What did you do today to prep...

[Chemsoldier]

I agree that fitness is a critical "prepping" activity!  I let myself go the last five years and got fat and not able to do prolonged manual work.  That scared me and I started making fitness a priority.  Going on nine months now and I feel strong, pliable and bouncy, with fewer and milder respiratory ills (colds/flu).  I now know from working 8-12 hour days that I can do sustained strenuous labor either for pay or at home or emergency.  I used to lay of exercising on days I worked, but now I feel so good I can do a 50 min. HIIT or other "burn" routine at noon and be ready for a shift of work in the evening.  I used to gas out after an hour of heavy yard work, now I can go 4-8 hours easy and still enjoy the rest of the day.

Wednesday I finished my first 4-week program of Fitness Blender (cardio/strength/flexibility using bodyweight, dumbbells, pilates).  I didn't lose any weight this go-round but lost another inch off my waist and feel fantastic all over (at 62).  So far I have lost 25 lbs, put on a lot more muscle, and lost 5 inches from the waist since Sept last year.  Much of it from doing manual labor temp jobs but also kettlebells, calisthenics, and recently the Fitness Blender videos.  I just started a new FB program called FB Sweat that has more strength emphasis.

*thumbs up*

Glad to hear it.

[Chemsoldier]

Again, another odd one that seems to be paying off.

I have been working my way through Hemingway's short stories.  Taking a break from the news, my normal non-fiction content and survival content has helped me feel more relaxed and thoughtful I think. Sometimes you can ve a more effecticve survivalist is to do non-survival things?

[Lostjagged]

Bought Ball's blue book and Mrs.wages home canning.

[Greekman]

I just redid an encrypted ZIP file with my personal info.... Then e-mailed it to me

[Stwood]

Had a great fathers day breakfast the wife whipped up. Almost everything was homegrown and homemade.



Going to finish up the plum jelling making today, or try to. Have 3 half gallons of juice to get done.
We are putting the plum in pint jars this year. Seems to go faster

[Carl]

  I woke up. Some days that is enough.
Not my son or any friends mentioned Fathers Day to me..My mother sent a card ,with a cash content that I used to order shoes that would fit her as she has foot problems and only buys $6 shoes for herself...she has not taken the new walking shoes off in 3 days now ,I am told. I bought 2 sizes larger and 3 x wider as all of the shoes she gets are always painful (and she always buys them too small) so I told her these were expensive and I could not send them back...she will just suffer through the humiliation of larger sized shoes that fit her properly.

[Stwood]

  I woke up. Some days that is enough.

That's the major ticket right there. 


Happy Fathers Day Carl

[Carl]

That's the major ticket right there. 


Happy Fathers Day Carl

Thank you.

[Stwood]

Still storing up sugar. 
12 more pints of wild plum jelly and 11 more 1/2 pints.
Totally out of 1/2 pint jelly jars now. Gotta make another road trip to the Amish store.

Blackberries are turning. Way to early, about a month. Wife brought in a handful yesterday after checking on the bees. Guess we'll be collecting chiggers and picking blackberry's next week.
New crop of wild plums are off a ways, thankfully.
Garden is starting to take off. Radishes and banana peppers are doing their thing.

[Knecht]

Finished my reloading bench, for now. Will see about some better board for it. For now I've used a piece of plywood, but I'm sure it won't last very long. Will test the bench to see if it works for me, then start upgrading it.

[NWPilgrim]

Finished my reloading bench, for now. Will see about some better board for it. For now I've used a piece of plywood, but I'm sure it won't last very long. Will test the bench to see if it works for me, then start upgrading it.

My first reloading bench I used masonite for smooth, hard top finish and painted it.  My current bench has a top layer of 3/4" birch plywood with thick coat of urethane.  There are so many hard and flat surface materials available these days.  Melonite is surprisingly durable and cheap to replace and does not need painting or coating.  Or go for an aluminum sheet surface?

[Knecht]

I'll see about that, for now I need to try if the bench suits me in other ways. The plywood I used is rather thin and cheap, even splitting apart at one corner. Recycled it from something else. I'll surely replace it at some point.

[Knecht]

Dug through a bunch of 9th century axes for my dissertation - great opportunity to study old forging techniques and see what sizes/weights of axes were used by full-time Slavic warriors for crashing skulls.

[Stwood]

Daily garden work. Mostly weeding here lately. If plants grew like weeds....
Can't really complain though, that's part of it.
More organizing in the storeroom, and our mason jars.

