tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56344925031784305692024-03-13T05:52:13.582-05:00An Unsheltered LifeOne family's life in the country.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-41351719502288600272010-12-14T16:04:00.001-06:002010-12-14T16:04:37.662-06:00Where Do I Start?So you’re looking around at the state of things and thinking, “Man, I ought to do something.” You’ve heard about preparing, and you’ve heard a bit about survivalists and what they do in order to be ready for big and little problems alike, but you have no idea of where to start. You don’t have much free time or extra cash, but you know that things are only getting worse; so now you start to panic because you think that it’s already too late, or that you can’t possibly reach the long-term goals of having more than a year’s worth of preparations put away, or some other such thing.<br /><br />First, relax and take a few deep breaths. Prepping isn’t something that you decide to start today and finish tomorrow afternoon; it takes time even if you have millions of dollars to invest in it. There are many different aspects of prepping because we humans are complex creations with many needs, preferences, and options – but don’t let that worry you.<br /><br />Sit down and make a list. I don’t care how you do this because we’re all different; I like using Excel, but you might prefer a pen and paper or a smartphone or some other thing. It doesn’t matter because the point is to start making some lists, as they help you focus and figure out what to do and when.<br /><br />I started by listing the different things that my family and I have to have for survival. We really need food, water, clothing, and shelter; the rest can go bye-bye and we’ll continue breathing, though we might not be quite as happy as we are with our electricity, Internet access, cell phones, restaurants, TV dinners, and other such crap.<br /><br />Next, I started a new list for each category. Shelter, for example, includes things like climate control (to a degree, anyway – you don’t want to freeze or die of heatstroke) and safety, along with pest control and a few other things.<br /><br />Eventually, the lists became more detailed. I added a new category, skills, because I like being independent and self sufficient. Knitting is a skill, for example, that I started acquiring a couple-few years ago. This year, I’m knitting scarves for peoples’ Christmas presents because I’m basically broke – and these suckers are useful even in my part of Texas because we do have cold wind and it does make a person miserable.<br /><br />Then, at some point, you start fulfilling the lists. I like to keep a list of things we need that are likely to turn up at flea markets, as I enjoy browsing the local ones anyway. We do weekly grocery shopping that’s a combination of replenishing what we’ve used and stockpiling some extras – what we put into the stockpile depends partly on what’s most important, but also on what’s on sale this week.<br /><br />Set short- and long-term goals for yourself, including daily goals, and work on them as best you can. It’s fulfilling to be able to cross things off a list every day, whether they’re big things like, “learn to make laundry soap,” or little things like, “order book from Amazon today.” As you keep doing things, you’ll get a better idea of what you can accomplish every day/week/month and adjust the lists accordingly. <br /><br />And you’ll have some bad days mixed in with the good ones. Don’t worry about that, though – just keep going. Stockpiling, prepping, survivalism…none of ‘em have specific instructions. The general idea is to be ready for trouble and have a way to deal with it not if, but when, it comes. That means different things to different people so, as long as you’re moving in the right direction, don’t let the incidentals bother you too much.<br /><br />One of the more-common sentiments I’ve heard lately is, “I’m running out of time.” People say that about everything from investing for retirement to getting to work on time today, but it applies to this prepping bit, too. Maybe you’re worried that it’s too late to even bother starting, but put the smackdown on that line of thought. Even if things go to hell one week from today, you’ve spent a week doing something constructive. That buys you a week to survive while you work on longer-term plans. It’s better than nothing and it beats the hell out of being one of the people who won’t give any of this even passing thought until after the trouble comes.<br /><br />The final thought of the day: Buy one, store one, give one away. Prepping isn’t only about me; it’s about my family and the people in my community. While I’m not about to feed everyone, I have friends and neighbors who might be able to use a little help. One of the dangers of prepping or survivalism is the desire to focus too much on ourselves, which is kind of a crappy way to live life.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-28034996063237404222010-11-21T11:25:00.002-06:002010-11-21T11:26:16.838-06:00Labels and Canned GoodsMost of us are storing canned goods even if we also have fresh veggies from the garden; home-canned foods; and other alternatives. It’s not a bad idea to diversify the food stockpile for a variety of reasons, including the military’s “Two is one and one is none” concept. Another reason to get canned goods is the fact that they’re cheap; if you hit sales like we do, you can get a lot of canned veggies for just a few bucks. <br /><br />And while Mom and I are both learning how to can things (she used to do it with her mom, but hasn’t been involved in a few decades or so – gotta re-learn old skills if you’ve let them lie dormant for too long), we go by the, “Buy one, store one, give one away” mindset. We’d rather give away tin cans of veggies than home-canned foods because we want the jars and, as far as we can tell, most people around here don’t can at home; they wouldn’t have good jars to trade us.<br /><br />One of the things that I hate about canned goods is that most companies don’t stamp anything useful on the actual cans beyond a “best by” date. When I look at cans of corn, peas, and green beans, the cans are all alike other than which labels are wrapped around them. Green Giant is an exception, but we don’t buy that brand often unless it’s on sale for a better price than others. <br /><br />So, folks, what happens if the labels are ruined? You get to play Tin Can Roulette, that’s what, which isn’t always a fun game to play. If a flood destroys some of the labels…if one of the cats finds its way into your food stash and pees all over the cans…if some other, unexpected problem takes out the labels…you don’t know exactly what’s in there. Even if your stockpile is neatly sorted, separated by what’s inside the can, what about the bug-out bag? What if you have to throw a bunch of your stockpile into the vehicle and bug out? The glue on labels isn’t the best ever, so don’t be surprised if some of the labels end up in the bottom of your bag or on the floorboard. <br /><br />Here at The Homestead, we use a Sharpie on the cans’ tops, noting what’s inside and its best-by date. Even though that date’s already stamped on the can, it’s much easier and faster to read a large “10/12” (October 2012, of course) mark on the top of the can than it is to go looking for the smaller stamp.<br /><br />None of the labels are vital, so we can still safely prepare and consume the food without them. I don’t need the label on the canned soup to tell me that I only need to heat it and serve because I eat that soup in everyday life and am, therefore, familiar with it. This is one of many reasons why the idea of storing what you eat anyway is a great one. If, on the other hand, you find that you really need certain labels, it’s not a bad idea to save a few of them from cans you open and use. <br /><br />And while labeling each can does take a few minutes, we know that the five or ten minutes we invest after coming home from the store could save us some frustration later.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-30938745534935701972010-08-27T15:02:00.003-05:002010-08-27T15:04:39.358-05:00Several Broken Water Mains in Town ProperIn town proper, the person in charge of monitoring the water company’s tanks received an alert that both of the towers were nearly empty. The computer alert is only one part of the system, though; the tanks also have floats that somebody with the water company can go observe. <br /><br />You would think, then, that a “Your tanks are nearly empty!” alert from the computer would be simple to confirm. If you were in charge, you’d probably radio or call one of the employees in the trucks all over the town and ask him or her to drop by and check the floats, right? That’s simple and sensible confirmation of what the computer told you was wrong, so why not?<br /><br />The idiot in charge decided, instead, to blame the alert on a computer glitch. Instead of confirming that there was really a problem, he called tech support; the agent told him that somebody would be out the next day. In the meantime, this dolt sat on his hands, ignoring the alert because it couldn’t possibly be legit. <br /><br />As it turns out, the tanks supplying the entire stinkin’ town with water really were almost empty when the water company’s employee failed to do anything useful. By the time the computer tech came out and told him that there was no computer glitch, they were almost bone dry. Shortly afterward, citizens started calling in to report that they didn’t have any water coming out of their magical faucets or garden hoses.<br /><br />The fix – getting more water into the tanks – went well enough. The problem, though, is that the water lines running all over the town are old and crappy. When the water started running through these pipes again, several mains broke.<br /><br />Yes. Several. As in, roughly seven. <br /><br />All this happened yesterday or the day before; the water company swears that people in town proper will have water again by Monday. In the meantime, they don’t have water to bathe, flush their toilets, drink, do dishes, or fill their inflatable swimming pools. <br /><br />Do you trust everyone at your water company to always do the sensible thing? Do you have complete and utter faith in the invisible-to-you pipes and other equipment? Do you believe that any necessary repairs will be completed before you even start to smell bad, especially in a heat wave like we just got past?<br /> <br />If not, now’s as good a time as any to make sure that you have plenty of potable and non-potable water stored away. The people in town didn’t have much, if any, warning that they were going to lose water, so that’s an excellent example of why preparing in advance is a good idea.<br /><br />A few barrels of water in the basement…some five-gallon jugs of drinking water…a rain-collection system…one-gallon jugs…there are lots of ways to put back water so that, when something happens, you won’t suffer too much.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-79829948150513058222010-08-26T13:34:00.000-05:002010-08-26T13:35:30.136-05:00Some Light HousekeepingAs you can see with your own eye(s), I’ve done some housekeeping around here. The blogroll’s been updated and the settings are changed to put the most-recently updated blog at the top of the list. Maybe this will make it a little easier for y’all to see when there’s something new to go read when you’re finished sitting in awe of my very existence. (Hah!)<br /><br />I made the font a wee bit smaller, too, because text was ridiculously huge on my wide-screen monitor (and it’s only a basic, seventeen-inch model – nothing high speed or too fancy). If you’re using Firefox and want to make the text bigger, hold down CTRL and the “+” key; for smaller text, hold down CTRL and the “-” key. <br /><br />Let’s see…I’ll update whenever I think that I have something worth saying and hope that this happens at least once a week. I’m also visiting various blogs, leaving comments if I think that they can be useful or at least entertaining. Good times.<br /><br />Incidentally, ten-pound bags of chicken are on sale again this week at the same store. This time, however, they were smart enough to put a “limit 1 bag with additional $10 purchase” notice/disclaimer in their ad. Last week, the people in charge of the circulars didn’t include that, so there was, as you probably imagine, a run on those bags. Mom and I grabbed only two because we didn’t have room for more but, if we’d been set up to store several bags, we would have snagged them – this week, though, we’ll pick up only one bag because fair’s fair. <br /><br />Here’s to a great weekend for everyone! I’m planning on enjoying a little free time to do some writing, play with the cats, and see if I can get rid of the last of the wasps hanging out near my bedroom. If they weren’t constantly coming into this room, I wouldn’t care. Now, though, they’ve decided that they want to be indoor critters, which isn’t happening. Like I really want to inadvertently sit down on one of those suckers.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-19200509162393376102010-08-21T15:03:00.002-05:002010-08-21T15:05:48.999-05:00Cluck Cluck!Bags of fryer quarters normally run about .79 a pound here so, when Mom and I found them on sale for .20/lb., we bought two big bags. That’s what we have room to store at the moment but, if we had room, we’d have grabbed more. I imagine that, after Mom and I make the chicken casserole tonight, we’ll have somebody go back to the store and pick up another bag.