THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Many, many thanks for your kind comments earlier. They helped a lot as mostly these days I just feel very dull and boring
Pleased to say that dog, after many vets visits (good job we are preppers and have emergency vets savings account), has recovered again from IBS and is regaining weight. Dogs react badly to stress (I didn't know this when we adopted him, quite a learning curve) and it has been a little difficult and stressful here recently.
MrC dislocated his shoulder again a few weeks ago, and this time there is residual nerve damage so I've been rushing round like a woman possessed trying to plant the allotments, see to the bees, care for MrC and gallop back round our estate with buckets of hot water and disinfectant after walking the poor dog (that's quite enough detail I think).
BUT I'm so grateful for being a prepper, because for the past four weeks we've lived on produce from the plot, the contents of our freezer and pantry and I've only needed to shop twice. (Fresh fruit , potatoes and cheese) All of the stored food has been a huge asset, and really helped me survive this relatively small domestic disaster. It's also made me appreciate the real sense of being as prepared as possible, not so much for global catastrophes, but for the daily obstacles life tries to trip us up with.
And reading this thread, especially over the past days, has made me realise that I'm not alone in trying to deal with some of the restrictions that growing older, and unexpected illness and accidents can suddenly impose. It's also made me appreciate the real value of being prepared for unexpected disasters (vet fund and well stocked cupboards have been invaluable).
So many , many thanks to all of you, this thread has been a real inspiration to me recently.
Off now to walk the poor dog. Fingers crossed that life can now begin to return for what passes for normality here:)

One of the scouts Kims game kits consists almost entirely of flammables. They look so bemused at a a bent nail, a lump of flint & a tube of lip balm, let alone the other stuff, it's great fun.
Mind, the handful of dryer fluff needs replacing - a shrewd explorer scout took "just a pinch" to get his campfire off to a solid start & thus another bathtowel wash is indicated as his pals realised & came & emptied the tub! Their leader should have made them turn out their trouser pockets & inspect the seams...
However, I confess I rather blench at "what do they keep in their pocketses", let alone finding out just how flammable is a c*ndom, so although there is one in the Kim's game kit, we do encourage young minds to realise inflammable! as well as other uses.

All strength Capella! And well done keeping on doing so much where a lesser woman would have deliberately dropped several of the balls...

Cappella, you keep bees? I'd love it if you'd post about what you're actually doing week to week with them.

Not during your present emergencies, of course! Sounds like you have a tremendous amount on your plate - and yep, this is the kind of reality that prepping is really for, and you're doing brilliantly at all of it!

I can't wait to get home - just got to let the dishwasher finish doing its thing, and I'm off :j

That's brilliant shooting Greyqueen Well done that woman! What's your draw? I'm glad you're on our side

Karmacat, Ivyleaf and digforvictory - thank you, but I'm not really superwoman :ob it's a good job you can't see the state of my house after the past four weeks :rotfl: MrC had already prepared all of the beds on the plot, and put the potatoes in, so mostly I just watered,hoed, raked and sowed beans, chards, spinach, peas, beetroot, and more salad crops. It wasn't too bad really, just took a lot of time. We have a strimmer so the grass paths are fairly easy to keep under control, and a little mantis tiller which makes things much less strenuous. The sweet corn is going in today and then we're almost planted up.
As Kittie said, it's all good strength developing exercise and that's a huge bonus at my age.

Karmacat - this time of year the bees just need to be checked every week and any multiple queen cells need to be knocked down to prevent swarming. its just a question of checking the brood frames really. One hive had just one queen cell in the middle of worker bee brood, and MrC told me to leave it, as he thinks the workers are feeding her to replace the existing old queen. Regicide in the hive then when she hatches, very Shakespearean! We have 8 hives, its MrCs passion rather than mine but I'm learning very fast and fortunately don't react to bee stings though I don't have Granny Wetherwaxes talent with the bees

Lilibet - it happens here with Sky in very bad weather but our freesat is ok at the moment, could be your box?