Preparations Update

[Sewingcreations15]

@LadyLocust all you need to use is low or no phosphate cleaning/personal care products and it is fine for the grey water system and for watering fruit and berry trees with. The trees thrive just with the grey water we have found. You just don't use things like bleach or excess ammonia as it kills the good bacteria in the grey water tanks.

Obviously the water from the kitchen sink and toilets go to a septic tank as they are considered black water and not suitable for gardens and trees.

 

[SouthCentralUS]

Someone brought me 100 - yes one hundred square food grade buckets with lids yesterday. They contained pureed ginger and still have residue. Guess what I am doing today? No more buying totes or any other kind of container for me.

 

[CountryGuy]

I've had to change my prepping purchase plans slightly in the face of a new situation.

I finally found 60 cm flight cages on ebay for a reasonable price and I had to move quickly if I wanted them.
I managed to purchase 8.
The flight cages once the perches are taken out make the perfect indoor guinea pig cages as they have extremely good air flow,
have a mesh floor and a plastic slide out tray to catch the droppings.
With this revolting heat I have lost one of my females to heat stroke so I've had to move them inside into tubs
which isn't ideal.

Tank-Girl,
I'm newer around here so please excuse my ignorance but are your GP for food or for pets? I've heard places in South America consider them a delicacy and I know when my kids had a few as pets they grow out fast. I've thought about rabbits or quail to add for a protein but not about GP. So if they're for eating I'm curious on why you went with them versus rabbits.

 

[Tank-Girl]

Tank-Girl,
I'm newer around here so please excuse my ignorance but are your GP for food or for pets? I've heard places in South America consider them a delicacy and I know when my kids had a few as pets they grow out fast. I've thought about rabbits or quail to add for a protein but not about GP. So if they're for eating I'm curious on why you went with them versus rabbits.

In my state they are a declared noxious pest and it's illegal to keep as pets and attract a $80 000.00 fine per animal if you are caught.
GPs are a recognized domestic pet and are ok to keep.
There is a small but growing movement here in Australia towards gp as food because of the amount of rabbits keepers in the Southern States losing their animals due to the introduced Calicivirus and Myxomatosis.

 

[Sentry18]

So I was in the man cave this morning sorting through some preps and marking a shelf full of boxes that I was only mostly sure what was in them. As expected two boxes were full of cyalume light sticks, one box was full of LED flashlights, one box was full of strike-anywhere and water proof matches, and one box was full of long burning candles. But then I came to two boxes, one large and one smaller, that I was not sure about. The smaller box turned out to be from a "tactical" subscription service I had received for a year and didn't open; it contained a ton of stuff (handgun holster, folding knife, AR-15 grip, AR-15 trigger guard, clip on LED light, polymer ERGO tool, and shotgun shell holder). The larger box turned out to be full of new 30 round AR-15 magazines, 20 PMAGS and 20 Amend2 mags. Which, had I know that, would have probably stopped me from buying 40 AR-15 magazines this past fall. Although ironically I also bought 20 PMAGS and 20 Amend2 mags.

 

[angie_nrs]

Nice find! Christmas in January for Sentry.

 

[Tank-Girl]

FED states they will start dialing back REPO injections sometime during the second quarter.
Or will they.
They stated they'd be done with REPO injections before Christmas.
Do they really mean it this time.
If they do actually turn down the tap let alone off completely the markets will behave like a junkie denighed his fix and they'll fall. How far is anyone's guess.
It's an unwinnable, damned if they do - damned if they don't situation.

We've got till April to get squared away and then wait.

Maybe Zoltan can pen another opinion piece to make the FED act as they were supposed to like he did just before Christmas which stopped the FX markets from collapsing.
It's a huge strech to ask for another white Knight gesture from Zoltan but this what we're reduced to.

Sad.

 

[Tank-Girl]

If you need backups for your electronics buy them now.

