The peaches and apricots sound great, but I’d live in an orange tree.
My first time in Florida I was like a kid in a candy store. I was astounded to be able to run around eating lemons and oranges right off of the trees.
I know nothing about gardening, so, I am adding that to my list. Yesterday, I built a 2 feet deep garden box and filed it with soil from Home Depot. Will try growing my first tomatoes. You have to remember , I am just a trigger puller:))
Some other items on my list so far:
2 cases of Lysol or Clorox wipes if and when they become available.
need some safe outside storage for fuel.
need a months supply of K-Cups: HA
Weapons I don’t need, but, even with my 5000 rule, I am going to increase my ammo storage.
A months supply of pet food, was caught short on that.
still thinking…
Thanks for posting. I had to look chard up on Google, had no idea what it was. Do you know this one? As a child, I lived about a year in South West Virginia. They grew a lot of rhubarb, make pies and canned it. I believe it cannot be grown in hot climates.
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I’ll be gardening this year as well. I have space for potted plants and a few hangers. I’m thinking tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. They’re expensive, grow easily, and I can preserve them to some degree if I have excess. Open to suggestions on other vegetables…
How much fuel is a reasonable reserve? I have 130liters in my truck’s tank and another 100 in the shed along with two propane tanks. It’s just me and I dont plan on running a generator anytime soon.
I thought I was pretty well prepared for this. However, it wasnt a conscious effort and mostly dumb luck. After this I’ll be putting more thought into my level of preparedness.
One thing I have been doing with this time is clearing out excess belongings. I cant believe I have so many things that I haven’t used in years. Time to go…
That’s great, you won’t believe the difference in taste or looks. Some of the cucumber I grow look like something from outer space and the taste is worlds away. It’s very therapeutic too caring for your crop. You learn stuff like planting marigolds alongside your veg attracts the right kind of insects who prey on the bastards who attack your crop. When you turn over your patch work them in and they ward off nematodes. Good on you idaho, I hope you stick with it.
The wife of a guy I work with makes excellent Rhubarb Jam. They grow it themselves, in Franklin County VA.
We have been planting fruit trees since we bought our property, haven’t gotten a cherry or plum yet, but we’re slowly, steadily figuring it out, what to spray, when to spray, when to prune, how to prune.
When we finally get fruit, what we don’t eat fresh, my wife will can, or I’ll turn it into wine. I also like to can deer meat every year, so if the power goes out I won’t lose all of the meat. These things take time to figure out, you can’t learn them after the emergency.
I don’t think this emergency will cause the power to go out, or the supply lines to go out. But I think people are waking up to the fact that our civilization is far more fragile than we thought. I hope they hang on to the lesson that it’s a good idea to keep extra food and supplies on hand for emergencies.
I’ve had a lot of strawberry rhubarb pies, and hope to have many, many more.
I’m just to the north in western Pa. and it does well around here. I think Basement Gainz grows some. I’ll have to ask next time we talk.
Instead of rebuilding several 4’x4’ boxes that had rotted, I bought several 60" diameter wading pools at Wally - a couple of which had holes and paid 1/2 price.
Drilled holes, filled with a mix of stuff, easy and very cheap.
Plus a very festive blue and pink in colors…
Plant some beans, peas, potatoes, and okra. These will fill your gut.
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Thanks for the information, hope you and your family are well.
Thought for the day:
Based on my experience, Mr. Hayes is absolutely correct. If you are home with your children, now is the time to step up and be the best Dad you can be.
Training: park workout. ax work. Dry fire practice.
Question of the day:
If you follow this thread, you know I often ask if you practice with your tourniquet. Here is a practical application:
I’m seeing a lot of fathers, in the park where I walk my dog, fishing, playing sports or riding bikes with their kids. This on weekdays, not just weekends.
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Thought for the day:
Yesterday, I received a call from an agent I used to work with. His wife was waiting in line for take out food from a national Italian chain. She walked up to the door, got the food and when she turned around, an asshole with a handgun got out of a car in the parking lot (driven by someone else) stuck the gun in her face, took the keys and jacked her car.
Don’t lose focus, predators know where people congregate. Be aware. Predatory criminals don’t care about social distancing. It’s easy to target people when they are reduced to only traveling to approved locations. Again, just use good situational awareness, be ready to react.
Training: heavy bag, shadow boxing, dual stick and knife katas.
Question of the day:
Are you letting your martial skills deteriorate? I know the training halls are closed, but, just like handgun skills, martial skills will fade if you don’t practice. What ever art you train, do the practice drills as best as you can, do weapons manipulations, katas, shadow box, whatever. Just stay sharp as you can
What a scumbag. I hope he gets what’s due. More importantly I hope your friends wife gets over her ordeal ok.
When I exercise in the back yard I warm up with shadow boxing. I haven’t had a skilled opinion of what I look like in far too long.
Thank you.
Skilled opinion or not, you are least out there going through the movements. Better than someone using isolation for an excuse not to train. Hang in there.
Thought for the day:
Below is some comments I pulled from an article written by LT. Colonel Terry Baldwin (Ret).
The article is long and I pulled what I thought were the essential meanings. Basically, he got caught unprepared for being trapped in a blizzard in Kansas and could have frozen to death. The lessons he learned from that night, changed everything in his professional personal life.
Replace the blizzard with the virus and think how you were either prepared or not.
