THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Elona_2

Hello and belated welcome to witchwomble.

My attempt at a patchwork quilt ended up as a cot quilt thirty years ago and might yet be added to by more patchwork on the reverse side and find itself back in action.

I had to change my e mail a few days ago and in the process can't log in or post etc on here.

Eventually decided to stop flogging a dead horse and join as a new member just making my name start with a capital letter.

No matter what I do I can't get onto the old style skin but at least I can post and thank people.

Hugs to all

thriftwizard

No matter what I do I can't get onto the old style skin but at least I can post and thank people.

I lost it too, some time ago, when my Mac threw a wobbly at an OS update & got everything hopelessly wrong for a week or so. When I finally got back in, with the help of the admins, the old green skin was gone forever - sigh!

Also adding a belated welcome to witchwomble! Another inveterate womble here; I make a bit of a living out of wombling, but when I'm not doing that, I like to make quilts out of wombled fabric too. Nothing too complicated or precious, just everyday ones. I'm always chuffed to bits when people tell me they've slept in one of my quilts at a festival or up a mountain, and what a bittersweet moment it was when a friend opted to be buried in hers. Desperately sad, but also, in a funny kind of way, heartwarming. I'm currently chopping up old shirts & jeans for a denim/plaid rag quilt for my van.

We've had a couple of days of spring down here; there's frogspawn in the pond & the weeds have been sneaking gently upwards at the allotment. The temperature has dropped back tonight, but we're still well above freezing & at the local stately home there are camellias, snowdrops, cyclamen, crocii and even a few early daffs a-blooming. Obviously we're not done with winter yet, but things are on the turn...

fuddle

I can see the local stately home. Oh dear thrifty wumman, you've brought it all back for me tonight. That was my favourite place. The camellias! When I am strong enough to cope with what we lost I will revisit but I'm not interested in being a grockle in the summer. No way! Spring time for me. enjoy it thrifty.

Welcome back elona:)

Witchwomble

Just posting quickly to say morning all,off out on walk to school shortly, frosty morning here, a rarity where we live, lovely! And dry,hooray! Off to town to see if I can find any sale bargains,like to poke around this time of year when shops can’t wait to get the new stuff in so I can buy good stuff out of season. Have a lovely day.

[Deleted User]

Dry and bright today, and a bearable 48f.

[Deleted User]

It's wonderful out there we have 10.5 degrees and it's been warm enough to walk with a fleece jacket not the down one. Did almost 4 miles on the footpaths in gorgeous sunshine with birdsong accompaniment, days really don't come better than this!

I've just read page 1 again with the explanation of what prepping is and is for and it always mystifies me when we get attacked for being preppers and doing what it says on the tin or rather the first page of the blog. Perhaps people just see the word PREPPERS and come straight in to the point of contact to pour the scornful words without bothering to find out what prepping actually is. I don't think anyone who posts is actually preparing for the Zombie Apocopypse, World War 3 or the End of Days, we collectively have a fairly over developed and somewhat black shared sense of the ridiculous and all the jokes and daftness that sometimes rise into conversation is only that. I don't see why having food, drink and medicines wherewithal indoors in case you get the flu is seen as 'fringe activity', I don't see either that candles and a camping stove in case the power goes out can be viewed as nutty either. The woodstove and wood for us at least are a chosen way of life and we were so grateful to have them the week we had no hot water or heating I think it would have been unbearably uncomfortable without it. So the question is 'exactly why do you prep? what might happen in life in your opinion that would make the prepping you do worth while and justified?' I prepare against being ill, having no lighting or heating, I store water in case of a mains closure (happens relatively often here) and most of all I try to prepare for weather events which seem to be increasingly frequent and disruptive, why does everyone else do it?

maryb

I prepare because I've seen a lot of change looking back over my lifetime and I know it can come suddenly and leave you struggling. We are retired and comfortable as things are, but there is limited indexation on our pensions and if inflation takes off we could be in trouble. Back in the 70s I saw people retire on what they thought were generous pensions only to find themselves in poverty a few years later. In the 80s/early 90s, the middles classes discovered that they were not immune to global economic forces and in the first decade of this century the whole system nearly came crashing down.

We couldn't protect ourselves completely from bigger forces like these. But we could lessen the immediate impact (like when I upped the cash I held at home back when I heard the rumours about the banks in 2008) or we can acquire the skills to mend and make do if our easy life of abundance becomes marginally less abundant

maryb

I meant to add - I also want to be able to help my two girls as much as I can if life gets harder or just so that I am not a burden to them as I get older. So looking after myself and learning how to stay healthy comes into it as well

[Deleted User]

more outside unexpected maintenance but a stitch in time. I noticed an ovenight vertical surface render crack on a corner, obviously caused by freezing weather last night. If I left it, then it would get bigger if wet gets behind it, so I dived into my special paint, again, used a foam brush and quickly filled the crack. All the time, thinking should I or shouldn`t I because the paint is weather sensitive. I was thinking, no harm done to do that repair and then I look at the temperatures for tonight and tomorrow, minimum 8 and that will do fine. Phew, so another sponge on a stick is about to be washed and btw, they are much easier than a real brush for a touch up. I keep that bit of paint in a lock n lock with parcel tape all around the edge and in a large ziplock bag. I am so glad I thought to keep some. It costs a fortune, £140 for a 15 litre container. I want to be out of here before the render needs another full coat

mardatha

I prep because I just can't not prep. It's sensible and so am I