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DirtDiva said:
Maybe I should wash the car just to tempt fate[/QUOTE
DD: only one time in the last 25 years did it NOT rain after washing the car. It got so bad that the kids would call me and tell me NOT to wash the car because they had been planning or even invited to a BBQ and needed a nice day (read, NO RAIN) .......GP
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GP where I live the summers are warm and muggy, the winters are very cold, and it is wet and partly cloudy year round. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 28°F to 84°F and is rarely below 12°F or above 90°F.

The warm season lasts for 3.9 months, from May 23 to September 19, with an average daily high temperature above 76°F. The hottest day of the year is July 20, with an average high of 84°F and low of 66°F.

The cold season lasts for 3.0 months, from November 28 to February 27, with an average daily high temperature below 52°F. The coldest day of the year is January 29, with an average low of 28°F and high of 44°F.

WE gets 56 inches of rain, on average, per year. The US average is 38 inches of rain per year. We averages 15 inches of snow per year. The US average is 28 inches of snow per year.

Last year was one of the wettest on record.
 
Rainy Monday afternoon trip to Walmart yesterday was eye opening. Went to the smaller Walmart in a small town nearby this is NOT a super Walmart. Just did not feel like going down the mountain. Meat dept. was pretty scarce and OH what prices. But they did have some dry goods ( rice and beans) back in stock. Fabric was cleaned out completely which I found surprising. Most Walmart fabric comes from China ( my personal pet peeve) so that may be out of stock awhile. Yarn was also cleaned out. Has everyone taken up knitting :eek: Frozen food was pretty picked over as well. Plenty of clothing. Paper products are available again. Plenty of health care items overall. Wipes back in stock and bleach back in stock also. Still no hand sanitizer. All in all I would say it wasn't completely bare but pretty picked over and you could tell they are having supply issues. I was there for leg cramp medicine and grabbed 3 boxes and left 3. Grabbed some health care items, mouthwash and fresh fruit. Easy in and out. They still have the arrows that everyone ignores. Wonder if they will have traffic officers to enforce their new traffic flow signs?? Not a mask in sight other than my own which I find troubling. Stay safe :cool:
 
Goddamit just scared myself half to death. Decided to walk the dog and chew over Urban Preps very informative and constructive debates in the scenario section. I was wandering along pondering the options of the thread this morning in a world of my own when I suddenly realised I was in the middle of a crowd...........................of cops, many armed. Talk about being caught unawares.................. Rolling roadblock and an ambush by the cops of some suspects in a car exploded all around me as I walked the mutt, I jumped out of my skin. Salutary lesson learned about situational awareness even close to home.

I also think I suprised them as well when they realised the 6ft tall dude with shaved head and shades was not one of them:)
 
Glad you were not injured. Bad form on the situational awareness. Good reminder without the cost factor. You need to develop a bit of my paranoid awareness. As the saying goes, "Just because I am paranoid, does not mean there is not somebody out to get me". I am surprised at the "Armed Cops" aspect. That must have been a very bad situation to walk into. Teach the mutt (not disparaging the the dog) to help out with the awareness concept. A nice growl would have been helpful. LOL
 
DirtDiva said:
Rainy Monday afternoon trip to Walmart yesterday was eye opening. Went to the smaller Walmart in a small town nearby this is NOT a super Walmart. Just did not feel like going down the mountain. Meat dept. was pretty scarce and OH what prices. But they did have some dry goods ( rice and beans) back in stock. Fabric was cleaned out completely which I found surprising. Most Walmart fabric comes from China ( my personal pet peeve) so that may be out of stock awhile. Yarn was also cleaned out. Has everyone taken up knitting :eek: Frozen food was pretty picked over as well. Plenty of clothing. Paper products are available again. Plenty of health care items overall. Wipes back in stock and bleach back in stock also. Still no hand sanitizer. All in all I would say it wasn't completely bare but pretty picked over and you could tell they are having supply issues. I was there for leg cramp medicine and grabbed 3 boxes and left 3. Grabbed some health care items, mouthwash and fresh fruit. Easy in and out. They still have the arrows that everyone ignores. Wonder if they will have traffic officers to enforce their new traffic flow signs?? Not a mask in sight other than my own which I find troubling. Stay safe :cool:
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That was about par for my most recent trip to Walmart as well. Except they still don’t have paper products. TP still seems non existent. If I hadn’t stocked up prior to this I’d be pretty worried about now....
I worked outside in a large parking lot near Atlanta today. Was probably too close to my son but comfortably away from most others. Hardly a mask in site. Scarily stupid.
 