The car was canted slightly to the left and I knew that the driver’s side door was blocked by snow so I went out by the passenger door to survey the situation. I had been chilly in the car, but as soon as I stepped outside, I knew I was in deep trouble. It was bitterly COLD. I found out later that at the time, the temperature in Topeka was 12 below zero and the wind chill made it ~25 below. I was not prepared for that extreme in any way, shape, or form.
It was dark and cold in there, but at least I was out of the wind. I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, loafers, and a light jacket – the standard fall uniform of young men in the 70s. I did not have a hat or gloves or heavier clothing with me. I dug into my duffle bag and wrapped another t-shirt around my head and ears. Through a combination of ignorance and hubris, I had managed to drive myself into a real-world life-threatening survival situation.
That night in Kansas, I realized that I had been guilty of thinking about survival situations only in the context of a military mission gone wrong – soldiers cut off behind enemy lines and that sort of thing.
I was smart enough to know that I was woefully unprepared to unexpectedly be fighting for my life in Kansas. I was shivering too hard to dwell on it, and my ears, toes, and fingers were still hurting. I needed to get my blood flowing and core temperature up. A Pinto was never designed to be a gym. However, I began to do calisthenics as vigorously as I could in the cramped space. It would have made a hilarious video if someone had filmed it but I took it seriously and tried to work up a sweat. I did not manage that, but the exercise did help. Indeed, I was grateful that my toes and fingers were still painful and had not gone numb.
I realized that a car with the hood up on the side of the road would appear abandoned and might not be searched or even approached. I started to think about drawing attention. I did have a couple of items to work with. I had a 4” Buck folder on my belt and a zippo lighter in my pocket. To be honest, I carried the Buck because that was what infantry soldiers did – on and off duty – to ensure that we were not mistaken for support soldiers. Likewise, while I did not smoke myself, I carried the lighter solely because – occasionally – a young lady needed a light for her cigarette.
Help had arrived and I had not seen or heard it coming. There was a pounding at the back of the car. I did not waste the opportunity. I kicked open the passenger door and surprised the Kansas State Trooper at the back of the car. He had been knocking the snow off the tag to get the license number of just one more abandoned vehicle.
That experience had a significant impact on me personally and professionally. It was sobering and left me with the conviction to never again be caught by an emergency so poorly prepared. I redoubled my efforts to learn traditional survival skills as well as other foundational life skills –like cooking – that have served me well.
Learning enough to avoid unnecessary risks is both a survival and life skill that is more common in older rather than younger people. It is definitely something that deserves to be passed from generation to generation. Some people, units, and leaders do not want to “waste” time learning “primitive” skills. First, it is misleading to think of these skills as primitive; thus implying that they are easy for modern people to master. On the contrary, successful fire starting, for example, is a complex enterprise that requires considerable practice.
I have tried to consistently apply the survive, live, and thrive methodology to my life since that night in Kansas. In the interim, my wife and I have experienced two hurricanes, multiple tornadoes, a nasty ice storm, and even a relatively close encounter with a volcanic eruption when Mount Saint Helens exploded. We gained valuable experience from each event. We learned that it was infinitely better to be prepared rather than reactive.
Preparedness is an integral part of my family’s life. It is our routine to keep a full pantry of nonperishable items. Therefore, we do not need to go out and panic buy when a crisis approaches. We keep our vehicles well maintained and habitually top them off if they get below three-quarters of a tank. Having learned multiple times that gas stations may not be able to pump gas out of their tanks if the electricity is off.
We have all seen it countless times. Shortly after the tornado passes, self-reliant people are out with their chainsaws clearing trees from their neighbors’ yards. We expect it. Ideally, being self-reliant makes us more selfless not self-centered
All the successful people I know have made a habit of getting the most use out of their time. Many of us are in some form of isolation today. Awhile back, Gunz mentioned that it is a great time to start or restart a PT program. I agree. I have personally made a point of trying to learn new skills, read a good book, or build something. I refuse to binge-watch some TV show to waste time. In other words, I suggest investing time vice killing it. We are all facing a situation that requires us to live under more austere circumstances then we have been accustomed to. We learned to survive by changing our routines and embracing new habits like “social distancing.” Each region of the country may be in a different place in the continuum.
I would suggest that all of us keep supporting those most at risk and on the front lines. Have confidence. Eventually, we will overcome this threat. In the meantime, we need to find ways to thrive and win. We are in this together.
Training:
weapons day: traditional archery, slingshot, hawk throwing, pellet pistol, BB rifle, dry fire training with the 1911 and 19X.
Question of the day:
What new skill are you trying to learn?
Anybody into knife throwing?
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Depends what you mean by “into”…
Have I gotten drunk and thrown knives at trees? Yes.
Was it fun? Yes.
Have I ever owned a knife designed to be thrown? No.
I was into butterfly knives during my childhood. They are so freaking cool, and I always imagined myself thwarting an attacker, no, a group of attackers by scaring them off with butterfly knife theatrics.
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Haha. Last knife I threw was a 11" chefs knife through our kitchen door during a night of partying in my early 20s. One of those rare drunken yet confidently talented moments.
Using my extensive history of hatchet chucking to keep myself occupied on family camping trips growing up I have absolutely crushed shit at the hipster axe throwing bars around here lately. It’s hilarious watching people who have never thrown a hatchet or axe… Or swung a hammer much for that matter, try and throw a hatchet at a target.
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