THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Shropshirelass

Mrs LW domestic animals have developed and survived over the millennia, and I hope will surely continue. Sad that some being bred for 'cuteness' seem to be in trouble -I'm thinking of pugs, seen some horrible stories of human nonsense and irresponsible behaviour towards dogs.::(

[Deleted User]

Karmacat wrote: »

As far as pets are concerned - there's an interesting sub-story in One Second After ... no spoilers from me! Have a read

Am I the only one, who can't see a link?

Karmacat

I didn't intend to do a link, it would just take you to a purchase page on Amazon if I did. I may have been reading too much apocalyptic fiction, thought it was a standard on here, sorry Bob!

ETA - and I've just had a look, the one by William Fortschen is the one I mean, and blimey, even the kindle version is £4.49! I'm not linking that on here :eek:

[Deleted User]

I've read it.

Which scene were you referring to?

GreyQueen

And breathe, been charging around like a mad thing.

Out and about for 6 hrs (mainly allotment) and came back to find an absence of streams. The water board guys came back at 4-ish and I've just had a word.

It is the 5 inch main having burst again but they've got the Tower running off a 'leg' further up-pipe, before the point where the engineer turned the water off. Kind of hard to explain as I can't walk you round the 'hood but it makes perfect sense on the ground.

They seem surprised that the water pressure in my flat is down as it should be sufficient but said that they expect to fix the main tonight and if they do, and my pressure prob isn't sorted, I have a separate water problem.......... joyous.

We have an awful lot of mud here and some big holes in the ground, the one they dug and the one that subsided over the site of the last burst. They're going to be doing some more digging, including a partial dismantling of what we normally regard as part of the external environment of the Tower. They've brought a digger on a trailer and are waiting for the gennies and lights.

Gonna be a noisy evening, for sure. Would have been pretty noisy this morning after we'd gone out as they had to bring tankers down here to pump the water out of various places where it didn't oughta have been.

:j On the plus side, we still have water, light and power and telecoms. And a lot of mud on the roads.

calicocat

GreyQueen wrote: »

Keep a purposeless animal for entertainment and emotional satisfaction is a luxurious habit which would not last in a real crisis.

What happens with dogs in a reeling economy is that they are abandoned by their owners. When things get really bad, the packsof stray dogs disappear into stewpots. Likewise other animals; only the other week someone was telling me about a thoroughbred racehorse stallion (not in this country) which was killed and turned into human foodstuffs.

Cats are pretty adept at fending for themselves and every one I've ever known has been an adept hunter and a pretty good sneak-thief. Cats also have to be domesticated at each and every generation and kittens who aren't handled will soon become feral cats. I know of a colony of them which has been in existance for several years and they seem in pretty good shape, doing their own thing down by the river.

I will kill anyone who puts my cat in a stew.....actually she wouldn’t give much as she is skin and bone now anyway.

I guess her fur would make nice warm gloves, but she is only small, so you would only maybe actually get one glove out of her....:(:(
Question...

Went into crawl space ( no spiders encountered I am pleased to say)..

Several bottles of ragu sauce, boxes of passatta, curry sauces in bottles, tins of tuna. All about to go out of date or are just out. Plan is to eat these and replace, but do you guys think these dates are that important ? They are obviously best before dates. The tuna i’m not bothered about as tins last for ages, it’s more that the other stuff is sauces ?.

The pasta , rice , herbs , salt, pepper, and vinegar mountain I am assuming will be ok.

Cat still avoiding bed, but it has been sunny so in conservatory. She is also on hunger strike again.....but ate food when I was away yesterday night , as she nad no servant to change it so something else....little rugger.

Hope the water pressure gets fixed GQ.

DawnW

calicocat wrote: »

Question...

Went into crawl space ( no spiders encountered I am pleased to say)..

Several bottles of ragu sauce, boxes of passatta, curry sauces in bottles, tins of tuna. All about to go out of date or are just out. Plan is to eat these and replace, but do you guys think these dates are that important ? They are obviously best before dates. The tuna i’m not bothered about as tins last for ages, it’s more that the other stuff is sauces ?.

