What I am buying
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| Walmart had these for sale at an attractive price |
I bought a new, light-weight work coat. My concern is that my work in the woods will shred my current one. I wanted a coat/jacket with a duck exterior for abrasion resistance, a very modest amount of quilted insulation, lots of pockets and a hood.
I also did not want a brown coat (like most Carhartt's) because I work outside during firearm's deer season.
I think they are closing out this model as it is available in limited sizes and colors, but it fit the bill.
I bought some grass seed for Southern Belle's pasture. She had the brush removed and the ground beneath the brush is bare dirt. Rather than let random chance determine what grows there, I want to give it a helping hand. Festulolium "Gain" had good reviews from Wisconsin, grazing-based field trials. "Gain" showed good production and is highly palatable. "Gain" seed is also available in commerce which is a major bonus.
I also added to my supply of semi-precious, copper-based alloys.
I bought a 12V DC truck HVAC fan to cobble together a blower for the fireplace insert that can be powered by a solar panel. It was advertised as a 24V blower which is a better match for the output of my solar panels but there are ways to step-down voltage.
I bought a rope puller and some more logging chain.
Peppers
A friend asked me why I never write about peppers.
I like peppers but peppers no longer like me.
On a per-square-foot basis, nothing beats the amount of flavor you can get from hot peppers...although garlic gives them a darned good run for the money.
Alas, my digestion now takes offense at the mere passing of a chili's shadow over the pot of stew. My body is less sensitive to garlic...for now.
With regards to sweet peppers, Mrs ERJ likes bell peppers. Historically, we have only gotten reliable yields from hybrid bell peppers. I like Stocky Red Roaster for yield, flavor and how well the plants stay upright. SRR is open pollinated. It is beautiful when cut into wagon-wheels and frozen for use on pizzas through the winter.
Arab Spring
A short history lesson: "Arab Spring" was the name used in the press as they reported the results of the CIA directed attempts at destabilization and regime-change in Muslim countries primarily lining the Mediterranean Sea. The countries where the efforts gained traction were:
- Tunisia
- Egypt
- Libya
- Bahrain
- Yemen
- Syria
- Morocco
- Jordan
The domestic strife causes a surge in immigration from those countries to Europe which in-turn destabilized Europe by adding to their cultural woes and debt load.
I "get" that the Cartels are the hand inside of Venezuela's puppet government. I "get" that we have been in a one-sided undeclared war with those Cartels and I appreciate Trump is not allowing the narco-terrorists Cartels (the forces prosecuting that war) to hide behind the technical term of "civilian".
I still don't like externally forced regime-changes.
What kind of prepper are you?
It seems to me that there is a fundamental decision that prepared people make at the start of our preparation journey.
One branch is to prepare in a way that will allow one's life-style to continue without any change. The stressors will be totally invisible. An example is to have a whole-house, natural gas powered generator that has logic to automatically isolate from the grid during a power interruption and turn itself on. The grid can totally fail and the only impact (as long as there is pressure in the gas pipeline) to the people in the house is that the lights might momentarily flicker.
That is the decision that Cynthia Rose made. She had been entertaining at her lake house up-North when a thunderstorm knocked out the power. The party stopped. She vowed that would never happen again and had a $20k generator installed. Problem solved!
That seems to be the default branch for wealthy people, to build a bunker in Fiji or some other "safe place" so the party can go on.
The other branch involves fundamental steps down in lifestyle. It also means accepting the cascade-effects of those steps down.
Using heating as an example, it IS possible to heat your entire house with an outside, woodpellet-burning boiler and have very little impact on your life. Near the other end of the spectrum is to have an indoor woodstove heating one "warm room" and allow enough heat to leak out of that room to keep the plumbing from freezing.
Among the cascading effects of the warm-room strategy is that you will be severely restricted on the amount of laundry you can dry. Remember, that moisture has to go someplace. You can dry it in your warm-room but the water vapor will condense on the insides of your windows, around the power outlets in exterior walls and in your ceiling. That means that you will rewear your exterior clothes several times between washings, you will wear aprons to keep your exterior clothes clean and you will primarily be washing socks and underwear. You will also be scheduling your laundry day by the weather forecast.
There is a significant difference in the amount of firewood demanded by the two different strategies. In a resource-starved environment, the warm-room strategy seems to make the most sense, especially if it is mainly heated during the daylight hours with a hot, no-smoke fire that fully combusts the wood.
