THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Hmm .... I like this one, which unfortunately is only on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shayson-Stove-Titan-Super-efficient-Backpacking/dp/B01K1YOOJ2/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1495271231&sr=8-7&keywords=folding+wood+stove

It's multifuel, its less than half the price of what I'd be paying for the Kelley combo I was thinking of, and it has the double wall construction that means it will burn hotter - and I can then throw out my awful home made rocket stove, that double wall thing is important to me. I could also stock up on solid alcohol tablets to use indoors, I hear?

I went onto Amazon.com to find more reviews, and they're very good.

Anybody got any ideas or knowledge about this thing? There's got to be a catch somewhere! Not as robust as a Kelley, for sure.

Hear, hear, Mardatha.

I have ME and have had since aged 20 (30+ years ago). It hasn't been a bundle of laffs, trying to manage a keen-as-mustard temperament with a body and brain which run out of steam very easily.

I can make things slightly worse by not eating my veggies, but I can't hit some maximum diet plan and become super-charged (or even normal). Hell, I regard 10-a-day as normal.

The message is, I think, make every effort to keep as well and active as possible, but don't harbour any illusions that you'll always be able to charge around or that righteous living will protect you from horrible health outcomes.

My parents are in their mid-seventies. Dad is perfectly well, and thinks nothing of walking 8 miles several times a week and at no slower speed than he was walking those same walks 40 years ago. My mother, one year younger, has developed Parkinson's and struggles with balance, and energy, and walking more than 1-1.5 miles is very hard on her.

Funnily enough, they've been eating the same food at the same table for 50+ years. Go figure.

Greyqueen said
One thing that I have definately observed with every person I know as they age is that decline in physical strength, mobility and overall health isn't ever a smoothly descending curve.
Vitality goes down in sharp drops, with an injury or an illness being the trigger for a sudden decline in overall health and functionality. Oftentimes, the re-set is at a much lower level.

Mardatha said
Doesn't always matter how good your diet is, health is a fragile precious thing and can go at any time. Maybe a lot of these older folk sit in front of the telly all day because they don't have the energy to get up and do anything - however much they want to. After 16 years with ME I know how that one feels and I wish I didn't.

Oh how very true that is. After my heart attack (NOT obese and very good diet) I spent a lot of time in front of the tv. I was too tired to hold a book long enough to read for longer than a few minutes.
I consider myself truly blessed to have recovered as well as I have; and I don't credit myself for having done so. My heart condition is hereditary, not lifestyle related and diet is not, and never has been the cause.
I agree totally with GreyQueen, MrsLW and Mardatha and am trying to keep as active as I can, to enjoy every day that I can and to be as prepared as I can for whatever spanner life rows in my front wheel the next time round.
Our house is small (1930s end terrace) and manageable. We had a lot of work done when we first retired to ensure that we could remain here as long as possible and money is already set aside for a stairlift to be installed as and when MrCs Parkinson's or my heart condition warrants it (hopefully not soon, but who really knows?)For me prepping has a lot to do with my desire to remain as independent as possible as long as possible. It's more a way of living as well as we can, given constraints over which we have limited control.

oh agreed mar, re health going at any time. Dh had to do lots of surveying work in some very mouldy houses and also drive 40k miles a year behind diesel vehicles on the motorway, This was someone who could cycle 250 miles, run up 42 lakeland peaks, and was married to me and ate healthily. The mould and diesel fumes eventually got to him and wrecked his heart. Better not to know what is around the corner, as I told dd today, who is in a workplace where 1/4 will be made redundant, I also talked wth her about fate and how sometimes things are just meant to be

Anway I just came home and want to give a link to d`action. I was one of the d`action group for over six years, testing my blood for D3 every 6 months and taking D3 (cholicalciferol) to get to the optimum level for my health. I take 5000 units a day and sometimes more. We were told when I was studying that you need to lie in full sun naked for quite a while to get enough D3 from the sun. We just don`t get enough of the right sun in the uk and the guidelines for uk intake are far far too low but they will do because they are better than nothing
http://grassrootshealth.net/project/daction/

Besides D3 other minerals and vitamins are involved, calcium/magnesium/K2 its all quite complex hence us needing to eat a variety of foods

I do like the fold up woodburning stoves, very neat, I watched some youtube videos. There is one that can use wood pellets on a special grate and wood pellets is the fuel in my house, so I always have bags here. It would be a great prepping aid, in case of a power cut as everything in the house relies on electricity