Preparations Update

[Bacpacker]

You just reminded me Urban, our gas grill bit the dust. That needs to get higher up the list. Nows a good time to be looking for one

 

[Amish Heart]

Went to the amish bulk store in the other town. Got 25 lbs of local flour, 10 used tubs with lids (for food storage), 10 lbs of light wheat berries, and 10 lbs of pastry wheat berries. Bought some candies there, and a cool honey pourer. It's glass, and that's where the honey goes in, and it sits in a glass bowl type thing that you fill with hot water before you pour the honey out. Thinking it'll be good, because we get raw honey from my cousins here that do bees and it always solidifies, and little granddaughter has no patience with it. She then will go use the honey syrup. The raw is better for her.

 

[WVDragonlady]

Just added 3 pairs of fleece lined leggings. Got them for half price. yay!
So warm.
I'm not holding my breath on when they'll be shipped

 

[Amish Heart]

I loved wearing those last winter. I wear long skirts and they kept my legs warm.

 

[Jay]

purchased 4 live traps and a dozen conibear traps. One never knows future events.

 

[LadyLocust]

Just added 3 pairs of fleece lined leggings. Got them for half price. yay!
So warm.
I'm not holding my breath on when they'll be shipped

I've never heard of these. Back in the day, what are now called leggings were called leotards and only dancers wore them. They were like thicker nylons. I'm trying to envision what fleece lined would be like.

I'm getting ready to wake up at o:dark:30 in the morning to go to Calif. for my grandmother's funeral. She passed last Nov. and her only request was a traditional Catholic funeral - well of course. . . so it is being held Monday. My mom is also going. It was my dad's mom, but Pa can't make that long of a trip after all he went through. So I will be in a car for 13-15 hours with my mom who will talk the entire time We have to take their pick-up and we are not allowed to eat in it so will have to stop to eat. I already warned her I get from point A to point B with as few interruptions as possible. I think last time Hubby and I went down there, it took us 11.5 hours door to door. I'm giving us an extra hour and a half because I know she will want to stop. It usually takes her and Pa 15+ hours. They make lots of stops. Anyhoo, not sure how much I will be on my phone and won't have the computer so if you don't hear from me for a couple days. . .

 

[hiwall]

At a yard sale I bought ($5) one of these grinders today. I plan on converting it to a treadle grinder (just to see if I can ).

 

[Bacpacker]

Nice find Hiwall. That thing would be handy

Lady L be careful. Long drive ahead of you.

 

[Amish Heart]

Have a very safe trip, LL

 

[LadyLocust]

At a yard sale I bought ($5) one of these grinders today. I plan on converting it to a treadle grinder (just to see if I can ).
View attachment 73160

Hubby says "NICE!"

 

[LadyLocust]

Thanks! And this was supposed to be in the What's everyone doing thread - arg

 

[jazzy]

thids is my favorite chicken bullion. it makes anything taste good. if all ig ot is rice and beans left, this will make it better.

Wellsley Farms (Formerly Berkley & Jensen) Yellow Jar with Cubes $10
amazon


iver been stocking up on vitamins and supplements wherever the best price is. puritans pride is a good source

also stocked up on extra reading glasses. good idea to get differetn strengths from the dollar store. if you are used to using a 2.00, get some 2.5, 3.0, 3.5 etc.

fleece sheets or blankets---i cant say enough about this. if we really are in a solar minimum, as i have become convinced, winters gonna get colder and more difficult.

to paraphrase a famous barry gibbs song

fleece is the word.

 

[WVDragonlady]

oh yea fleece sheets! I have 2 sets for us. They are SO warm at night. Best thing I bought. And they're so soft! Those go on the bed when the temps are going to be minus zero

 

[DrJenner]

I've never heard of these. Back in the day, what are now called leggings were called leotards and only dancers wore them. They were like thicker nylons. I'm trying to envision what fleece lined would be like.

