What did you do today to prep...

[Knecht]

Made and successfully tested a peg plate, a handy tool to make pegs for beam joinery and timeberframing. Several holes from square to round, that you hammer pieces of split wood through to shape their crosscut. Always good to have another tool that helps you to build stuff by yourself.

The pegs got used in my interier carpentry project, part of medieval style bedroom project. The beam structure is all done now, glued and pegged together and most of the joints look pretty good for a beginner's work. Making traditional carpentry and timberframing joints with handtools is IMO a good skill to have in one's prep/self-reliance set.

[Redman]

Making traditional carpentry and timberframing joints with handtools is IMO a good skill to have in one's prep/self-reliance set.

Yes absolutely I would say.

[ChEng]

The other day, my son was showing me his "Threat Analysis." Yesterday, I did a search for a list of disasters in the Pittsburgh area. Other than very local disasters (house on fire, chemical spill down the road, neighbors meth lab, etc.) there were only a few that I could find. The Great Fire of Pittsburgh in 1845 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Pittsburgh,) the Johnstown Flood of 1889 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood,) the crash of USAir Flight 427 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAir_Flight_427,) the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_93,) and two blizzards for which I have been present. Beyond this, there are occasional utility outages, but they normally only last a few days to a week.

Of all of these disasters, the fire, flood and plane crashes caused a tiny number of people to need to bug out. These bug out situations (plus the very local disasters mentioned above) were for a very limited length of time (a couple of days,) and could be spent at a friend's, or relative's place, or a hotel. (Although, the fire was rude and trashed everyone's belongings, but that was nearly 200 years ago.)

The blizzards were bug-in situations. In our 30 years here, we have had only a few blizzards, and they were all over within a few days (the 1993 blizzard - one of the worst - actually had all of the snow melted within three days.) A weeks worth of panty has been plenty for these blizzards.

Pittsburgh is really a pretty polite (disaster-wise) city. To handle all of the historical bug-out disasters, all you need is a 72-hour kit in your car, with money for a few days at a motel. For the bug-in disasters, a weeks worth of food and a well-stocked blackout kit is all you really need.

This, of course, does not cover all possible disasters (solar/nuke EMP, attack on our nuclear power plant, pandemic, etc.) So, I am continuing to build up my bug-in pantry, and blackout kit, supplies. I also have a reasonable 72-hour BOB for Mrs. ChEng and one for myself already in the car (along with a few MREs, my field jacket and several blankets,) and enough money for four nights in a motel.

[Stwood]

Sounds like a good plan Chief

[ChEng]

Sounds like a good plan Chief

Thanks Stwood, I actually already have about three to four weeks of pantry already, but I want more. Also, my blackout kit, while pretty good, can still use some more supplies. Thus the...

...So, I am continuing to build up ...

[Stwood]

Can never have enough, I think.
I'm pretty sure we're at a 2 year stock. Planning on stretching that to 5.

[Knecht]

First pieces of the first production serie of my tactical hatchet are being delivered to customers this week. It's based on a unique 9th century fighting axe used quite exclusively in our country back then. I brought it not only back to life in a modern incarnation, but also returned it to our armed forces, as several soldiers already bought it Why is this posted under prepping deeds? Well, number one, it's part of my self employment and thus self-reliance; second, since I'm already working on another serie and more will likely follow, I should never have shortage of pretty deadly, carryable hand-to-hand weapons (Ok, I admit this was never really a threat in my household). Plus, making them is more and more practice of forging, filing, grinding etc., so another prep bonus.

Also, discovered a manufacturer that makes sort of re-vived ammo, namely 7,62x39. Made of old army surplus, what they do is they take the cartridge apart, clean and galvanize the steel casing, deprime it and put in a new, non-corrosive primer, new powder, re-calibrate the bullet and put it together again...all that for LESS than the surplus ammo costs. It's somewhat suspicious (though it's a legal business, no garage-tinker), so I've decided to get some of it and test it. If it works well, I may buy a larger supply.