[Carl]

  I have also planted a seed...and hope it will grow.

[Knecht]

Did some forging (it now takes me about an hour from a rusty leaf spring to a knife blade that's ready for grinding; all done by hammer). Also used remaining time and heat to forge two small items that went straight to my trade stash (at events, I always like to have some cheap small stuff to offer, aside of my finer and more expensive items like knives and tomahawks). These small simple items are good for honing fine forging and your hammer aim as well.

Searched online couple hours for some tool/material organizers that I could use on my new reloading bench. I don't want to end up with a shelf full of various cans and boxes again, want something better. Looks like I found it in the end, but took me a while to dig through all the cheap chinese crap. I'll give it some thinking time yet, but guess I'll order these and set them up on my first dedicated reloading bench.

My experimental white corn keeps growing nicely.

[Stwood]

  I have also planted a seed...and hope it will grow.

 



More garden work.



About time for blackberry picking and chigger collecting. We could probably stay busy most of a day picking, they are ripening that fast in this warm weather. We've had plenty of rain

[mountainmoma]

Unbelieveble heat wave the past week, well, the garden has been watered at least.

Studio project : hired out and little redwood deck front porch is done, shed for washer/hot water heater walls done and painted. I dug out the lower part of the drainage trench for a very short while while it was shaded--tree roots is why he left it shallow, I now know.

House maintenance: had some siding ripped off, and where does one stop when going down that path ? I think one more sheet will come off tomorrow not just for the small amount of dry rot, but taking out the window there ( left over from previous remodeling, there was a window into the walk in closet) showed that there was a bad junction of panels. My handyman took off  the other section on garage when I was busy, and I have a few problematic places.  -- STWOOD -- you may know this : He ripped off ALL the felt paper in the garage section, meaning there is no felt paper sticking out to overlap with....he should have left some coming out from under this board running across the top of the wall, and this board cannot come off as that board is the roof edge, flat roof on the garage. It is non-ideal to rely on a bead of caulk. But if your underlayment has to butt up against something like this, how can it be terminated to make sure water doesnt get under it ? My house walls are like this : 2x4 studs with fiberglass batts inside, covered by tar paper, then sheathing, this sheathing is lap-edged plywood, maybe 3/8" thick, the original was redwood ply, but repaired places are dugfir ply. The older ply lasts longer.

[Stwood]

Hmmmm. That top board that cannot be removed. Possible to pry the bottom up and get a small roll of 4" flashing and poke it under the tar paper that is under that board?
Then you could put replacement tar paper back on, under that flashing piece

[mountainmoma]

Hmmmm. That top board that cannot be removed. Possible to pry the bottom up and get a small roll of 4" flashing and poke it under the tar paper that is under that board?
Then you could put replacement tar paper back on, under that flashing piece

maybe -- it is realy 2 pieces and very thick, like a true inch and about 20 ft long....

Other idea I had is to somehow make a groove into it ? Where it hits the studs so Z flashing can also go there....it would be nice to have a taller ladder

But yes, some how or other flashing needs to happen. I didnt know I needed to watch everything he did, to think about it ahead....so he just cut off the plywood and tar paper even with this top board. In retrospect, the sliding could have been cut a foot down from this top trim to begin with as the top part wasnt damaged, and everything would have been flashed up there as it had been. It is impossible to get anything close to affordable help, or usually any help at all for repairs. ( To give you an idea, truck is in the shop, and the less expensive mechanic shop is still 110 an hour....but he at least will use closer to actual hours he does rather than "book" hours) Tilers can be up to 1000/day labor (that is on the high end, there are less expensive ones, lets say 20/sq ft labor). ANytime I have had a licensed contractor out to bid, it was unbelievably expensive, but generally none will look at small repairs so.....

[Stwood]

Ouch on the high prices.
I'd first try to pull that board out some. Have you got a 3' long nail/crow bar? Something to give you leverage prying it out.
Z flashing would be the ticket if you can get it in the size you need.
You have a heat/ac man handy? He could bend you some fairly cheap if he has a metal duct shop.

[Carl]

  Today I took another giant info dump on the forum,to share useful info with others.

[Stwood]

  Today I took another giant info dump on the forum,to share useful info with others.

Whew. I first read....took a giant dump..... Lol


Weeded the garden a bit. Planted some squash in some blank spaces where potatoes didn't peek through.

Headed for supplies. Completely out of 1/2 pint jelly jars. Amish store has them for $3.75 dozen. No lids or bands at that price.