<br /><br />Mom and I cooked the chicken in her big ol’ roaster oven because it’s a fast and easy way to take care of twenty pounds’ worth of quarters. The chicken’s chunked and in the freezer, aside from the portion that’s going into dinner tonight, so we’re happy. Also, the cats and dogs got the skin, which is just gross if you’ve boiled it (in my opinion), so they were thrilled.<br /><br />As for the chicken stock, Mom poured it up into the half-liter bottles that we’ve had lying around for a while. I have a tendency to buy Mountain Dew in six-packs of these bottles because it’s convenient and the suckers are usually on sale for a good price. We started saving the bottles a while back because we figured that they had to have a practical use or two, but we weren’t sure what we’d do with them at the time.<br /><br />They’re food-grade plastic and are subjected to a thorough cleaning before we re-use them, so they’re excellent for filling halfway with water and sticking in the freezer. I used one, wrapped in a towel, for an ice pack a few days ago because the two proper ones were being rotated (Mom needed them). I bash the bottles full of ice with a hammer, cut them open, and pour the ice into the cats’ water dish when it’s hot as heck, like it has been lately in this part of Texas.<br /><br />But the bottles also work very well for chicken stock. We didn’t bother separating the fat because that’s easy enough to do later when we use each bottle. Just poke a hole in the bottom – it’s much like shotgunning a beer, really – and let the chicken stock drain out; the fat that’s left will stay behind. <br /><br />We have four liters of chicken stock cooling off so that they can go into the freezer. That’s a decent amount for the six people we’re feeding here, but you might want more or less depending on storage space, family size, that sort of thing.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-82016392693488988302010-08-19T21:07:00.001-05:002010-08-19T21:07:35.340-05:00Back - Finally.I haven’t written anything for this blog in ages because I haven’t had anything to say. And because I’ve been busy. And because I haven’t felt very well as of late, but am getting better.<br /><br />So, let’s play catch-up really quickly before I make what I hope is an interesting point about the value of having gold or silver in your possession despite the fact that you can’t eat it, drink it, or build a shelter out of it (or wear it, now that I think about it).<br /><br />Since I last bothered to update An Unsheltered Life, we’ve done some cool and not-so-cool things.<br /><br />-Oldest Bro got married! His wife is a lovely, sweet young lady and I’m incredibly happy for both of them. We got them a firearm for their wedding present because they couldn’t really afford one (seriously, times are tough everywhere) and we wanted to be sure that they had a means of defending themselves and their home. They both love it. <br /><br />-I finally finished college despite knowing that it’s a big, fat waste of time if you aren’t studying a hard science. English literature degrees aren’t overly valuable in the workforce, but I enjoyed the learning that I did while I was in school.<br /><br />-A Bachelor’s in English is good for a temporary job at Walmart. I earned a little money, helped contribute to the family’s stockpiles, and met some interesting people. I also sprained the crap out of my shoulder while I was there, which prompted two doctor’s visits on Walmart’s dime. Oops. I’m fine now, by the way, and put my handy-dandy sling in storage in case we need it again. (Man, do I ever hate slings. It’s really difficult to do anything when your strong arm is bound up like that.)<br /><br />-Mom and I experimented with using the Food Saver’s jar attachment to vacuum seal various foods. I’m pleased to report that, a full three months later, the chocolate chips, white rice, and other goodies are still safe and sound in the jars. We’re keeping a close eye on the chocolate because Mom and I both have occasional cravings for it. It would well and truly suck if we were stuck without even a few morsels to tide us over, I think. <br /><br />-Dad was laid off a couple of weeks ago. The bad news is that the local economy sucks out loud. The good news is that he’s eligible for unemployment. The justification for that is the fact that he’s spent most of his adult life working, paying into the system, so the safety net isn’t a handout that he didn’t help fund. And, y’know, the local economy is horrible. <br /><br />-Over those two weeks, Dad’s been griping because there are buttloads of canned goods in the pantry. He doesn’t buy into this “Let’s stock up when things are cheap because we’re going to eat these foods anyway” philosophy, mostly because he doesn’t think that far ahead. <br /><br />-Sis and I got Mom a bread maker for Christmas. She’s still having a blast with it, churning out some very tasty breads. They’re particularly nice with the cherry preserves that I bought for “I feel like crap and need to be comforted” food. <br /><br />-Mom also received a twelve-inch, cast-iron skillet (a Lodge, I believe) from me. Good times.<br /><br />-My brothers and Dad are gearing up to go make a big dent in the firewood tomorrow morning. Ideally, they’ll get a massive pile that Mom and I can work through with a log splitter that my middle brother brings home (yep, he still works at the rental yard). If that works out, we’ll have a few cords stacked up for the coming winter. <br /><br />As for precious metals: Who’s going to want them if we reach a point in American society where fiat money is flat-out worthless? Will the grocery store take them? Possibly. Will your neighbor want them in exchange for some of his supplies? Probably not. Can you eat them? Of course not.<br /><br />But some of us have to pay property taxes, which is bull crap but necessary if we intend to keep our land. I hold out a tiny shred of hope that the State of Texas will abolish this atrocity so that my family and I will truly, for real, own the property – but I don’t wager on that actually happening.<br /><br />That’s one reason why the precious metals aren’t terrible ideas despite their theoretical uselessness in everyday life as a survivor. Once a year, they could come in handy, especially when you’re having a tough time putting together enough folding money to pay the tax man for what should be completely yours anyway. <br /><br />“But Sarah, won’t the tax office stop bothering after an economic collapse and nobody has money?”<br /><br />Maybe – but are you willing to wager your property on that? I’m not.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-72006127506342658032010-01-15T16:00:00.000-06:002010-01-15T16:00:00.064-06:00The Unprepared in ActionOne of our neighbors is currently using our shower because her family fails to prepare each and every time winter comes around.<br /><br />They know that their water lines are going to freeze and rupture because that happens to them every year: as soon as we get a decent freeze, something bursts over there. They don’t get off their butts and wrap their pipes, which is insanely cheap and easy to do: just use newspaper and duct tape if that’s what you have on hand.<br /><br />What’s worse is that, even though they know the consequences of their decision to avoid preventive maintenance, they don’t keep extra parts or supplies on hand. Instead, they wait for the pipes to freeze and then make a special trip all the way into town to buy what they need. <br /><br />This time, they sent the guy’s daughter, who has no idea of what to buy. She came back with fittings that were too large and the wrong type of PVC glue, so they still don’t have running water. Even worse: the father, who does know what to buy, went into town after the pipe burst – but did not bother stopping to pick up the necessary supplies. He sent his daughter out on another trip even though he knew that a) he was already right there in town and b) she had no idea of what she was doing. <br /><br />Oh, yeah, and they do have television, which does broadcast weather-related information. They know when a freeze is coming and have plenty of prepping time, but still choose to sit around and wait for the inevitable. <br /><br />I’m just ticked because one of the neighbors is using our stinkin’ shower. Why should we help them out? They aren’t even trying, so we’re only teaching them that our family is right here to bail them out despite their lack of effort. <br /><br />They have no idea that we’re prepared for bigger problems than ruptured pipes. They don’t know that, should the food supply go haywire for whatever reason, we aren’t nearly as worried as they’re going to be. They shouldn’t come knocking on our door, but something tells me that they will anyway because they’re being taught that we can, and do, solve their other problems. Will it really be beyond their rudimentary imaginations to think, “Hey, maybe they have food?” because we already provide the shower, among other things?<br /><br />Society is full of people who rely on others to take care of the essentials. I have too much pride and work ethic to let other people take care of me, so I can’t imagine being like the neighbors. How can they be comfortable letting us provide them with running water? Why don’t they feel like crap for not being capable of taking care of themselves? What is it about them that prevents them from saying, “This is embarrassing. I’m going to make sure that this doesn’t happen again”?<br /><br />I don’t know the answer to any of those questions. I don’t understand the unprepared person’s mindset; all I know is that, when things are really bad, there are going to be a lot of people in this country with no idea of what to do – and they’re going to try to find the natural leaders who were prepared in advance.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-9135512215401755632010-01-10T17:13:00.002-06:002010-01-10T17:35:56.393-06:00Walmart Destroys New MerchandiseEverywhere I go in the real world or online, somebody’s complaining about the recent revelation that Walmart, among other companies, <a href="http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/h-m-and-wal-mart-destroy-and-trash-unsold-goods-562909/">destroys and discards unsold clothing</a> instead of, say, giving it to charity. People are outraged over the wastefulness as well as the “corporate greed,” as they put it, that encourages Walmart employees to do things like destroy overcoats and other, perfectly good textiles before dumping them.<br /><br />Let’s look at a few truths about businesses here in the United States.<br /><br />One: Some manufacturers or distributors REQUIRE retailers to destroy and discard unsold items in order to receive most, if not all, of their (the stores’) credit for them. The publishing industry is a fine example of that attitude: if you report unsold books as “Unsold and destroyed,” you get a big chunk of credit…versus the small amount of money that you would make if you sold the books at a deep discount or gave them away. So, instead of shipping back all those unsold copies of some politician’s crapfest of a book, you remove the front covers and toss the tomes into a Dumpster. It’s fast, extremely cheap, and easy – and it works. <br /><br />Why not just ship all the unsold stuff back to the warehouse? The associated costs are significantly higher than trashing the unsold merchandise, that’s why. If Walmart actually paid the expense of returning unsold goods (because you know that the makers or distributors won’t pay that bill), they’re going to have to jack up prices. They’re happy capitalists, so they aren’t going to eat the cost of shipping a truck full of books, clothes, and other goods back to the warehouses: that’s not nearly as cost effective as simply doing what the makers and distributors want (destroying and discarding them).<br /><br />Why not put the merchandise on the clearance racks and shelves? Walmart does that quite often, actually. I do plenty of clearance-rack shopping at all sorts of stores. However, the fact is that not every single item will sell no matter how low the price. Walmart has to do something with that size-negative-8 dress that nobody in my entire county is anorexic enough to wear.<br /><br />Two: Doing useful things with unsold goods inevitably leads to fraud, which will cost the company a big chunk of money and, of course, increase our prices.<br /><br />Let’s say, for example, that my local Walmart agreed to donate unsold clothing to the local Goodwill in exchange for the tax write-off. As soon as Wally World does that, people are going to buy a three-dollar shirt from Goodwill, bring it back to Walmart, and return it for eighteen dollars. <br /><br />Let’s say, for example, that Walmart starts giving away the clothing to a homeless shelter. As soon as they do that, people are going to bring the clothes to Walmart and return them for full, retail price.<br /><br />Let’s say, for example, that Walmart contracts with an outlet store in order to move the new goods at reduced prices. People will buy the reduced-price goods and return them.