What did you do today to prep?

[The Heretic]

Best use of maple trees ever. One of the tree weeds in the Northwest.

Especially around this time of year when the leaves drop. Maple trees also are homes to several types of beetles that are just bothersome in the fall. Stink bugs and ones that have bright red wings visible when you squash them. They gather on the southwest side of the house where the sun beats down.

Maple does burn well and have high heat content.

I have one, possibly more, maple tree that died this year, probably due to the heat and lack of rain. I may cut it down if it doesn't sprout leaves next year.

The maples do grow like a weed - many of them growing back after being cut off at the stump. Alders too - I had to spray one about 4 times to kill it. A lot of the maples in the clear cut grew back from the stump about 15 feet in a year. I had marked a few to be left alone, hoping that they would be this big tree like they were before the clear cut, but the falling of the conifers basically broke off the big limbs so now they are this tall tree with tiny new limbs growing out of them.

 

[CountryGent]

Odds and ends:

• Bought a book the covers the cultural aspects of the whole "zombie apocalypse" concept. No idea if it is good or not; we'll see.
• Acquired more canned goods as did wife in city.
• Reached out to a couple companies I'm waiting on pews and other things on.
• Handled FFL side business stuff.
• Against my better wishes, finally saw the doctor about what appears to be a rather painful rib injury recently sustained. Still hurts like a mofo, but at least I had an expert's view.
• Split a bunch of kindling.

 

[The Heretic]

Picked up another MICH helmet
Got some boxes of Tasty Bite Thai Ginger Curry at Costco. $6 for 8 of these meals per box - they had a pallet of them, so I got eight boxes. The nice thing about this kind of packaging is it can be stored in the shop and I don't have to worry about it freezing like I would for canned food.

 

[The Heretic]

You can never have too much ammo, water, food or firewood.



I have a feeling that this winter is going to be a cold one and I can't get to the two huge piles on the back acreage during the winter.

Selco's "diary"/etc. entries about firewood and keeping warm has motivated me. That and the fact that I need to get those logs cut up, split and stacked if I am going to get the property in shape for sale next year.

 

[The Heretic]

Today I am trying to inventory and reorganize some of the stuff that got packed into tote bins when I did "The Great Purge" this summer. Part of this is to know what I have in plenty already so I don't repeat what I did in the past; buy so much of something that it doesn't get used/rotated and then it spoils.

I found I have over 2 years worth of GERD meds, but since that is so crucial to my being able to sleep (without acid reflux) I will continue to get more when it is on sale at Costco (SIL needs it too). I suspect this would be a popular OTC med for barter if SHTF as a lot of people suffer from GERD as they get older.

The last couple of days I had been watching three episodes of "The food that built America" - some history about Hershey/Mars, Kellogs/Post, Birdseye, Coca-Cola & Heinz. Interesting shows - three episodes. Worth watching IMO (found it on Hulu, but I think it is the History Channel).

One thing of note that they kept mentioning was how in the not too distant past (late 1800s & early 1900s), there was very little to no packaged foods.

The safety issues aside (spoilage, adulteration, etc.), which were a big thing as food caused a lot of illnesses, there was some discussion about how much time was spent preparing meals - besides the issues of harvesting food, since most of the food one could buy was "raw", it took a lot of time and effort to prepare meals. Also, they said that most working class households spend 45% of their income on food.

Interesting fact; Heinz tomato ketchup came about because there was other "catchup" condiments used to cover the bad flavor of meat that was often spoiled, and that the "catchups" of the time had bad things in them.

 

[The Heretic]

Picked up another MICH helmet
Got some boxes of Tasty Bite Thai Ginger Curry at Costco. $6 for 8 of these meals per box - they had a pallet of them, so I got eight boxes. The nice thing about this kind of packaging is it can be stored in the shop and I don't have to worry about it freezing like I would for canned food.
View attachment 1067579

Also got a six pack of Indian food meals (ready to eat in retort pouches - but better heated) for $9.7 or ~1.6 per meal; Minute Khana (khana is Indian for "meal"):



Two veg Pulao (rice cooked in broth), 2 Dal Makhani (lentils), 2 Dilli style Chole (chickpeas in curry). This is a bit spicier than the Tasty Bites - a better taste IMO - but not so spicy that you feel it on your tongue/lips later.

I just tried the Chole and I liked it better, so I will probably get more of this too if it is still there in Costco. I hope Costco gets more of these kinds of meals as they make for a nice change if you like ethnic food. The price is right - I googled these meals and the prices others want for these is way higher.

Both these and Tasty Bites are ~10 oz per meal - and I would say that this with some rice would easily make two meals for an adult. Or the rice meal you could combine with one of the other meals (chickpeas, lentils, etc.) for 4 meals.