[ChEng]

First pieces of the first production serie of my tactical hatchet are being delivered to customers this week. ...

Knect,
Sorry if I missed this earlier, or in other boards. Do you have a (on-line?) store, or where are you selling these?

[Knecht]

Knect,
Sorry if I missed this earlier, or in other boards. Do you have a (on-line?) store, or where are you selling these?

If you're on FB, search for page "CustomHistory" and check the latest photos.
If not, send me a PM, I'll be happy to tell you the details. I don't think forum rules allow me to post a link right here.

[Stwood]

Laid in a big box of 1200 alcohol wipes. Individually sealed. Can grab a handfull and carry them in pocket or purse.

[Knecht]

We have a little bit of run on food stores here in CZ, as the virus has reached Austria already. Perhaps a little bit overreacting, but it's still funny to see people who normaly make fun of preppers buying dozens of meat cans and flour bags... We had to go to town for some building supplies anyway, so we bought some food as well, to restore our usual stash and get some extra - with kitchen floor now finished, we can finally move some stuff there...till now, our long term supplies rather blocked ways elsewhere in the house, now we can piel them there.
It's quite educative to see how the public reacts in such situation, even though there's nothing too bad right now...very valuable experience. Good to see what's sold out fastest.. I'm quite proud to see my fellow countrymen stocking up on rahter basic supplies such as flour, oil, sugar, salt, canned meat etc, not spending money on crap.

[D Haught]

In the southeast no one is concerned around here. I figure this virus poses very little health threat but people will predictably panic when the first case is reported in the area so I fortified our food supply a bit and bought some items we were running low on like first aid supplies. If there are any quarantines to come we'll ride it out just fine and eat like normal.

Kind of funny how Mountain House and My Patriot Supply as well as other LTS food suppliers have just gotten cleaned out by all the people that have probably never eaten freeze dried food in their life and spent about 3 times as much as what they could have just bought normal groceries for.

[Stwood]

Last 2 weeks I've filled in some holes in medical and LT food items.
Extra alcohol, wipes, Augason #10 cans, etc.
Need to make a run up to the Mennonite store for white flour.

Yes on the LT suppliers running out.
Walmart is OOS on almost all LT, and Amazon is grasping to fill orders.
I'd say if the LT manufacturers don't get in gear, there won't be any LT available in a week or so.
And, it's winter time and those companies can't just pull all the produce they need out of every state farm field.

[Bradbn4]

The only thing I can think of stocking up on is can chunky style soup.  Stuff that I would still eat today, tomorrow, at work, and on the road.  It is the wrong time of the year for my CostCo to carry soup....I guess it is time to check out Sam's club.  Add some simple dried pasta to that mix would keep me good for a long, long time.

I did pick up a few 72hr kits a few months ago that are designed for shelter in place. Some folks call that home cooking. I have one instapot, mostly a low(er) pressure cooker that will work with the classic beans and other dried items.  For real pressure cooking I do have my American Standard, a bit of an overkill for what I do now a days.

I do need to head over to the local hardware store and pick up a few items to work around the house.  Mostly some sink pluming supplies to fix a leak around a garbage disposal which I never use.

[Stwood]

I tend to keep a lot of selection of canned meat products, even though we've started canning chicken, pork, and beef this last 2 years.
Most is warm it up and eat.
Starkist Tuna
Tamales
Vienna sausages
Keystone Beef, turkey, and pork
Canned ham
Bbq ham

Canned fruit, I buy by the case, even though we can some also, like buying a bushel of peaches and can them, freeze some.

And we try to stock what we eat. We've made few blunders thankfully. Food has gotten expensive.

