Preparations Update

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Texted my sister to check on her. She has COVID.
Got my car out of the shop.
Waited for Ruby to get here.
Met Ruby.
Cleaned and oiled Ruby.
I'm trying to get Ruby's belt on her.
Yall meet Ruby. DOB 6-10-1910 She belonged to my great grandma!
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Texted my sister to check on her. She has COVID.
Got my car out of the shop.
Waited for Ruby to get here.
Met Ruby.
Cleaned and oiled Ruby.
I'm trying to get Ruby's belt on her.
Yall meet Ruby. DOB 6-10-1910 She belonged to my great grandma!View attachment 92405View attachment 92406View attachment 92407View attachment 92408
My aunt has several of those, she used to sew professionally. the best place to get belts is an industrial supply store, and since we have a humongus textile industry that still uses variants, needles as well!
 
I don't know it ended up here but well...it can be LOL. I've always said part of prepping is knowing how to sew when the grid is down.
A treadle is a great prep. I've had mine for probably 40 years.
 
just anothert little thing - flies

i use some fly tape strips in my house and garage, not perfect but something. a few days ago i heard a homestead channel, the guy said his elderly neighbor who had a homestead farm told him a tip about getting rid of flies. he gets the tree shaped air freshener in Vanilla. said flies hate it and stay away. he [puts them on his door screens to keep flies away from his doors when the open and close, hangs them on his porch and in garage.

so i got some and hung a few up, one very close to back door to deck, and then one above the door to my room.

working pretty darn good so far.
its good to have some bug spray too but this is a nice easy way to keep flies away. when you open them they so smell heavy of vanilla but it mellows a bit after a few days tho you can still really smell it when you walk by. here is link to brand the old guy use s and is the one i tried.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FG4C6W?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
 
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For me, prepping includes being ready for the long winter ahead each year. That is fresh snow that is working it’s way down the mountain towards me.

I had my heating oil delivered today, a bit late in the season for my comfort, but I’ve been traveling. Only 150 gallons this year. I have been working on fixing insulation issues each year and I have taken my fuel usage from about 210 gallons a year down to 150. My primary heating is wood, and I burn about 6-7 chords each winter. This is all set.

Winter? Bring it!
 
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I just brought a 6 litre stainless steel stove top pressure cooker and a stainless steel fry pan from Ikea.
Stove top pressure cookers, just like instant pots, reduce the amount of time and fuel you need to use to cook food esp things like beans and stews.
When the pressure cooker is used in conjunction with an insulated hay box you cut the fuel usage down even further.

I chose stainless steel for both because non-stick coatings cause cancer and both will stand up to being used on wood heat without rusting like cast iron.
 
Picked up a second freezer over the weekend, and started stocking it up. We’re lucky that we have plenty of local ranchers, so while the meat is pricey, we know it’s well-cared for on the hoof and wing, and not from China. (And it’s delicious.)

We’ll be stocking it up for the next few months as best we can. Already made and froze some enchilada sauce to go in there too.
 
We have been using this product for some time, and we really like it. I don't know why it never occurred to me to add it to my BOB. There are six packets in the container, and each packet will make two quarts. The packets are pretty sturdy, and would travel well. I would put some in an empty water bottle, so I don't need the original container.

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We have been using this product for some time, and we really like it. I don't know why it never occurred to me to add it to my BOB. There are six packets in the container, and each packet will make two quarts. The packets are pretty sturdy, and would travel well. I would put some in an empty water bottle, so I don't need the original container.

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We keep those on hand. Our well water Is very mineral and electrolyte enriched, it tastes really good on its own, but nice to add a little flavor once in a while!
 
We have a little problem with her tension but guys guess what...RUBY IS RUNNING AGAIN!
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Did you already resolve this? If not PM me - I'm not a pro, but have certainly spent my fair share of time "playing" with them. Don't forget the bobbin tension is 1/2 of the equation.
 
I didn't know where the devil to put this but almost everything I do these days is about survival so I put it here as a catch all.

Pension day today and so more preps were brought.
As always my cancer supplies have the priority and then the dog and then everything else.
From a on-line specialist sup supplier I brought-
2 120 count bottles of mega dose liposomal Vit C.
2 120 count bottles of Quercetin.
They had completely run out of DIM..which has me worried.
From another online supplier I brought 2 120 count bottles of 10mg bioperine.
2 60 count bottles of mega dose milk thistle caps.
1 200 count tub of 2000mg fish oil caps.

For the dog 1 100 count bottle of internal wormer cost $89 plus $9 for postage.
This was the cheapest I could find and trust me it was extremely hard to find so when I did I brought it.
Animal and human OTC medicines are getting extremely hard to find and when you do they are stupid expensive.

The company that makes the 100% stevia sweetener that I use in my tea has put out a range of stevia brown sugar, icecream toppings, jams and cordial and a stevia sweetened version of Nutella.
I brought some of these to try.
The stevia brown sugar is extremely strong and tastes a little like caramel.
I wasn't expecting it and one sip of my tea had me wincing.
Plain stevia is not very nice so I'm going to try cutting the plain stevia with the brown sugar stevia and see if I can come up with a happy medium.
The brown sugar stevia is more expensive than the plain stevia so this will make it stretch further.

