Watermelon Samurai - Member

Fuel Stabilizer Results

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Posted February 28, 2024

Reply to: Request for gear review – Gloves Posted August 16, 2022

The goatskin gloves from Oregon Glove Company are fantastic gloves for any kind of yard work. At $50, they aren’t cheap. But they are well made, very durable and comfortable. A little stiff at first, but they break in nicely. I have very big hands and my wife has petit hands, and the available sizes fit us both just fine. We’ve given a couple pairs as gifts, and the recipients have all commented how much they like them after using them.

Reply to: What’s the likelihood that I will be able to live into my 80’s with the increasing number of disasters? Posted July 19, 2022

Exactly!

Reply to: What’s the likelihood that I will be able to live into my 80’s with the increasing number of disasters? Posted July 18, 2022

Somebody shared a bit of encouraging wisdom with me the other day, and I wanted to share it with you too: You are the direct descendent of people who lived through wars, diseases, famines, environmental disasters, political upheavals and all manner of other hardships. If your ancestors hadn’t survived all of these things, you wouldn’t be alive today. You are a descendent of survivors. Your heritage is full of people who worked hard, made wise decisions, trusted in their faith and got through the toughest of times – and all those good genes got passed down to you. So it’s in your very DNA to be strong, to adapt and to persevere even when the going gets really tough. You have the ability to live, love and manage through whatever hard times the future has in store for you. Generations of your family before you proved that they could do it, and you can too. – WS

Reply to: AC Apocalypse. Whatcha gonna do? Posted July 16, 2022

Redneck, you are correct and some simple safety precautions are in order: You MUST first turn off the power to the AC unit (I’m talking about the big outside compressor unit) before changing the capacitor. In the US, there is commonly an electrical disconnect box specifically for the AC unit that is located on the house wall next to the unit. Inside this box is a blade-type fuse which simply pulls straight out. Pulling this fuse will disconnect the unit from power. If you can’t disconnect the power to the AC unit, don’t attempt anything else. Stop and call a service person. With the power disconnected, you can verify the capacitor is discharged by checking for voltage across the terminals using a multimeter. A dead capacitor will have little or no voltage on it.

Reply to: Remove rust off your gear and tools with vinegar or ketchup Posted July 15, 2022

Another tip for parts that cannot be soaked: once you’ve saturated the paper towel in the vinegar and applied it over the rusty part, cover the paper towel with plastic wrap. That will keep the solution from evaporating. I’ve also had excellent results using a commercial product called “Evapo-Rust”. It’s definitely not as cheap as vinegar, but it works amazingly well. I use it frequently on old bike parts. After soaking for 12 hours, they come out looking like new. It’s not caustic, doesn’t stink, is reusable several times and is biodegradable.

Reply to: See you later Alligator! – How to avoid and survive an attack Posted July 15, 2022

FWIW, gators lose their fear of humans by the time they’ve reached 3 to 4 feet in length. If you see a gator and it’s longer than a yardstick, it is NOT afraid of you – regardless of the size of your biceps or the number of Bud Lights you’ve consumed. If you don’t know what a yardstick is, well, just stay away from it anyway.

Reply to: AC Apocalypse. Whatcha gonna do? Posted July 15, 2022

Couldn’t agree more! Both of the A/C outages I’ve had in the last 6 years (including last week) were simply due to the starter capacitor dying in the outside fan unit. Just as Nuqneh said, it requires only hand tools & 20 minutes to replace the capacitor. Having the $35 part on hand saved a $300 service call. If you’re modestly handy, you can make the repair.

Reply to: 80/20 Rule for Emergency Radios Posted May 18, 2022

For those who are considering stepping up to a ham radio license, I came across a recent presentation about the importance of ham radio during natural disasters. The presenter was Craig Fugate, former FEMA director and former Emergency Management Director for the state of FL. He was speaking to the Coastal Plains Amateur Radio Club in SE GA. (The blog with the full presentation and commentary is here: https://www.prc-77.com/2022/04/sage-advice.html) A couple of points really stood out to me:1) One of the first consequences of any disaster is that all commercial communications systems will be overloaded, particularly cell circuits. The cell sites may be up and functioning, but the demand will overwhelm them.2) All communications systems, regardless of how well they are hardened, have multiple points of failure. It’s not uncommon for EVERYTHING to fail. In fact, it happens with alarming regularity.3) Any communications infrastructure reliant on IP (internet protocol) – cell phones, VOIP, internet, etc. – is particularly vulnerable. Even commercial satellite phones at some point tie back to an IP-based ground system, and the connections will fail.4) Most local shelters are likely to have all of the communications capabilities they need. (That’s good news, at least!)5) Repeaters (the devices which give handheld radios their extended range) will fail and handheld-to-handheld communications will run into coverage issues very quickly. Being able to use the HF bands is far more important during emergencies. (And just for clarity: handheld radios do not transmit on HF bands. You would need a base station radio for that.) 6) In a disaster, antennas are more vulnerable than radios. Have spares.7) Have backup power because generators fail with alarming frequency. The blogger summarized it this way: “Craig’s strong focus was on the use of HF for both local and long-haul communications…don’t rely on anything that has a high risk of failure (like repeaters). His perspective is interesting – he’s seen too many commercial and government communications systems fail during real world disasters, particularly IP-based systems. We can distill Craig’s guidance down to one simple statement: [emergency management] at all levels needs point-to-point communications systems that don’t rely on any infrastructure.” So this level 3 & 4 stuff, but clearly valuable. – WS

