THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

GreyQueen

He's just a human bean and was blogging just after a narrow escape with the lives of himself, his wife and his young son.

I'm on his blog now, reading the next post, which was just under two weeks post-fire. It's interesting.

I have vital documents stored in my BOB. When I go over to my folks across the county, the vital docs folder goes with me. I also have photocopies of those documents and of receipts etc from purchases in a folder at their house, in case Shoebox Towers burns and I have to make a total loss claim on my home contents policy.

He had a fireproof safe. It wasn't fireproof. I have heard similar stories from other bloggers whose homes had been burned in previous fires. Makes one wonder if a document box buried a few feet underground would be a better option, I wonder how many inches the heat from the fire would penetrate, anyone have a clue?

Karmacat

That's an amazing blogpost, GQ, well found. The posts where the people didn't live out the prepping ideal (like theplacewithnoname) are often the most valuable, I think - they can tell you, with an awareness of prepping, what the results are of not taking with you what you've prepped so carefully.

I have a little fireproof safe (it has my external hard drive in it, amongst other things). I've started to upload my genealogy documents to free google space. And thats it. One thing I'm thinking of doing is a second backup of my laptop, to flash drives that I keep in my BOB.


By the by, with the Himalayan salt thing, I understand the decision not to use sea salt because of contamination with microplastics (though I'm going to be using up the stash I have) - but surely, any rock salt would give you the same pollution-free result?

Found a linkie that describes underground salt turning into table salt (though I'm sorry to see calcium and magnesium described as impurities!).
http://www.saltassociation.co.uk/education/make-salt/white-salt-production/

GreyQueen

I like it cos it's pretty. There are some schools of thought which say that it has health benefits and there are other schools of thought which say those thoughts are bunkum. I have spent 69p on 100 g of the stuff in a salt grinder (needed one of those grinders anyways).

Reading RL stories from people caught up in disasters is instructional. I confess myself surprised that the blogger noticed the pretty glow in the sky, especially in a time of wildfires, and didn't mentally go Oh chyttte, perhaps I better check the media to see what's happening/ sniff for smoke and instead took a pretty picture of it to share later(!)

Perhaps this is a symptom of our age, that people regard the wider world as if it were a movie screen, a sometimes-interesting entertainment which you can tune in and out of at will, but which doesn't really affect you?

Likewise, in theplacewithnoname, I still find myself wondering how it took the blogger and his wife all day and evening to pack their two cars. Given that his car contained their two very young children, presumably in the back seat in car seats, and a goodly proportion of that car was likely committed to nappies and other infant equipment which was non-neogotiable, so they were effectively packing one-and-a-bit cars.

They took so long to pack, that they decided to try for a few hours sleep before setting off really early in the morning on their evacuation drive. Because of that decision, they nearly got stuck in the flood of humanity fleeing the flood waters; he memorably described it as a freezing wave of traffic, solidifying behind them as they moved on the journey from New Orleans to their relations in Houston.

Karmacat

GQ: ":) I like it cos it's pretty."

This is undeniably true :j:j:j

As far as the health benefits - any little bits of other minerals, like calcium etc, surely mean that there'll be a little less sodium, which is good. And calcium itself is good for us. And there'll also be micronutrients, maybe some of which we aren't even aware of yet.

Go Pink :T

It *is* surprising that the blogger was aware enough of the fire to take a photo, but not even to stack emergency stuff by the door to make a quick getaway.

There's advice somewhere in there to make an Excel file of all your possessions, including brand, year purchased, and replacement cost ... yikes.

[Deleted User]

I am going back to thank posts in the next couple of days, just recovering after coming back from tummel valley/pitlochry which was fab, such a lovely place. Gathering with children/grandchildren and dogs and I am shattered and caught a cold from the man next to me on the plane last monday

I just quickly saw a couple of posts about acid reflux, pardon me if I am repeating anything anyone said but I want to say what I know, having dealt with my susceptibility to this gerd for the last 24 years. I am so familiar with my workings that I know when to drink some water to wash the rising acid down and I can feel it recede

My biggest meal is at 12 and I finish my small bit of dark chocolate by then too, choc makes the sphincter open up if taken before laying down. Signs of reflux with no obvious symptoms could be a cough, a lump in the throat, night time cough. Tiny meal eaten at 5, no more food until breakfast

Normal wheat bread is often almost an instant reaction and you can be aware of that ache in the stomach or much gurgling. Any bread or bun is eaten by 12.30 at the latest. Too low acidity means that many cannot digest beef in particular. I eat small amount of lamb or turkey once or twice a week at most and crisps or pastries are pretty well impossible

