Category: long-term food storage

And it’s still bloody hot. Slightly less humid, which is a blessing, and maybe a couple of degrees cooler. That might be due to the intermittent cloud cover though. Still no real rain here or at the BOL. Today is more of the same, and will be until finally Summer on the Gulf Coast ends.

Did some stuff yesterday, primarily selling one piece of specialized hobby equipment that I probably was never going to use. The guy who bought it seemed genuinely happy to have it and had plans to put it to use in his new hobby. That actually felt pretty good. Then I stayed at the shop and did some stuff that should pay dividends later. It was supposed to be a short term solution, but it’s somehow been over a year and I’m no where near getting out of there. I just have to work harder at making it pay.

Today I’ve got some stuff to do. I’ve got scrap and trash in the pickup truck, but might hold off on that and head to my client’s house. I need to start troubleshooting the latest issues, and putting that off isn’t a great idea. Plus it will give me some time to buy stuff if needed. Gear fails. Video gear tends to run very hot, and the equipment closet isn’t as cool as it should be. Plus, cheaper gear fails earlier because of the design choices made to make it cheaper. I’m looking at intermittent failures which is typical of failing gear.

Intermittent failures are the hardest to diagnose though.

If got some stack related things I’ve been putting off for too long that need attention too. Shouldn’t take long to do them, but they will be unpleasant. Failed cans of food, and the rotting that has happened because of that will be a mess to clean up and not the way I want to spend a hot day in the sun. Gotta be done though. Putting out new rat poison can’t be delayed any longer either.

Busy day ahead, hopefully I’ve recovered enough to do a good push.

Stack what you can, then keep and eye on it.

nick

Cool-ish to start but rapidly warming. Yesterday was mid-90sF before the rain came and it cooled off a little. Then it rained for a while in the evening and later. Dunno what the rain will do today, maybe stay away, but I’m pretty sure it will be hot.

Got up a bit late yesterday, then fixed my string trimmer and cut the back yard. I was so sweaty and hot after that, that I didn’t do much for the rest of the day. I did auction and internet stuff in the evening and went to bed.

Today I’ve got more of my normal stuff to do. Between being sick and being out of town, I’ve got 20+ days to make up. That probably won’t happen. Some stuff will just get lost or left undone. Some stuff really needs to be done though.

That stuff will be hard. One thing that needs doing, the canned goods I put in milk crates and have left standing in the patio need going through… two popped while I was working on the string trimmer. FOUL smells, hissing, and stink. Oh, the joy of poor storage conditions. Rusty cans and 90 plus degrees = pop and fizz… I’m pretty sure everything in the bottom milk crates is gone. Some stuff in the crates in between has rusted too, even though the whole pile is covered with a waterproof fabric cover. A “cool dry place” my patio is not.

That’s part of the prepping life though, replace what goes bad, rotate, and retire. There is a constant need to stack as rust never sleeps, and neither does entropy. Stuff is damaged, stuff ages out.

Keep working, keep improving, keep stacking.
n

Cold again. It never got warmer yesterday. It stayed within a degree of 44F all day. The precipitation did change, going to very light mist in the afternoon. Chill and wet. Fun times.

I did mostly small things around the house as I couldn’t use the truck for anything in the rain. Cleaning and sorting is a never ending job.

As part of that I sorted some of the various pouches of seasoning I have in the cabinet. I couldn’t find any of my stewed chicken slow cooker sauce. I had already thawed and put the chicken in the cooker, so I had to find something. Settled on some mexican flavoring, which ended up being pretty good and will probably go into the dinner rotation. I did throw out about 10 pouches of stuff that were hard inside or old. I suspect that someone else may have thrown out the pouches I was looking for…

Anyway, today we are supposed to be clear, so I’ve got some pickups to do and maybe some shopping. And I’ll be moving more stuff because we need to get the room clear for the Christmas tree. Part of the stuff in the room is waiting to go to the BOL, and wouldn’t be there if we’d gone the last couple of times we were supposed to go. Ah well. Next time.

There is always something that needs to be done, and always new things added to the list. Swapping out the DVD drive on my main pc means more office cleaning… and that means having somewhere to put stuff while I clean, and somewhere to put it when I’m done. A whole stack of tasks to do one simple thing… but that’s the way it is.

We’ll see when I get to that.

Meanwhile, if you still need presents, get your shopping done early. Don’t forget, you might need a present for yourself. You deserve it.

Stack what you need.

n

Cool. Yesterday was really cool to start but by afternoon, the sun was intense. Just sitting still in the sun had me soaked through my shirt. Soon enough we’ll be running the heat at night and the A/C during the day.

I did some auction stuff, then I did some pickups. After that, I got sidetracked with the radio in the truck, (and a couple of really small things along the way), and dinner. Dinner was ‘meh’. Frozen veg that wasn’t great to start. Rice in a pouch that was too much chiplotle or ancho. Baked panko breaded cod that just wasn’t all that tasty… oh well, can’t win every day.

Today I’ve got a big circle of pickups. I’m definitely buying less, and spending less time doing pickups, but I still want to get some of the things. I just need balance, and to use my time more efficiently.

That’s kinda the problem most of the time, not being efficient.

I need to backfill some stacks. I’ve thrown out 30# of white flour, and yesterday a quart of dried powdered cream. That definitely doesn’t last forever… and I’ve got to go through more of my canned goods and dump the worst of them. Time to rotate some of the deep storage too, including at the secondary site.

I’ll add that to the list, and maybe I can fit it in while doing other stuff.

Stack while you can, it’s getting spicier out there.

nick