More troubles with the car so I stocked up on more injector cleaner fuel additive.
I was determined to buy an articulated socket head ( or some other type of tool) so I can finally remove the old MAP sensor and install the new one I've had sitting in my cupboard for the last 6 months. (I'm pretty sure it's in the cupboard. I really hope I can still find it. It's an extremely expensive part!)
No luck finding the right tool BUT a lovely sales assistant at one of the auto parts shops in town went out to the
parking lot and actually looked at the problem and then used his own tools to loosen the bolts of the MAP sensor
and then re tightened them to a little past finger tight so they wouldn't work loose on the trip home.
He didn't ask for any payment for this service and wouldn't accept any!
I'm beyond happy because the car is having major issues not only with stalling to a shuddering halt while under load from a cold start but with lack of power when under load when warmed up - like driving up a big long hill, which hasn't happened before.
 
We have been working on a years worth of dog food. Since they only eat one thing it seemed there was no reason not to have plenty. We are about halfway there and it went up about 12%. Oh well I guess we are just happy we got what we got at the cheaper price.
 
I've been looking at near term growing solutions. I need to make a green-walkout similar to what @Neb is doing, I have a low covered walkout basement and the covered roof area is 8'X10' so I am thinking of making an 8' by 9' enclosed green space for growing vegetables in the winter, my indoor garden is working well enough but it needs power and if the grid goes down I would rather use my solar/batteries for medical equipment, cooking, and light.

In the outdoor garden I need to increase my water storage, I have found 60 gallon rain barrels for $98@, it is more than I wanted to pay but I can afford enough to 240 gallons, or 4 days of watering the garden. That should be just enough to keep the garden off city water next year. Working on identifying the funds and getting the "bosses" approval before ordering....

I got an extra carb for my generator, the old one works, but I have had trouble with the jets fouling due to the ethanol in the gas.

I expect to get an LiFePo4 battery delivered any day now, it will be used for temporary indoor power backups, I have the charger, inverter, and transfer switch ready to make my little 2,400 watt-hr system... It wasn't cheep but I was able to buy it one part at a time and the total came in at $1150 and is about the size of a 48 qt ice chest. I've been working on this for 3 years and that high dollar battery was the last thing on my list.

We did get a shipment of canned flour and sugar, but the delivery guy set it in the driveway in the rain, now I am trying to dry out the boxes before the cans rust.. The UPS guy could have taken 8 more steps and put it on the covered area at the door, but I guess he didn't want to carry 8 cased that far... :(
 
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I like your plans. I need to seriously consider doing the same.
For rain barrels, have you considered empties from the car wash? The soap rinses out well enough, and they’re free or cheap, like $15. Maybe not for drinking, but other uses, yes.
No I had not, but it is worth a try.... $20 bucks would be better and eventually the bubbles would clear.. :)
 
This not not a true "preparations update" but a plan that is underway. Usually at the start of hunting season I am faced with the age old question, where are you going to put your meat? For some reason our freezers are almost always full. I have between 25 and 50#s of meat left from last year, my plan is come Labor Day to CAN all my frozen meat from last year and open up the freezer space. That way I have room for the fresh and don't lose anything...
 
This not not a true "preparations update" but a plan that is underway. Usually at the start of hunting season I am faced with the age old question, where are you going to put your meat? For some reason our freezers are almost always full. I have between 25 and 50#s of meat left from last year, my plan is come Labor Day to CAN all my frozen meat from last year and open up the freezer space. That way I have room for the fresh and don't lose anything...

My sister has that same issue. They took a little different tack. They bought a second freezer. In fact, I believe my nephew (her son) has his own freezer as well. MY BIL, niece and nephew are all avid hunters. This year they were all drawn for Elk, and they are usually very successful. I don't know what they will do if they all get one. :dunno:
I guess it will be a nice problem to have.
 
My sister has that same issue. They took a little different tack. They bought a second freezer. In fact, I believe my nephew (her son) has his own freezer as well. MY BIL, niece and nephew are all avid hunters. This year they were all drawn for Elk, and they are usually very successful. I don't know what they will do if they all get one. :dunno:
I guess it will be a nice problem to have.
Buy another freezer?

Ben
 
Buy another freezer?

Ben
Well, they had the money and the room in the garage. Probably wouldn't have been my choice, but who am I to judge.
 
This not not a true "preparations update" but a plan that is underway. Usually at the start of hunting season I am faced with the age old question, where are you going to put your meat? For some reason our freezers are almost always full. I have between 25 and 50#s of meat left from last year, my plan is come Labor Day to CAN all my frozen meat from last year and open up the freezer space. That way I have room for the fresh and don't lose anything...

We have 2 large deep freezers totalling 37.5 cubic feet and they are jammed to the gills. One for the harvest and one just for meat, fish, poultry and food I have already prepared for us (like I make 5 meat loaves rather than 1 at a time; and 2 lasagnas; you get the picture).
But I like the idea of canning up all the pork, chicken and any roasts I find.
Not the steaks. We have the largest shelf reserved for filet and porterhouse (my jaw is no good so cannot eat sirloin or tip type steaks). Never drop below 50 lbs. But it would be good to can up the other stuff. Thanks for the idea.
 
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