<br /><br />And no, you can’t stop people from returning the clothing in a fraudulent manner. You could, I suppose, mark the clothing, but any idiot can defeat any mark that a) isn’t obtrusive enough to discourage people from buying and wearing it; and b) actually helps Walmart employees figure out that the item should not be returned. Kid Sis works at Walmart and, despite having been there for only one year, knows many of the tricks that fraudsters use in order to scam the store. Some of them are rather creative, which is surprising because the average thief barely has three spare brain cells to rub together. <br /><br />Oh, and when stores like Target and Walmart try to defend themselves with various policies, such as strict requirements for returns or not giving away free things? Customers <a href="http://www.planetfeedback.com/wwwwalmartcom/+cloverdale+branch/price/value/not++sure+if++the++item++belong++to++the++store/318979">gripe</a>. A <a href="http://www.planetfeedback.com/target/other/does+not+like+target+policies/314242">lot</a>. They <a href="http://www.planetfeedback.com/target+corporation/exchanges/returns/i+will+never+shop+at+target+again+and+will+tell+everybody+i+come+across+in+my+day+to+day+business/313858">get pissy</a> because they must have a register receipt in order to return or exchange anything. They complain because the store insists on giving them a gift card instead of cash or a credit-card refund. They whine because they don’t like <a href="http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=69416">having to show their receipts</a> to the greeter as a loss-prevention tactic. <br /><br />Three: Walmart owns the clothing, so they can do whatever they want with it, including destruction. I don’t like the wastefulness all that much, but I REALLY dislike having to pay more because a bunch of oxygen thieves found an easy way to scam Wally World out of a good bit of money.<br /><br />As for the “Walmart only cares about the money!” war cry: yes, that’s true. They’re capitalists, just like me. I want the freedom to do whatever I want with anything that I own – even up to destroying it if that’s my preference. Nobody gets to tell me what to do with my stuff, and I don’t get to tell anybody else – including a giant corporation – what to do with theirs. <br /><br />Don’t shop at Walmart if that’s your preference. Frankly, I don’t care what you do with your money and I don’t think that I have any right to dictate your spending decisions to you. But if you’re going to be angry because a corporation is wasteful, you’re going to have to be angry at almost every corporation – and, in fact, many smaller businesses – in this country. Even the mom-and-pop stores in my community are wasteful. They throw out perfectly good food. They destroy merchandise that they just can’t move even at discounted prices. They use disposable products when reusable versions could work just fine.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-18002487387673304202010-01-08T16:00:00.000-06:002010-01-08T16:00:01.807-06:00Cat Food and Your StockpileWhen you stockpile food for your cats, remember that they require a certain diet – one that doesn’t include dog food to a great extent.<br /><br />It’s perfectly okay to occasionally let the cat have the dog chow, but don’t make a habit of it. Cats have to have more proteins, for example, along with some other things that either aren’t present in dog food or are not present in enough quantities to satisfy the kitty’s physical needs. Cats who’ve been fed a steady diet of dog food have gone blind before because their bodies weren’t getting what was necessary.<br /><br />I’m bringing up all that because some people on tight budgets tend to buy one bag of pet food – dog food if they have dogs and cats – without knowing the consequences. It’s also easy to justify storing only one type of dry food because that costs less money and requires less storage space. <br /><br />You can grab water- and airtight pet-food containers at Tractor Supply or the pet store. They aren’t too terribly expensive but do a good job of keeping the cats’ food safe. Alternatively, you can break out your Food Saver and make your own, custom-sized bags of vacuum-sealed pet food.<br /><br />Of course, feeding the cat from your stash is not necessarily a terrible idea. Some people make their own pet food which, if done properly (i.e. including the right ingredients for the pet in question), can save you some money and storage space. There are plenty of good cat-food recipes online, including a few for kitty treats if that’s your thing.<br /><br />I’m not even going to suggest getting rid of the cats before the world goes berserk because a) I love cats and really don’t want The Homestead to be feline free, and b) where I live, it’s very difficult to find good homes, even for the most-adorable kittens, because the economy around here really sucks. People are having to choose between medication and food for their current pets, so they aren’t likely to take in another kitty who needs a good place to stay.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-14590067205590019782010-01-01T11:07:00.000-06:002010-01-01T11:09:12.267-06:00Happy New Year!Sorry about being absent, folks. I had final exams; graduation-related stuff; employment searches; family time; and a whole buttload of other things going on all at once. However, I hope that 2010 is fantastic for each and every one of us and that we accomplish as many prepping-related tasks as possible in the New Year.<br /><br />It looks like I’ll be starting grad school in the fall (Lord willing) because I really need to work on my MFA. The longer I take off between now and then, the harder it will be for me to get started, much less finish. That’s pretty much gospel truth because I know myself fairly well at this point: the sooner I start a project, the better.<br /><br />Going to school isn’t a terrible idea, especially if you can find some classes that teach useful skills. At the local community college, for example, you can study agriculture and ranching. One of my brothers went there to learn welding, which took him only one year (certificate program). Even if you don’t pursue a degree full time, or even part time, you can take a class or two that seem interesting. Local colleges can teach all sorts of neat things, from leatherworking to animal husbandry, and I’m pretty sure that you can find good ways to use those skills after you acquire them.<br /><br />However, college is hardly the only place to learn new things. If you don’t want the expense or hassle of going to classes, you can head to <a href="http://www.youtube.com">YouTube</a> and find all kinds of videos about almost anything. MB wanted to do some Fiberglas-repair work on his car’s bumper a few months ago but had no idea of what he was doing. He went to YouTube, watched a few videos, and did a first-rate job of repairing his bumper.<br /><br />The local library is a great, free way to grab good books on various subjects. My library isn’t worth a fart because it’s tiny and run by women who want romance novels and the latest fiction best-sellers more than anything else: what few books they have aren’t overly useful. That’s okay, though, because your library might be better. You can also use <a href="http://www.paperbackswap.com">PaperBackSwap.com</a> to trade books through the mail. The site’s open to all U.S. residents and has a large number of users, so the odds of finding a good book on your favorite subject are pretty good.<br /><br />Anyway: in this New Year, I think it’s a good idea to intentionally focus on acquiring a new skill, big or small. This year, for example, I’d like to learn how to can my own food. It would be really nice to hit the farmer’s market, grab plenty of fresh vegetables, and preserve them. I’ve already started the process by acquiring basic, required tools (jars, for example) as I find them, especially if they’re on sale at the time. It’s not much, but it’s a start, right?<br /><br />In the meantime, I’m off to make myself some lunch and see about getting a shower.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-16168193576774032942009-12-05T02:31:00.002-06:002009-12-05T02:31:40.786-06:00Finals; Christmas Shopping; Question for ReadersHappy early, early Saturday, everyone! I’m taking final exams next week, so I’m busy putting together study sheets, reviewing, asking God to please help me so that I can be done with undergraduate work, that kind of thing. However, I’ll be finished next Thursday, so I might actually have a worthwhile blog entry next week.<br /><br />In the meantime, I drew Kid Sis’ name from the hat for Christmas shopping/gift giving, so I’ve been trying to figure out what I’m going to get/do for her. Christmas is not primarily about gifts – we’re Christians, so we celebrate the birth of Jesus first and foremost. (Yes, I do know that Jesus probably wasn’t born on December twenty-fifth, but we take what we can get, right?) However, giving gifts is nice too because I get to figure out what the recipient will most like.<br /><br />Kid Sis is easy to shop for because she’ll flat-out tell you what she wants when you ask. I’ve never bought or done something that she absolutely hated, so I guess that my ears work pretty well. However, she probably doesn’t have any idea of what I’m getting her this year…she didn’t ask for it, but I know that she’ll like it.<br /><br />I know that she wants a particular Wii game, so I’ll see if I can get a good deal on that. Sixty bucks for one stupid video game is ridiculous if you ask me – a gently used copy, or one on mad sale because it’s the Christmas-shopping season, will do just fine. <br /><br />However, she also needs a few important, emergency items for her car. I didn’t realize until yesterday evening that the spare “universal” donut in her trunk was not actually designed for her make. Oops…it turns out that the donut won’t fit on her car, making it utterly useless should she have a flat.<br /><br />First, I’m tracking down a spare rim with a decent tire because I really don’t want her stranded with a busted tire, tempted to rely on strangers if family or her boyfriend can’t get to her very, very quickly. She’s capable of changing the tire herself – she’s demonstrated that fact more than once – but she has to have the right spare.<br /><br />I’d also like to put a few other, important things in her car for her, such as an ABC fire extinguisher. Yes, I know that Kid Sis should already have one of those – preparedness and all – but, um, we’ve kind of overlooked the whole “fire extinguishers for the vehicles” bit for some reason. <br /><br />So, yeah, she’s probably going to get a new toy for Christmas – but she’s also getting things that she can actually use. There’s no point in having a new video game at home if you don’t make it back because the wrong person stopped to help you out with your flat…or whatever. <br /><br />I’d like to hear from the readers, though, because I know that many of you have great ideas. What sorts of emergency/survival items do you keep in the car? My essentials include things like spare fuses; electrical tape; reflective triangles; a fire extinguisher; tire-changing essentials; first-aid kits; and the like. What else do you store in the car?An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-90209126369302486582009-11-27T16:00:00.000-06:002009-11-27T16:00:00.574-06:00Sleeping Arrangements for HouseguestsI hope that your Thanksgiving (or regular ol’ week if you don’t do Turkey Day for whatever reason) was outstanding. I’m writing this entry a day early and setting it to auto publish tomorrow (today from your perspective) because my family’s celebrating a day late. Travel and work schedules didn’t work out so well for Thursday, which is fine. Thanksgiving is about family more than anything else, at least in my opinion, so we’re happy to put off turkey and dressing for one day if it means that we can eat and spend time together.<br /><br />This week, let’s talk about accommodating extra family members or friends. That’s a good subject because a) many of us have family over, especially around holidays and b) in a sufficiently large emergency, your relatives could very well drop in on you. Not all of them will give you warning in advance, so there’s no good way to predict how many folks you’ll have to house, feed, clothe, etc. should something go wrong.<br /><br />Despite not necessarily knowing how many people you can expect, you can probably accommodate a few houseguests, especially if they’re family. (Many of us will go an extra two or three miles in order to help out family, which is good.) <br /><br />Even in small houses like our trailer, it’s possible to squeeze in some extra people for a few days, if not weeks or even months. We’ve done just that before plenty of times, and are doing it right now because Wayward Bro’s home for the holidays (very cool, by the way – we’ve missed him). Sleeping arrangements tend to pose the biggest challenges, but a little planning in advance tends to make things work out. Here are some tips and ideas for the time when your people show up on your doorstep.