[Greekman]

Made an inventory of what i have on masks (and other PPE) and alcohol etc.
I am quite good as it seems and I have some to spare for my sister's.
Alcohol etc is gone from the supermarkets shelves and people are mildy stocking on pasta etc.
Strange enough I found plenty of hand sanitizer and antibacterial handwipes and on sale too in a supermarket..seems people disregard items that are clse to the counter

[Knecht]

Stocked up 5kg of my favorite black leaf tea (or, as I call it, the life fuel)... with the food supply restored, we can eat...with the ammo supply, we can defend ourselves...with the tea supply, I'll have a reason to do that

[Knecht]

Started taking notes about the current local shopping frenzy. What does it take to start it, what is sold out fastest, how do people react to certain things. Valuable lessons and information for next time.

[Greekman]

if you care for paradigms outside your country i have to offer one from mine.
Money availability. The state Greece is, the spree happened when the month's paychecks were given

[CagedFeral]

Put a mist spray bottle of alcohol in my work truck. Hoping to keep the virus off me.

[Knecht]

if you care for paradigms outside your country i have to offer one from mine.
Money availability. The state Greece is, the spree happened when the month's paychecks were given

Thanks, I always like to hear the experience from elsewhere. Money availability is a good point as well. Having some cash in rather small nominals is certainly a good idea. It's something I know I should focus on, as I don't tend to have a lot of cash on me (or at home). Not that I didn't like it, but the way I live now, I drive to nearest stores down in the town and there I pay by card, same on the gas station. Things like tactical gear, old tools to restore, etc. I buy mostly online, as there's not place nearby to get them. So I really don't need cash too often and tend to have very little. I must keep that in mind.

Another notice taken: an alerting event such as this will on one side create a bunch of panicking buyers and hoarders, but also a bunch of arrogant know-it-alls on the other side, who will state that nothing is happening, till it does.

[ChEng]

...Having some cash in rather small nominals is certainly a good idea. It's something I know I should focus on, as I don't tend to have a lot of cash on me (or at home). Not that I didn't like it, but the way I live now, I drive to nearest stores down in the town and there I pay by card...

An easy way to correct this, is to get cash back for your purchase. You can, for example, ask for a mix of 1000Kč, 500Kč, 200Kč and 100Kč bills. I will often request $20 cash back, and then ask for a single $10 bill, a $5 and five $1 bills - this will give me a nice selection, without going too far over in my expenses.

A couple of purchases with cash back like this and I vacuum seal (http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=63804.msg760618#msg760618) a $100 packet for cash needs. My favorite (for vacations, but it would be the same for a bug out) is two $20s, two $10s, four $5s and twenty $1 bills. These $100 packs, with a few rolls of coins, will cover me nicely, if the grid is down (or I can't find, or don't have access to, my card,) and I can only pay cash for purchases.

Edited for P.S.: Why $100? I've figured that this is the amount for a night at a cheap motel, plus enough food for the day from a grocery store for myself and Mrs. ChEng. It is also roughly enough for two tanks of gas, which can get me about 600-800 miles (100-1300Km) away - in my car. So if I have one packet for gas (plus another for return trip if necessary) plus one for each day, that, with out BO materials should cover us.

[ChEng]

Shaved and brushed my teeth with my left hand  - I think that I will grow a beard. 

Soon, I will be going in for surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff (two places). medline.gov says about 4-6 months for recovery, and about 4-6 weeks in a sling. Last night, my son's father-in-law - who is a physicians assistant (PA) - told me that the sling is more like a large block which will keep my arm strapped to my torso. Almost no usage of my right hand, at all. So, I wanted to practice shaving, and brushing, with my left hand.

It is amazing that I didn't cut my throat while shaving this morning. The only trouble with growing a beard, for me, is that after three to four weeks, people start to notice that I "missed shaving that morning." 

[Greekman]

on cash...

The Greek crisis experience has shown us that one should keep a substancial amount of cash on hand.
a 1004 will not get you far in an economic crisis and a prolonged power out

[Knecht]

Oh I realize the need for cash well enbough, but as you mentioned that, I also realized that lately I didn't really follow that rule. Must fix it.

