The Preppers Diary: What did you do today to prepare...

[SavedByGrace3]

Today I ate some of the dried apple slices I dehydrated... you know, just to be sure they're still good.

I am sure they were great.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Starting our second season.
Tore out the rest of the spring tomato plants today. Except for a couple that still have little green ones. Planted a second crop of tomatoes, squash, and cucumbers. Okra is going gangbusters. Carrots are overrun with weeds. My bad.
Barb wants to put in some winter squash... will do it later today...
Gotta get that greenhouse set up before it starts to cool off at night. We are going to put late peppers and tomatoes in the greenhouse and see how long they will make it into the Fall. Hoping for maybe early October?
Gotta have faith faith faith.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Set up some hummingbird feeders out front. 4 of them on garden hangers. They are already out there fighting and chasing. What a hoot to see them playing. Surprised they are still around in the heat of the summer. So much fun. We watch them from the kitchen window.

 

[drjean]

Just counting the duck eggs each morning. She had 10 and is now down to 8... you can tell which ones were hatched first bc you can see their dark feathers through the shell....

 

[drjean]

not hatched... birthed doh

 

[drjean]

not birthed... LAID

 

[drjean]

...to prepare again... since meat only stores for 3 months or so... I have dehydrated more Purdue chicken for my doggie for this next 2 weeks. I found freeze dried chicken at Petsmart... on surface very costly ($10 for a few ounces) but when I figured it had to have at least the equivalent of 6 chicken breasts (compared to dehydrated food proportions), healthy veggie fed chickies, it's pretty good to know it's available. (And doggie likes it.)

 

[drjean]

BTW the duck has lost 6 of her 10 eggs to a predator. Found one in the street and shells at the nest this morning, alone. IDK if a cat or opossum

 

[drjean]

ok this probably isn't prepping but.. maybe... how to protect eggs?

I took two large plastic plant containers and put them together and placed them over the next during the night, removed them this morning. Whatever has been eating her eggs did NOT get to them... which makes me think it might be a lazy or little kitty or a large bird as I think that would not have stopped an opossum.

 

[drjean]

Well last update for I expect the worst. That cover the nest worked for 2 nights...then an egg disappeared during the day, and last night the cover was knocked off.. there is only 1 egg left. I doubt the new owner (whomever that will be) will have any trouble with a nest next time.

UPDATE (I lied)
It's been a few days but now this morning the egg is gone. The mama duck is mournful quacking at me... I think this is her first nesting and she continued to gallivant too much? I gave her water the other day, as she stayed on the nest in the hot sun... she drank... why do I feel bad that I didn't do more to save the entire nest of eggs? Too sensitive. It is the way of life for ducks.

 

[drjean]

I had some flip top plastic bins delivered by Home Depot yesterday. I have shied away from them because they aren't really "water proof" in a 'situation' but since they are uniform, see-through, plastic, and the lids won't at least 'pop off' like others, I thought I'd give them a try. They will be good for storing the bags of dehydrated food stuffs I have.

(I have issues with the "out of sight, out of mind" syndrome and other non-clear containers are contributing to that problem.)

 

[drjean]

I pitched even more stuff I just won't need.

 

[drjean]

With all the hurricanes in the Atlantic now... and the 15th being the height of the season... I'm once again in a dilemma I had hoped to avoid this year.... 'all' my 'stuff' is on the van... but I do not have time to get out of south Florida to avoid the storms that might come here.... normally I would drive straight north into Georgia and Tennessee but with Florence possibly going into the Carolinas, that would still give me winds and storms if it goes straight in.

So I'm prepping to stay home...and parking the HIGH ROOF van angled in the driveway... but not sure whether to protect the sliding door or the non door side. ??? It will protect the house garage door, so that's a good thing... but as I said all my prep stuff is on that van ... 'just have to trust God'

I do have enough dehydrated foods and a water supply... it's my psyche I need to prep now.


Addendum: decided to protect sliding door side, so I can easily access my stuff! Have a day or two to decide exactly.