 

[Mono1]

I found I have over 2 years worth of GERD meds, but since that is so crucial to my being able to sleep (without acid reflux) I will continue to get more when it is on sale at Costco (SIL needs it too).

One thing you can do about Acid Reflux is put the rear legs of your bed up on a couple books so there is a Down Angle towards your feet. Just don't make it too steep or you wake up in a pile at the foot of your bed in the morning!

 

[Mono1]

Interesting fact; Heinz tomato ketchup came about because there was other "catchup" condiments used to cover the bad flavor of meat that was often spoiled

Another interesting fact: "Boneless Hams" were invented as a new "Feature", because of the fact that the meat went bad first around the bone. So they cut that part out!

 

[The Heretic]

One thing you can do about Acid Reflux is put the rear legs of your bed up on a couple books so there is a Down Angle towards your feet. Just don't make it too steep or you wake up in a pile at the foot of your bed in the morning!

I have sleep apnea and cannot sleep on my back

 

[Gunner3456]

I don't know who wrote this but I'll bet it works.

 

[The Heretic]

More splitting/stacking firewood

 

[Burt Gummer]

On Acid Reflux, I used to have it bad 4-5 years ago. Was from low stomach acid and my messed up diet.

 

[Pete F]

wrong forum

 

[MarlaSinger]

Traded ammo!

 

[The Heretic]

More cutting up logs .At this rate I am probably going to run out of room to stack the split rounds. The stacks are taller than I am. Not sure if I will start another row on the porch or not. I don't want to stack the firewood in the shop as I would have to move it yet again up to the house if I do, and that is a PITA.

 

[Mono1]

More cutting up logs .At this rate I am probably going to run out of room to stack the split rounds. The stacks are taller than I am. Not sure if I will start another row on the porch or not. I don't want to stack the firewood in the shop as I would have to move it yet again up to the house if I do, and that is a PITA.

Dude! You must be gettin' tired by now!

 

[The Heretic]

Dude! You must be gettin' tired by now!

Due to my back and heart/lung condition, I don't get much done each day.

I back the pickup out of the shop, park it near where I am doing the work and commence working. Bending over kills my back, but it is necessary to cut the logs into rounds - I can do that for 5-10 minutes then have to go sit down for at least 10 minutes, to give my back a break.

Then I repeat and rinse - then pickup the rounds and throw them in the back of the pickup - sometimes I split the rounds first. When it is full then I back the pickup up to the porch area, split the rounds and stack them in the covered porch. When it is raining I don't do anything outside - I hate rain. I should have done more work during the nice weather, but it was too warm much of the summer to do that kind of work in the sun. If it rains or gets dark or my back can't take it any more, I park the pickup back in the shop.

With all the breaks, I get maybe an hours worth of work done in a day - which is about a week's worth of firewood. Last week it rained a lot so I didn't get much split/stacked - maybe half a pickup load - today I mostly filled the pickup back up with rounds. This week the weather is supposed to mostly be nice, so I will probably have to stop when I run out of room.

I have about two cords on the covered porch now and soon I will run out of room. I have at least another chord or two in logs to cut up. I think when I run out of room I will stop and waiting until I burn the wood to get more room. Last year I ran out about halfway thru the winter, but I had about 1-1.5 cords stacked up. It has not turned cold yet, and I am storing more than I am burning.

I might make room in the shop for the big truck and fill it up with wood then move it into the shop. Or maybe I will cover it with a tarp. It is an 8x12 flatbed with about 18" sides on it, so it can hold a little over a cord of wood if it is stacked neatly.

 

[MarlaSinger]

I did this because we all gave bad backs too. After a cord and a broken tooth! Tg not mine! I rented a 25ton wood splitter for cheap! 2 tanks if gas and 6-7 hrs later we have 3-4 cords of split wood! Let me know if youd like help!

 

[MarlaSinger]

My current issue is my water supply. I only have a month if that for four ppl. I need to create s better inventory of food for roation and supply. I need new ammo because i bought more guns! Lol I have wood for 2 years because I started in April this year and sourced it all myself. My next steps are to buy water bladders that have filtration and too buy bug out bags for the bug out stuffs! Lol I could also use another trip sensor or camera on property and I definitely need a stock of batteries:/

 

[The Heretic]

I did this because we all gave bad backs too. After a cord and a broken tooth! Tg not mine! I rented a 25ton wood splitter for cheap! 2 tanks if gas and 6-7 hrs later we have 3-4 cords of split wood! Let me know if youd like help!

My kids come up and help occasionally.

It isn't so much the splitting as it is the bending over and lifting. Bend over to put the log over onto a jack, bend over to cut, bend over pick up the round to put it on another and split it, bend over to pick up the wood and load it or to stack it.

Having a hydraulic splitter doesn't help much - although there are a few pieces that are stubborn - maybe one out a couple hundred. The worst are the hardwood rounds that are 3'+ in diameter.