New tires on the daily driver;
Polished the stored diesel fuel (including the big tank on the truck) after adding Pri-D;
Refilled the truck;
Washed and waxed for the winter;
Topped off the windshield washers with -40F Rain-X fluid;
Checked tire pressures in the other vehicles;
Got out the snow brooms and scrapers;
Put the winter bags in the vehicles.
I went through the on-vehicle equipment, BoB's and medical kits last weekend, bringing everything up to date.
Removed summer items from the Tupperware unit in the vehicle, bought new winter wipers.
Attached last pair of hiking shoes to evacuation bag (I buy new ones while the old are still good)(hiking shoes are the only type I buy for everyday use), added quality 2" safety pins to toiletry kit, added winter water-resistant gloves, detailed list of shortcomings of the evac bag. While there is a compact flashlight attached to the outside of it, I think another $30 Petzl water-resistant headlamp is called for.
I think I may ask for a vacuum sealer for Christmas. =) I think my evac bag really needs each category of item to be bagged so it can survive a flood evacuation in proper order. Fortunately I don't think my mother-in-law would laugh at this...she got me a 'Survival' knife last year and has expressed comfort that she knows her daughter is in safe hands with me. =)
put items into a zip-lock bag (unsealed) and then vac pack them. When you open the vac package, you will still have a waterproof container to keep the items dry.
Good point, thanks Fidel MD. Less expensive, multi-use & multi-purpose if need be. Of course, the few straws I'll also add for re-packing during an event will look funny in there. =)
Spent the weekend off the grid testing gear. Found out that my quickly made sling functioned great.
Picked up some literature on preps and survival.
Picked up some rounds for the rifles as well.
Been gettin my leaves cleaned up and spread on the garden, a little over half way with that. Pickup up good quality copies of the Foxfire books 1 & 3. Found a new Becker Knife that I broke down and got. Its a model BK-117. Now that I have it, I'm kinda wishing I had held out for the BK16 or 17 I have been wanting. I'll do a report on it as time permits.
Did some minor maintenance on my truck getting it ready for winter. I had a leaky radiator in my DD, so i swapped it out along with new hoses and flushed the radiator and refilled with fresh antifreeze. Winterized the BOV (RV).
I'm also working on our car bags for winter. Now to get the chicken coop cleaned out and the cleanings spread out for next years corn and squash crops. This cleaning will rot out over the winter and get used on the straw bale crops I'm gonna try in the spring. Right now I'm thinking peppers, some winter squash, cantaloupes, & cucmbers.
Started an orchard. Planted 10 varieties of apple trees. We will have fresh apples from June through November if I can keep the deer from tearing them up for the first few years. One is a Mattamuskeet, I was told it was used for bartering back in the day because the apples keep for a long time.
Excellent job!Originally Posted by belew
I put out 3-4 old style varieties when I planted my apple trees. One was Cox's Orange Pippin. I'd have to go back and look at my notes as I don't recall right off what the others were were.
Where did you find the Mattamuskeet type at. I picked all mine up from www.starkbros.com.
Thanks. All of ours are old varieties. They came from Century Farm Orchards. They have a great website that breaks them down to what the apples are best for, when they ripen and old or modern varieties.
www.centuryfarmorchards.com
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