Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: August 30-September 5, 2026

Good morning! It's been a busy one. Yesterday (late afternoon) DH and I went to side gig to do some picking. Uff ta! A true hoarders house, but still had some treasures in it. I always wear gloves, and for this one an N95. Anyhow. so tired once we got home it is still all out in the truck waiting for me.... Vintage Pyrex, dolls (in surprisingly good condition), NFL collectibles, and star wars/star trek themed drinking glasses from the 80s. Hopefully it will do well.

Got up this morning, and so far I have done a load of dishes, finished up some cough syrup, taken care of some herbal business, started orange rolls to take to Mom, and a load of laundry. Need to go start photos for the blog post, as it will take a bit.
 
Bible study is over early, today. Now, I have time to sit down and make a decent post.

Everyone was over-joyed to meet Sadie. She was so friendly with everyone. DDIL brought her some doggie treats.

This week will be full for us. Tuesday is shopping day. I want to get snacks to take with us on our trip and more personal hygiene items, such as hand sanitizers, Clorox wipes, etc. Friday Cary has another check up with Cardiologist to have his loop recorder checked. During the week, I'll be doing laundry, cleaning, and packing. Also, will go through our BOB/travel bag to make sure everything is still good, there.

DS said that he would be glad to come check our house and on Sadie once a day while we're gone. That makes me feel better knowing that everything, including Sadie, will be taken care of.

Nothing planned for the rest of the day. We'll have BLT's and chips for supper.

Temp right now is 91 with 101 heat index. Sunny skies.
 
Good morning! We had a great service at church this morning with testimonies from the team who went to Romania this summer, and a video from the family who our church sent to start a church in Wyoming. I’m blown away by everything this small church does for the Lord in our community, across the country and the world!

On our way home after lunch, we stopped at CVS and used three $10 off coupons to buy five 12 packs of toilet paper. That will last us a good while, lol.

I’ll be very busy this week crocheting, along with the normal busyness of homeschooling, keeping a toddler and general life. Just got an order for eight hemp washcloths on Etsy, plus I have two markets to work next weekend, so need to build stock up for that.

Hope everyone has a great week!
 
It rained earlier this morning, and I walked to church with an umbrella in very light rain. Temp currently 86º/feels like 94º and sunny. Forecast originally said 90º for high but they lowered it to 87º. I need to go out and pick tomatoes and peppers. I forgot to pick peppers most of last week so I'm sure there will be a decent amount.

Church was good and following church the youth (all ages) prepared and served pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs. Five fathers managed everything and they did a good job (both kids and adults). They do this every year and surprisingly there are kids from the community who do not go to our church who come in to participate. The purpose is to teach the kids joy in serving and I don't know how much the "serving" part gets across to them, but they certainly were having fun. Hopefully, good memories for the kids as they become adults.

I can recall my grandmother "volunteering" me for duty at a community church dinner when I was 12 or 13. I don't have any bad memories of it, but it wasn't particularly a fun time as I wanted to be with my friends. I know I showed up even though I didn't want to because you just did not say no to an adult let alone a grandparent. I'm glad the kids today were obviously having fun.

I'm on the hospitality committee and when we do funeral dinners, I feel that it is a final opportunity to show respect to the deceased and the family. We used to do more potlucks and a huge community Thanksgiving dinner but last year we had only a couple potlucks and no Thanksgiving dinner and fortunately only two or three funerals. I understand that a lot of churches no longer do funeral dinners which is a shame although with most women working these days, it is hard to find enough help.
 
I finally had time to research Cipro toxicity. My supplement stack already supports minimalizing the possible damage. That makes me happy. I just have to be careful not to push any tendon groups.

Did some cleaning but mainly chilling for the day. My body wants to recoup some of the energy I burned.
 
Raining off and on here, too. I packed my bike, lunch, and checked out a new-to-me section of one of the longer bike trails. The rain stopped long enough for me to ride about 8 miles or so (some of the mile markers on the trail were missing). I also did a little shopping, although not much since it's Sunday and far too many people are on short fuses.