<br /><br />No matter what sleeping arrangements you make, people are going to need bedding. Don’t assume that someone who’s dropped in on you without calling first is going to be prepared enough to bring blankets and pillows. Even if that person did grab bedding before heading to your place, it’s better to have too much than too little. You can pick up fantastic bedding for very good prices at thrift stores and garage sales. Give the pieces a thorough cleaning, make sure that they’re completely dry, and use your Food Saver to seal them up. These vacuum-sealed packages take up only a small amount of storage space and are protected from pretty much everything (assuming, of course, that you don’t store them in a harsh environment). I use the Food Saver for “off-season” bedding: the big blankets in the summer and the thin ones in the winter, but that method will also work for storing extra bedding for guests. <br /><br />When Wayward Bro came home Thursday, he brought his U.S. military cot with him. He found this item at a surplus dealer for about thirty-five bucks. The cot is relatively small; folds up into a really small bundle for storage; and is made of durable materials. My brother found his locally, but <a href="http://www.usmilitarysurplus.com/surpluscatalog/product_info.php?products_id=2721">USMilitarySurplus</a> has them for…um…a rather-high price in my opinion. You can, however, get the cot’s exact dimensions as well as a photo if you visit the site. <br /><br />You can, if necessary, make the cot even more comfortable with one of those foam toppers, or by folding up some blankets and lying on top of them. In my experience, these cots are fine the way they come, but we’re all different. <br /><br />Alternatively, you can use bunk beds. That’s how Mom and Dad managed to fit three boys into one bedroom and two girls into another when we were growing up. Granted, we were much smaller than we are today, but you can squeeze even bigger bunk beds into tight places. <br /><br />I don’t, however, like pallets on the floor – for a few reasons. One is that a cot or other bed that’s off the floor gives a little storage space underneath. You can put your shoes and day clothes under a cot or bunk bed and not trip over them if you need to get up in the dark. I also dislike the floor because I’ve yet to sleep on one that’s actually comfortable. I always – even when I was a spry, carefree kid – wake with stiff joints (which puts me in a bad mood).<br /><br />If weather permits, you might pitch tents near the house and put people out there. That idea depends on various factors, though, including the type of emergency (I wouldn’t put people outside if there were, say, a toxic-chemical spill in the area); how much room you have in your yard/outdoor area; and what the area’s like (it would really stink if one of your relatives were mauled by a bobcat or devoured by mosquitoes, after all).<br /><br />Some of you are bound to have other ideas. What’s worked for you all as far as beds/cots go? We’re all here to learn, so comments are, as always, encouraged. <br /><br />If you want to give people a bit of privacy – which, by the way, becomes more and more important as your time together drags on – you can suspend blankets from the ceiling. That’s what my sister and I did when we had to share a bedroom. We hung blankets around our bunk beds to form private sleeping areas. I was much more comfortable in my own bed after the blankets went up. Maybe it has something to do with the illusion of privacy? I really don’t know, but it worked.<br /><br />You might also try to keep kids separated by both gender and general age group. My sister is eight years younger than I am, so we didn’t have diddly in common when we were growing up. I wanted to stay up later, being a teenager and all, and she wanted to play with her obnoxious toys. Maybe these kinds of things won’t be big problems if you’re dealing with an all-out crisis, but a little separation will keep the kids in better moods…which, of course, makes your job as the adult a bit easier.<br /><br />It also helps to give everyone a chore related to the sleeping area. When each of the people who use that area have a task that they can perform (even little kids can do things like collect the pillows and put them in the storage area), they tend to be in better moods. Human nature leans toward doing: if we have a task, we’re usually happier than if we’re just sitting around, thinking about the situation that we’re in. <br /><br />Also, making sure that everyone has an assigned task can prevent some arguments, especially in the kids’ area. Kids love to gripe, as anyone with kids (or, like me, a bunch of younger sibs) will tell you. “He isn’t doing anything.” “She messed up my area.” “Tell that jerk to stop throwing his candy wrappers on my bed.” If they’re all busy with their small, but important, chores, they won’t be quite so quick to argue over who’s not doing anything, or whatever else.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-87860755889480145762009-11-20T19:41:00.000-06:002009-11-20T19:46:14.938-06:00Thrift-store FindsHappy Thanksgiving to all the people who are celebrating next week. We like smoked turkey here at The Homestead, but I hope that whatever holiday meal you prefer is nice and tasty!<br /><br />I’ve been dealing with schoolwork, laundry, and other mundane things all day. I got up late because I went to bed late, so I’m off schedule in a bad way today. That’s all right, though, because I work best at night: my circadian rhythms just aren’t designed for the morning-person stuff.<br /><br />Anyway: Some of you probably know by now that I have a tough time driving past a thrift store, especially when I have a few bucks in my pocket and something specific on my mind. Thrift stores are fantastic places to find all sorts of neat things, most of them in decent (or even new) condition. If you have enough knowledge about what you’re trying to find, you can come out of these stores with great stuff for little to nothing compared to the retail price.<br /><br />Earlier this week, I visited the huge thrift store by my campus and came home with an old, Dell keyboard. That’s a big deal to me because I really like the old, sturdy keyboards: they’re more comfortable to use; don’t wear out nearly as quickly as the new, cheap crap does; and aren’t very expensive. The Dell that I snagged cost me all of four bucks and, after I get my ten-dollar signal converter from Amazon in order to connect the device to my computer, I’ll be ready to go. For fourteen bucks, I could get a keyboard from Walmart that’ll fall apart in six months or so…or I could get something that doesn’t suck. Yeah, that’s not a hard decision.<br /><br />Of course, your local thrift store is a fantastic source for all kinds of other things, from clothes and cookware to books and electronics. The inventory is unpredictable, of course, so it’s a good idea to stop in on a regular basis. Making friends with some of the employees also helps, because one might be willing to put aside something that he or she thinks you’ll like.<br /><br />I’ve found all sorts of great clothes, including jeans and tee shirts. I’ve come home with a keyboard for Mom’s computer as well as some shirts that I knew she’d like. I’ve found books and CDs, too, for just a few bucks each (if that much).<br /><br />There’s also some survival-related stuff at thrift stores. I’ve seen all kinds of backpacks, for example, which make great bug-out or get-home bags. You sometimes find different types of cookstoves, such as Coleman models, for decent prices. Hurricane lamps, hand-powered kitchen gadgets, and rain gear are also on the shelves or in the bins.<br /><br />So, if you’re worried about not being able to afford the gear that you need, make a list of what you’re trying to find and start haunting thrift stores. Garage sales are good, too, by the way.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-26014791890913267402009-11-13T16:35:00.001-06:002009-11-13T16:35:53.045-06:00Watson the Wonder DogI’m getting another stinking migraine, so please bear with me today, folks. School’s been stressing me right out, so I’ve been getting these skull bangers over the last couple of weeks. And I thought that the month before graduation was supposed to be a little easier than this. Hah!<br /><br />Let’s talk about dog training today, mmkay? Mom just adopted a Rottweiler from a local drunk who was starving the poor puppy – seems that the dog growled at the drunk’s illegitimate offspring when it got too close to the food dish. Anyway…Mom’s happy because she got to save a dog from a piece of garbage, and the dog’s happy because he actually sees a food dish every day.<br /><br />Anyway…the dog’s only about six months old, but that’s more than old enough for basic training. Mom’s been working with the little guy (who isn’t, by the way, so little) for a few hours every day (interspersed throughout the day, that is). He’s quickly learning his name (“Watson”), as well as commands like “come” and “sit.” Watson genuinely wants to please Mom, which is a big help because he wants to hear “Good boy! Oh, good boy, Watson. You sit so well.”<br /><br />If you keep in mind that your dog probably wants to make you happy, then basic obedience training is not usually too difficult. Your main challenge lies in communicating your desires to the dog so that he can associate your commands – verbal, visual, whatever – with the appropriate response.<br /><br />Here’s how Mom trains her canine pals. More often than not, the training works well and takes only a few weeks to really kick in. Remember, though, that I’m talking only of basic, obedience training: none of us are experts at raising proper guard dogs or other, such things.<br /><br />Teaching the dog his name<br />Just keep saying the dog’s name over and over when you speak to him. Use the name as punctuation, in fact, so that the dog hears it plenty of times. Soon enough, he’ll figure out that he’s “Watson,” or “Fido,” or whatever, and will start looking your way when you say it in the future.<br /><br />Example:<br /><br />“Hey, Watson. You’re a good boy, Watson – such a good Watson. Do you like your new food dish, Watson? Oh, yes, Watson likes the dish. Good boy, Watson.”<br /><br />Yes, that’s annoying as crap, even to type out. But it works. Watson already turns around to look at us about twenty-five percent of the time when we say “Watson,” and he’s been here for only a few days…and we didn’t name him, officially, until last night. <br /><br />Coming when called<br />If the dog receives some kind of reward every time he comes to you, he’s going to come when you call him. Watson gets petted sometimes and told that he’s a very good boy. Other times, he gets a piece of a doggy biscuit. When he finally decides to pick out a toy of his very own (so far, he isn’t into any of the ones that we’ve offered him), we’ll also use that: if you call the dog’s name while waving the toy around or making it squeak or whatever, the dog will usually respond.<br /><br />Even after the dog’s very good at coming every time he’s called, you should still reward him. No, you don’t have to give him a doggy biscuit every time he comes from now until his death, but petting or “Good boy – such a good Watson” aren’t bad ideas…maintaining the training and all that.<br /><br />Sitting<br />Mom doesn’t push down on the dog’s back end to show him what she wants: instead, she makes him do the sitting, then rewards him.<br /><br />She starts by taking a piece of a doggy treat in one hand and making the visual sign for “sit.” While she does this, she gives the command: “Watson, sit.” As she speaks, she slowly moves the hand with the treat up and over the dog’s head: Watson sits down, naturally, because he’s trying to keep the treat in sight.<br /><br />As soon as his butt touches the floor, he gets the treat and a litany of, “Good Watson – you sit so well. Watson knows how to sit, doesn’t he? Good sit, Watson.”<br /><br />Again: annoying, but effective.<br /><br />Those are just the things that Watson’s already learning. Unfortunately, the drunk didn’t do much with the poor dog, so Watson doesn’t know a lot. He’s not even housebroken, I’m sorry to say, but we’re working on that as well as the commands.<br /><br />It’s important to train your dog because you are then in control of the situation. If he knows that you’re in charge, and if he knows what to do when you give commands, then both of you are happier. He gets to please you, and you don’t have to worry about a disobedient, reckless dog tearing through the house or neighborhood.<br /><br />Ultimately, Mom’s thinking that Watson will make a good travel buddy when she leaves the house. Before she can find out for sure if Watson’s suited for that kind of thing, though, she has to get through the basic training. Even if Watson ends up being another lump on the living-room floor (like most of our other dogs), at least he’ll be a well-trained lump.