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Category: prepping

Thur. Mar. 5, 2020 – getting set for wuflu, and hamfest

Cool and damp. Windy too.

Yesterday was off and on rain in the morning which limited my outdoor work. As y’all know, I spent the time indoors on the computer. It finally dried out enough for me to get out in the driveway around noon.

I managed to get some stuff done. I got some shelves set up where I took a pallet of stuff apart, moved recent food there, and wrapped the whole thing in plastic to keep it dry. It’s less than ideal, but better than nothing. (I didn’t get the batteries replaced in my weather station. It’s not even waking up in the daylight. Today for sure.)

I found and went through the portable forced air respirators. Unfortunately due to moisture intrusion, they got moldy in storage. It sucks because there are spare canisters, and bunny suit hoods. No actual face masks, but I have a couple that would work, if I didn’t want to use the paper hoods. I even got the correct battery packs in another auction. Despite that I’m going to put them in the auction. I don’t have time or desire to clean them, and I can use the money for other things. I figure they should sell, given the state of things. Since there are about 20 I may keep two and two of the batteries just in case. They are awesome for woodworking at the lathe if things go back to normal.

This is not the first time moisture and mold got me. The Rubbermaid Cargo containers, black rotomolded tubs with grey lids and red latches, are absolutely NOT water tight. Every one I’ve had, in any size, had water inside after long enough. Even under a tarp, both big chest sized tubs were damp, and one had 1/2″ of water in it. FWIW, the black tubs from Costco or homedepot with the snap on yellow lids aren’t water tight either. Taping over the padlock holes helps, but if water gets on the lid it will get inside eventually. It’s possible that it is some sort of thermal pumping drawing in humid air which then condenses and can’t dry out, but I’m pretty sure there is direct intrusion through capillary action.

Hamfest is Saturday, and I’ll be in the parking lot swap meet selling a truck load of stuff. It’s a long but fun day, and I usually make good money and clear out a bunch of stuff. There are people I only see at the hamfest, once a year. Nice to touch base.

I’m a bit concerned about being around all the people, but it is outdoors and I won’t be closeted with anyone. I will be using hand wipes a lot more than in the past. I don’t think I’ll wear a mask, but I’m bringing some. Forecast says clear weather, which will be a nice change.

That gives me today and tomorrow to get all the stuff out of storage, unburied, organized, priced, and loaded on the truck. AND continue to monitor the Wuflu and get myself squared away here.

No rest for the wicked.

Keep stacking, it’s here and it will be doubling every 3-5 days. People will be losing their minds by next week.

Take this time as a gift, and get ready.

nick

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Wed. Mar. 4, 2020 – more to do, time is short

Warm and wet.

Yesterday started in the high 60s and warmed up throughout the day. No rain for me though.

I picked up some extra food, OTC meds, and cleaners. Hospital grade and they have that smell… I hope I never have to use them.

But I suspect I will.

My wife and I both try to avoid carbs as much as we can so we’ve gotten out of the habit of eating potatoes, with the occasional exception for the little colorful heirloom ones or tiny reds roasted. But some of you will have noted that I’ve bought over 100 pounds of potatoes in the last couple of days. I’ve bought a bunch of onions too. Other than rice, I can’t think of anything as cheap, versatile, durable, and tasty as the potato. Combined with onion and a fat, it can be cooked in dozens of ways from simple baked to fried, mashed, twice baked, with additives, or even raw. 100 pounds for $35. 100 meals for 35USD and it will store for 100 days if kept cool and dry. Go get you some!

As a taste of what’s to come, I thin sliced a few, and saute’d them in bacon fat with sweet onion and served them with dinner. Kids ate them up and oldest daughter complimented me and asked for more. Low carb prepping is hard. It can be done, but it’s expensive. The bulk of my “bulk” stored food is not low carb. It is what it is, and at the very least, I can give it away if not needed. If needed, I’ll enjoy the flavors of the forbidden carbs….

