THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

GreyQueen

I'm suffering from snow-envy. We don't get much this far sarf and I can count on the fingers of, err on one finger, the time where I've encountered more than 3 inches of snow in my entire life.

I must remind my aged parents to make sure that the y@xtr@x I bought them a few years ago are handy.

Mum, sez I, if you go out in the ice without your YTs and slip and fall over, don't come running to me to complain about it.

mrs-moneypenny

We're in the middelands at not much snow falls here either GQ.
I do love the idea of a good blizzard/whiteout but as yet have never experienced one.
Do need to make sure Dh has spare warm stuff in the Landy and a big flattened cardboard box. (They are ideal for bunging under wheel to give a bit of traction if you get stuck in ice or slush)

mardatha

I have, often. And snow gets unfunny very fast. It can be really scary - you get so cold and so exhausted so quick. And in a blizzard I've been out in my back garden -up the top end near the field - and not even known which way I was facing. In 2010 the snow out the back garden was four and a half feet deep - and that wasn't drifts. I was able to take one step and then fell on my face lol.
We were all out every morning with snow shovels trying to keep our wee narrow steep cul de sac clear, and we ran out of places to put the stuff. Then the guttering all broke and the roof snow slid onto the satellite dishes, on every single house. Then the power lines broke and earthed and the phone wires broke under the weight of snow. And it didn't melt for 5 weeks, it just kept snowing. We get snow every winter and I do enjoy it, but am so glad now I'm not out at work on a nightshift wondering if the snow gates will be open for me to get home in the morning.

westcoastscot

I love it but don't have to go far, and only on foot. We don't get massive amounts mostly, due to being coastal and in the gulf stream but we have our moments. Gales and snow can be exciting, though, even here. Eldest is over in Perth, and I mind them moving snow into city car parks with diggers, and it was still there melting well into the summer.

Littlefrugalcottage

cornishchick wrote: »

LFC , I have loads "like" that, only mine are made from cardboard and duct tape :A , lol wish I could figure out how to do pics

You know even being on this forum I still didn't think of doing it myself (slaps self on forehead!) Will have a wack at them and see if I used them fist

GreyQueen wrote: »

Evening all.
LFC, my daily out-and-about bag is a messenger type, not big. The main compartment contains the stuff I use for work. The side pockets contain a number of other things which are there in the event of being denied access to my home on a temporary basis such as 24-48 hours.

As follows; enough life-essential meds for a couple of weeks, basic washkit, torch, some painkillers and plasters, small bottle hand sanitiser gel, couple prs clean knicks and a basic wash kit. All pack very small and I don't really notice that they're in there.

The other week I went out of my flat in the morning and was surrounded by an event (mass police presence, several cops armed with some species of sub-machine gun, four GSDs and their handlers and gawd knows what else. I tried to find out what the flip was happening but was told by one officer that I couldn't go back 'in there' - being my home).

SuperGran told me that this went on for nearly 4 hours. I was heading out for the day, booted and suited and with my trusty bag. Good job I hadn't just nipped out to the local shop in my flipflops and no coat, hey?

Re Trump, hmmm, interesting article about the election in last week's archdruid report, which might cast some light on the motivations of the electorate, for those who might like to have a gander.

Thank you, think is exactly the kind of thing I was thinking. throughout my lifetime (29) years and only once was worried I wouldn't be able to get home. We had major flooding and instead of it taking us less than 10 minutes to get out of town it took us over 2 hours, the water was coming all the way up to the windows of the car!!!! I wasn't quite worried about getting home, I was more worried about not having any food/water or even heat (it was winter) to keep us going. So I think a few items in my bag like this will help!!

P.S I always always get snow envy, when I was small when everyone else was asking for expensive toys I always asked for snow and my mummy (she was always working) on Christmas day! I got neither lol! We've only had two massive snows here, one when I was younger, my mum dumped her car and we had to walk miles and miles to meet her to walk her home and the second time sadly we were in England and it was a shock snow. So so so many livestock got killed was a really bad year for our farmers.

silverwhistle

jk0 wrote: »

Strewth! Won't that reduce them to matchwood?

Well, a lot more successful than the thermite grenade..

silverwhistle

thriftwizard wrote: »

it seems my swing ain't what it used to be; I just succeeded in getting the grenade stuck without any signs of the log actually splitting!

Well, I did mention I have two for that very reason! Never had willow but believe it needs more than one year to season as it has such a high water content. But if you have plenty and cut and split early it will season a lot quicker and the equipment might make sense. The stuff I've got hold of is big rounds with boles and generally awkward. Also have plenty of leylandii branches which are easy enough to split when they've been seasoned a bit and you've got cracks to guide your blows.

As for snow I love it, but being a skier that's natural. I lived for many years in the Alps so you get used to it, and this thread has reminded me that even here in the South it might be a good idea to get my snow tyres (on spare rims) on. A car trip back to old haunts in January definitely needs the snow tyres!

greenbee

thriftwizard wrote: »

Silverwhistle, I was trying with a grenade & sledgehammer, but it seems my swing ain't what it used to be; I just succeeded in getting the grenade stuck without any signs of the log actually splitting! It's no good asking OH to do it as he simply doesn't/won't understand logs & fire & will just place them round the back of the shrubbery for stag beetles to hibernate in... bless him! This was just a van-load of (seasoned) cedar logs from my brother's old garden, but I live close to a meandering riverbank where large willows are forever splitting & dropping huge branches; the council will send men to cut them into manageable sized chunks, but they are then left for the citizenry to cart away & use as they will (yes, I have checked!) rather than try to get a chipper down onto very soggy clay which is undercut in places. So there's a pretty constant supply of decent logs available, if you can store them to season (tick) then split them down... hence my query; if there is a cheap & cheerful one that might do a reasonable job, it'd probably be a worthwhile investment for us.

I love my logsplitter... it works on willow too. You're welcome to put your logs in a van, bring them up here, and borrow it (In exchange for a percentage of the logs )

milasavesmoney

mrs-moneypenny wrote: »

We're in the middelands at not much snow falls here either GQ.
I do love the idea of a good blizzard/whiteout but as yet have never experienced one.
Do need to make sure Dh has spare warm stuff in the Landy and a big flattened cardboard box. (They are ideal for bunging under wheel to give a bit of traction if you get stuck in ice or slush)

I was in a blizzard while driving back from Rapid City, South Dakota to the Rosebud Souix Indian reservation where my husband worked. (3 hour drive) We had gone to a wrestling tournament between the US National team and Russia and an hour ago NATO the return trip it hit. The guy driving was from Minnesota and acted like it was no big deal. The road was invisible :eek: and there were no fences on either side to gauge where the road was hiding. I found it nerve racking, looking out a nothing but a sea of white and not being able to see in front. He just kept talking about the tournament like nothing was happening. I was sooooo glad to get home. He was a bit startled that I was concerned at all.

GreyQueen

I heard a joke about the Dakotas once; 9 months of winter followed by 3 months of poor sledding weather. Mentioned that to someone from that part of the world met here, a few months ago. He grinned knowingly.

A pal who lives in the wilds of Aberdeenshire 'lost' his van in his back garden in 2010. He knew exactly where it was, but it was in a snowdrift, invisible and inaccessible. For 5 weeks.

To me, these seem like tales out of mythology. I find snow quite fascinating, which I attribute to having seen very little of it in the past 50-odd years. I'm sure the allure fades quickly when you have massive amounts, tho.