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-81048633619083254792009-11-06T13:00:00.000-06:002009-11-06T13:05:18.263-06:00Talking About PreppingTo me, it’s important to talk about preparedness with neighbors, family, and friends. That’s because, the more people are prepared, the easier my life is going to be when we have to actually use those preps. There will be more people taking care of themselves, so there won’t be as many panicking, clueless folks running around. Those of us in the survivalist/prepper community will have more allies, too, which is usually a big plus. I’m thrilled whenever I hear about another prepper joining the “movement,” even if her progress is limited to buying an extra five bucks’ worth of groceries each week, because that’s one more person I don’t have to worry about when things go terribly wrong. <br /><br />However, I don’t run around telling people, “Hey, the world’s going berserk – let’s all stockpile a year’s worth of food and other stuff!” Frankly, I don’t want the rest of my small community to know that they could, in theory at least, drop in on my family and me when things finally go completely insane and there isn’t easy, affordable access to essentials like food. If God sends someone my way, I’m happy to help – but I don’t want half the county knocking on my door when things go terribly wrong.<br /><br />However, I encourage people I know to be prepared for other, lesser situations. Most of these folks are very receptive to the concept of shopping grocery-store sales and buying extras, for example, because they see rising food prices and know, intuitively, that crap’s only going to get worse. They aren’t convinced that everything will be just fine, so they’re happy to follow my family’s example of getting extras when they’re cheap and putting away as much of that food as we can.<br /><br />Everyday situations are fantastic things to discuss, by the way. I tend to focus on rising food prices because my part of Texas is rather poor. Lots of us are at or below poverty level, and grocery-store bills are not always easy to afford. Even neighbors who don’t have much to worry about re: basic bills nod their heads when we talk about how everything is getting more expensive – and some of these people are starting to show concern because they’ve figured out that, at some point, the rising prices will become real problems for them, too.<br /><br />However, I’m not a doomer when I talk about this stuff. I don’t segue into my, “the world’s going berserk” speech because I’m trying to avoid a) causing panic, and b) earning a reputation as the community’s chief nutjob. Sorry, folks, but a lot of our neighbors and friends aren’t going to believe us right now when we talk about end-of-the-world scenarios. They’re struggling to accept the reality of higher grocery bills…and some of them are still fuming over having to drop to a basic cable package several months ago. If they haven’t yet processed the everyday problems, they’re not going to have an easy time grasping the huge things that some of us are so concerned about. <br /><br />I also talk about situations that my family and I have actually faced. A creek crosses the only road leading in and out of The Homestead, and said creek floods when there’s enough rain. This year alone, we’ve been stranded here at home more than five times because of flooding. <br /><br />When I talk about the flooded road, I always add that I’m glad we have plenty of stuff at home to keep us fed, clothed, warm, etc. despite not being able to go to the store. Even when we’ve been stuck here for two days in a row, we’ve never missed a meal or gone without any of the other essentials. There’s always plenty in the house to get us through even the longest flood. <br /><br />People tend to react positively to all that because they see that being prepared for these situations really does pay off, at least in my family’s case. They can see, for themselves, that we’re right to always have plenty of groceries at home: we’ve actually had to use the provisions, so our preparedness paid off. <br /><br />But try telling these same folks that you’re stockpiling against the possibility of the Antichrist showing up while you’re still alive…or that you’re convinced that hyperinflation could hit this country…and, well, you’re a nutter. <br /><br />So…I’d suggest sticking to basic, real situations that actually happen, like natural disasters and short paychecks. However, we also have to accept that some people simply will not listen. I recently spoke with one guy who is convinced that, regardless of what happens, he can just take his debit card to Walmart and grab anything that he needs. He does not understand that a whole bunch of other people will get the same idea; the shelves could be empty by the time he gets there; the debit card may not work when he swipes it; roads might be impassable when he decides to get off his butt and go shopping…so forth and so on.<br /><br />I just leave those folks alone because they aren’t going to listen no matter how reasonable and logical I am when I present my point of view. Even when I offer solid evidence for prepping – like being stranded at home with a flooded road – guys like that have the, “It can’t happen to me” attitude. This guy in particular is convinced that his road could never flood because he lives in a city, not the middle of nowhere, and therefore has better maintenance as well as city workers who can fix the problem.<br /><br />Whatever…I hope that he can take care of his family should something go wrong, but I doubt that he’ll have that ability. He doesn’t want to take even simple, reasonable steps, and that’s his choice and problem.<br /><br />Fortunately, most of the people who hear what I have to say are more receptive than that. Many will agree with the basic, simple things that I talk about, and some will actually go out and start doing them – like getting extra food, or making sure that they know where their flashlights are in case of a power outage. That’s why I’m so optimistic about discussing the ideas: they’re well received more often than not, so there’s hope that we can continue spreading the ideas and helping more people take care of themselves.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-39158633351350549292009-10-30T17:23:00.002-05:002009-10-30T17:24:06.030-05:00Finally, A Blog Entry!As far as survival goes, I don’t have much new to say right now. My family and I are still doing what we normally do: adding to the stockpiles; learning how to be a little more self sufficient than we were the week or month before; and hanging in there.<br /><br />Dad’s facing big cutbacks at work, so we’re anticipating smaller paychecks. Everyone else in the house is facing the same situation…recession’s over, my foot. We haven’t done proper, full-fledged grocery shopping in a few weeks now because money’s been so tight lately, but we’re surviving. Nobody’s missed any meals, so we aren’t complaining. Like I told YB: “It’s real tough to gripe with your mouth full of food, huh?” He agreed. We go into the survival stash, grab what we need, and make a meal – this is why we prepare, and everyone’s grateful that we had the opportunity to build up the stockpile before finances started to get really tight. <br /><br />The chickens are just about ready to start laying – finally! We’re working on the final chicken coop because the one that we put together for the interim just isn’t big enough. They obviously couldn’t live in their little cage forever, so we did what we had to do until we could get plans and materials together to build the big, permanent coop. This coop’s going to be a little closer to the house, and we have plans to put access doors on the outside of the roosting area: that way, we can reach in and get the eggs without necessarily entering the coop. Naturally, there will still be a proper door because we do want to go in there with the chickens sometimes.<br /><br />There just isn’t much going on beyond the usual, everyday stuff. Mom’s current project, now that we got her laser printer up and running again, is updating her cookbook. She prints out full-page copies of her recipes, puts them in plastic sheets, and then sticks those in a ring binder. She likes this because she doesn’t have to worry about getting flour, or other stuff, on the actual pages – and because she can change the recipes whenever she wants. <br /><br />My brothers are still working on collecting firewood – for us, but also for our neighbor. He’s really sick, and just can’t deal with that this year. His two sons are worthless: they’re old enough to buy beer, and therefore should be capable of making sure that their dad stays warm, especially now that he’s so sick (in and out of the hospital and all that unpleasant stuff). But no…they’re too busy riding their BMX bikes, or going out to the honky tonk, to bother with Dad.<br /><br />Sis is busy with work, mostly, but she and I are trying to work out some free time on weekends so that we can hit local garage and yard sales together. She has to work Wednesday through Sunday, and I have school and homework, but our schedules are bound to coincide sooner or later.<br /><br />As for me…work and school are taking up most of my free time, but it’s finally the right weather for knitting. Dealing with a bunch of yarn just isn’t as pleasant when it’s hot and humid: I’d much rather knit when it’s cooler. I’m doing the washcloth thing – I think that I wrote about that already, right? There are some great, free patterns available <a href="http://knitting.about.com/lr/free_washcloth_patterns/487544/2/">at About.com</a> if you’re interested.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-49854613476200258672009-10-16T16:00:00.000-05:002009-10-16T16:00:01.595-05:00Still Sick; Still SurvivingI’m still sick, which is really ticking me off. It appears that I have a nasty chest cold, which is making it insanely difficult to breathe or move very far without running short of breath. <br /><br />Lately, my family and I have been preparing for the coming winter. We’re doing things like pulling out electric blankets and winter clothes; checking the wood-burning stoves to make sure they’re clean and in good working order; and making sure that we have plenty of winter-related gear (firewood, for example).<br /><br />We’re also, of course, still stocking up on as much food as we can buy. There’s a few months’ worth of food stashed here at The Homestead now, but prices are still going up. We want to get more as quickly as we can, if only because we don’t know when price increases will stop…if they ever do.<br /><br />Mom’s trying to find a local source for powdered, whole milk because she’s tired of wasting valuable refrigerator space on the two gallons that we consume just about every week. Nobody in this family likes skim or nonfat milk, so we aren’t buying those in powdered form. That’s the only stuff that the local Walmart carries, but we’re looking at different stores to see what else is available. If we can’t find anything locally, we can shop online: we do that often anyway because, in this tiny community, lots of much-wanted things just aren’t available.<br /><br />I’m still looking for cast-iron cookware, but am not willing to pay full retail prices. Like I’m really going to cough up thirty-plus bucks for a skillet at Walmart when I can find a perfectly good one at a flea market or garage sale for a lot less than that. My philosophy is that, if you can find something that’s used but still in good condition, you should probably go with that in order to save money. I buy used clothes, used books, used cookware, used cars…and I haunt thrift stores and flea markets, along with garage sales, just to see what neat things I can find.<br /><br />However, I do buy some things new. I decided, recently, to start knitting some wash cloths. I didn’t have any cotton yarn, so I went to Walmart and found some on sale. I grabbed all four skeins and will start knitting sometime soon – probably next week or the week after, because I might have some extra down time after mid-terms are officially over.<br /><br />Puritan.com is running another pretty good sale on various vitamins and other supplements, so you might want to check out that site if you’re looking for that kind of thing. Mom’s placed three or four orders with that company so far and has been very pleased with the service and the products every time. I’m not officially affiliated with the Web site, but I’m happy to tell you all when we find something that we like.<br /><br />This week, Mom also decided to reformat her computer – finally. Make sure, folks, that you back up your data on a regular basis. That way, if something goes wrong, you don’t lose everything. You can find CD-Rs for almost nothing now, so burn CDs if that’s what you have to do. You can also buy a converter cable that turns an inexpensive, internal hard drive into an external model. I paid roughly thirty bucks for the cable, and have been backing up all of my important files to that “external” drive ever since. Another option is to burn to DVD. You can use thumb/USB drives, too, or an online-backup company. Heck, e-mail the vital stuff to your own Web-based e-mail account if that’s the only thing that you can do. Any backup method is better than nothing at all, especially if your collection of survival-related information is important to you.<br /><br />Anyway: I’m out of here because I just took yet another dose of cold medicine and will probably crash in bed pretty quickly. I hate being sick, especially when it’s drawn out like this chest cold has been. Take care, folks, and don’t forget to enjoy the present while you’re preparing for the future. Survival isn’t supposed to be a grim, doom-filled lifestyle: we can still have a great time, and laugh, and enjoy being alive, while we make sure that we’re prepared to survive whatever happens next.