Keep stacking folks. If you don’t need it you can celebrate that it missed us… if you do need it you’ll be glad you had it. Remember Italy. They went to bed on a normal day and work up under quarantine. When it happens it will be sudden and unwelcome and probably completely unexpected.

nick

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Mon. Mar. 2, 2020 – here we go…

Warmer and damp. [64F and wet]

It got to be shirtsleeves comfortable out, despite the occasional misty drizzle and the overcast skies. It was nice to work in the garage and driveway at that temperature.

I’m hoping for dry but cool today. We’ll see.

There are still people out there that do not think we’ll have any great disruption from the WuFlu (and some right here) but ordinary people are starting to feel unease about the situation. Given that the news if full of quarantine and cities under lockdown, the more forward thinking can imagine that happening to them, and are rushing to get what they think they’ll need in their involuntary idleness. One guy had a gallon of coconut oil and several cases of condoms. I don’t even want to speculate.

The folks here that are not too concerned are also in better shape prep-wise than Johnny Paycheck to paycheck, so they don’t have much to lose by not upping their game. For the folks with nothing put aside, there is a long curve. It helps that this is hopefully just going to be a prolonged house arrest and not the fall of society. If China kept the lights on, we should be able to too.

Second order effects are going to reshape the world though, perhaps for a long time.

In any case, I’m going to keep getting ready, while at the same time continuing to make plans as if everything was normal and fine. That’s a bit harder, but kind of hedges my bet.

My advice, keep stacking. Assume you’ll be essentially homebound for a prolonged period, and that in the wider world, the disruptions to the global supply chain caused by even just what has happened in China so far, will have long lasting effects on our world.

nick

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Sun. Mar. 1, 2020 – time marches on

Cool, chance of rain in the national forecast.

Beautiful day yesterday. Just awesome. Clear, relatively cool, and fairly dry.

I got some stuff done in the driveway before losing the light.

Before that, I was out foraging and getting stuff from my secondary location with my 10 yo. It gave us a lot of time to talk about preps. She’s anxious, and I hoped that by showing her the depth of prepping I’ve done, she’d be reassured. It’s the first time I’ve shared the extent of some of my preps with anyone. My wife doesn’t go anywhere near my secondary location. It made the whole thing very real to be showing someone stuff I hadn’t before, and making her aware of stuff that even my wife doesn’t completely know about.

And while I feel better about our ability to live through a ‘shelter in place’ or lockdown, the vast majority of people will be in real trouble pretty quickly. Unlike a hurricane, there isn’t anyone coming from outside the zone. It’s really a question of shifting from a mindset and expectation of abundance to one of resource constraints. If it all goes to hell, we’re just not getting more stuff for a while.

I know that US citizens and illegals will not calmly undergo the kind of restrictions Chinese are suffering from. The FSA will be out in force by the third day with empty stores. The fires will start soon after that, and it won’t be irregular .gov squads burning plague houses. No one here will be welding shut apartment building doors. We’ve got guns.

My daughter is really struggling with the idea that we probably won’t be helping anyone and that her friends likely aren’t prepping. I keep emphasizing that they’ve had the same opportunities we had, and made different choices. And that every thing we give away decreases our ability to survive. We’ve also talked about when and how we COULD help people and that I have put up stuff specifically for that. She gets it that we can’t help everyone, and that all of our stuff will vanish in minutes if we tried, and then we’d have none and most of the people would STILL not have anything. But she’s really worried about her friends. I am too, but for different reasons. I know she’s mentioned our prepping before. I’m worried they’ll remember. She is under orders not to talk about it anymore, and I think she understands how dire it could get.

It’s a lot for a 10yo to deal with but I need her to both cooperate, and understand why she can’t talk about it.

