Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: August 12 ~ 18, 2018

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ReneeT

Veteran Member
Good Morning, All! It has been a busy weekend here; we spent it moving daughter and grandsons out of their house yesterday; and today we'll be getting things set up in their new temporary house. I really hope she will choose a one story house next time :lol: It was all I could do to walk up the few steps to our porch by the time I got home last night!

Plans for today include hitting Home Depot to look for a portable closet for the grandson's new rooms; then Aldi for a few items for home as well as stocking daughter's fridge and pantry - being on the verge of moving for the past 7 months had her pantry at a very minimal level. She will be out in the country, so will need at least a few extra items on hand; but this is a temporary location so I need to try not to over-do - so hard for me :lol: Once home, I plan to try to catch up on laundry, and to load some boxes of stuff to haul to the thrift stores tomorrow - all the local ones lock their donation areas when they are closed.

Tomorrow, I hope to work outside on garden clean up - not sure if Hubby will mow the yard today while I am gone, or if I will do it tomorrow. I will have the boys as daughter has to go back to work and is booked all day; they will go to the sitter's on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then it is back to school for them!

The possibility of daughter and boys moving back home put me in a major decluttering mood - now that they have a new, temporary home, I'm just hoping that the delcuttering bug lasts until I am on vacation from work again next month :lol:

Looks like I'd better get off my fanny and get to work... Take care all; wishing you all a safe and happy week!
 
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moldy

Veteran Member
Back from the wedding: DD was beautiful, and I'm so happy to have gained a 'new' son. They are honeymooning in Yellowstone this next week. I'm so happy for them.

DH managed to buy 10 watermelons from a grower, so I will be freeze drying melon for the next week. Some of it will go to my nephew serving in the middle east. Lots to get done - just pretty worn out from the trip.
 
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ReneeT

Veteran Member
Hope you are able to get some good rest, Moldy - and freeze dried watermelon sounds yummy!

It has been a crazy busy past four weeks with daughter and family, but I am ready to get back into the groove with home and garden! Grandkids started back to school today; I do have to pick up the boys at 2:15, but I have the day free until then. In the meantime - if it quits raining like the forecast says - I will pick a 2 gallon bucket of grapes and run them through the steam juicer - that will give me enough juice to make a batch of jelly tomorrow (I like to let the juice settle/clear a bit before making jelly.) If it doesn't stop raining before I have to go get the boys, I will just work inside the house. After I pick up the boys, we will get any school work done, and then - again, if it's not raining - we will go to our local small town festival - it is Gospel music evening and the Methodist Church has their ice cream social this evening as well; homemade cakes, pies, brownies - and homemade ice cream - YUM!! I have a chicken noodle cassarole prepped for supper (yeah, we're gonna eat dessert first lol!) so will feed them supper here. Daughter had to move clients around in order to go to a school open house last night, so will be working late; I'll take the boys to their house and get them ready for bed before she gets home.

Tomorrow, I plan to meet the ladies at the pool; after which we will carpool up to the local orchard to buy peaches - and fresh made donuts, too! If we plan it right, we can stop at the VFW for their Friday Fish special lunch on the way home :) The peaches will have to rest at least a couple of days before being canned/frozen; that will work out well since I'll need to make the jelly tomorrow. I work the weekend so will try to work on the peaches Monday - luckily that's Hubby's day off so he will be around to help :lol: I also have Tuesday and Wednesday off, so they will get done in good time. We have a ton of green beans left that I canned last year so I planted just a small patch this spring; I have one short row of bush beans that I planted late that I'm going to keep for picking; but I'm going to let the pole beans go to seed to save for next years crop. I am about ready to start cleaning up the garden so I can plant some fall crops; mostly greens. I'd like to get a couple loads of manure to put on the cleaned up areas of the garden in the next week or so as well.

Reckon I'd better go check the hummingbird feeders; the birds are really swarming them lately - I'm going through nearly a gallon of feed a day. That's another thing that makes me wonder if we will have an early winter this year...

Take care all; have a great rest of the week!
 
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anna43

Veteran Member
I'm trying not to buy anything not absolutely necessary for the next six weeks. I have a $600 plumbing bill to pay plus property taxes of over $800 are due Sept. 30.

I got the Fall issue of Self-Reliance magazine yesterday and it is chock full of excellent prepping information. I can't say I learned much new that I will use, but there were a few tidbits I will plus a lot of good reminders of stuff I already know. Main reminder is to dump, wash and refill my water storage containers.

Going along with not spending, I baked and frosted cupcakes today for snacks and put most in the freezer instead of running to Dollar General and buying overpriced snacks. I had frosting left so spread it on graham crackers and topped with another graham cracker to make quick treats. It suddenly occurred to me that this would be an excellent snack in a SHTF situation because no cooking involved. We'll need a lot of quick high calorie snacks because we'll be working very hard in that situation. Kids will need treats to comfort them and help them cope with the situation. Cans of frosting are not expensive and store for a very long time. Graham crackers also store well so a doable prep.
 
ivantherussian03

ivantherussian03

Veteran Member
Scored eight jars of tomato sauce for free.

I decided to use my 27 logs to build a meat cache, although it will be a two or three summer project. The logs need to age, dry, shrink; it could take two years . It is essentially a small log cabin, built half underground. Then the floor is covered in gravel, 6 inches worth. Then a roof. Then cutting and fitting a door.

Built right it will protect meat, keeping it cool and dry. The gravel being underground will hold the ground temperature. The gravel will keep out vermin.
 
ivantherussian03

ivantherussian03

Veteran Member
That is the idea. It made of logs. Bears are like people.....as soon as it gets hard and difficult they move off to easier pickings. But that said, is anything really bear proof. Bears would not be able to discern the weavers points of the structure. I need to go back to original building, that inspired me. Thinking about it now the roof would be the weak point.
 
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ReneeT

Veteran Member
You'll laugh at me, Ivan, but I'm looking at the boy's Lincoln Logs and thinking about the log cabin village down where my father was raised, and wondering if you'll leave the logs their natural round shape, flatten the top and bottom, or trim the log to make it square? Will you use spikes to fasten the logs together? Will the roof be log as well? I'm assuming that it will need a slope or peak to shed snow... I just realized I sound a lot like my youngest grandson, peppering you with questions - he came up as I am typing this to ask me what I'm doing, so I explained. We've googled log cabin construction and I'm thinking there will be another trip down south to the log cabin village in my near future...
 
ivantherussian03

ivantherussian03

Veteran Member
ReneeT said:
You'll laugh at me, Ivan, but I'm looking at the boy's Lincoln Logs and thinking about the log cabin village down where my father was raised, and wondering if you'll leave the logs their natural round shape, flatten the top and bottom, or trim the log to make it square? Will you use spikes to fasten the logs together? Will the roof be log as well? I'm assuming that it will need a slope or peak to shed snow... I just realized I sound a lot like my youngest grandson, peppering you with questions - he came up as I am typing this to ask me what I'm doing, so I explained. We've googled log cabin construction and I'm thinking there will be another trip down south to the log cabin village in my near future...
Click to expand...

You know I don't know yet. I never built a log structure before. So I am learning as I go. I have found the local ways are sometimes good . But sometimes they can be improved upon. Round are logs are the local way.

I recently saw a foundation layed in Arctic soil; I wondered how that will work out, unfortunately it will take a decade to see. It highly experimental and there for risky.

I am thinking about using lumber mill.
 
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