To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in this column, in the Odds ‘n Sods Column, and in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!
Jim Reports:
We made some progress on projects here at the ranch. Some of those involved acquiring and moving furniture to accommodate our eldest daughter, in a different sleeping arrangement. Now that she has a job and has to work some night shifts, she needs a more quiet and dark place to sleep.
I was also busy with a 4-wheel drive vehicle purchase, and that required a lot of online research. I tend to take every large cash outlay very seriously and deliberately.
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
The weather is in the mid-forties during the day and the mid-twenties at night. It is dry, cloudy with intermittent sunshine. But the snow is icky and we still have too much ice and hard icy snow.
I have had cabin fever… Bad…Especially in the beginning of the week. But we did do some activities to mitigate it somewhat.
We wanted to go to some hot springs for an overnight, but one can only go to them with a reservation and they are booked out into March…
Our poor H. pup got spayed this week. I feel so bad about it. This half-grown female had to wear the Cone of Shame for four or so days. Poor girl, she was constantly banging into furniture, doors, and people. The first two days, she had heavy-duty dog meds that were to be given once every twenty-four hours but on the first day by six PM she acted as though the stitches bothered her. I treated her like a princess giving her “Surf and Turf” meals as Jim phrased it: sardines, salmon and some leftover tenderloins from the previous evening’s dinner. You can believe that I have become her best-est buddy. She has closely shadowed me the rest of the week, begging for treats. We finally removed the cone after four days. She was visibly relieved.
I did another large stock-up shopping trip while the pup was in for her surgery. I bought more meat and fresh produce, bleach, and dish detergent, etc.
Jim and I, together, chopped ice and shoveled hard-packed frozen snow off a cement pad to have a place to sun ourselves. The snow was between six inches and three feet deep. It only receives sun before noon and it’s not yet completely shoveled off so…
On one of the high forty sunny afternoons, I took my sleeping pad outside, over to the shoveled path just outside the greenhouse, where the sun was shining the brightest and had melted the patches of snow and ice leaving a patch of bare grassy ground, while wearing shorts and t-shirt and sunbathed for about a half hour. When the wind is calm the sun is very warm. It is gaining strength. It feels so good. It was a bit breezy. I also took my shoes and socks off and grounded my feet on the damp very cold grass until the cold breeze and ground gave me chills and goosebumps that sent me running into the house to warm up by the woodstove. 😉 It was invigorating.
Of course, I did all of the usual animal and house, cooking, and cleaning chores.
Jim and I went to a small gun show this week. It was worth the ride because Jim found a very nice customized 1890s-vintage Remington Rolling Block .45-70.
After ten plus years of marriage, this week, we are embarking on doing a basic remodel of the house, to my liking. The Great Room, kitchen, hallways, bathrooms, and bedrooms will all eventually receive a new coat of paint. The kitchen will additionally receive new countertops, a new sink, new faucets, and a new refrigerator. Oh, and new light fixtures for the dining room table and over the kitchen sink. Most of the decor, refrigerator, sink countertops are 28 years old. They look their age. So it is time. Most excitingly, we hope to be able to add a Wood Cookstove to our kitchen. We are currently doing deep research on which one we’d like to buy. I think I have settled on countertops that I want… I’m still working on the color of the paint for the walls and ceiling, though. I like all kinds of colors and styles, so it’s a bit difficult to decide. Even though our cabinets are on the older side, I really like their natural wood look, therefore we are giving them a good scrubbing with Murphy’s oil soap and will be treating them with Scott’s Liquid Gold this coming week, to freshen them up. We have all kinds of wood colors in our house, so we have decided to mostly streamline our furniture assortment more to the lighter side. This will entail rearranging some bookshelves and cabinets in the Great Room and sanding and re-staining our “new” antique dining room table. We have our work cut out for us, since we will do most of it ourselves. As the Lord so wills and leads…This ought to cure my cabin fever!
A little funny cat story: We have a three-bag dirty laundry bag rack. As I was collecting dark clothes for a load, I spied our male kitty go under one of the bags and disappear amongst them. I quickly forgot about him as I was thinking about my task at hand. I put the last of the clothes in the washer and turned back to the bags for one last check for stragglers. I reached down for what I thought was one of Jim’s black socks that had fallen onto the floor and grabbed M’s tail. He whipped around, yanking his tail from my hand, and stuck his head out from under the laundry bags and glared at me with his beautiful green eyes flashing with indignation that said, “How dare you pull my tail!” I laughed at him and said, “Oh “M”, I thought your tail was one of Daddy’s socks. I’m sorry.” I laughed again and went and told Jim about it. You know, the antics of little critters add joy and mirth to one’s day.
I spent time reviewing wild edible and medicinal plants. I didn’t do any particular exercise this week, except for that shoveling. I am currently in chapter 41 of my Hebrew and Latin translation of the book of Genesis.
Keep preparing, stocking up, reading God’s Word and praying.
May you all have a very blessed and safe week.
– Avalanche Lily, Rawles
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As always, please share and send e-mails of your own successes and hard-earned wisdom and we will post them in the “Snippets” column this coming week. We want to hear from you.