What Preps are you doing this week? Part 4

[Britcit]

Hauled home another van load of scrap wood. Some of it will be useful for all those projects I never start. The rest is for the firewood pile.
Added a few more tins of chickpeas to the stores.
Spuds have started to produce, so am putting a few away already for next years planting.

[Medusa]

The wood shed is full, so full that it is bowing and plans have been made to get a replacement for next year. The garden storage box is also full of wood and so we had to fill our unused trailer up too. Food and water preps continue and son is finally moving out to his own place so I will after many years have my woman cave and plan to get shelving in there so that I have a much more organised pantry and can rotate my stores more easily. My stores also mean I have been able to provide him and his SO with a big box of food and a box of cleaning products at no cost to me and they were made up with them. Had a bit of a fright at 2.30am Wednesday morning when the smoke alarm went off and I stumbled around trying to find a light switch in the dark. False alarm thank goodness but replaced the back up batteries and now have a torch next to me in bed. Blackberries in the field are ripening so time for some foraging for pies. Hubby has been requested to fill up a couple of jerry cans of fuel for the truck and generator. After taking the mickey a bit at first he is now pretty much on board with me and is impressed about what the preps achieved in the last 18 months. I have new things to work towards next year ie raised beds and growing food for the first time and purchasing and learning how to use a dehydrator.

I have just been reading threads written by people in the US who are at risk from hurricane Harvey and was shocked that many of them had to rush to the stores this morning for water, food, batteries and other basic supplies only to find shelves empty and huge queues at fuel stations and cash machines. It makes me feel slightly happier with the preps I have.

[mushroom]

I've been gone for a while - always had my prepping go in waves over the years. Stepping it up again at the moment and trying to focus on areas perhaps neglected before.

1. Home security: cheap but effective additions such as new waterproof lock on the side gate, new key cabinet purchased for inside as we have so many keys for different rooms, garage, gates etc. and they can tend to be left lying around! New solar security light for the front and (don't berate me!) a 'key rock' (those key 'safes' which look like a stone!) ONLY for use in the back garden to put the rear garage door key in as it has access from the garden. We also have a little pond right by the garage door which has loads of stones around it - so it won't look conspicuous. I would NEVER use one at the front!

Also having fun with a new crossbow in the garden... just an 80lb Cobra pistol. We were staying with friends and they got theirs out and we had a bit of target practice, enjoyed it, decided to get one for ourselves.

Interested to hear any other suggestions people have for simple extra home security ideas?

[Zunzuncito]

I've had a wash and washed my hair in the greenhouse before now. I always keep a couple of 20L water containers in there as heat sinks and the water is always lovely and warm. If you have a greenhouse, polytunnel or conservatory, you will have warm water.

There's also these kind of things, prices vary and this is a gucci one going by the price. Never tried them myself but it will probably depend on how much sun you get, hanging it in the greenhouse will help.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/RISEPRO-Temper ... lar+shower

Re the solar showers I've used these previously when I had job that required 6-8 weeks of the summer working in a field with no piped water where we lived in tents (it was fab). They can be good though don't expect very good pressure. Best way we used to heat them up was when folks drove in of a morning (as not everyone stayed on site) we stuck the solar showers on the car bonnet - worked a treat

[nickdutch]

Got all three of my bikes professional serviced. New spoke, new gearset. the usual. learned that an ebike needs servicing twice a year as the forces exerted on an e-bike are more intense than that of a regular bike. I am beginning to think it may need more then that considering the number of moving parts.
About to start basic domestic winter preparations and assessing what I have and what I lack from previous winter preps. I think that chemical hand warmers and more hot water bottles = new electric blanket are in order this winter.

[peejay]

This week I've discovered the wonders of 18650 batteries and the fact that they exist in many laptop batteries, & being the hoarder that I am and slow to get rid of junk I happened to have a few old laptops lying around so started pulling battery packs apart.

Found a few potential looking cells (still reading 3.7v) so will be charging them up & seeing what their capacity is with a view to having a play...

[Deeps]

This week I've discovered the wonders of 18650 batteries and the fact that they exist in many laptop batteries, & being the hoarder that I am and slow to get rid of junk I happened to have a few old laptops lying around so started pulling battery packs apart.

Found a few potential looking cells (still reading 3.7v) so will be charging them up & seeing what their capacity is with a view to having a play...

Just remember that the 18650/14500 battery chargers can be charged from solar panels via the usb cables.... just saying.

They're a great resource.

[peejay]

Just remember that the 18650/14500 battery chargers can be charged from solar panels via the usb cables.... just saying.

They're a great resource.

Indeed, I have a 24w RavPower portable panel that I shall be testing, once I figure out which chargers aren't dodgy chinese imports prone to blowing up... (happy for recommendations if anyone has any).

[Deeps]

Just remember that the 18650/14500 battery chargers can be charged from solar panels via the usb cables.... just saying.

They're a great resource.

Indeed, I have a 24w RavPower portable panel that I shall be testing, once I figure out which chargers aren't dodgy chinese imports prone to blowing up... (happy for recommendations if anyone has any).

I've got a Nitecore one plus a few of the Chinese ones, in all honesty, I've not seen a difference but they're not heavily used. Buying from China is a bit of a gamble but sometimes they do pay off.

[peejay]

I think the Nitecore looks favourite ATM. I've had a few bits from China without any trouble but not much electrical. Just want to be careful knowing how dangerous Lithium Ion can be if not treated properly...