I'm getting ready to wake up at o:dark:30 in the morning to go to Calif. for my grandmother's funeral. She passed last Nov. and her only request was a traditional Catholic funeral - well of course. . . so it is being held Monday. My mom is also going. It was my dad's mom, but Pa can't make that long of a trip after all he went through. So I will be in a car for 13-15 hours with my mom who will talk the entire time We have to take their pick-up and we are not allowed to eat in it so will have to stop to eat. I already warned her I get from point A to point B with as few interruptions as possible. I think last time Hubby and I went down there, it took us 11.5 hours door to door. I'm giving us an extra hour and a half because I know she will want to stop. It usually takes her and Pa 15+ hours. They make lots of stops. Anyhoo, not sure how much I will be on my phone and won't have the computer so if you don't hear from me for a couple days. . .

Safe travels LL. I recently drove a UHaul with my mother and teen daughter down to my son in CA (with the rest of his stuff). He is down there working construction and got set up with a sweet deal on an apartment. That place has changed so much since I left in 2008, its unreal.
The amount of traffic just on the road...we bypassed Bend, and took the Idaho to Nevada route through Reno. It was a bit easier, but still grueling.

 

[Jay]

Just picked up two quarts of local raw honey. Price now at 20.00 a quart this year.

 

[Amish Heart]

Sounds like it is here.

 

[Peanut]

purchased 4 live traps and a dozen conibear traps. One never knows future events.

I have steel traps also, maybe it's me but I never liked setting conibears. Traditional steel traps are easy for me.

But, have you considered "Snares"? 5 steel traps and gear is about all I want to carry in a 5gal bucket. I can carry 25 snares and gear in the same bucket.

You can buy premade snares or build them yourself. I've had good luck buying from Kaatz brothers. You can buy premade from them or they make them to order, any size or style.

Kaatz Bros. Lures - Trapping Supplies, Animal Traps, Lures, Baits, Urines, and Videos

Making your own is very easy. I bought 3 spools of aircraft cable of different sizes from lo wes. I bought all the slides, locks, swivels (parts) from Kaatz.

The biggest single work reducer I found was making extension/anchor cables. I make them 10ft long out of 1/8 air craft cable with loops on each end. This allows me to anchor traps or snares to trees or fence posts without having to carry heavy trap stakes. If you don't stake a trap or snare a critter will take it with him.

Biggest needed item is quick links, different sizes. These allow you to string cables together. Oh! lots of swivels, need lots of swivels.

Anyway, check out the website if you like. They have all sorts of gear useful to snares or traps.

 

[hiwall]

At a yard sale I bought ($5) one of these grinders today. I plan on converting it to a treadle grinder (just to see if I can ).
View attachment 73160

Made the grinder into a treadle grinder. Works fairly well but I doubt I will ever use it.

 

[Peanut]

I bought chain tonight... jeez. It's $4 a foot for 4000lb chain. I wanted to make up a 20ft and a 10ft chain just for skidding out logs. Didn't have the cash after groceries so I'l make do with a 10ft. I used to have a 10ft and a 20ft but it seems they grew legs and walked off the farm all by themselves.

Picked up hooks/quick disconnects so I can also make some gates cow proof. No more of this "Its not the mile of fencing with gaping holes that let the cows out" it's because "someone left a gate open" bs.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Tonight I made my last purchase of solar panels for a while... I didn't really have the funds, but got word that they were out (of the 2 pack) and that the price was going up by $50, plus they sent me a 10% off coupon, so I bought 2 singles and paid less than to old price for a 2 pack...

I get the feeling that people are reading the tea leaves and seeing a dark future. I have what I need for my plans now, but I think anyone waiting for prices to come down may be caught empty handed....

Today, the wife asked me to double down on beans and she wants more whole chickens (she wants to use them for canning).... I may need more jars.... Heck, I may need more storage shelves.....

