THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

cornishchick

westcoastscot wrote: »

thriftwizard wrote: »

Ooooh, alpacas, WCS? I'll just grab my coat, my carders & my travel wheel & get to the station...

But sigh - I still won't be any good at knitting...[/QUOTE

Visit anyway - they're really cute!!

http://beachmorealpacas.weebly.com/

! ohh they are , Alpaca bag right away :cool:

Sorry I couldn't help myself ... :A

calicocat

DigForVictory wrote: »

Subject to the usual caveats, I think I have now seen everything.

How's this for a prepper doll?!
I mean, I'm awed at the detail (where *did* they find those informative handkerchiefs?!) but frankly I'd rather be out TWOC-ing a pony.

(I've read up on camels. When TEOTWIN, then OK. Til then, a pony will do fine, thanks.)

:D:D

To be fair, you could make one of these. In a SHF situation ordinarily someone would just think you are really odd if this was sat in the passenger seat of your car, and not that you had all your money/jewellery in it for cash plus food etc.

Except now it's out there the idea is ruined. ......scope for further thought though.

DigForVictory

So make an odder toy for the child who happens to be with relatives - an octopus, a sheep, whatever you could reasonably explain away that doesn't scream "I could be useful, nick me". Or a car decoration - nifty patchwork that doesn't trigger the curiosity "I wonder what's behind that floral patch" - probably not a krug carrier as the weight would hang oddly but a shrewd blend of fabrics & leather?
That said, today's thieves are not too bright, they took my elderly satnav & left the binoculars, the brew kit, the headtorch & the collection of travel meds (including some near surgical-grade painkillers.)
Should things suddenly lurch sideways, I imagine medicines will become a whole new currency. The Breaking Bad chap, so long as he could get the raw materials, could live in pretty respected comfort. Why brew the illegal stuff when there'll be a vigorous market for the repeat prescription type stuff?
Although a friend of mine's daughter might decide that actually making it to 15 was no longer a viable dream - her meds are for a rare genetic disorder & are custom brewed - absolutely no second hand market, or alternative source. Reminds me to be darn glad for what I've got. Also in a TEOTWIN situation, the ability to drive a car becomes a bit moot - I can have a fit & fall off any animal I can capture...

GreyQueen

Go for a Shetland pony, DigforVictory, they're strong and not too far off the ground. Absolutely bliddy-minded, tho, but I expect being immortalised by Thelwell and having small kiddoes riding them would have triggered stroppiness anyway.

I wouldn't survive the fall of industrial society for very long, as am dependant on a medication I cannot live without. Sad but true, but have enough to see me through a temporary blip of 1 year +.

Just noticed that Tosspots have put the price of cukes up by 33% in just over a week! Never mind LettuceGate, this is serious (can't stand lettuce and don't buy it). I left the dadblasted thing there.

In times like these, I always recall my dear ole Mum's exhortation: Don't pay that, you'll only encourage them!

They can whistle for it, I have a giant chard plantation to harvest and I will eat that and call it salad. :rotfl::rotfl:

westcoastscot

cornishchick wrote: »

westcoastscot wrote: »

! ohh they are , Alpaca bag right away :cool:

Sorry I couldn't help myself ... :A

:rotfl:

GreyQueen

Meds are already one of the things typically taken in domestic burglaries, according to one of my Spies and Informants (a chance-met Metropolitan Police scene-of-the-crime officer). As are car keys, ID documents, cash, jewellery, and alcohol.

Mind you, I personally know people who've been burgled of all the usual stuff plus things like 25 y.o. vacuum cleaners and bonsai trees and their spice rack (gawdelpus when burglars are watching masterchef etc). My mind boggles about the idea of some stripy-jumpered ne'er-do-well trying to fence a bonsai tree (pun originally unintended but noticed ) down the pub.

It occurs to me that someone who is handy with an awl and some leather could make a dippy-hippy pendant just big enough to hold a gold bullion coin. Or could model a pendant out of fimo, with a recess in the back to take something round, flattish and quite valuable. Obvs, not going to fool a metal detector at the airport but might be a way of otherwise carrying a portable valuable disguised as a bit of ugly junky jewellery.

Middle-eastern countries sometimes set pretty pure gold jewellery with glass gemstones, very large and very faux rubies and sapphires. They're not trying to pretend that these chunks of glass are real gemstones, the purpose of the jewellery being the gold. I've seen some of these first hand and they look like they've come out of christmas crackers but are pretty darned valuable.

If you ever see something like that in a junk jewellery box and it seems heavier than it should for its size, buy it. You might be surprised, someone I know bought an 18 ct bangle with change for a squid like that.

thriftwizard

DigForVictory, you've inspired me to make a large patchwork Gonk... it'll actually look perfectly at home in my bunting & crochet be-decked van, and I can pad that well enough that casual inspection wouldn't arouse suspicion as to its contents! And I think gonks are well overdue a revival...

[Deleted User]

It's been threatening to snow here, on and off today.

I'm dreading waking up to deep snow tomorrow.

GreyQueen

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

It's been threatening to snow here, on and off today.

I'm dreading waking up to deep snow tomorrow.

Is Buggalugs safely indoors?

We've had nasty little flicky bits of ice in rain showers today, not enough to be classified as sleet or hail, just enough to sting occasionally. Sky looked full of potential before sunset but we don't get much snow down here below the Mason-Dixon Line.

Just as well, really, no one here can drive in half-an-inch of snow, from what I can see.:rotfl:

DigForVictory

We've a light dusting of snow - enough to look pretty but not to close schools. Still, I have the day off with a stinking cold & am therefore downloading herbals (ah Project Gutenburg, how I do love you!) with an eye on intelligent spring planting. (Although I got intrigued by gossip in a library - Ed Gosse - he & I disagree somewhat on bookplates - I think they're pretentious, devalue the volume & imply your mates are book thieves. The latter may be entirely true, but a bookplate is no protection. Repeated return plunderings (in the style of border rievers but usually with less weaponry) is the only friendly way to go. Or so my grandparents & parents taught me, by loving & merciless example.) Besides which, a sound knowledge of hedgerow emmenagogues and their optimum usage is something every gel should know.

Shetlands in my experience range from complete nutters to glorious child rides - and since I'm not a lightweight, I think I've an eye on a more moorland size animal, but it needs to be halterbroken, able to survive on poor commons & willing to wear a packsaddle. Me *ride* an unknown beast? I might damage it (and bareback I may end up with a John Wayne stroll), but a pack animal is far less "visible" than a ridden one, & one trailing someone with a bucket, about as startling as the hedges we stump past.

Pondering chard - we've a (small) kaleyard planned (along with a dyers patch & specialist root nursery for the carrots & parsnips that require 24 months to seed) ... Which will see me sorted, but the chaps can't abide the stuff! But then, they are blissfully unaffected by the prices of broccoli, iceberg lettuce or even everyday lettuce. If the green stuff is not leek or pea, they're apt to flinch.

Heavy Middle Eastern trinkets, eh? When the carboot season reopens, I'll start keeping an eye out. Me, I've made all sorts of jewelled props, based almost entirely on fruit pastilles. With a lot of varnish to prevent hungry children "testing". A jewellery making for D of E hobby pal brought a glorious rock home from Turkey - she'd taken some of her earlier works out & casually reclawed something that should have raised an eyebrow in amongst the amateur night stuff. Her father had encouraged her towards jewellery making on the grounds that materials at cost had to be less expensive - he was proven right on this trip!

<tootles off for more handkerchieves & to research gonks>