So where am I going with this?
My back-of-envelop calcs are that if my insert burns four-or-five pounds of wood an hour and if I only burn it during the daylight hours from November 1-through-April 1 that I need 7500 pounds of wood.
A cord of dry gopherwood (cottonwood, aspen, pine) weighs about 2000 pounds. A densely packed cord of seasoned oak or Black Locust might weigh 4000 pounds.
A cord of wood fits on two, 48", square-pallets when stacked to 48" in height.
In theory, I could stack 4000 pounds of gopherwood or 8000 pounds of premium hardwood on four pallets. In practice, I figure I need six pallets because the ends of the stack are rarely vertical and the wood I am cutting is rarely perfectly straight.
At this point, somebody is going to comment "There is no way in Hades that you will be heating your house in Michigan for the entire winter with only two cords of firewood."
Dude, I agree. I cannot heat my entire house with two cords. I am only planning on heating one room toasty warm, and only for the daylight hours. And I am shooting for three full cords because it can be darned chilly in April. Also, I am not planning to cook over a wood stove. The amount of LP needed to cook food isn't huge.
If you're prepping like Cynthia Rose with a whole house generator, you're prepping for inconveniences of temporary failed systems in a HIGH TRUST Society. I.E. my Ring security system and the police keep me nice and safe.
ReplyDeleteIn a less trustworthy situation, you're a Lighthouse telling everybody in trouble you have GOOD STUFF.
When things get weird my household is going dark for at least until the crazies have died off. Blackout curtains for lit up rooms and yes, I've set them up and done nighttime walk abouts to see if they work well.
SNIP "Dude, I agree. I cannot heat my entire house with two cords. I am only planning on heating one room toasty warm, and only for the daylight hours."
Joe, are you going to fully drain and compressed air out your homes water system? If not looking at my plumbing repair work over the decades you're going to have real mold issues when they burst and wet up a lot of your intra wall areas.
Don't know about your area but tonight it's going to -2 before wind chill. I'd prefer heating tonight myself.
Can I ask if you've planned for broken windows? My house even with full grid and woodstove support would become pretty uninhabitable if several windows were broken at -2 without wind chill tonight.
Now let's talk about broken windows, grid down and carpeting. Do you have a plan for clean up? Glass and bare feet are a bad situation, let alone sitting on a couch that got some glass shattered around it.
I have an awe-shit kit with clothing and shoes next to the bed along with a self defense tool for me and my wife and flashlights, lanterns and head lights available (batteries tested every 60 days). In that kit is a hammer, gloves, roofing tacks, plastic strips (tried wood, shatters too much), blue painters tape and a rolls of sheet plastic.
Came in handy last winter when a storm knocked out the power and a crash in the living room occurred. Turned out to be a tree limb through the window. Was able to push it back outside, apply sheet plastic to stop the snow and wind and then plug in my vacuum cleaner into my Eco Flow Solar generator to clean up the glass.
When I was discussing that electric tricycle and trailer supporting your electric chainsaw it was in the view of a solar electric system to keep them recharged. It gives you a LOT of options to have a decent solar kit set up.
Getting long but prepping is a lot about attitude. Not walking into public places with your face buried in a Candy Crush cellphone game, knowing that things happen (like the broken window) and thinking about how crazies and desperate people can make your life "exciting" if you look like you're the wealthiest person around.
Trouble is as old as the Bible and scriptures and proverbs speak to it. Worth reading in my opinion.
Proverbs 27 is full of great advise but verse 12 applies well here
The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
Thank-you for the things to think about.
DeleteWe are Zone 5B-6A depending on the vintage of USDA zone maps you are looking at. I suspect you are zone 4AB and about 10 degrees colder than I am.
I need to think about the pipes. My dad used to pour RV antifreeze into the traps of unheated houses. Calcium chloride would work as well as long as the pipes were not subject to corrosion. My plumbing has a spigot at the low point but it is questionable if the straight runs of pipe would fully drain.
I have tarps, furring strips and nails, so the broken window issue is fixable.
The total sum of the carpet in our house is a rug that is about 12' square. The rest of the house is hardwood floor or vinyl, both of which are easy to sweep.