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-86078181804753612212009-10-09T20:44:00.000-05:002009-10-09T20:45:31.294-05:00More on Get-home BagsI’m frickin’ sick right now, so I really don’t have much to say about survival or preparedness right now. This proves, though, that you can practice great personal hygiene – keeping the hands clean, avoiding common surfaces as much as possible, keeping your fingers out of your eyes, that sort of thing – but still pick up nasty germs and other bugs.<br /><br />So, let’s talk about something that I can concentrate on long enough to write a few coherent sentences about, mmkay? Yeah, that would be good. Let’s talk about get-home bags because, judging by the high number of “Get home bag” search queries leading to this site, folks are interested. <a href="http://unshelteredlife.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-get-home-bag.html">Even though I’ve discussed these bags before</a>, there are a few more things worth saying about them.<br /><br />Okay…let’s just do the questions that I hear most often, because they’re important. Lots of you want to know these things, so let’s get right to it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What kind of bag should I use?</span><br />It doesn’t matter. Really. Find a bag, pack, or sack that’s well made, sturdy, and large enough to hold all of the necessities. You should be able to easily, comfortably carry this thing, preferably on your back because you might have to do some heavy-duty walking. I’d also keep the bag’s weight in mind, both empty and fully loaded, because it’s easy to get weighed down.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What sort of stuff should I include?</span><br />Well, what sort of items do you think you’re going to need? I would definitely include changes of clothes; some snacks and other food; plenty of water; and a first-aid kit, because these are all vital to your survival. However, there are other things that you might want to consider packing, like fire-starting gear; a flashlight with extra batteries; and maps of the area. Also, remember that you can always add or remove items as you learn more about your personal needs and preferences: you don’t have to get everything right the first time, I’m glad to say.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Why should I worry about a get-home bag in the first place?</span><br />Emergencies don’t often announce themselves very long in advance, meaning that you can be stranded with little warning. Do you want to give yourself the best possible chance of getting back home in one piece, or do you want to rely on other people and luck to get you through?<br /><br />Even if you don’t think that anything terrible is going to happen, you have to admit that everyday emergencies are entirely possible. If your car breaks down in an area where you don’t get cell phone reception, you might have to walk several miles. Wouldn’t that hike be easier if you had a bag with comfortable walking shoes, some water to keep you hydrated, etc.? Sure!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Should I pack a weapon in my bag?</span><br />No! Your weapon should stay on or near your person whenever possible because, that way, you can quickly reach it in order to defend yourself. My handgun, for example, usually goes in an inside-the-waistband holster because I carry concealed. However, when I’m in the car, I can’t easily reach the handgun in its holster: therefore, said gun is near my person, but still concealed in order to comply with state law. <br /><br />However, storing duplicates in the get-home bag is not a bad idea. If you have a folding knife that you keep on your person, stash the second one in the bag – just in case.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What kind of food do you recommend?</span><br />I like food that’s easy to prepare without any additional tools, including can openers. I bought pull-top cans of ravioli, for example, and I can easily open the snack crackers and peanuts and such without anything but my fingers or, in the worst-case scenario, my folding knife.<br /><br />Plan for both energy-giving snacks and full meals, because you really don’t know what sort of situation you’ll be in. You could end up camping out in the vehicle for a day or more, which would be a fine time to have some decent food – versus a box of Cheez-Its and Spongebog Squarepants fruit snacks.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Do you have any weird items in your bag?</span><br />Yep. I have a 24-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew in my get-home bag because I’m a caffeine addict. Yes, there’s plenty of water in there too, but I’d hate to go without my Dew if I had down time and didn’t have to have the water to stay hydrated. You can call that a crutch if you will because that’s basically what it is, but I don’t see any problem with comfort food (or comfort beverages in this case). I just wouldn’t overdo comforts like alcohol or pot because you might need a clear head to get out of the situation you’re in.<br /><br />And now, if you’ll all excuse me, I’m off to bed. The medicine’s starting to kick in and I’m feeling rather loopy, so this is probably a good time to sleep.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-32770780472002578182009-10-02T16:00:00.000-05:002009-10-02T16:00:00.563-05:00Fulfilling Your Survival Wish ListI imagine that most of us have wish lists full of survival-related items that we have yet to acquire for whatever reason, but would like to get in the future. My family’s list includes things like a solar oven; more food in storage (that’s a constant, though, because we keep extending the goal when we reach the current one); and a solar-powered battery charger for the cell phones and rechargeable batteries. <br /><br />One way to go about completing your list is to follow my family’s “One for now, one for later” rule, which applies to most of the groceries and other essentials that we buy. It doesn’t take long to get into the habit of adding two to the cart or splitting up the one item when you get home. <br /><br />If you buy a six-pack of tighty whities, throw three pairs into the stockpile so that you’ll have them later. Of course, it helps to keep an eye on your size as you go – it would suck if you lost twenty pounds between now and the end of society as we know it and, therefore, couldn’t wear your nice, new underoos.<br /><br />When we need a container of salt or pepper, we buy two and put away the extras. If we can afford only one bag of beans or rice, we halve it and use the Food Saver to seal the portion that goes into the stash. Right now, my family and I are cutting back on how much sugar we use because we really can’t afford to buy a bunch of it – but still want to put half in the stockpile. <br /><br />Should we find a fantastic sale on something – a grocery item or some other essential – we buy as much as we can possibly afford. Closeout sales are great ways to get these great deals: stores will put perfectly-good stuff on clearance because the package design changed; the stuff is on the verge of expiring; or next year’s version is about to hit the shelves. I recently bought the mother lode of canned pinto beans because of such a sale, for example. <br /><br />Some big-ticket items are exceptions to the “One now, one for later” rule. I’m not going to go buy two computers, for example – obviously. However, nothing says that I can’t acquire some extra parts so that, should my PC crap out, I have a good chance of fixing it. I can’t afford to buy two handguns, but I CAN keep mine in good working order and accumulate spare parts so that I might be able to fix it if something goes wrong. There isn’t an extra car sitting in the driveway, I’m sorry to say, but we can repair the ones that we do have, right? Right. <br /><br />You can offset the extra cost of stockpiling and buying extras by shopping sales. Supermarkets, hardware stores, and pretty much every other retail outlet have “loss leaders,” or heavily-discounted sale items that are designed to lure you into their stores. They can afford to take a hit on this merchandise because they know that a good number of shoppers are going to stick around and buy regularly-priced stuff as well. If, however, you go in and buy just the loss-leader merchandise, you end up saving a big chunk of cash. <br /><br />Also, take a look at weekly store circulars. In many areas, these show up in your mailbox, or with the Sunday paper. You can also check them out online at SundaySaver.com, of course. My family and I use these ads to find out what’s on sale and plan the weekly menu around that. There have been a few nice surprises some weeks – like pork chops being half off at one store. Oh, man, was that Monday’s dinner awesome. And the pork-chop sandwiches the next day? Fantastic. <br /><br />Of course, with the economy sucking like it is at the moment, all sorts of stores are closing all over the place. Earlier this year, I grabbed several memory cards for a fraction of the retail price because the Circuit City near my university was having a closing sale. Just last week, a popular chain of grocery stores closed one location: they sold off all of their store-brand groceries for at least fifty percent off, which presented a fantastic opportunity to go spend some serious money on everything from canned goods to paper towels.<br /><br />So: Save money, buy more than what you need right now, and be happy knowing that the work you’re putting into this will pay off. Even if nothing ever goes wrong as long as you’re alive, you’re going to eventually eat the food and use the other stuff that you’re accumulating. If nothing else, the stuff that you’re buying today is cheaper than it will be in six months when you rotate your stockpiled food.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-30004661480008898952009-09-25T14:23:00.001-05:002009-09-25T14:24:01.528-05:00Changes; First Aid; Get-home BagsI’m very sorry about the nonexistent post this week, folks. I was already thinking about moving to Fridays because I have school on Wednesdays – but then one of the kittens tried to blind me with a well-placed jab right in the middle of my eye. That eye is still swollen – almost shut - so I’m having a tough time seeing much of anything. It turns out that you need both eyeballs for depth perception. I already knew that, but now I have firsthand experience to enhance my understanding. Yay me. <br /><br />I also learned that having two contact-lens wearers in the house is a good thing because we have a bunch of saline solution. You might want to get some of this stuff even if nobody wears contacts: saline solution is great for flushing your eye following a cat scratch. Even though I adore all of my fur balls, I know that their claws aren’t the cleanest things on this planet. Flush well, folks, and do it more than once.<br /><br />However, I am NOT a doctor and am not involved in the medical field in any way other than being the occasional patient. I would most definitely haul butt to the doctor’s office if I were you because your eye and sight are not things that you want to fart around with. We’re talking nasty infections, blindness, eye disease…all sorts of things that none of us really want to have happen.<br /><br />While we’re on the subject of first aid: do you have kits in all of your vehicles as well as your home and bug-out or get-home bags? Multiple kits might seem redundant, but you might have to ditch the vehicle at some point – if that happens and you forget to grab the kit, you’re screwed if you cut yourself or get debris in your eye. It’s better to have multiple kits spread out as far as I’m concerned. <br /><br />Oh, and don’t forget to check the supplies. Adhesives can lose effectiveness over time and, even though it’s safe to use most medicines after their expiration dates (within reason, of course), fresher is usually better. A visual inspection also jump starts your mind, which can help you notice an important item that you didn’t think about when you first assembled the kits.<br /><br />There really isn’t much else to say about first-aid kits other than the fact that it’s a good idea to store all of your supplies in a waterproof case. You never know when you’ll encounter moisture, rain, flood water, etc. along the way, so keeping the first-aid supplies dry and clean is a priority.<br /><br />I also, recently, checked my get-home bag’s contents. It’s always a good idea to rotate your supplies when needed and make sure that everything is still in good working condition. I changed from an old backpack to an ALICE pack because the backpack was dry rotting when I dug it out of storage…and because I got the ALICE pack for a really-good price at the newly-opened milsurp store in town. I used this type of pack when I was in the Army, so I already knew that it’s comfortable, durable, and roomy: mine holds all of my essential gear with a little space left over for other stuff.<br /><br />This time around, I added a few pull-top cans of food: ravioli, mostly, because I love that stuff whether it’s hot, warm, or cold. Even though it’s easy to heat up a can of food – camp fire, engine compartment, the sun, whatever – I don’t know that I’ll necessarily be able to do any of those things. <br /><br />While you’re checking the supplies, don’t forget to inspect the bag. Make sure that the straps aren’t rotting or worn and that the seams are all in good condition. You really don’t want the bag to fall apart or tear when you’re out in the woods or the side of the road, right? Right. <br /><br />My eye’s starting to really hurt again, so that’s about it for today. Take care, folks, and keep on doing what you’re doing. Progress is slow sometimes – my family and I are in that stage right now, in fact – but keep moving forward. Things improve soon enough if you stick with them.