I also took a long Sunday drive and got a small bag of apples at roadside stand. The apples are good, but they will be better in about three more weeks.

It's going back into the 90s for the next several days. I'm worried about the lettuce. The peas and radishes will be fine, but I dislike when we get these end-of-August heat spells.
 
Got to bed a little earlier than usual, around 3 AM. Slept until 12:30 PM. My body must have really needed the rest. I only got up for the bathroom once and went right back to sleep.

Heat advisory starting tomorrow. It was bad enough today. When we got out late afternoon it was 100 degrees with a heat index of 110.

Working on getting my good laptop computer back up and usable. The hard drive died about six months ago. A couple of days ago I installed a replacement drive I bought used. I'm formatting it an installing the operating system. It takes quite a while to format and partition a 1 TB hard drive.
 
We have sunny skies with temp around 95. Heat index in the low 100's, today. Nights are beginning to cool down into the upper 60's.

Today is laundry day. 2 loads. One to hang outside, and one for the drier. Cary will be pulling our BOBs out of the SUV to make sure everything in them are good to go. He's already got a case of bottled water out in the SUV along with each an extra pair of walking shoes in case we need them. We never travel without having all the gear and items necessary to get home on foot if we have to. Both of our BOBs carry everything necessary, plus what we pack in the SUV at the last minute. To some, that might be an over kill, but we never go anywhere without being prepared to get back home, even on foot, taking the back roads. It might take us a few days to get back, but we can make it. Paper maps are a necessity.
 
It never hurts to be prepared! However, 400 miles is a reasonable risk. It won't take long to make it home if there's a problem. I'll keep both of you in my prayers.

I'm excited! My permanent license plates came today. I put them on immediately. Now my plates can be read, and unless I'm speeding or doing something stupid, there's no reason to pull me over. I don't take it personally! But police in the town over from me were pulling over all cars that their equipment couldn't read (and I've been avoiding that area). They are looking for fake plates, but it annoys me because it's clear that I'm driving a new car with temp tags from a local dealership (and I left their company plates on for that reason).

In any case, that's behind me, and after Labor Day, there will be the normal number of police on the roads. They're doing revenue enhancement right now, plus I believe there are additional quotas for pulling over X number of cars.

Weatherwise, it's HHH (hazy, hot, and humid). I've got two more errands to do, and then I'm inside of the rest of the day. At least the wind is back. It's keeping the pollen from settling, so that's much better.

Other good news: I saw dozens of the little white cabbage butterflies down by the river this morning. I had been worried about them because I had only spotted a couple over the last two weeks, but they were hanging out in several of the new reconstructed prairie areas, along with lots of honey and bumble bees! I also saw several monarch butterflies. I'm sure there will be more: there's a lot of milkweed at the edge of the field.
 
Meemur said:
It never hurts to be prepared! However, 400 miles is a reasonable risk. It won't take long to make it home if there's a problem. I'll keep both of you in my prayers.
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The only way I can ever foresee us having to walk home would be if there is a major catastrophe from coast to coast here in the US, where gasoline runs out, or if roads and bridges are impassable between where we are and home, etc. That's not likely to happen. We have the equipment and survival skills to do it, but our age matters, too. It would be hard.
 
My late dh would never look beyond the end of his nose. When 911 happened, I heard about it on the radio on the way to work (just 1st plane then) and as soon as I got to work, I called dh and told him to go get gas. He argued with me and I finally yelled JUST DO IT.

Walking 400 miles would be like eating an elephant, one bite (one step) at a time. I'd hate to contemplate having to do so and I'd definitely want a wheeled wagon or something to carry supplies. Even 25 miles from where I shop would be challenging at my age! I'm hoping to get to Des Moines soon to visit my sister who lives in the southern part of the city which means going through the city to get there. I'll pack a bag and put it in the trunk before my dd and her boyfriend see it so that I can avoid explaining prepping to them yet again.

I'm with Meemur on the hazy/hot/humid. I went to post office, bank, hardware store and pharmacy this morning and I'm in for the rest of the day. It was hard to breathe outside even after using my inhaler. It's currently 85º humidity 72%.