Good points on electric chainsaw being something that can be recharged off of solar. Joel over at The Ultimate Answer to Kings blog uses an electric bike to get to town and he recharges with solar. He lives in high-desert Arizona.
I suggest you add a supply of blue painters' tape as I've found it awesome for grabbing small bits of shattered glass after the sweep off. Worked great in my old Toyota after it came back from a tree shattered windshield this spring.
DeleteBits of glass seems to go EVERYWHERE and a sharp bit when you sit down isn't funny. BTW Tape removes them well once my wife stopped laughing.
If you read Joel's blog carefully, he often had to use the little Honda genset to charge his bike (and the chainsaw) (and sometimes his battery bank) until recently, when he added to his panels and upgraded his batteries.
DeleteUnless you've done the math to make sure you have the photon capture ability AND the storage to keep it, I would not depend on solar panels to take the load of charging either the transport or the chainsaw batteries.
Plus, I find that electric chainsaws (I've tried Ridgid, Dewalt, Milwaukee and Stihl) are great for yard cleanup and branch cutting of felled trees, but not for firewood production. If you think otherwise you haven't actually tried making firewood with them.
BTW, I appreciate the thought about a plan for broken windows.....Something I hadn't planned for very well.
DeleteYou're welcome. As Iron Sharpens Iron friend.
DeleteAs far a solar it's best I've found to take 10% off of your "bank account" for each change. 100 watts is really 90 to the battery, turning it into AC now closer to 80 to charge e-bikes and such. High efficiency units give you a bit better but I love having more in my bank account.
Joel IIRC uses lead acid batteries and they are best not drawn down below 80% capacity and for long life 10% is far better along with checking distilled water and equalization charging.
I've some lead acid legacy batteries from my homemade solar experiments but have gone Lithium now. Frankly looking forward to the silver ion starting to be produced. BTW because of the battery operating system the lithium will not allow you to use more than 90% of the charge.
As far as firewood gas will always out do electric, far more power in a few cc's and gallon of gasoline.
HOWEVER, compared to using an axe, bow saw a 2 man misery whip (yes, I used one in the boy scouts) for this old man I have a pair of e-chainsaws. Both Ryobi, one 18 volt (good for limbs) and one 40 volt with a 20 inch Oregon chain and for the firewood Joe has been showing us I find it quite far more effective than manual tools.
Had to clear both mine and an elderly neighbors' driveways from tree debris last week after the ice storm and I find a 10 inch tree top easy enough to do with it.
That Moon Cool folding e-trike I mentioned at the deer camp 14 mph, pedals well even without power (kind of important as some are nearly impossible due to poor gearing) says 70 mile range but I find it closer to 55 miles with my pedaling assist in hilly NH and a 14 amp hour 48 volt battery so really quite easy when I recharged it from 10 left to full a few weeks ago from my solar set up.
Payload is 450 pounds on the trike and we found it towed a trailer with two deer quite nicely in rough forest service roads.
I'm getting older and someday I suspect that gasoline might be harder to get. More Control seems a governmental thing now a days.
" you're a Lighthouse telling everybody in trouble you have GOOD STUFF."
ReplyDeleteWe suspect we are now the only house locally with no burglar alarm or security camera. Will Burglar Bill assume us to be poor as churchmice or will he assume we're bluffing? We hope that our twenty year old car will support the first conclusion.
In a Hight Trust, police are available time it depends on what your neighborhood around you looks like.
DeleteAND what you POST on Face Book and such. AMAZING how many people post they are IN ARUBA and so happy...
Hard to pretend your poor as church mice if all around your area are nice (maybe credit card owed) things.
From my EMS dealings with police (my neighbors BTW), they tell me the "reasonable" thief is looking for a quick smash and grab, and they prefer unlocked doors so not even the smash aside from a tossed few rooms and drawers. A barking dog or nosy neighbors are a deterrent as are "alarms" MAYBE.
Seems a rash of robberies in a nearby town were linked TO the Installers of Burglar Alarms. Who else might know of juicy targets and how to bypass the system?
In times of Burn Loot Murder just being in the path of the mob is a Real Problem (tm) although they tend to flow on the path of least resistance.
In the lesser times of trouble, folks that are hungry or cold and are seeking shelter and food might be attracted to signs that YOU have warmth, lights and as some Idiot Folks have posted the BBQ of the freezer meat smell is kind of attractive.