Brent S said:
That was about par for my most recent trip to Walmart as well. Except they still don’t have paper products. TP still seems non existent. If I hadn’t stocked up prior to this I’d be pretty worried about now....
I worked outside in a large parking lot near Atlanta today. Was probably too close to my son but comfortably away from most others. Hardly a mask in site. Scarily stupid.
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We have plenty of TP here, not all the brands and not full stock, but there is at least a couple brands available at any given time. Hand sanitizer is coming back too, not purell or germ-x or other major brands, but smaller brands or companies that didn't used to make hand sanitizer but have gotten approval. I always pick some up for work, because our workers have to clean their hands regularly but don't always have time or access for proper hand washing. I didn't check the meat section but I talked to a coworker who went and said prices are very high. Probably about 1 in 3 are or 1 in 4 are wearing masks here.
 
We stick to small stores, hopefully locally owned. My husband has done 99%of our shopping. On the two days per month I have doctor then pharmacy visits, I do go to the TSC and Dollar General Market. Not many customers at all.

Yesterday I went all out and went to Home Depot and restocked chain saw chains and a filing kit. Sharpening a chain saw blade looks complicated, but it's better to have one in SHTF scenerio.
 
robinjopo said:
We stick to small stores, hopefully locally owned. My husband has done 99%of our shopping. On the two days per month I have doctor then pharmacy visits, I do go to the TSC and Dollar General Market. Not many customers at all.

Yesterday I went all out and went to Home Depot and restocked chain saw chains and a filing kit. Sharpening a chain saw blade looks complicated, but it's better to have one in SHTF scenerio.
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sharpening chain saw blades will be a post-SHTF sideline - knowledge & tools will be essential - all kinds chainsaws that see little action will be dug out with the blade half shot ....
 
robinjopo said:
Sharpening a chain saw blade looks complicated, but it's better to have one in SHTF scenerio.
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Nah, just takes a lot of elbow grease. I tried using a sharpening bit on a Dremel but it didn't do nearly as good a job as a plain ol' chainsaw file. I have three sizes of chainsaw files - using the right size file is important.
 
I ordered an entire bolt of quilt batting and some wide flannel fabric for quilt backing today. Most fabric in this country comes from overseas as does wool. Walmart has empty shelves where fabric once was. Starting to hear some feedback from fellow quilters about being unable to find fabric, threads and yarns. While I do stock some I am worried about how long this will last and if what I have will be enough. So I ordered some good wool sock yarn from Belgium and some thread from Turkey. It is so sad that nothing is made here any more and we must resort to other countries for the simplest things such as thread. Our textile industry used to be the envy of the world. Will try to visit a couple small local fabric/quilt shops in the area and see what I can find.
 
Tp has been pretty much non existanc
DirtDiva said:
I ordered an entire bolt of quilt batting and some wide flannel fabric for quilt backing today. Most fabric in this country comes from overseas as does wool. Walmart has empty shelves where fabric once was. Starting to hear some feedback from fellow quilters about being unable to find fabric, threads and yarns. While I do stock some I am worried about how long this will last and if what I have will be enough. So I ordered some good wool sock yarn from Belgium and some thread from Turkey. It is so sad that nothing is made here any more and we must resort to other countries for the simplest things such as thread. Our textile industry used to be the envy of the world. Will try to visit a couple small local fabric/quilt shops in the area and see what I can find.
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I have been wondering about Joann's stock levels. I may try to venture out next week. Too much going on right now. I still have a big box full of yarns and extra quilting fabric on hand. Though I am glad that I don't have any grands on the way. I like the fact t that they all get their own quilt design and their own fabrics.

This morning I was out in the garden after feeding my goats and got green beans, patty squash, and zucchini. Coming back in our dog and granny's dog got I got into a fight. Tried to pull Alex of Maggie by grabbing her collar. Only one finger
made it under so got pretty twisted and hurts..

Hunny called me while I was putting squash into the dehydrator to say we had a new calf. In our world that means she needs to get separated from the rest so drove the golf cart in, got baby and normally momma follows, but not this stupid turd. . . It was a chore to get her moved but finally got her into the front pasture along with little heifer calf. Hadn't seen her suckle yet. . . She is not a new momma and should know how it's done. I need to take my shower. Work tonight and I need some sleep. Hunny is just going to have to watch when he gets back from running an errand. Green beans will have to go into the fridge for either when I get up or in the morning.
 