Reply to: Hurricane Preparedness Week May 1-7, 2022 Posted May 12, 2022

Let me underscore M.E.’s comment that ‘back to normal can take many weeks’. A friend of mine is an experienced lineman for a power company which supplies much of the Southeast with electricity. In a recent discussion about power outages, he told me a couple of disconcerting things:– The company has not been investing in infrastructure upgrades. Instead, the policy is just to fix/replace equipment after it breaks. So there is diminishing robustness and redundancy in the electrical infrastructure.– Equipment is being run closer to its maximum ratings now. This is making it much harder to switch power around the grid. There is a significant risk of overloading existing equipment when trying to route power to locations with outages.– Supply chain disruptions have drastically extended the lead times for replacement equipment (it’s greater than a year for some of the larger pieces of equipment). Power companies can obtain parts and equipment from other power companies, but when the parts are gone they’re gone, and it will be a long time before replacement equipment will be available.– They are having a very hard time hiring and retaining line workers. In short, we have an electrical infrastructure that’s operating closer to its limits with less redundancy, parts that are harder to obtain and a shortage of people to install and repair equipment. So I think it’s reasonable to expect that any significant power outages – especially those caused by tornadoes or hurricanes – could last an uncomfortably long time. – WS

Reply to: 80/20 Rule for Emergency Radios Posted April 22, 2022

There could be a level “1.5” especially for families or couples: Purchase a pair of FRS radios. For those who aren’t familiar with these radios, they are like modern walkie-talkies: decent range, super easy to use and don’t require a license to operate. An FRS radio won’t replace the ham radio in your level 2, but a pair will still let a group split up yet stay in touch over short distances. -WS

Reply to: What’s worth canning? Posted April 21, 2022

I’d love to say that I have a beautiful garden that produces a bountiful harvest, but I would be a liar. I’m so incompetent with plants that I could kill a plastic cactus. However, we now have a nearby farmer’s store that sells only locally grown produce and meat at reasonable prices – so I can use that as my “garden”: buying what’s in season and preserving it via freezing, canning & curing.

Reply to: What’s worth canning? Posted April 21, 2022

Agreed. I prefer my grapes crushed, fermented and bottled. 🙂

Reply to: What’s worth canning? Posted April 19, 2022

Sorry for the dumb question, but do the pickled things you mention stay crisp after being boiled in the canning jars? -WS

Reply to: What’s worth canning? Posted April 19, 2022

We’ll frequently make big batches of chicken soup and chili so that we can freeze a portion of it for a rainy day. But we always freeze it in plastic containers. It never occurred to me that glass would work well – good to know you’ve been very successful with it. Also, your comment about using liquid to avoid freezer burn is a really good point! – WS

Reply to: What’s worth canning? Posted April 19, 2022

Another vote in favor of freezing – you’re saving me lots of work! -WS

Reply to: What’s worth canning? Posted April 19, 2022

Thank you. It’s very intriguing to hear that blanched and frozen veggies taste like fresh. I’ll have to give that a shot… -WS

Reply to: What’s worth canning? Posted April 19, 2022

Yeah, it’s the mushy ones I’d like to avoid, so I will DEFINITELY avoid the peas. (That’s giving me grade school cafeteria flashbacks.) What kind of climate do you live in? I’ve avoided dehydrating because I live in a hot & humid place, so I’ve questioned how successful dehydrating would actually be…

Reply to: What’s worth canning? Posted April 19, 2022

I’ve previously canned peaches, and those turned out fine – much better than I expected actually. So that gave me the confidence to try something else. However, remembering back to what my mother & grandmother did, I only recall them canning tomatoes (as sauce), berries (as jams) and peaches (whole). Everything else that came out of the garden they would freeze (including tomato sauce when we ran out of jars). But they never canned meat. So that’s what prompted me to ask the question. It seems the advice here is largely echoing what my family did: freeze the veggies and can the fruit. It also sounds like freezing is a suitable alternative to pressure canning for meat & low acid veggies, and I can save the expense of a pressure canner for now. So that will be the plan, emphasizing the veggies. I am intrigued by the idea of dehydrating, so maybe I’ll give that a shot at some point. I am also currently attempting to cure a small pork loin, and hopefully that experiment goes well and I live to tell about it… -WS

Reply to: What’s worth canning? Posted April 18, 2022

Thank you everyone – I greatly appreciate the shared wisdom!

Fuel Stabilizer Results

Fuel Stabilizer Results

What’s worth canning?

Effective mosquito repellant?

How to sew and repair a leather glove

Pick axes and axe repair

Home security

Learning to fish