 

[Bacpacker]

I picked up a case (6 jars) of half gallon canning jars today. Haven't saw any all year

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

I found a case of those yesterday. First in six months.

 

[The Lazy L]

I have a rather large "U" shaped driveway. I would like prior warning that a vehicle has entered ether entrance. Unfortunately the typical IR/motion detectors give too many false alarms because of the woods I live in. Think I have found the solution.

Mighty Mule (MM) and Dakota Alert (DA) both make what I'd call proximity alarms. A sensor laying parallel to your driveway detects metal (vehicle) passing by it resulting in an audio alarm from the receiving unit.

I'm not getting to pro and cons one which product is the best. I chose the DA because it provides contacts points on the receiving unit for user added devices (I'll get into that a bit later).

DA arrived with a broken plastic hinge on the weather proofed external control box and a nonoperational 120 VAC to 12 VDC power adapter for the interior receiving unit. Glue fixed the plastic hinge and a spare power adapter solved the power for the receiving unit.

On the part of the driveway that is the furtherest from the house I placed the sensor and the included 50' of cable on the ground. The Control box I temporarily mounted to a tree. If testing proves satisfactory, I'll bury the sensor and cabling and add an another to the other end of the "U".

After successful testing I'm planning on placing the receiving unit in the master bedroom for notification when we're sleeping. Notification during the day is nice but I'm more concerned if any vehicle enters the driveway "after hours".

The "Piece de Resistance.

In my mailbox I have a MySpool wireless alert that notifies me via text messaging and email that my mail has been delivered. My mail is delivered from anywhere from 10 AM to 6PM. I'm texted when the mail is delivered. Nice BUT the real reason I purchase the MySpool is because for $35 they will sell the "box" that does the text messaging and email notification. All I have to do is connect it to something that has external normal open or normal closed contacts ... like the DA .

Then wherever I'm at I'm notified that something metal has entered my driveway(s).

I know, I know, I'm open to "But What If" concerns. To forestall concerns:

1. The driveway alarm is not my first or last line of defense.
2. DA sensor will be placed NOT to detect vehicles that use the driveway just to turn around.
3. Anyone(s) approaching on foot will detected by other means.
4. External devise run on batteries. Reviews state easily one year of use before replacement.

 

[jazzy]

went to honeybillie.com to make an order---used them for years for bags of barley, oats, baking stuff, benas, etc. i wanted to get 25lb of lentils to sort of top off as i use alot in the cold months. honeyville is a shadow of what it used to be. they had just some baking mixes, some almond flour and not much more. guess ill go back to walmart for the 1lb bags and see what i can get

things are getting tighter and tighter.

 

[The Lazy L]

Made the grinder into a treadle grinder. Works fairly well but I doubt I will ever use it.
View attachment 73197

Hope you never have a need to use it.

 

[goshengirl]

honeyville is a shadow of what it used to be.

I've noticed that, too. I really miss what it used to be.

 

[Peanut]

I bought the last of the chain I need for the farm. Got 1/4" chain, grade 70 and G70 clevis hooks. It was rated at 2600lbs. The price was absurd, $5.18 per foot. But, now I can safely pull a trailer with a vehicle/tractor or equipment chained down properly. I can go with either 1/4" or 5/16" chain depending on the load.

 

[Bacpacker]

Gotta have good chains and cables at times

 

[LadyLocust]

Got 6 spaghetti squash. I will be getting them cooked and dehydrated.
Have also been stocking up on socks, under garments, work clothes etc.
Per suggestion of Backpacker, I got my 2 new tires. When we put the studded tires on the car, I will take them and current wheels in and have them mounted and ready for next spring. I get two tires each year and the tires last about 2 years so it works out well.

 

[CalicoKatie]

I broke down yesterday and ordered another small freezer from Home Depot. It's just a 5 cu ft upright but will do the job I need. It's supposed to be in the store ready for me to pick up by 10/20 so I hope there isn't a snag.