes are a fact of life, but it is what you do about them that counts.
 
Has anybody used one of these Ball Fermentation Jar Lids? I saw this the other day when I was placing my Walmart order and scooped it up because it looks like it could be really handy. I found a video of a woman making kraut with one of these. If you want to skip some of the chit chat, just start it at 2:30 where she's cutting up her cabbage. I'm putting a couple of heads of cabbage on my next shopping list to give this a try.

When I looked at the comments, I noticed someone said it was good for sourdough starter, too.

Ball Jar Wide Mouth Fermentation Lids, Mason Jar Lids | Stainless Steel Spring Fermentation Weights - Walmart.com - Walmart.com

Beginner method fermented cabbage using Ball fermentation kit! - YouTube
 
I think some one is reading prepper lists and is buying up stuff for scalping later. Suddenly there are no 5 gallon buckets or lids. (even the spare lids are gone) All the stores say the same guy bought them all. Over 300. This has happened before with other items and then they show up on kijji at super inflated prices.
 
Last week there were plenty of buckets everywhere. This week I need buckets for my bulk order and someone has cleaned house.

I am pretty sure they are trying something funny with canning jars again. What lids there are, do not have the sizes printed on the boxes and the new ones are just a hair too small. Lots of cheaply made jars of the new size, regular mouth only. If they wanted to make just one size, they should have gone with wide mouth.

To get more use out of old lids, use rubber rings and treat them like tatlers. I was able to get rubber rings without a problem.
 
Last week there were plenty of buckets everywhere. This week I need buckets for my bulk order and someone has cleaned house.

I am pretty sure they are trying something funny with canning jars again. What lids there are, do not have the sizes printed on the boxes and the new ones are just a hair too small. Lots of cheaply made jars of the new size, regular mouth only. If they wanted to make just one size, they should have gone with wide mouth.

To get more use out of old lids, use rubber rings and treat them like tatlers. I was able to get rubber rings without a problem.
Try going to the bakery/donut shop - they get oil etc in 5 gal. buckets and often have them for sale. Hoarder guy might not have thought of that.
 
This year I bought buckets and lids at HD and Lows, I got 5 and 3 gallon buckets, so I guess I got lucky cause I have just what I need. This morning I picked up some extra pasta, noticed the price went up a lot so I only go a dozen boxes.

This weekend the wife made her first pot of Anasazi Beans, they were quite mild and pleasant. A few years back my uncle worked for UC Davis in their Ag department (field test station) and someone from the archaeology department brought him some beans that were found at a dig (I think in Central or South America) in mason jugs. He was told that based on the jars and the dig site the beans were several hundred years old, he was able to get some of them the germinate and grow, he was able to identify the plants and return the person 5 times a many beans as he had been given.... I figure that they were a bean that we needed to add to our list of "long term stable" foods.......
 
Made a grocery run this morning. Local store had some good buys so I stocked up.
Added 10 cans of tuna ( $1 each)
They had their store brand of dried beans on sale.
10lbs of black beans (76 cents lb)
10lbs of garbanzo beans (76 cents lb)
10lbs of blackeye peas (76 cents lb)
They had red/yellow/orange sweet peppers for 88 cents each so I bought 12 of different colors to freeze.
Also added another canister of raisins ( I'll vacuum seal them to make them last longer)
Blueberries were 4/$5 so I bought 4 pints to freeze
Raspberries ( so expensive here) was on special $2 off so I bought a 12oz container to freeze. (still paid $3.99 for them *yikes*)


Prices are high here on a normal basis but I can see things are getting higher. If it gets too bad I won't be buying a lot of things like normal and will have to find cheaper go arounds ( like tomato juice instead of orange juice,etc)
 
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Received the genie conversion kits.
Placed order for 10 months of dog meds.
Placed order for 2 more big bags of specialty dog food.
Placed order for several more jars of electrolyte mix.
......should receive all orders by the end of the week.....
Organized some stuff in the barn, but still have a way to go.
Got a list ready for another store run this week.
Sometime this week when the truck is empty, will top off the fuel cans.

It seems every day there are more 'covid' restrictions. I feel another moronic lockdown is in our near future along with potential jab requirements. I also am fearful of a widespread internet disruption. Typically that wouldn't bother me a lot, but that's why I'm placing my internet orders now. If it goes out now, I won't be happy, but it won't really disrupt much in my life, since I am expecting it to happen. I'm going to check on some deals on meat (chicken and pork) while I'm out and about. We've been eating quite a bit out of the freezer b/c we don't eat out in the summertime. We may consider getting either a half pig or half cow.....or maybe both....although, I don't think I have that much room in the freezer to spare. We need to take a closer look at things in the freezer this week and make a decision on that.
 
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Got the fire suppression system working on my shop. Three rooftop rainbirds hooked up to my gas powered water system. Pretty nice actually. Its like a localized rain shower (something we haven't had any of for months) I find myself just running it to cool the homstead down.
 
Got the fire suppression system working on my shop. Three rooftop rainbirds hooked up to my gas powered water system. Pretty nice actually. Its like a localized rain shower (something we haven't had any of for months) I find myself just running it to cool the homstead down.
I've always thought that was a great way to have "air conditioning". And you could actually collect the water off the roof if need be in order to reuse it.

I dealt with 25# of rolled oats this evening before fixing supper. The sole purpose of these is if SHTF, Hubby will not be without oatmeal monsters (cookies) - 😂 Had to go get more half gal. jars. There was a limit 6 on cases of jars, but they had pallets of them so ??? Weird. Still no lids to be had.
 
Did a ton of shopping today at the cheap stores...Dollar Tree and Aldi. Filled up both carts as high as possible. Have about half of it put away.
Are you running out of places to put it?
Only asking because I've mentioned before that I don't like things under beds. Spare room under bed is full and had to resort to spare room closet :rolleyes:
 
Did a ton of shopping today at the cheap stores...Dollar Tree and Aldi. Filled up both carts as high as possible. Have about half of it put away.
Received the genie conversion kits.
Placed order for 10 months of dog meds.
Placed order for 2 more big bags of specialty dog food.
Placed order for several more jars of electrolyte mix.
......should receive all orders by the end of the week.....
Organized some stuff in the barn, but still have a way to go.
Got a list ready for another store run this week.
Sometime this week when the truck is empty, will top off the fuel cans.

It seems every day there are more 'covid' restrictions. I feel another moronic lockdown is in our near future along with potential jab requirements. I also am fearful of a widespread internet disruption. Typically that wouldn't bother me a lot, but that's why I'm placing my internet orders now. If it goes out now, I won't be happy, but it won't really disrupt much in my life, since I am expecting it to happen. I'm going to check on some deals on meat (chicken and pork) while I'm out and about. We've been eating quite a bit out of the freezer b/c we don't eat out in the summertime. We may consider getting either a half pig or half cow.....or maybe both....although, I don't think I have that much room in the freezer to spare. We need to take a closer look at things in the freezer this week and make a decision on that.
I feel A game of freezer Tetris is in your near future.
 
Ordered 5lbs of dried apricots and 2lbs of a trail mix I want to try ( I add it to my oatmeal in the colder months)

Could you tell me where you ordered your apricots from? I'm looking at getting apricots, chopped dates with rice flour, banana chips and chopped apples. I'm comparing prices at Bulk Foods and Country Life Natural Foods. Prices look similar except the chopped applies are about 50% higher at Bulk Foods and the shipping is higher at Country Life.
 
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