DirtDiva said:
Our textile industry used to be the envy of the world. Will try to visit a couple small local fabric/quilt shops in the area and see what I can find.
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This used to be a textile mill town, with textile mills up and down the Chattahoochee River. Now we have abandoned textile mills up and down the Chattahoochee. Some have been converted into upscale riverfront apartments, and restaurants but many stand derelict.

I think we have two or three textile mills left in operation.
 
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DrHenley said:
This used to be a textile mill town, with textile mills up and down the Chattahoochee River. Now we have abandoned textile mills up and down the Chattahoochee. Some have been converted into upscale riverfront apartments, and restaurants buy many stand derelict.

I think we have two or three textile mills left in operation.
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SO sad! The small town not far from where I live here in TN had several small mills as well. All gone now. First they lost the coal mines and then the mills and these small towns struggle with employment opportunities. During WWII while my father was overseas my mother worked in a garment factory in Tylertown, MS sewing military uniforms, parachutes etc. Then they bought the farm in Louisiana after the war and before the kids she worked sewing lingerie in a small garment factory in Ponchatoula, La to help save money to pay the farm off. She was a talented seamstress. So much of that is lost to cheap labor in other countries. Meanwhile the quality of fabrics on the market now are overpriced JUNK:mad: Those of us that continue to sew clothing and household items etc. will struggle to obtain these goods and at more than likely inflated prices.
 
robinjopo said:
We stick to small stores, hopefully locally owned. My husband has done 99%of our shopping. On the two days per month I have doctor then pharmacy visits, I do go to the TSC and Dollar General Market. Not many customers at all.

Yesterday I went all out and went to Home Depot and restocked chain saw chains and a filing kit. Sharpening a chain saw blade looks complicated, but it's better to have one in SHTF scenerio.
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It’s not too difficult to sharpen. Just make sure to count your file strokes and do both sides evenly or the saw will drift right or left when cutting.
 
It is really sad how many mill jobs are gone now. A big part of the problem is even if they were still open most of the younger generation don’t want to work in something like that. It’s going to take a hard reset with the economy before people get hungry enough to really want the manual labor jobs again. I honestly think we have had it too good for too long. Most Americans don’t know what it’s like to be truly hungry. (At least not compared to many other countries). A little hunger makes people appreciate things more, like a steady job.....
 
DrHenley said:
Nah, just takes a lot of elbow grease. I tried using a sharpening bit on a Dremel but it didn't do nearly as good a job as a plain ol' chainsaw file. I have three sizes of chainsaw files - using the right size file is important.
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My kit has 3 sizes. I have the manual which tells me which to use. I may wait till my brother comes and let him show me.
 
robinjopo said:
My kit has 3 sizes. I have the manual which tells me which to use. I may wait till my brother comes and let him show me.
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Seeing firsthand is always good. I’m sure there are many u tube videos you could watch too. You can easily tell the file size as it fits into the saw tooth just right.
 
Brent S said:
It is really sad how many mill jobs are gone now. A big part of the problem is even if they were still open most of the younger generation don’t want to work in something like that. It’s going to take a hard reset with the economy before people get hungry enough to really want the manual labor jobs again. I honestly think we have had it too good for too long. Most Americans don’t know what it’s like to be truly hungry. (At least not compared to many other countries). A little hunger makes people appreciate things more, like a steady job.....
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I agree. We grew up working outside in the garden, planting trees, etc. My parents are well-educated but there were times when my Dad did manual jobs as well to get extra income when needed. We were always taught that there is dignity in all honest work. I have a regular 8-5 office job where I manage in-home caretakers for the elderly. When I am needed or I need a little extra money, I will get overtime hours working with our clients as well. It might not be glamorous but it's a needed job. I have some people who apply and want to work in our office (we don't even need a lot of extra office help) but they don't want to have to provide direct care for clients, I guess because that's the "dirty work." Well guess what - everyone who works in the office is trained on providing direct care and required to work with clients sometimes.
I don't think a lot of people have a realistic idea of all the work that is required to keep us all alive. I remember discussing in a college class and the professor brought up the fact that it's not possible for everyone to have a "white collar" job because the "blue collar" jobs would still need to be done. Some of the students acted like this couldn't possibly be true; they seemed to believe that if everyone went to college and got educated then somehow the need for trash collectors, nursing assistants, farmers, and factory workers would just evaporate like some kind of magic.
 
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