If gerd is bad at night it can wake you with a throat sensation and/or nasty pain from stomach to throat. Best option is to buy a wedge and sleep on a wedge which rises from the waist up. Pillows do not give the right sort of raise. Bricks under the bed head are also good. To help heal damage already occurred from acid in oesophagus then slippery elm in water and/or cabbage juice (foul but works)

If there has been even a little eaten too late and you feel that gurgling, then gaviscon is good as the alginate forms a raft of bubbles at the top of the stomach

Sorry this is messy but I think it is all here, except the triggers and chocolate is major as are fizzy drinks and for me also peppers, curry and so on. I know all my triggers and keep this horrible gerd at bay most of the time. Sleeping on the back is also a cause but side sleeping on the left is a preventative. Obviously consistent acid attacks on the oesophagus and getting to the lungs is bad, the acid is a very strong acid but self-help really does work. For starters, using a slope and cutting chocolate and eating at least 4 hours before bed will all help

[Deleted User]

just remembered another lifesaver, I keep a box upstairs and one downstairs and take them when I think I will get gerd. DGL, look it up. I get mine cheapest from iherb in the usa. keep it under £15 and no tax payable

mardatha

Was reading the Guardian site yesterday and found this :
*The figures paint a worrying picture of Britain in the red, and comes as the growth of personal loans, credit cards and car finance outstrips the rise in earnings by almost five times. Bank of England data shows personal debts have risen to levels unseen since the financial crisis, reaching more than £200bn.*
For me. clearing debt would be my first prep. You can't move fast if you've got an anchor round your neck.

maryb

A lot of that is car finance, they are just throwing it at people. We needed to replace my car two years ago and as Toyota give a five year warranty and there is no road tax on an Aygo we decided to go for a new one which will see me out. We asked if there was any discount for paying cash and the salesman said no but he could do us a deal if we bought it on contract hire. It was over two years interest free so we were in the absurd position that we were better off taking on debt.

The balloon payment is due in a months time and it's sitting ready in an account which pays a pathetic amount of interest but it does pay some. But for the last two months they have been bombarding me with 'invitations' to come in and discuss my options. At the same time they have been issuing very long lists of the things they charge extra money for if you hand the car back. So not too hard to guess they will try and talk me into taking on a new car. However I told them they were not to phone me unless it was about servicing so I just get a letter every week which goes straight in the bin

But something tells me not many people use personal contract purchasing like I do. There must be dozens who sign up to another contract because it's only a little bit more each month and they get a new car, ooh shiny!!

But when the next downturn comes people will just hand back the keys at the end of the lease period (always assuming they can keep up the monthly payments in the first place) And the market will be (even more) flooded with second hand cars and prices will collapse. We were on the motorway recently and saw several transporters moving second hand cars around so auctions must be inundated with these ex-lease cars where people have upgraded.

The car finance firms are all underwritten by banks and I'm sure that is where the next 'sub-prime' type shock will come from - and in the not too far distant future either

GreyQueen

Pretty much the same thing is going on in the USA, maryb; car loans to anybody with a pulse. It's like NINJA mortgages all over again This will not end well, there or here.

My Dad's car is yonks old and, when it's serviced, the Fawd dealership instigates a flurry of activity about how he 'deserves' a new car, which vastly amuses him. They only do about 4,000 miles per annum, pottering about locally, and an old but well-maintained car is just right for them.

It's an ex-fleet car, bought at about 19 months old. Dad does this, runs them for approx 12 years, whilst keeping money aside for the replacement. Someone else suffers the lion's share of the depreciation and he has the money ready when he feels he 'deserves' to have liberty from increasingly frequent repair bills.

The shysters in the world of finance hate folks like him (and me) although I don't have a car these days.

Had one of those bizarre co-incidences today, was chatting with a friend-of-a-friend whose pal was visiting with them. From California. The mentioned that they'd had a narrow squeak with one of the recent wildfires and I mentioned that I'd read a blogpost from someone who'd lost their home in the Tubbs Fire.

:eek: Only turns out that it was the same one which menaced them. They were on a three-hour evacuation order which didn't come to pass as the fire was stopped six blocks from their home. They escaped but a friend was killed. Desperately sad.

maryb

I suppose the individual amounts involved are not necessarily that large apart from people who need a stonking great SUV to cope with the rugged terrain of Acacia Avenue (those enormous great things are, of course actually causing road surfaces to resemble lunar landscapes)