—-

There’s always more to do.
-make sure all the propane tanks are full
-get the adapter to refill 1 pound tanks from BBQ tanks– ordered
-barring that, get more 1 pound tanks
-many of my coleman fuel cans were empty when I checked on them. I need to add more cans.
-potting soil for the garden and lime for a slit trench
-all the gennies need attention
-stored gasoline needs to be increased
–which means more sta-bil additive too
-I’ve used the concrete blocks I had for a rocket stove to hold up my rain water barrels, so they need to be replaced.
-I pulled the trigger on an outdoor propane tankless water heater. $109 on amazon. Also another morakniv

Daughter was concerned about hot water if utilities fail. I’ve been looking at the heater for a year, and if everything is normal, it will be welcome at swim team practices in a month or two. Bought.

Think through your day under quarantine and consider your preps. So far in China utilities seem to have stayed up. We should be able to do the same, but if we can’t, it’s better to have a plan.

Keep stacking. We have community transmission in more than one place in the US. Everywhere in the world that they start testing they find cases. Even very casual contact seems to spread this (vis. google employee in Zurich.) If it gets into a group it can spread like wildfire (vis. Korean church group) Our ‘leaders’ seem to be intent on bringing this to all of us. All that combined, and we’re in for a world of hurt.

nick

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Fri. Feb. 28, 2020 – and the hits just keep on coming …

Cold and clear today.

Cold yesterday. Clear and sunny but cold. Started at 37F with frost on the car windows. That’s pretty cold no matter where you are (Jenny laughs!)

Kids are home today. Water main broke and gave the ISD a reason to cancel classes. I’ve got a ton of running around to do and it will all go slower with the kids in tow. It is what it is, I guess.

WuFlu keeps on keeping on. China says it’s dying out, but I don’t think anyone believes that. Everywhere else, it is doing great. Cali has a case that looks like community transmission, although possibly a link to the flight crew or quarantine exists. Certainly casual contact if the patient can’t recall anything significant.

Iranians seem to be hit harder than others. Their death rate is pretty high. Italians too. Or at least people living in Italy.

For anyone who hasn’t internalized the numbers, Aesop breaks it down. If the lethality is 3% (which doesn’t SOUND that bad) and most people get it, one kid in every classroom will die. One or more people in most small businesses will die. 2 or more people in your family will die. 2 or more people in your circle of friends will die. 1 in every 33… That sounds a bit more ominous than “3%”. So no, NOT the FLU.

Pray it’s not really gonna spread, because just asserting that doesn’t seem like a winning strategy given the way it’s spreading. Pray that the big brains will come up with a vaccine that works on a virus that even when you have it and survive, you don’t get immunity. Pray that it’s not true that the second time you get it, your heart stops and you just fall down dead.

I’m not really much for praying, but that looks like a pretty good backup plan to me.

nick

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Mon. Feb. 24, 2020 – another week ahead- more WuFlu news

Cool and damp. [65F and pouring rain at 6am]

Yesterday stayed coolish and damp all day with overcast skies. There was a bit of light misty drizzle around 9pm, but it never really rained.

In WuFlu news, China got sloppy with their lies and now everyone is catching on to the fact they’ve been underreporting infections and deaths. If you assume the virus is exponential in china, like it is everywhere else, the numbers are truly horrifying.

South Korea is F’d. Italy went from none to ~175 in a couple of days. Deaths are starting to show up too. To make it all even worse, there is evidence some guy developed it 27 days after contact. If true, none of the quarantine, for thousands world wide, can be trusted. Potentially infectious people have been returned to their communities.

Essentially overnight Italy closed schools, churches, and canceled public events. 10 or 12 cities are under movement control. Are you ready for something like that?

The next thing to be in short supply seems to be hospital grade disinfectants and cleaners. I spot checked some that are in my local auction, and at least one is completely sold out at the manufacturer’s site. Ebay still has it and prices don’t seem extortionate yet. I’ll be a bidder locally and hopefully a winner.

Besides masks, think about shoe covers or booties. You don’t want to be tracking stuff all over your house. Think about setting up an anteroom or entryway to leave your outerwear and shoes. If the longer incubation is valid, it’s already out in our communities and we just haven’t seen the cases yet.