Vacuumed dining and kitchen and plan to scrub soon. Just stopped for lunch at 2 p.m. which means supper will be at 7 or later. Bad timing.

I added ledgers for August and only went over grocery budget by $6.43 even with a special prepping trip last week. With Kinetic giving me a credit for all the crap they put me through was a help towards saving nearly $700 towards taxes due in September. I'm hoping to keep September spending low enough to save the additional amount needed for taxes. That kicks the can to December when I have household insurance and car insurance due the week after Christmas. That takes a bigger chunk than I'll be able to save in 3 months unless I'm able to avoid medical bills, grocery shopping and any other spending beyond absolutely necessary bills. Somehow, it always works out. I used tax and insurance $'s for tree and other unexpected July expenses.
 
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Excellent job, Philkar! I admire you for doing your duty. And I agree about it being exhausting. I'd much rather do it in the fall or early spring.

Switching topics: the mattress project is over. I'm going to order a Sealy Dallas Hybrid (medium) tomorrow while I can save a few dollars at the Labor Day sale. That was extremely painful! The mattress industry does everything they can to keep customers from comparing apples to apples. Both Sealy and Serta call their beds different names, depending on the retailer and state. Buyers have to spend time looking at the small print on the white tag to find out the actual composition and then more meaningful comparisons can be made, but at a certain level (beyond a "bed in a box") they are fairly similar price-wise at the different levels, like an "elite" or "plus" will run 2K(ish). Ugh! They still break down fairly quickly. No more "20 year beds" like the old days when heavy gauge coils were used.
 
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BP through the roof. Have not been able to take anything by mouth except Zofran for over 24 hours. Edema is down because my body is pulling the fluids.

GP thinks either kidney stone or fall bladder but at this point she can't determine. And it's bad enough that she thinks the ER is a better option than trying to schedule scans.

Yesterday I couldn't even sit upright for more than an hour at a time. We're testing that this morning in the ER waiting room. The oddest thing is that my hearing is fragged. I normally have phenomenal hearing and right now I don't.
 
Prayers for you, kyrsyan!

We will be heading out soon for our shopping day. 2 small towns, today. Bank, dry cleaners, wine shop, pay a bill at the courthouse, and groceries/household items.

I've got monthly bills to pay, before we leave.

Our heat is back on. 98 for our high, today. Heat indices well over 100. Weatherman said a Heat Advisory will be issued later this morning. Sunny skies with no rain for the next 10 days. I had to water everything outside late yesterday afternoon.

Sadie decided to dig up her baby toy. She was playing with it in the backyard while I was getting the laundry off the clothesline. I'll be getting her a ball and more outdoor toys, today.
 
kyrsyan said:
It's the door fans. That's why my hearing is fragged. They have it running continuously instead of just when the doors open and my brain doesn't have the energy to filter it right now.
Still in waiting room but they've gotten material for labs.
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High blood pressure can interfere with your hearing, too. I had a scary spike only once (work related :rolleyes: ) and remember that my ears were pounding/ringing.

Hope they can figure out what's going on with you soon and get you back to par.
 
Kyrsyan, I posted your screen name to our online prayer group. That's got to be scary!

In my little corner of the world, the mattress project continues.

I have to get another bed frame (not a problem because I got a really cheap on last time and had it welded together. It's coming apart). I'll get a better one at Home Depot. Yes, they sell metal beds online. Their prices are significantly less than the furniture stores for basically the same thing.

I'm also going to see if I can go pick up my mattress at the warehouse. That will also save me a few bucks, if they allow that.

And that will complete my two retirement gifts to myself (vehicle and new mattress). Then the world can fall apart! LOL. :geek:
 
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Yesterday I got the hydraulic splitter running after a 2 year sleep. I dodged a bullet - the gas I left in the tank did not gorp up the carb. Drained it. Flushed it w/ good gas. Put in Seafoam and good gas. Gave it a pull and it fired on the third pull!

DIGGITY!!