With the virus spreading it undermines and disrupts supply chains from overseas.
With shortening supply prices are going to sky rocket.

Once again finding myself having to adapt to changing circumstances.

I'm buying a refurbished laptop as a backup while I can still afford it.

Remember, 1 is none when it comes to prepper math.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Topped up on 5 litres of fuel preservative and saved a whopping $35.75 or $7.15 a litre by buying it in a larger container and taking advantage of an eBay online 15% promotional savings code.

Good on you @Tank-Girl might get another spare toaster and kettle for the storage room for when these clag it. We have one spare laptop besides the one we are using each. Fortunately I purchased all the mechanical yard things we needed before all this hit and yes most was made in China as most of them are.

 

[CountryGuy]

If you need backups for your electronics buy them now.

With the virus spreading it undermines and disrupts supply chains from overseas.
With shortening supply prices are going to sky rocket.

Once again finding myself having to adapt to changing circumstances.

I'm buying a refurbished laptop as a backup while I can still afford it.

Remember, 1 is none when it comes to prepper math.

An excellent investment is a portable hard drive. Just took a quick look and you can get a 1 to 2 TB drive for $45-60. When I bought my 1/2 TB drive several years ago I think it was like $150. So think I need to pick up an additional one or 2 for that price to have back ups to my backups.

 

[Tank-Girl]

Brought a new to me refurbished laptop and a hard drive enclosure for the internal hard drive of my old dead laptop.
A hard drive enclosure allows you to turn an internal hard drive into a external hard drive and allows you to have access to the data you have stored there.

I brought 4 packets of Polish Giant determinate roma tomato seeds.
While I liked the Roma VF the size of the fruit was a bit small.
Polish giant is triple the size.

I have a fifty dollars for groceries for the fortnight which is completely doable.

 

[LadyLocust]

@Tank-Girl Please let us know on the onion varieties. Around here, everyone likes Walla Walla Sweets. I don't. I think they are hot and have an acrid flavor. I've tried growing Italian flats in the past which I love, but didn't have good luck with them. Last year, I got a bag of small purples - what the voles left me were good.

 

[Amish Heart]

I love small purples

 

[Tank-Girl]

Yay. My new to me refurbished laptop was delivered and the postie brought my tomato seeds.

Just waiting on my hard drive enclosure.

I checked my mason jar supplier's website and they are all out of regular mouth pint jars and regular lids.
That's a bit frightening.
I need more jars and lids.

@LadyLocust I have no idea about onions or varieties. I just looked up which varieties coped with conditions in my climate zone and went from there.
I haven't grown onions before so I'm clueless.

 

[Bacpacker]

Take a look at this website. Look up the growing tips section. There method works!

www.dixondaleonios.com

I've been buying my sets from them for 5 years now.

 

[angie_nrs]

Take a look at this website. Look up the growing tips section. There method works!

www.dixondaleonios.com

I've been buying my sets from them for 5 years now.

I get a "this site can't be reached" window

 

[LadyLocust]

I get a "this site can't be reached" window

Thanks @Bacpacker I found it.
https://www.dixondalefarms.com/

So @Tank-Girl you're say it's the blind leading the blind?

 

[Bacpacker]

I get a "this site can't be reached" window

Sorry about that.

 

[Tank-Girl]

Well, it's been an interesting few days with the new refurbished laptop computer.
Been on the phone twice with their support staff about issues and they are now sending me a new battery free of charge for the battery and the shipping.

My hard drive enclosure arrived and it was the work of mere mins to take it out of the dead laptop and install it into the enclosure, and plug it into the new laptop and have access to the lost files. Awesome. Something that worked as it should the first time.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Bought 126 metres of pvc stormwater pipe, drainage pits, elbows, grates and so on to mitigate flooding on our property to run the flood water to the creek yesterday. We have dug a 130 metre rainwater ditch so the floodwater from the rain is draining into the creek and our back patio and yard although sodden is relatively dry now. Now to wait for the yard to dry a bit and install it and dig the drainage pit deeper to do that.