Think about stuff you need that only comes from China and start getting enough of that. I ordered the cameras I have been thinking about and they shipped today from stock. That won’t be true for long as imported goods start selling out.

If your employment or business depends on large gatherings of people, you might want to look hard at a situation where that doesn’t happen. If I was still doing public events and corporate training conferences, and trade shows for a living I’d be looking for something else to do, BEFORE everyone else is looking too.

This is looking less and less like a nothing burger, and more and more like a world changer.

—

And on a completely unrelated note, another whistleblower committed suicide. Hmmmmm.

Keep stacking.

n

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Sun. Feb. 23, 2020 – maybe vehicle maintenance today

Cool and damp.

Yesterday actually got to be very nice by the end of the day. Shirtsleeves weather.

Roofer came by and we’re going to pursue the new roof. Insurance call on Monday. Big deductible, but if we don’t do it now, if we were to sell in the future, we’d have to do it all on our dime. Preps, sometimes the best prep is money in the bank.

I’ve got a fan speed resister pack to put into my Expy, and a windshield washer fluid pump to change out in the Ranger. Both are just annoying issues, but are also simple fixes, so only lack of time has prevented me doing it.

The rest of the day will be filled with all the normal things.

I will be buying some additions that I wouldn’t normally buy. Feminine hygiene stocks are low here, as are some of the kid’s things like toothpaste. I looked a bit farther afield, and I’m going to order two more cams for my system. They are JIT from China thru a US distributor and repackager. Chances are good that the supply chain isn’t going to be there for long and existing stocks will run out. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of months, and decided to pull the trigger. If you want something that is normally made in China, you should look really hard at getting it now.

The virus has now showed up in the strangest places. “Worse, infected travelers from Iran already have been discovered in Lebanon and Canada. “ And it’s killing folks. Coverage is getting weird too. Try this line on for size–

“A cluster of cases isn’t inherently worrying – in fact, it’s expected as an infection that’s easy to spread is carried around the world by travelers. “

–nothing to see here folks, everything is proceeding as expected….

Remember the big differences between this and ebola- the chinese can afford air travel, and this one seems to kill fewer people, at least in some places.

Take the time we have and take your preps to the next level. I know I’m sounding like a broken record on this but just look at the numbers…

Keep stacking,

n

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Fri. Feb. 21, 2020 – finally Friday, yeah right, too soon

Colder and wet.

Yesterday the rain held off but the temps dropped. I started in a rain shell but ended in a middle weight Carhart jacket..

I have another busy day today. Some auction stuff, the a call with my financial advisors, a call to a roofer about the hail damage from last year, and then more auction stuff.

The wind was really gusting last night. Tarps on the “inventory” in my driveway were all flapping around all night, setting off the motion detector lights. Cams recorded a lot of flapping…

Wuflu is taking off around the world. A couple of months I think, before it’ll be everywhere in large numbers, but things will start to get weird before that. We’ll also have a chance to see it die out, if that’s gonna happen. More and more people are starting to realize the supply chain issues. I expect some stuff will start to be in short supply immediately as savvier folks start buying for the long run.

Read the article Peter wrote in the link from yesterday and consider what else might affect your personal needs. This is the time to get ahead on your meds. Also the OTC stuff you might want, especially if you have to play “Dr. Mom” to anyone. Snivel gear too. Toothbrushes, beauty supplies, hygiene products, etc. Keep in mind you might want to or have to supply some other people outside your family too. Can you really say no when Mom asks if you know where to get a box of masks? or your kid’s school friends ask about AB soap?

There are some lines in the sand with prepping that really feel different when crossed. Buying fish meds, burying a cache, buying obstetrics textbooks for your library… those things mean you are considering something beyond the next hurricane or flood. Those are the sort of things that raise an eyebrow. Think about where you are in relation to those at the moment, and consider if it’s different from last month or last year. Where do you think you’ll be in a month if things continue as they are?

