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Reply to: DIY Project: Rain barrel water collector Posted 3 weeks ago

That is a smart idea to learn what you use this season and save up for another barrel for next year. I like that your barrels are black so they should stay warmer and able to function for more of the year. That would be my concern where I live. Perhaps you could install a solar powered chicken bucket water heater so that it never freezes and you are able to keep water all year. But you don’t really have a lot of things to water during the winter and it would just fill up once and not be used. So using it just during the spring-fall sounds like the best strategy.

Reply to: DIY Project: Rain barrel water collector Posted 4 weeks ago

You did an excellent job with the execution of this project and the write up for all of us. So far, is there more rain falling on your roof than you are able to use, or can you keep up with what this system produces? I’ll be curious to follow up with you in a few months to see if this meets your needs or you want to expand to another tank. Can you just drill another hole into the side of one tank and connect another one?

Reply to: News roundup for Tue, Apr 19, 2022 Posted 2 months ago

Nobody is mentioning the awesome Peep picture at the very top? Fine, I will. It’s awesome!

Reply to: Covid omicron – Holland going into lockdown tomorrow Posted December 18, 2021

Wonder if we will experience another early 2020 style of lockdown here in the US. How will it be received compared to the first one?

Reply to: A story of survival – surviving 72 days in the snowy mountains after a plane crash by resorting to cannibalism Posted December 18, 2021

That was an incredible yet saddening read. Those people went through some horrible things. I’d like to learn more about their lives after the disaster too. Did the accident scar them mentally for the rest of their lives or did it give them strength that whatever life throws at them they can overcome it.

Reply to: Evaluating information – a prepper skill Posted December 18, 2021

That’s great that your study was driven by your desire to protect your family. Having a strong reason why you are searching forces you to search after the best and most reliable sources.

Reply to: (Official discussion) Best pepper spray Posted November 16, 2021

I’ve been thinking of getting this very small pepper spray for when I go jogging outside. In this YouTube video https://youtu.be/vlZZpM95u_Y?t=5 it looks to be very easy to use and small to wear, but the amount of sprays and distance is pretty poor. It would only be effective if someone was right in your face grabbing you probably. It’s better than not carrying one though if other models are too bulky or harder to access in a bag or holster.

Reply to: Novel and delicious shelf-stable foods Posted November 9, 2021

Where do you buy canned bread? I went to my Kroger grocery store this week and asked if they had any and they thought I was nuts. Luckily they got on the radio and asked all the employees and one employee told her it was a thing but they didn’t have it.

Reply to: Fine line between prepping and hoarding, regarding household capacity Posted November 1, 2021

It’s particularly hard when cleaning out possessions when someone dies and letting go of items and “stuff” that remind you of the person. It feels like if you throw away that vase or picture frame that you are throwing away their memory. What has been helpful to me is to record a video and take pictures of their things so I can still visually look at it and recall those memories. And then if there are some particularly sentimental items, I save 1-2 of them.

Reply to: Evaluating information – a prepper skill Posted October 16, 2021

Very well stated. I would like to study psychology more and understand how biases are so deeply ingrained into our psyche. Was it a survival mechanism our ancestors developed or what? I personally have seen some family members SO stuck in their ways and their ideologies that they can’t see something so obvious. It’s like they have horse blinders on and only can see what they want and deny that anything else exists. I appreciate you disagreeing with me on “trust your gut”. Thinking about it more I would say it is more of use your head. For example, during this past year I talked with a friend who was sharing some obvious covid misinformation. What they were saying was seriously ridiculous. But they weren’t thinking and using their head at all and just was believing all that was told to them by others. Learning to critically think, question what I am told, and know how to sort out facts and fiction is one thing I value about going to college. I do not remember 99% of what I read in those expensive text books, but developing that critical thinking skill is something I will use my entire life.

Reply to: Evaluating information – a prepper skill Posted October 16, 2021

I like what you say about not trusting the media and relying on your senses and gut based off of what you are seeing. Hey, maybe it’s the best source of media out there and is 100% true, but I like what you said because you are developing the skill of thinking for yourself and being observant of things around you rather than just mindlessly tuning into what someone else says and is telling you how to think, feel, and react. That is a valuable skill to learn.

Reply to: Fine line between prepping and hoarding, regarding household capacity Posted October 15, 2021

“Nothing for the nightstand” <- HA! This made me laugh. I have some large mason jars on a floating shelf that would be good to secure. Your thought process is similar to my initial thoughts.