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-27996195176901552642009-09-16T16:00:00.002-05:002009-09-16T16:00:01.167-05:00Germs in the Grocery StoreKellene Bishop (Preparedness Pro) <a href="http://preparednesspro.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/is-your-movie-theater-making-you-sick/">recently posted an article</a> about a movie theater where good food-handling practices are actively discouraged. Eww. Just…eww.<br /><br />I don’t go to movie theaters very often, mostly because they’re expensive places for family outings. However, her article made me think about grocery shopping because most grocery stores are disgusting places to visit – even the ones that appear to be very clean. <br /><br />I used to work in a grocery store. I’ve also been dragged along for Mom’s weekly grocery shopping since I came out of her womb. Well...technically, I accompanied her before I was born, but whatever. There’s also Kid Sis, who works in retail as a cashier. She’s been on the job for nearly a year, and has seen many things that I, too, see.<br /><br />This all relates to survival because the swine flu and other contagious illnesses are real threats. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to avoid even non-life-threatening sicknesses because I can’t afford to take time off from school or work. <br /><br />So, let’s take a walk through the store and see what’s going on, shall we?<br /><br />You park your car in the lot and then grab a cart from either the outdoor corral or the indoor area. Where I worked, and where Kid Sis works, there are no sanitizing wipes or Germ-X/Purell at the front of the stores. None of the grocery stores in our area offer either of these things, actually. <br /><br />One interesting fact, though, is that some stores in other parts of the country <a href="http://www.todaystmj4.com/features/specialassignment/45709502.html">use misting systems</a> that cover the whole cart with food-grade sanitizer. Pretty neat, huh? <br /><br />What kinds of germs might you find on a shopping cart? According to Dr. Chuck Gerba, a germ specialist, samples that “The Today Show” took from carts located all over the United States often (more often than not, that is) <a href="http://www.ky3.com/healthy/34372919.html">included such lovely things as fecal matter and E. coli</a>. <br /><br />Now you take your dirty shopping cart through the store, loading it down with everything from canned peas to pretzels. You pick up a package of tea bags, which seem to be as clean as can be. However, you don’t know if they’ve been handled in the last few minutes. For all you know, someone with a contagious illness coughed into his hands, picked up the box, then changed his mind. He then put down the box, leaving his germs behind for you to pick up. (Oh, and women can also spread germs. I meant nothing sexist by the male pronouns.)<br /><br />After you put your infected tea bags in your cart, your nose starts to itch. Or your cell phone rings. Maybe you have to touch your kid’s shoulder to signal him to get out of the way because a stocker is coming up behind him with a huge pallet of merchandise. Regardless, you’re probably spreading the germs that you picked up from the tea bags. <br /><br />Your shopping trip continues. Along the way, you touch all sorts of surfaces that an untold number of people have recently handled: the shelves; the coffee-bean scoop; the produce-bag dispenser. Where I worked, and where Kid Sis works, none of these surfaces are routinely cleaned, much less disinfected. <br /><br />Now let’s talk about the cashier. We’ll use the feminine pronoun because most of the cashiers I know are women. She’s touching your food, the conveyor belt, the cash register, and everything else within reaching distance. The sacker (or bagger, or carryout clerk, or whatever) is also touching all sorts of surfaces, and most of them are not disinfected or even regularly cleaned. <br /><br />Even when a store’s manager or owner is very conscientious of food-handling practices and other safety measures, there isn’t enough manpower or time in the workday to routinely disinfect all the common surfaces. You might, occasionally, find a store that’s truly clean – one where common surfaces are actually disinfected – but that’s the exception, at least where I live. I don’t know of any store around here with that kind of practice in place, actually. <br /><br />You might keep in mind that some grocery-store managers are better about sick days than others. Kid Sis developed a sore throat and a mild fever in the middle of one of her shifts last week. She came home before her shift ended…but she had to take one point for it. If she racks up three points within X months (six, I think), she’s out of a job – no questions asked. <br /><br />Her store’s employees collect one point for everything from showing up late to leaving in the middle of a shift to insubordination. To management, leaving in the middle of a shift because you’re sick is exactly the same thing as snapping at your immediate supervisor. I think that this is stupid, but nobody asked for my opinion. <br /><br />This is why some of Kid Sis’s coworkers, especially those with families to support, keep their mouths shut and continue working even when they’re sick. Their families are, understandably, more important than a stranger’s health and well being. <br /> <br />As I’ve already stated, there are some exceptions to the “grocery stores are cesspits” idea. I’m not trying to say that no grocery-store owner or manager in the entire country has found a way to make the places a bit cleaner, because that’s not true. However, I know for a fact that all of the few grocery stores in my area are cesspits, and that it’s up to me to take care of business. Keep the hand sanitizer and wipes at the ready, folks, and don’t forget to clean your food and other purchases.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-71238615504931984112009-09-09T16:00:00.000-05:002009-09-09T16:00:00.117-05:00Fun with Search Queries<span style="font-style:italic;">Note: Last week, I suggested making lists of the “little things” that you might overlook when you add to your stockpiles. My family added some interesting things over the last few days: shoelaces, for example, and small sewing kits. We also realized that you really can’t have too much duct tape. </span><br /><br />Fun with Search Queries<br /><br />Today, as a bit of a break from the usual routine, I decided to see what search terms people are using to find this blog. Because I’m the helpful sort, I’ll also try to figure out what these folks want, and come up with an answer or two.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Bad toothache; antibiotics not working</span><br />How long have you been on the antibiotics? They don’t do away with the pain the first few days, especially if you’re hurting a LOT. Oh, and see a dentist: that bad tooth needs treatment, unless you want to pretend that you’re in “Castaway” and knock it out yourself with an ice skate and a rock. Having never done anything of that sort, I have no advice for you about it, but I imagine that removing your own, infected tooth would be a bad idea, considering that you would be spreading an infection around. That could be, you know, bad. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">What are four sources of water?</span><br />Let’s see: The magical tap in your kitchen; the stockpiled barrels or jugs of water in your cache; the creek or river if you have a way of purifying the water; and the toilet tank or water heater if you’re in a bad way.<br /><br />Alternate answers include: Rainfall; the magical tap in the bathtub; the water well, provided that you can access the water (no electricity means no pump, unless you have a backup plan); and the bottled-water section of the grocery store. Not all of these sources will be available all the time, of course, so be sure to have backup plans for your backup plans.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Natural pest repellents</span><br />My family and I have had success with horse apples, as I’ve said before. We’ve also learned that ground cinnamon, sprinkled around the area we want to protect, repels everything from roaches to scorpions. Bay leaves also repel a variety of critters as long as you remember to grab said leaves every week or so and crumple them a bit between your hands (keeps the pungent smell vivid, it seems).<br /><br />If you’d like a solution that you can spray directly on anything that you’d like to kill – black-widow spiders, scorpions, etc. – go find cold-press orange oil. We get ours at the feed store, but we’ve also found the stuff at organic nurseries. Mix one part of this with two or three parts water (either mixture works fine, I’ve noticed) in a spray bottle and you have a nice-smelling firebomb for those nasty critters. It’s even better than dousing them with Raid – trust me.<br /><br />Oh, and while we’re on the subject of organic pest control: roosters and chickens eat all sorts of critters, including the dreaded scorpion. Our rooster roams near the house. This works out because he has plenty of room to move around and because he eats things that we don’t want around the house. He LOVES scorpions. Loves them. Good, good rooster!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">How to avoid taking the swine-flu vaccine</span><br />Just…um…don’t take it? But seriously, if you’re in a position where you could be required to take this shot, you’re going to have to weigh the consequences of refusing against the consequences of being vaccinated, and then make a decision. <br /><br />Alternatively, you and a whole bunch of other people in the group can collectively refuse, seeing as there’s usually some strength in numbers. When I was in the Army, that sort of attitude would get you into deep trouble, but most of the rest of us can refuse. Just say no, folks.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Can you boil an MRE in a pot?</span><br />Yes! Take the entrée out of its cardboard box and drop it in a pot of boiling water: a few minutes later, you have a piping-hot meal. You can also heat the MRE in the sun, which works best if you put the food on a dark surface (still sealed in the bag, that is). Ideally, though, you’ll have the MRE heater, which requires only a tiny amount of water to operate.<br /><br />However: I don’t stock up on MREs, at least not at this point, because they’re a bit overpriced. If you’re in a place where you can boil a pot of water, you can make all sorts of inexpensive, but nutritious and filling, foods: oatmeal; rice; noodles, that sort of thing. None of those foods take up much room, depending on how much you pack and how, so why not? <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Survivalist scams</span><br />Well…I’m not exactly sure of what this means, but my first thought is “overpriced gear.” Folks, you don’t have to have an AR-15, Mountain House freeze-dried food, or ten thousand acres in the middle of nowhere. It’s entirely possible to work within your budget, whatever that may be, and come out ahead in the end. Survival is more about the preparedness mentality, which includes acquiring knowledge and skills, than about the gear anyway, as evidenced by the fact that more than one “adventurer” has died despite having a pack full of crap. <br /><br />That being said: I highly encourage you to buy good books about the things that you’re learning to do. Oh, sure, most information is free if you have Internet access and decent search skills, but there are times when a “real” book is best. I love books anyway, so this isn’t a burden or a challenge for me.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-62634669545434960762009-09-02T20:38:00.001-05:002009-09-02T20:40:21.836-05:00Thoughts for the Week<span style="font-style:italic;">Well, howdy, folks. This entry’s later than usual because my class schedule got switched around this semester. I’m at school on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I’m a little behind today – sorry about that!</span><br /><br />So…here are my thoughts for the week. They’re a little disorganized because school’s been insane so far, but I’ll do my very best to get back on track as soon as possible.<br /><br />A good holster makes concealed carry more comfortable…and easier. You don’t have to spend tons of cash on a good holster, either: mine was only eighty bucks, including shipping, which is downright cheap when you look at how much some of the other holsters out there cost. Mine’s custom molded to my firearm’s model, too, which is a huge plus when it comes to retention. <br /><br />---<br /><br />Be sure to actually wear the clothes that you’re going to put away for the future…or stash in your bug-out or get-home bag. I say that because I just bought two dozen pairs of socks at Payless – they had a “buy one, get one half off” sale, so I figured that I might as well stock up.