The pasta , rice , herbs , salt, pepper, and vinegar mountain I am assuming will be ok.

I wouldn't personally worry about using the sauces after their date, but if you are at all worried, just open them, tip the contents into freezer bags or tubs, and freeze them. I don't often use bought sauces, but if I happen to use a part jar, I always freeze the rest of it for another time, and it is fine. This also goes for leftover canned veg, things like curry paste etc. Come to think of it, I freeze any leftovers of HM sauces too. Don't like waste

[Deleted User]

The dates on cans and jars and bottles are Best Before dates, all that means is the manufacturer guarantees maximum flavour etc. up to that date. The contents are perfectly edible in complete safety afterwards if the tin is not 'blown' with bowed out ends or if the seal on the jar/bottle is still in place and you get the 'click' as you open it. I ignore best befores and use my nose and common sense to decide if the contents are fine to eat. The same with home made jams and chutneys, we found a jar of raspberry and rhubarb jam right at the back of the cupboard a month or so ago that I made in 2008 and He Who Knows said it will be fine and had it on toast for his breakfast for a while with no adverse effects. Use by dates on fresh things I do take seriously but still apply the nose test as I'm certain things don't go toxic at the exact second the use by date is up!

calicocat

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

The dates on cans and jars and bottles are Best Before dates, all that means is the manufacturer guarantees maximum flavour etc. up to that date. The contents are perfectly edible in complete safety afterwards if the tin is not 'blown' with bowed out ends or if the seal on the jar/bottle is still in place and you get the 'click' as you open it. I ignore best befores and use my nose and common sense to decide if the contents are fine to eat. The same with home made jams and chutneys, we found a jar of raspberry and rhubarb jam right at the back of the cupboard a month or so ago that I made in 2008 and He Who Knows said it will be fine and had it on toast for his breakfast for a while with no adverse effects. Use by dates on fresh things I do take seriously but still apply the nose test as I'm certain things don't go toxic at the exact second the use by date is up!

I have jars of my mums homemade chutneys and jams that I know will last for ages. These are bought sauces so am a bit sceptical about them. Will I think store dried stuff instead from now on other than tinned.

Thanks for replies folks. ...... I’m sure I ask the same questions every couple of years just to check. :rotfl:

GreyQueen

Wild Thing turned up her pretty little nose at some cat food which was put on a saucer just outside the back door. Fresh sachet food, normally highly acceptable. But not just then.

After a couple of hours, it was put on the step of the workshop, 15 feet away from the doorstep, for the birds. Then Modom ate it.:rotfl:

The water board guys were still working when I went to be last night at 10.30 pm, poor beggars, very long day. What I thought was a dug hole when I spoke to them was actually a subsidence hole. One of my neighbours was watching when the engineer turned off that part of the main and the ground fell in seconds later. They were making bigger holes last night to get at the main to mend it. Heaven knows how many holes in the ground there are now, I may go have a shufti before w*rk if there's time and I don't mind the mud.

Such fun.

I was working on my allotment with help from Dad yesterday, specifically re-doing some fencing. For once, I remembered to put gloves on before I got splinters and wounds from the work. It reminded me of several other occasions when doing stuff outdoors, including my week in the woods with the mad bushcrafters, where my hands took a heckuva lot of damage.

Thoughts on this with regard to prepping;

1. It hurts. That's not fun.
2. Even minor cuts could be the point of ingress for an infection. You can die of infections, even with a functional health service.
3. Hands are tools. If the tools are damaged by cuts, bruises etc, they are less efficient and all tasks take longer, if they are even possible.
4. Handling dirty materials, including waste products, could spread sickness.
5. Warm gloves protect against cold-related discomfort and damage to extremities and help protect core temperatures.

So, what kind of gloves to you stock in your life for varous tasks? Have you got supplies of any kind put by, and for what purpose, and are they still usable (i.e. plastic gloves have possibly rotted in storage)?