T
he greenhouse project continues forward, not nearly as fast as we had hoped or planned (my projects are never as fast as planned
I say “move plants” because Sarah planted the ones that needed to grow the longest, and put them in the grow box I made last year. It doesn’t fit a lot, but they’ve sprouted and are on schedule to be the size they need by mid-June when they’ll go into the ground.
This week was our kids’ spring break, so taking advantage of the lack of school and sports practices, Ryan and Brynn had all four of their wisdom teeth pulled last Friday. Not an especially fun week for them (and us by association), but now it’s done. This got me to thinking how miserable it would be to have impacted, painful wisdom teeth in a collapse world. Even if you could get them out, what a horrible experience it would be without any/or only minimal pain control during and after the procedure. I then thought about other surgical procedures that maybe we’ve been thinking about and/or know we ought to get done – but have been putting off. Perhaps it’s time to get them done. Things like root canals and other dental work, knee/joint repairs (surgical or non-surgical), even Lasik eye surgery. There have been discussions in the comments section about the value of having extra glasses; while nothing surgical can be done for the farsightedness that comes with age, Lasik surgery can completely repair your eyes for life. I had radial keratotomy done on my eyes in ’93 (the surgical precursor to the Lasik laser eye surgery) and it completely corrected my nearsightedness. In this chaotic economic time, when there seem to be very few ‘safe’ investments, maybe it’s time to invest some money to take care of yourself.
As mentioned, when Kate (our Border Collie) and I go for our regular walks, I carry my weighted backpack as part of my workout routine (walking in my hiking boots, off-trail, carrying extra weight). My pack isn’t huge (ia Maxpedition Falcon II, with 1500 cu. in. capacity), and after I put in some good GHB type stuff, I filled the remaining space with large rocks to make it weigh more. I was thinking it weighed about 50-60 pounds. (note: We didn’t own a scale. I’ve never felt like body weight is a good measurement of fitness, so I never bought one.) This week I broke down and bought a scale, so I could weigh my pack. Anyway it only came in at 40 pounds. I was a bit disappointed because I want to be carrying closer to 65 pounds – which is how much our BOBs weigh (and close to 1/3 of my body weight which is the recommended maximum amount to be carried for any distance). Since I didn’t have room for any more rocks, I took out the rocks and put in three 10 pound weights (they take up less space and are less abusive to my pack) taking the total weight up to about 60 pounds (when the CamelBak is full of water). Yesterday’s walk resulted in some tired muscles, but I was able to keep the same pace. I’m going to keep that weight for a couple of weeks them put in the final plate to take it to 70 pounds; I’m still trying to follow the old military (and hopefully prepper) mantra of “train like you’ll fight, fight like you trained”.
What did you do?
(Monday: Stop The Bleeding)
Pickle barrells this week! I bought 4-55gallon barrells (for $10 each! SCORE!!!), two for compost, two for rainwater. And 20 5 gallon pickle buckets ($1.25 each), of which half are going for tomato planters so we can move them around the yard to get more sun, and the other half to store in the garage for future uses. I pray that I never have to use the rainwater for any personal reasons because those barrells have a permanent stink!
Momma Bear,
I must say I’ve enjoyed your articles. Thanks for posting!
Where are you getting pickle buckets from? Those sound like great planters!
Good score on both. My rain barrels had pickled onions in them but now, 8 months later (could have been sooner, but I didn’t check – I just checked when I saw your post), there is no smell at all. On the 5 gallon buckets I don’t believe you can have too many. I use them all over. They also stack neatly waiting patiently for the next ones turn. I wish I could find a $1.25 price locally.
Here in the DC area the barrells (also used for pickles) were running $60-70 each and I would have to drive an hour each way to get. And there are just no free buckets from stores to be had at all. Then when I was in NC (very rural area) over spring break I looked online (craigslist and other similar servers) and found a couple suppliers offering them at $10 each and buckets at 1.25. My poor husband…the entire back of the truck (with canopy) was filled with the 4 barrells, 20 buckets, and 4 odd 15# tubs(those had chemicals though) and it all smelled terrible like pickles! But I was a happy bargain shopper! I already have the 2 composter barrells on a new rack and ready to roll!
So you’re telling me things are cheaper in rural NC than around DC?? Who would have thunk it?
Deals can be had. I got a bunch of 5-gallon buckets ($1 each) that use to hold soda syrup in them, so not even any bad smells, though they were sticky (unfortunately that source is no longer available). 55-gallon pickle barrels are available at our local feed store for $20.
Trace,
I was looking around for a post on how you built the grow box. Have you described that process before?
I must say, I salute you sir. There’s no way I could carry 65 lbs on my back for any distance right now, especially if we were in hilly terrain. I do my weekly cardio and strength training, but I don’t think it that’s going to get me up to that level. One of my goals this summer is to re-evaluate all of our BOB’s and ultimately decide on the weight we’re going to carry. I think there’s definitely going to be some compromise of weight vs. speed for us.
No I built the grow box before I started blogging. That’d be a quick easy one to do though, I’ll try and get it done this week. They’re easy and nice to have.
And thank you. Cardio training at the gym will get your heart and lungs fit, but not so much strength, stability, and walking power for real life. Walking with the pack works all the muscles from the neck down. Calves, quads, hamstrings, and glutes building strength in each step, abs, low back for stability and balance (great core workout), chest for holding and supporting the weight in the pack. Then when I come home I do pull-ups and chin-ups to work the upper back, biceps, and forearms, then pushups for more chest and triceps. It works for me. In the gym, especially doing cardio, I was starting to feel like a human hamster on a wheel.
Sorry the kids had to do the wisdom teeth thing. I’m a dental coward, so went too far without going to a dentist. Over the past 3 years I’ve been getting everything knocked out. I’m just about finished with the stuff that was caused by my fear of the dentist. I’m 3 root canals, replacing a bad crown and next is 3 fillings. From that point on it will be all preventative.
I can’t imagine what it would be like to have these issues post-collapse.
Yea, they didn’t have fun. Dental issues will be a post-collapse issue–one I cringe even thinking about dealing with, as a patient or as a provider–try and take care of as much as you can so it’s not a post-collapse issue for you personally!