<br /><br />The socks turned out to be total crap. I’ve worn only twelve pairs so far, but two of them have very-weak stitching around the toes. In other words, I have holey socks, and I’ve worn the suckers only once. This is the first time that I’ve ever had new socks fizzle on me…weird. Fortunately, I noticed the problem, and will be replacing the pair of unworn ones from my get-home bag – because, frankly, they could be a bigger pain to me than they’re worth if I ever need them in a crisis.<br /><br />---<br /><br />Mom received her order from <a href="http://www.puritan.com/">Puritan.com</a> today – a crapload of D3, along with a few other things that she wanted. Because this order showed up so quickly, and was exactly what Mom wanted, I’m giving the Web site both thumbs up. If you’re looking to stock up on something like D3, give this site a look: they’re currently having a fantastic sale. <br /><br />---<br /><br />Have you checked out <a href="http://www.allrecipes.com">AllRecipes.com</a> yet? I have no affiliation with the site whatsoever – I just use it to find new recipes. It’s free, easy to use, and even lets you search by ingredients (things that you want as well as things that you don’t). If you’re stockpiling staples, which you probably are, it’s a good idea to have a variety of recipes that use these things. Trust me…you want a somewhat-diverse menu.<br /><br />---<br /><br />Unfortunately, I have to get busy with homework if I want to pass this semester and, you know, graduate. I’ve spent too much time in school to fail now, so I’m off to study. In the meantime, I leave you with a thought about the future:<br /><br />When things go wrong, pretty much everyone will rush to the stores to grab all sorts of stuff that they just realized they’re going to need. This is why we have extra food on hand, but what about the little things? Mom and I were talking yesterday, while we were hanging clothes on the line, when one of us said, “You know…it would suck if we couldn’t buy more clothespins.”<br /><br />The other agreed, and said that getting a few extra packs would be a good idea – just in case. Even though we bring in our (wooden) clothespins at the end of the day, the things still wear out and break. They aren’t made of the best materials, unfortunately.<br /><br />So…this week, my family is focusing on the “little things” that we regularly use: stuff that we might overlook when we stockpile. Perhaps, this week, you can join us? Keep a small notepad on you and write down everything that you use – especially small things like clothespins, or the eyeglass-repair kit. Even if you use this stuff only once or twice a year, it would still suck to have only one, right? Right. Maybe this week of observing and list making will help us all figure out how to be better prepared in the future.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-11341222091431878532009-08-26T16:00:00.000-05:002009-08-26T16:00:01.007-05:00My Family's ProgressThe last several days have been good for stockpiling, because my family and I came into a little extra cash – nothing big, but enough to make some progress toward our food- and gear-storage goals.<br /><br />We shopped sales, like we normally do. One of the local grocery stores had all sorts of great stuff on sale. Canned goods that are normally two bucks or more were ten for ten dollars, so we stocked up on everything from canned pinto beans to tomatoes. We also got a buttload of bacon because it was on mad sale. Extra salt, pepper, and other spices went into the shopping cart, along with staples like rice.<br /><br />I grabbed a crank-powered, LED flashlight because, even though we have batteries and several flashlights, diversity isn’t a bad thing. However, the marine flashlight is still with the get-home bag, because the body’s square (and weather resistant). If I have to put it on the ground to, say, change a flat tire in the dark, I don’t have to worry about it rolling into a ditch, or running out of juice because I didn’t crank it long enough.<br /><br />There are even more Ziploc bags here now, too, along with tin foil and wax paper. We added more sandwich bags, too, for lunches. I’ve decided, this semester, to take lunch to school instead of hitting the dollar menu at Wendy’s. I’m saving only two bucks a week, but still: that will buy a few cans of veggies, or some rice. Why spend the money on a crappy burger when I can contribute something to the family’s food stash, right?<br /><br />The local Walmart is finally carrying a store-brand version of Excedrin Migraine, which is fantastic news. Walmart’s version comes in two packs of 100 pills each…for four dollars. I can’t get one tiny bottle of Excedrin Migraine for that price, so I grabbed two boxes. If this stuff doesn’t work (that, however, is doubtful) for me, someone might barter with me for it later. <br /><br />Mom and I stopped in at the flea market. We filled two plastic grocery bags with paperbacks for about twenty dollars: a great deal when you consider how much we love books around here. When there’s not much else to do but read, we’ll be basically set, I think.<br /><br />While we were there, I looked for cast-iron cookware. We found a pan that was made in Taiwan, and didn’t look very sturdy or well made. A skillet from China was automatically ruled out because it didn’t look any better than the other one. Mom prefers Wagner or Lodge for cast-iron cookware, because she knows and trusts those brands. Do any of you have other suggestions? Is there another brand that you’ve found to be reliable, well made, etc.? Mom prefers cast iron without wooden handles, incidentally, and she has no problem seasoning the cookware herself. <br /><br />I did, however, find an IBM “M” model keyboard for two bucks. For those of you who don’t know: these keyboards are the “clicky” kind, and hold up for years and years. Some people are still using the same ones that came with the IBM computers they bought YEARS ago. I had to order an adapter as well as a replacement buckle-spring assembly (a key on the number pad is stuck). However, I still made out like crazy with this one, because these old keyboards cost at least fifty bucks on eBay and at sites that specialize in refurbishing and reselling them. <br /><br />Besides: I can’t get a new keyboard for two bucks, plus my other expenses, and new ‘boards definitely don’t hold up to all the typing that I do. (English major…freelance writer…survival blogger…I’m at the keyboard several hours a day.) The new ‘boards – even “nice” ones – die within two years, if that long, despite good care and maintenance.<br /><br />When you come into a little extra cash, take it to the grocery store: even if it’s only ten extra dollars, that money will put you closer to your food- or gear-supply goal. Buy extra batteries for the flashlights, or stock up during one of the local grocery store’s canned-goods sales. <br /><br />But even when you don't have that bonus money, buy something extra - give up some small thing that you don't have to have so that you can afford to put away some food or other necessities. It might not SEEM like you’re doing anything when you come home with only a small amount of extras every week, but keep going. Every time you add to the stockpile, you’re giving yourself extra time to either ride out the situation that we’re facing…or get the other plans up and going (like the garden). <br /><br />Stay focused, stay motivated, and stay safe, folks. Every time I look around, it seems like the world’s getting nuttier and nuttier. We don’t have to be part of that, though!An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5634492503178430569.post-52960540338760079572009-08-19T16:00:00.001-05:002009-08-19T16:00:02.325-05:00Avoiding Swine FluI won’t be taking the swine-flu vaccine because I have better things to do than worry about the potential side effects of something that has not been thoroughly researched and tested. Even though I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, common sense tells me that all sorts of things can go wrong with something like this: we don’t know the long-term effects, or even the short-term ones for that matter, so there could be dangerous, if not lethal, consequences to taking the injection.<br /><br />There are, fortunately, alternatives to taking a shot that I don’t trust or like. The main idea is to reduce the risk of even catching the flu in the first place, which beats going through the misery of having that crap. We can all do a few things to stay as safe as possible without having to go get a swine-flu shot.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Hygiene</span><br />My family and I are improving our already-decent hygiene because many people pick up all sorts of germs by contact with infected surfaces and people. Mom has been stockpiling hand sanitizer as well as liquid hand soap. She has travel-sized bottles of Germ-X and Purell for our vehicles or backpacks, and larger bottles for the house. We also have the liquid soap in the bathroom as well as by the kitchen sink.<br /><br />While I was doing some reading in preparation for writing this article, I came across <a href="http://shop.cleanwelltoday.com/servlet/ProductList?command=cp&supplierID=689&categoryID=3379&categoryName=CleanWell+Natural+Hand+Sanitizers+and+Hand+Washes">the CleanWell company</a>. These folks make natural hand sanitizers, which could be a good bet. I personally have never even heard of CleanWell before, much less used any of their products, so I’m asking you, readers, if you have any experience. Would this be worth checking out? I don’t have any problem using Germ-X and Purell, but it’s nice to learn something new every now and then. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Common Surfaces</span><br />We’re also more conscious of common surfaces, and what could lurk on them. When we go to the grocery store, we take the hand sanitizer with us and use it once or twice while we’re there. We touch as few things as possible, too: if we want to look at a product, we do so without touching it if we can. Who knows how many people have touched that can of beans before, and how sick they might have been when they did it?<br /><br />Speaking of common surfaces: We keep the bathroom, kitchen, car interiors, etc. clean with Lysol. This is a bit pricier than a bleach-and-water solution in a one-buck spray bottle, I know, but we’re lazy. We also have the bleach and water for surfaces that it doesn’t hurt, like the stainless-steel kitchen sink. (I’ve never given this a try, but I’m fairly confident that using bleach and water inside my car would be, you know, bad for the upholstery.) Mom mixes up one tablespoon of standard-strength, household bleach per one quart of water. Inexpensive spray bottles from the dollar store, properly labeled, make it easier to spray the solution on the possibly-infected surface. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Seclusion</span><br />Then there’s the ol’ hermit routine: staying at home as much as possible in an attempt to avoid exposure. I do this anyway, because I don’t like being out and about in society very much. I’d really rather just stay here at The Homestead and enjoy the peace and quiet – but even so, I do have to go to school, the grocery store, church, et cetera. That’s when practicing good hygiene habits, and paying attention to common surfaces, really matters in my opinion. <br /><br />However, some folks really enjoy getting out of the house, and do it a lot more often than I do. My brothers are a few of these people. When they go out, they keep their hands as clean as possible, especially when they visit places that are overloaded with germs. Movie theaters aren’t the cleanest places in the world, and you’re stuck in there with a bunch of possibly-sick strangers for two or more hours at a time. Common surfaces in fast-food restaurants might look clean, but can be infected with all sorts of germs. Shopping malls aren’t so great, either.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Supplements</span><br />My family and I are also taking vitamin D3 in an effort to boost our immune systems. This is, I believe, better than taking an unproven vaccination, especially when you do some reading about vitamin D3 and the pharmaceutical industry to gain a better understanding of the situation. Frankly, I trust a vitamin a lot more than I trust the pharmaceutical industry, especially when it’s rather clear that our bodies really do benefit from the vitamins. <br /><br />Ultimately, our faith in God’s protection as well as His insistence on giving us common sense, and expecting us to use it, beat taking an unproven, untested swine-flu shot. I can’t guarantee you that I’ll be flu free forever, but I couldn’t guarantee that even if I took my shots every year.<br /><br />Useful Links:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/miller/miller27.html">Dr. Miller’s “Avoid Flu Shots, Take Vitamin D Instead”</a> – well worth reading. He mentions that seventy percent of doctors do not take flu shots. Interesting...<br /><br /><a href="http://shop.cleanwelltoday.com/servlet/ProductList?command=cp&supplierID=689&categoryID=3379&categoryName=CleanWell+Natural+Hand+Sanitizers+and+Hand+Washes">CleanWellToday.com</a> - the hand-sanitizer company I mentioned in this entry.An Unsheltered Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11185197919745800205noreply@blogger.com0