Food for thought should be accompanied by food for eating.

Keep stacking.

n

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Sun. Feb. 16, 2020 – got a few things done, SO MUCH more to do

Cool and slightly drier than most days.

Nice day yesterday, although it did get cloudy and overcast in the afternoon. Wife got some yard work done. I got some yard work done. I did a little ebay and storage reorganizing, and packed an item for shipment. I met with a buyer for a hand delivery on some speakers. Saved me the effort of packing them well. He was on time too, which was nice.

I’ve got ONE thin little stalk of asparagus poking up. The broccoli I planted ran directly to flower. The limes are heavy with flower buds. Peach still hasn’t quite budded. I’m still getting some peppers from the two year old plants but will get some new ones in the ground soon. I cleaned out (well, started) some of my fence “window boxes” and will get some root veg in there ASAP. Turnips, radishes, and beets are all on the calendar this week and next as a good time to plant.

I spent some time cleaning leaves out of the area around the garage and fence, and the driveway. I’ve been working on it for a week or more. It should help get rid of some of the damp, and maybe help with the critters too.

I bought a couple of rat trap poison feeders, and put one in the driveway, and one in the attic. I re-baited another. Something has been eating the bait in the attic, mice probably, and the dead rat on the lawn says that there are still rats here somewhere. Even if they’re not eating my preps, I don’t want them around.

Rats, garbage, and sanitation issues are problems in quarantined china. Pics show people throwing trash and worse out their windows into shared courtyards. If you haven’t already learned from my saga, get some traps and poison so you’ll have it on hand when needed.

The virus is spreading and turning up in new places. The chinese continue to crack down harder- as that’s what oppressive governments do. Gotta stop the trucks from moving, even if it means dumping food on the ground while people go hungry. Gotta keep people from gathering, even if it means wrestling with them hand to hand.

Prepare for the virus to get loose here, and celebrate when it doesn’t. Prepare for the economy to tank due to the loss of China and chinese goods. Maybe we’ll dodge the effects, but I don’t think so.

I know what I’m doing. I hope you guys do too.

nick

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Sat. Feb. 15, 2020 – family, work, stuff, more and more

Cold and clear, but damp. [50F and 80%RH at 9am]

Yesterday stayed cold but did get a clear blue sky for most of the day. I spent the afternoon running around.

Today, I’ve got a basketball game, housework, yard work, and I’m meeting a guy to finish an ebay sale.

So, busy like normal.

Meanwhile, the virus never sleeps. CDC is prepping the battlespace with their assurances that more WuFlu is coming to America. They have started national surveillance using the existing flu network (to find it when it breaks out), and they are reviewing existing plans for pandemic. They talked about shifting from containment to mitigation (when it gets out into the community)… and the economic effects are starting to be felt around the world.

China is going full totalitarian in their response. Lots of video getting out as people start getting desperate and seem to be saying “F it, I’m telling the world.” And still, where are all the people? Also, Don’t give up your guns.

There may be Sweet and Sour Sicken in the wild in Hawaii. There is a report that a japanese man is confirmed to have it, but never went to China, only Hawaii. Lots of asians vacation in Hawaii. Sort of tellingly, none of the new CDC surveillance efforts are in Hawaii….

And there was no further info about the planes that were intercepted in Heathrow…

Take this seriously folks. You might find you REALLY need to stay home for a month or two. We’ll have some more time, and there will be more to confirm it’s heading in that direction, but if you wait too long, all the good stuff will be gone. Like masks. Get your prescriptions filled. Get some OTC remedies for the ordinary stuff you WON”T be going to the ER or Urgent Care for when it’s full of sick people. Go through your medicine cabinet and see what you might actually have left over… build off that.

Yeah I know, zerohedge is doomer pron… I’ve lived here XX years and never evacuated before… the weather liars always get it wrong… you’ve been in full on sky is falling before and nothing came of it………..

Doesn’t mean that this isn’t really bad.

Keep stacking.

n

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