[Bradbn4]

The smaller size money packs are useful no doubt....even some coinage for vending machines....
I pack a few of those when I have to travel on the road.  Not too much, but enough to pick up a few things if the credit card machines are down.
 
For long term money preps will require some other plans, and maybe the use of a food sealer to keep items fresh, and dry.   You could always toss the vac pack items inside a mason's jar to give it a physical barrier protection.   That way mice would find it hard to use paper money for a very expensive nest.

Today was a good day to get out my batter charger  and get some of the larger batteries charged up that I ordered for my flash lights.   I burned out my fav small light on my last road trip, so it is now time to get the new hardware up and running.   I might need to get a second charger for the 16860 batteries I have.  It does take a bit of time to recharge  a bunch of those beasts.

I also picked up a small battery charger bag to more safely charge/store said batteries up. 

[Stwood]

So the wife and I was discussing our value in food haul and how long it would last the 2 of us before we shut the trunk lid on the car. We figured 6 months.
If we had to, we may get tired of beans, flour, taters for all 3 meals everyday, but heck, we'll survive. 
$69.00 for 50# flour, 25# pintos, 50# taters, 3 containers of spices, 3 gallon of vinegar and cider, and package of snacks.
This was the first store, and they were cleaned out of rice completely, not even a small # bag. All of the lentil beans were gone. Other beans had been hit hard.

Second store was in about the same shape. No rice in site, no taters, few beans left.
Had a flat at the second store.  2 mile of fresh crushed rock getting there, all the while I'm thinking I hope a rock doesn't poke a hole in a tire. Yep. Hadn't been there 5 minutes and someone came in and told us a tire was going down. So 15 minute tire change and headed back home.

We stopped at our small grocery in town on the way back and cleaned em out of 10# bags of rice. Got some odd looks at the register, and the by standers.  I looked at her and asked if that was enough for a big wedding.......

[Greekman]

practising house hygiene/transmission precautions

In short of experimental way i tried to find the way for one to remain uninfected when living together with soemone infected and not accepting seclusion even inside the same home.

Honestly, it is impossible!

At first i started dissenfecting all surfaces that are usually touched. Door handles, fridge handles, phone, tv controls etc etc...missed at least three.
Then i found out how difficult is to break home habbits. i.e Even if I placed a second hand towel in the bathroom, I still caught myself wiping my hands with the common one we have.
I also found that house faucet handles are not always compatible/helpful with proper hand hygiene methods, like public bathrooms are.
And the real ordeal is in the single/common bathroom for all. Which is for given when living in European house apartments.

[Knecht]

^ Trying to make a 100% quarantine inside a normal house is really tough. In theory I could arrange such separated living in my second house (the previous owners built a smaller building behind the main one, with technical rooms on the ground floor and a small apartment on the first, the two buildings connected via a hallway on ground level), but currently the rear house has partially unfunctional plumbing, I need to fix that before we could use it that way. I can do some of the work by myself, but much has to be done by a pro, so I'm waiting for the plumber to arrive for our kitchen rebuild, then I'll see if he would also take a look at the second building.

I didn't do much dedicated prepping since our latest large scale shopping trips (this has lately become a hobby/obsession for some of our cizizens, while becoming a laughter source for others). I think we're fine. Should buy some new clean tanks for water supply, I guess. Been practicing forging, woodworking and leatherworking, as I usually do for living. Bought a backup propane tank for my gas forge. If power and gas were shut down, I can also use these for the gas stove (though we would more likely use woodstove instead, or simply cook outdoors on open fire).
About to finish the gunvault room, technically it's complete, mainly needs some whitewashing, cleaning all the building dust and brick pieces, laying some rubber-plastic floor tiles and making some shelves.
Made a trade deal, one of the tactical hatchets I'm making for a nice supply of 7,62x39 ammo.

[Redman]

Went to local 24 hr. Walmart looking for buckets to keep dry goods. Got 2 5 gal. food grade buckets, and unintended buys of lamp oil and some first aid supplies.