Put in an online order for groceries last night using a good promo code and stocked up on more tinned food.

 

[Sentry18]

So not too long ago we find out that one of the ambulance services is cleaning out their storage and several of us got cases of masks & nitrile gloves for free. This apparently got one of my Sergeant's thinking so he starts calling around to a number of clinics and hospitals asking if they have any N95 masks or the like that are looking to get rid of. One of the college medical facilities says they have 30 cases of N95 masks that are expired that he can have. How do N95 masks expire? Sure enough right there on the box "12/2019". Anyway... another place had a pile of hooded Tyvex suits Medium to 2XL that "were the wrong color". Got 1 case (6 pack) of large and 1 case of 2XL. He also said he has a line on some purple nitrile gloves.

 

[angie_nrs]

That's sweet Sentry! Dang, you always come across all the good deals. Good for you!

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Good deals @Sentry18 but like you I doubt severely that N95 mask have an expiry date but the manufacturers do that as a precautionary measure as is the same deal with wound dressing pads etc. It is wonderful what you can pick up prepping wise through networking and keeping your ear to the ground.

Anyway some interesting info on expiration dates on N95 masks from manufacturers - https://www.cemask.com/en/new/new-90-251.html .

 

[Sentry18]

Good deals @Sentry18 but like you I doubt severely that N95 mask have an expiry date but the manufacturers do that as a precautionary measure as is the same deal with wound dressing pads etc. It is wonderful what you can pick up prepping wise through networking and keeping your ear to the ground.

Anyway some interesting info on expiration dates on N95 masks from manufacturers - https://www.cemask.com/en/new/new-90-251.html .

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

 

[angie_nrs]

I posted in another thread a few days ago, that earlier in the week I had to go to WM. If you go there, look around. They are starting their clearance deals. Some of the deals I got were:

sunglasses $2 (the whole rack was $2 with glasses originally ranging from $10-$25)
Cool weather grip gloves - pack of 2 for $3
Zippered hoodies $5
many mens shirts from $3-$5
winter gloves $5

They also had other things clearnaced like purses, which I'm not in the market for right now. So, it's worth a little extra look if you go to WM....maybe you can find a deal.

ETA: Ooops! I thought this was the deals and bargains thread. Oh well, it fits here too I guess. These things could fit into your preps.....at a good price too!

 

[jimLE]

took someone to get a haircut and to do some shopping yesterday. and got a lil present.the 12 cup percolator should be better to have then the 8 cup percolator I've been using.

 

[Caribou]

Good deals @Sentry18 but like you I doubt severely that N95 mask have an expiry date but the manufacturers do that as a precautionary measure as is the same deal with wound dressing pads etc. It is wonderful what you can pick up prepping wise through networking and keeping your ear to the ground.

Anyway some interesting info on expiration dates on N95 masks from manufacturers - https://www.cemask.com/en/new/new-90-251.html .

Thanks! The way I read this, as long as the strap and the nose foam are good the mask is fine. If stored in hot conditions expect a shortened shelf life due to degradation of the rubber portion not the paper filter.

 

[jimLE]

That's why I keep them in their original packaging and in a dark cool location.

 

[CountryGuy]

took someone to get a haircut and to do some shopping yesterday. and got a lil present.the 12 cup percolator should be better to have then the 8 cup percolator I've been using.

View attachment 35022

Bought one of those in the fall to have for taking the Cub Scouts to Camp. It worked well. Though I did hit some of the insides edges with some thousand grit wet sand paper as there were some burrs. Then washed it down. Mainy used it for heating water on the wood stove but did do a pot of coffee on it the one evening for all us leaders. Gonna try it this spring over an open fire

 

[jimLE]

i figure it's good to go on camp stove's and kitchens stove's.but Using it on open fire is one thing im wondering about.i figure a small camp fire.or fire in a can will work.