 

[drjean]

No storm here.. but had some good prep time thinking!
Our power service and cellular phone service techs are "all" in the Carolinas so when something goes out here.. it takes longer to have it back up running. Was at least 30 minutes. It didn't freak me out (I'm not really addicted) because I often shut it all down anyway...but knowing it was 'there' if I wanted it was rather eerie.

At one point I had NO TV, cell phone, internet. I realized how easily a deep state effort could just shut down all communication. The "new" Presidential Notification text program was implemented by law by the previous administration but never used it... now our current administration will 'test' it Thursday (Sep 20). I don't fear this right now, but it could have been and could be used in the future, against us. NWO/end times?

So anyway... I realized I am NOT organized enough to jump into 'battle station' ready IF I were to be totally in the dark regarding communication. With my fight/flight/freeze syndrome I need an easily accessed list of what I think my options and needs are at that time.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Sorry folks. Living in the Carolinas over the last week has been an adventure. Enter Florence stage right. Some good thoughts about preparation and lack thereof.
Here is a picture of the path of Florence according to the Nation Hurricane people:

He he he... gotta be tough to be a prepper in the south east.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Testimony.
Wednesday night. Florence is bearing down on us much like Hugo did back in 1989. We had a big mess then. 7 tornadoes tore through the little town of Great Falls SC. We had a 12 foot circumference oak tree leaning on our house like a drunk against a light pole.
Our grown children were begging us to vamos! They wanted us to bug out and head north and stay at any of their houses until the storm passed. We really did not want to do that. We are in our sixties and really don't want to leave home if we do not have to. If the catastrophe the NWS and NHC was prophesying really happened it would be weeks before we could get back in. Barb wanted to stay. So did I. So... What to do?
So I pray. "Lord, this thing appears to have our name on it. It is supposed to be here in a day or two. One hundred mile per hour winds. Over a foot of rain. I do not believe you put us here to have all our work and money spent just to have it blown away by a whirlwind. Lord... what do you want us to do?"
The response was immediate. I have found that hearing from the Lord is much like remembering a thought that you had a long time ago and it just pops back up inside you. It was almost like He was sitting with me with the answer in His mouth. just waiting for me to ask.
The first words were definitive.
"I want you to trust me."
Well, it never occurred to me that I was not trusting Him. But I did not say that. He would have known my heart anyways. So at some level within me the question welled up: "Why is He saying that to me?"
Now the little man in me that values miracles and answered prayer steps up and says "He is going to turn the storm for us!!!"
No. The storm is going exactly where it was meant to go and it will not deviate just for us.
"The storm will stop. Turn left. And head south of you. You will be relatively untouched."
We have been in the south for 43 years. Barbara was born and raised here. I do not recall a hurricane ever, after coming up from the southeast, turning left at the coast and heading south. But that is what the storm was going to do. And now we see that it is exactly what it did. It barely entered NC just north of the NC SC border, stopped for a few hours, and then turned left. Creeping along at 2 mph it changed course and passed us about 40 miles south. Winds never exceeded 40 miles an hour and we had less that 4 inches of rain.
Now like I said. He did not change the course of the storm. It went exactly where it was intended to go. But He let us know 2 days ahead of time that it would take the south turn and miss us. The southwest quadrant passed over us. The weakest quadrant. So this testimony is not about a miraculous changing of the weather.. it is about the Lord answering the question and telling us why we should not worry about it.
Thank the Lord!

 

[drjean]

Marvelous!
I keep having waves of fear... and then I remember that if I am fearing, I am not faithing! If I am not faithing, I am not trusting GOD.

 

[drjean]

I relaxed a bit more... knowing what I do about the powerful forces being used of God to bring our nation back to Him... yeah.... more time is good.

Panic causes mistakes.

 

[drjean]

Okay. I downloaded a map about where NOT to be if it really becomes 'civil' war... and um depending upon imminent push back on the FISA, it could be.
Here is a good youtube map of when stuff hits the fan...where to be and why... So I will probably only go to northern FL as I know how bogged down things get in southern FL... often due to all the supplies going mainly for the military (first). While port cities/areas are best.... fewer military bases there are better.


WARNING... he says the real when 's' hits the fan at first. SO you do not need to watch it... see green on map for best...
youtube vn5Io6mZqXM

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Northwest NC. Appalachia