PREPPING ... who was already doing it?

Wood fires are crucial, IMO. Hot water, food cooked, house heated. For free, if you're smart.

 

We're not big on food storage, I have to admit. We have some things stocked (coffee, olive oil, canned beans, rice, etc), but we're more about production.

 

I keep meaning to fabricate a rocket stove. A simple one can be fashioned from a coffee can if you will a hobo stove

 

I agree with this. For anyone just arriving at the idea now (and given the circumstances, there are plenty arriving!), these should be the focus. Get those ducks in a row, and leave the complicated extraneous stuff til later. The problem is that for many people, securing those basics is the very last thing they want to do. When you've spent your life living as though there's no tomorrow, the amount of work that goes into securing the basics the hard, old fashioned way, comes as a rude shock.

 

I've used a few of rocket stoves over the years, plus other iterations of portable lightweight stoves. It's just that the Trangia is so superior to all of them that I can't imagine using anything else now. They weigh almost nothing, are very very simple, and almost indestructable. They also pack down really small. They're expensive, but worth every cent. Swedish quality!

 

Except for the heater....or stove. And the pipe.

 

What I can't get past is that the same person who said of their own loved ones "they can fend for themselves", went on to say "shepherds will always help out a stranger". ****ing unreal, the disconnect.

 

I meant the fuel is free

As for the cost of the stove and flue, we've never bought a house which didn't already have at least one fireplace. We did buy a bigger stove for one house though, and it wasn't inexpensive. But it was necessary, and really enhanced the efficiency of that free fuel. When you consider how big and well built they are, the cost makes sense. You need good floors though .. haha!



Edited to say this is a stock photo! Not no one in my house looks like this ginger

 

I want a thickness planer. I live in Alabama so it doesn't get that cold. I have a portable propane for the shop if needed. I want to plane down some oak for a hardwood floor. Then join with tongue and groove. Maybe use the table saw for the tongue and router for the groove. But they all need to be the same thickness and straight. No air to get through the planks. Then stain, maybe, then finish.

 

I like the idea of a wood heater. Maybe a pot belly stove or some kinda Franklin stove.

 

Do you not need heating in Alabama winters?

 

Get one you can cook on - if the power or gas goes out you'll appreciate it. If you can find a pot belly like this one, you're golden:

 

I will keep an eye out. Been looking for a while. There is also cutting a hole in the roof and flashing. I just put a roof on the house last year. A wood heater for the shed maybe......... But I could add a room and put the heater there......build it in.

 

But if I do add a room I have everything to build it except insulation and roofing.

 

Yes, we need heating in Bama during the winter, but I added a deck that faces east and gets the winter sun. It is stained and oiled dark. It is also turned just enough the roof shades the deck during summer. I did lose some solar heating from the roof because it is now shiny metal that reflects heat. That's okay the summers get hot and we do not air condition. It doesn't get that hot inside the house.

 

It's worth that small hole in your roof. Put it in the house if you can - best location is the intersection between kitchen and living room - if those rooms ajoin or share space.

Those pics show antique pot bellies, so might be harder to find. They're out there, but you may need to wait a while. Someone may be manufacturing them again though, so worth looking into. It turns a small fireplace into a family sized cooker.

 

And remember that if it really gets bad, the only things of value will be things you can eat, drink, shoot, or have sex with.

 

I'm going to be dropped off on my kayak on the River tomorrow morning. I've got my ducks in a row!

I shall have plenty of cold beer, my shepherd sling, cigarettes two lighters and a radio, my cell phone, a bit of food in case I needed to help the beer settle... An extra paddle even though I think I won't need it.... That's definitely one of those things that if you need it it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.


Survival gear is all about redundancy. People spend all this money on a little fire starting things.... The hell with that just bring five Bic lighters!

Trying to think if I'm forgetting anything critical... Even though it's just a day trip.

I'll take a sweater, even though the forecast tomorrow cost for a high of 86 and plenty of Sun. .... Forecast can sometimes be wrong.

 

A good place to start is the TEN Categories of Military Supply. Write the list down and just fill in. Food is one. Ammunition is one. Water is one. Medical Supplies, everything you'll need is listed. Its a great place to start.

 

Sounds like a great day out, Fats! And I love that you're taking a small amount of food to soak up the beer

One of the most fun things we do is hike til lunchtime, then scoff sandwiches with red wine before hiking back. The wine removes the pain of the return trip, and the jokes are better

 

Will he need ammo on a river? Crocs? Bear? Bigfoot?

 

I found out the value of redundancy one day. I was accustomed to riding my bicycle for long distances and I would always carry a flat repair kit.

This included a spare tube any tools necessary to service the tire and the pump. Well one day I was in a place about 50 miles from home and I was about 6 mi away from the nearest gas station with a compressor.....


It was one of these old neighborhoods where they put all these streets in and they had electrical lines and nothing else and it went bankrupt..

I got a flat tire, I stopped and took my tire off and changed the tube .... After checking the inner side of my tire to see what might have given me a flat of course...

So I have this small hand pump on my bicycle and go to blow up my spare tube.... It does not work. I pushed my flat bicycle about 6 mi to the nearest compressor...

That was the day I learned to start carrying two pumps and to check one before I leave home if not both of them.

Don't carry one knife,
Don't carry one flashlight, don't carry one Bic lighter, . ... You get the idea.

I do not have to tell a veteran about any of these things. If it's very important carry multiple of them

 

Worst predators will be starving PEOPLE.

 

Actually I wear a croc sandals almost every day of my life, except about the five coldest day of the year. When I wear boots.

I don't always take my gun on the river but I always carry my shepherd's sling.

 

Look for my updates in my thread in about 24 hours. I'll take plenty of pictures and be sure to use the mention function