Granddaughter graduates from nurse school this evening. 1-1/2 hr drive up there.

[Carl]

Whew. I first read....took a giant dump..... Lol


Weeded the garden a bit. Planted some squash in some blank spaces where potatoes didn't peek through.

Headed for supplies. Completely out of 1/2 pint jelly jars. Amish store has them for $3.75 dozen. No lids or bands at that price.

Granddaughter graduates from nurse school this evening. 1-1/2 hr drive up there.

I have placed links to over 12 Gig of survival,homestead,woodsmanship,tools,blacksmithing and radio/electronics/communications files on this forum. easily found by searching Carl's Files from the HOME page if you missed them. All of them on my Google Drive and "SAFE" bug free download.

But I am glad the 'big dump' caught your attention Here is the HOMESTEAD file link:

 https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5ZIZLZV4AwIX3FBNGZ6S1NFQms?usp=sharing

[NWPilgrim]

Ouch on the high prices.
I'd first try to pull that board out some. Have you got a 3' long nail/crow bar? Something to give you leverage prying it out.
Z flashing would be the ticket if you can get it in the size you need.
You have a heat/ac man handy? He could bend you some fairly cheap if he has a metal duct shop.

A 13" Wonder Bar can pry up nearly anything, especially if you just need to slip in some flashing.  On a long piece you may need to pry a tiny bit, then work down the length and come back and pry up a little more.  The generic wonder bars often have too blunt of tips so need to be ground sharper to get under tight boards.  The Stanley and Estwing wonder bars tend to have very good tip profiles that get under the tightest boards.  For the very tightest boards I rap the outer side of the pry head with a hammer to force it under the board. You probably need to drive in some new nails afterward to secure the board tight again.

[mountainmoma]

A 13" Wonder Bar can pry up nearly anything, especially if you just need to slip in some flashing.  On a long piece you may need to pry a tiny bit, then work down the length and come back and pry up a little more.  The generic wonder bars often have too blunt of tips so need to be ground sharper to get under tight boards.  The Stanley and Estwing wonder bars tend to have very good tip profiles that get under the tightest boards.  For the very tightest boards I rap the outer side of the pry head with a hammer to force it under the board. You probably need to drive in some new nails afterward to secure the board tight again.

turns out that board was on top of the older plywood, and he had cut it off even, so once he got what the problem was, he was able to take his saz-all and cut and pull out the old siding, so then tar paper could slide in and the new siding is going to tuck in 2 inches under too ! So, I feel much better about it. I had to be out there all day, making sure the tar paper got put right, overlapped with no rips ! So easy for him to rip as he is used to rough carpentering and is a large guy. had to waste time having some tar paper areas redone  -  on the other had, he gave me some redwood and stuff used this week. SO, it works out, and he is a local guy working into this new way of making a living the last few years, as they closed the plant he used to work at since out of high school. He will know more what to look out for on helping fix anyone elses siding after this.

It is good this worked out this way, as this was NOT a good board to pry up ! It is the edge of the flat roof, and so the roofing is on it, so it cant just be pried out, it would ruin the roof. so, the base roofing is nailed to it, the roof edge flashing is tight around it,  and the top roofing is adhered on top of this edge flashing ( 2 layer, modified soemthing, self adhered, roofing -- like torch down without the torch)

[mountainmoma]

Siding replacement project, 3 sheets up. Yes, I put bitinum flashing over the tar paper on that inside corner... So, you can get an 8ft sheet of that T1-11 for around $35ish, but a sheet of the 9ft is over $65..... these are all 9ft, of course, seems like it would be common





french drain part of drainage outside of the Studio project



End of the drain, looking back up towards studio, building on the right is the "barn"

There is one more shot of the work right outside the studio door, but I am posting that on the Kitchen/bath remodel project thread  here : http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php?topic=55339.msg720302#msg720302

[Charlesleo]

I am very enjoyed to hear the above introduction.

[Carl]

I am very enjoyed to hear the above introduction.

Welcome.

[Knecht]

Another jar filled with dryed elderberry blossoms. The latest harvesting batch is still in the dehydrator.
Did some progress on my dissertation, another step closer to getting rid of school once and for all.
Knife forging has become a routine for me during this season, good to know that I'm prepared to make a knife anytime. Would be great to get one of the old large grinding wheels of sandstone to finish the off-grid setup of my shop, plus it would make a nice step forward to make my historical knives fully authentic.