I checked the hydraulic fluid and added some.
I checked the engine oil and it was good, but the plastic ears on the fill plug failed.
I used my new induction heater to heat a couple of screws red hot and screwed them in, replacing plastic with metal.

Neat-o Gallito!

I'm splitting some of the windfall Cherry and maple from this winter.

Feeling pretty smug, me!
 
Back from our errands. One stop, was the shoe repair shop. But this guy is good enough to be called a cobbler. Sweetie took him another pair of tall snake boots; he's had his lace up bike boots done too. My 30 yr old rockies - which have always been my favorite fitting boots. Climbed up the face of Mesa Verde in them (on a ladder!) years ago.

My D's favorite work boots too. He is well worth what he charges!
 
Back from shopping. Tired me out, too. Heat index stands at 103 right now in full sunny skies. All those parking lots get really hot!

I needed more household products and OTC medicines than I needed groceries, today. Also, loaded Sadie up with more treats, food, and toys. She took to one of her inside toys right away. She hasn't found her new ball outside, yet. Once it cools off this afternoon, Cary will get her outside and play with her with it. We are ALL ready to stay inside with the ac going right now. Cary gets corn dogs and chips for his supper and I will have a small pasta salad. Too hot and too tired to cook.

We got a nice surprise at the dry cleaners when we went to pick up our clothes. We have built up a good friendship with the older lady that owns the place. She knew we would be leaving for our 50th anniversary vacation, before we saw her again. As an anniversary gift to us, she didn't charge us a thing for our clothing pick up, today. Wasn't that nice!? We thanked her over and over.
 
I love gifts like that, SB!

Yes, it's something like 93 actual here and a heat index in the 100s. I ordered my mattress and opted for "driveway delivery," which is free (they leave it in the drive between 8 am and 8 pm). That's fine. Then, I grabbed several egg rolls and steamed rice (to go) at a local Asian place (celebration dinner!) and came home.

I will go check the plots a little later and water again, as necessary, but it's truly wretched out there.

The lettuce was stressed. Everything else was fine when I checked this morning.
 
Back home. No infection. No stones. Nit kidney or gallbladder. So one of two things. One, new ventral hernia. Quite likely from the food poisoning bout. The gift that keeps giving. Or gallbladder malfunction, which requires testing am ER can't do.

GP will have to do referrals after she gets the ER data. Until then, I have to change things as if both are true. So low fat keto diet and hernia adjustments in moving and sleeping. Oh, and in eating because it's smaller amounts over more time and nothing in the four hours before bed, especially nothing for dinner that might cause gas.

And... they couldn't find the aneurysm either.

I might add fasting to my routine, except for meds and supplements. Because at almost 48 hours from last meal, I'm hungry but not in must eat mode.
 
Computer says it's 91º however my thermometer says 99º. A/c has been running off and on all afternoon, ... the most this year and a/c is set at 82º.

I was out for a haircut earlier this morning when it was already 80º. I just this moment realized I've not gotten my mail. Guess I'm going to have to put shoes back on and make a trip to the end of the driveway. No point in waiting for cooler because that won't be happening before midnight. This time of year, as soon as the sun goes down the bugs eat you alive.

Scrubbing the kitchen twice and the dining room once yesterday messed up my shoulder again so today has been a take it easy day. Nice thing about retirement and living alone, you really don't have to do anything if you don't want to and I didn't want to today!

Krysyan, I hope you can get the tests you need done soon. When my mom had gallbladder, her GP told her it needed to come out BUT since she was on Medicare she had to have a half a dozen tests first. It took a whole summer of misery to get all the tests done before surgery was approved. Don't you love the way .gov and insurance companies control our health care??? :bhd: A few years back I was having spikes of high blood pressure and vertigo. When I saw the heart specialist I told him I thought it was connected to my colitis, and he laughed at me. Had the whole list of heart testing and then he told me he thought it was probably connected to the colitis as my heart was fine ... do you ever have the urge to throw something??? Sorry you're dealing with whatever this is, and you find a quick answer and resolution.
 
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