Reply to: Evaluating information – a prepper skill Posted October 15, 2021

The ideas and fantasy creations of a few snowball and spread like wildfire until a huge portion of the population believes in it. Never in the history of mankind has information or misinformation been able to spread so quickly. DO NOT be the one to spread misinformation. Stop it dead in it’s tracks if you can and don’t be the cause of hurting others. I’d like to share a couple other pointers that I’ve seen over the past few months of thinking about this topic. MEMES don’t equal factual news. Spend 5 minutes on places like Facebook and Twitter and you will quickly see MEMES (pictures usually with big white letters captioning it) that try and share an idea. Don’t trust these, and even don’t even read them. They are only created to trigger a strong feeling like anger, fear, or outrage. And these easily get likes, comments, and shares. Most of the time they are inaccurate and misleading. Unfollow family, friends, and ‘influencers’ that tend to share things like this as well. You don’t need any more garbage in your day, you already get enough of that elsewhere. Subscribe or follow nice things that make you happy, are positively educating, and make the world a better place. Trust your gut. Many of these extremist misinformation sources are very obvious by how they get heated up about everything, lead into conspiracy theories, and divide you from others. If you don’t know if something is true or not, research it and don’t talk about or share it with others until you have fact checked it for yourself. Don’t lead to future panic and distrust. Thank you for bringing up this topic. It is important to be able to verify and know what is true or not. Misleading information could have you bugging out at the incorrect time, teaching you bad ways to take care of your health, or just cause unnecessary stress in your life.

Reply to: Liquid fuel vs. propane bottles for lanterns and cook stoves Posted September 28, 2021

Those Coleman stoves look much sturdier than the kerosene one that Waldog shared. It’s interesting that he is running gasoline as the fuel in each of those. I’d like to know what it smells like and if it releases harmful fumes compared to kerosene or white gas.

Reply to: Liquid fuel vs. propane bottles for lanterns and cook stoves Posted September 28, 2021

I like that. I could use the same kerosene for lighting and also cooking. Thanks for the video.

Reply to: Liquid fuel vs. propane bottles for lanterns and cook stoves Posted September 27, 2021

Thank you! I’ll do that.

Reply to: Liquid fuel vs. propane bottles for lanterns and cook stoves Posted September 27, 2021

Do lanterns that use a mantle get hot enough for cooking? I have a couple wick burning kerosene or lamp oil lanterns and have wondered if I could cook on it. This YouTube video says that my wick style of lantern isn’t hot enough to cook or boil water on.

Reply to: One of the best articles I have read about home schooling Posted September 8, 2021

That’s great that you are homeschooling your children. You know them best and can give them the personal attention and care they deserve. You and your wife are able to meet their needs more than a teacher with a class of 30 kids would be able to. Was it a hard decision for you as a couple? Were you unanimous or did one have to sway the other?

Reply to: One of the best articles I have read about home schooling Posted September 8, 2021

I too have seen an uptick in homeschooling over the years, and especially this past year with covid. There are many pros and cons for this way of learning, and I think parents should evaluate their child’s development, personality, and local school curriculum to know if it is the correct choice for their child or not. I went to public school and one of my best friends was home schooled. I’ll share some of the differences that I have noticed between us. I tend to have more world experience and social skills. I had to deal with bullying, making and losing friends, being around a wide variety of people, group sports, and learning from all the quirks that each person around me brought. My best friend is an introvert, asks many simple questions that I thought anyone who was an adult should know by now, and is still developing friendship skills. Although, my friend is vastly more book smart than I am. She was able to graduate from high school two years early because she learned at her own pace, and didn’t have to sit through a class with a lesson tailored to the center of the bell curve for an entire class. No real right or wrong decision here, just different. I do have another friend who is raising their son and instead of public school or homeschooling, they are unschooling. Pretty much it means that instead of a set curriculum, they learn through play, household responsibilities, travelling, movies, and just going through life. I don’t know how their son is going to end up as an adult, but I would guess that he will be way behind in basics like reading, writing, spelling, math, and other things you learn in school if your teacher is just going out in the yard and playing. He is already eight years old and is just barely starting to learn how to read basic ‘Pop likes to hop’ books.

Reply to: Preparedness podcasts? Posted August 30, 2021

Looks like there are some interesting topics in this podcast. They claim to be leftist leaning preppers, which I will find fascinating to hear their perspective on things because prepping has been heavily right leaning for such a long time. That’s one of the things that brought me over here to the prepared. Prepping doesn’t need to be only for a certain group, mindset, or people. Good recommendation emcee

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