Honestly less attractive seems a good avoidance option. That and furniture blocking the doors to make it more work. Not sure if where you're at that firearms are an option. Too many places seem to love disarmed citizens.
A couple of short 2-by-4 blocks screwed to the floor to either side of the door with deck screws and a length of 2-by-4 dropped between them and the door is more secure than furniture and easier on the back to activate and deactivate.
DeleteI got a couple 100# LPG cylinders back in the day for the cook stove. One cylinder last WAY longer than I reckoned it would. I had no idea how "frugal" a gas oven was.
ReplyDeleteYou are maybe a little light on you calculation for firewood usage, but not that much. I burn wood for heat in a woodstove and it works out to be more like 6-8 lbs/hour to heat the house to about 65F for the evening from dusk to dawn...the daylight hours I generally let it drop to about 50 and let the gas stove keep it there.
ReplyDeleteYour one room strategy is the best way should frugality become a major part of staying alive.
Most people have no idea how many calories it takes to keep a man working long enough to cut, split and haul and stack firewood if there are no power tools (chain saws and splitters and tractors to haul it)
From previous life as an engineer, it became my practice to alternate slightly conservative and slightly optimistic data-points when totally objective data is not available. Then to add in a factor-of-overdesign at the end.
Delete7500 pounds of wood becomes 9000 pounds if I use six pallets as a base and stack to the full 48". That leaves me the standing dead wood as my go-to-hell plan or to trade for labor when the work becomes too much for me.
Simply walking at 3 miles-per-hour burns three METS or roughly 300 Calories per hour. Physical labor that increases your breathing rate significantly above that or forces you to strip off clothing due to sweat is probably 5 METS.
If your muscles can sustain that level of work, eight hours of that level of work burns 4000 Calories and then you need another 1600 Calories to "rest" the remaining 16 hours.
I am a slacker since I an only playing lumberjack for two hours a day. That is still 800 Calories, net, more than my normal day.
I'm hearing/reading of more and more folks who don't tolerate bell peppers, especially green ones, like the original California Wonder variety. Yellow/orange types, like Doe Hill and Etiuda may be less troublesome.
ReplyDeleteMy current favorites are Elephant Ear, Ajvarski, Kapiya.
Peppers are one of the few things that I have regularly been able to grow. The Ravishing Mrs. TB is a fan of red, orange, and yellow peppers (not so much the green). Jalapenos have been regular providers for me; this year I had some luck with Anaheim.
ReplyDeleteWe had good production of sweet peppers in red, yellow and black varieties and really good production of Jalapeno, cayenne, serrano, chili and challeana in 2025. It was quite simple to make a home version of Frank's Red Hot Sauce which was a big hit. Also pickled hot peppers -both fermented and non-fermented in colorful mixes and enjoying those regularly. Good companion to onions and garlic dishes.
ReplyDeleteWe have a neighbor who is sensitive to green sweet peppers, but once they turn to yellow or red she enjoys them just fine.
Milton
How much are you willing to prep for is the real question... SHTF, 'bad' weather, or???
ReplyDeleteFor windows, my solution has been to use 2" thick foam insulation cut to fit. Paint one side with leftover house paint, and duct tape around the edges. This keeps light and heat in. Remember to mark the foam block installation location!
ReplyDeleteMy brother in law gave me the idea, they live in Florida and he has plywood cut to fit his windows for hurricane season. He sandwiches the windows with predrilled plywood, along with wall anchors.
How do you handle the moisture buildup and mold issues.
DeleteBack in the 70's Mother Earth News suggested this idea and I found the mold issues a real problem.
For imminent hurricanes, our 4' wide x 2' tall horizontal sliding windows have an exterior 1/2" thk. plywd. panel secured with Plylox window clips along the edge of the panel. When a real blu norther is forecast, Styrofoam panels on inside ledge are inserted. Only two windows on that side.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, a very wealthy friend installed two duel-fuel generators. One for his home only, the other for up to eight of his neighbors. While he is the magnaminous sort, his true purpose was strength in numbers. You do want to avoid being the only lighted house.
ReplyDeleteHe lives in a somewhat end-of-road isolated community. Not a gated community and accessible to die hard malcontents. That isolation is two edged. His idea of prepping is more akin to house on the prarie. How granpappy lived. Yes, friend has a root cellar.