Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: July 10~16, 2022

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Good Morning, All!

It's a lovely morning outside - humid, but cool. I have the front and side porch doors open to let the cool air in, and so I can hear the birds. I did find a surprise on the side porch - the stray kitty has TWO kittens! The fat little grey striped one we saw yesterday and a tuxedo kitten that looks like it's Mama but not as fluffy, at least not yet. Good thing I'm working tonight (weekend shifts pay a bit more) 'cause it looks like the vet bill will be going up - if I can catch the wily little critters!

The soil in the gardens looks wet, but the rain gauge is dry, so we must have just had a very heavy dew. The gardens are still way too wet from our recent rains to till, so I hope any more rain holds off until at least Tuesday afternoon, which will be my next opportunity to get out to the gardens to till.

The pole beans in the back garden are starting to vine - and, of course, the fences aren't up yet. I don't know if we'll be able to get the posts in today or not - we will have to see after the dew dries off. I do have some electric fence posts that I can step in to at least get the vines headed in the right direction if we can't get the others up. I'm still wondering what the heck I was thinking planting 3 long rows of pole beans... must have been hungry that day :lol:

Well, Hubby is awake, so I reckon I'd better post this and go find out what his plans for the day are...

You folks take care out there - stay safe!!
 

chumly2071

Contributing Member
Put brakes on my 2015 explorer (brother works part time at a national chain, so I get extra help looking for stuff and ways to buy to get the best price ;)). Had to go to 2 stores in his zone to get pads and rotors, and had to go to a competing store to get the front pads. It has 111k on it, and is overdue for plugs, so also tried to get motorcraft plugs for it. He had to do a stock transfer from 5 stores to get 6 spark plugs...:eek:

This convinced me to go ahead and get a set of pads on hand for my Colorado, as it will be due, and I don't want to have to scrounge. I won't clog up this thread with parts shortages, but wow, cue the meme, "it's going to get way worse"...
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I'm still working on getting dry goods in jars and vacuum sealing. And since I have no room in my pantry room they are all going to the she shed. I've moved my food saver into the front room where it is easy to just go in there, get a few things done and sit down to rest my back. So far a qt case of rice and a pt case of red beans ready to go out. Then bring in more jars from my stash out in the she shed. And my precious DH is helping and making good suggestions. There is so much of that to do.

I'm about to cut out ordering from wm.com. The canned goods I would like to have delivered are still on pick up, along with several other things. Several people have said they have done the to bring people back to the store to impulse buy. they will lose money on me, i go with a list and stick to it,

I still watch a few prepping videos and they all scream are you prepared. I just don't see how much more prepared we can be. Of course, there are areas we could do better, but we've done what we can.

DH is installing a couple of motion censor lights and a motion censor horn down by his saw mill. If anyone comes up that way it will go off and should scare the bejesus out of them. He's putting up all of his old and not working game cameras, some very visable. "They" will never know the cameras don't work. He bought some kind of tiny security camera but we can't figure out how it works.

Praying for you Moldy and everyone else that has issues.
 

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Well, I spoke too soon - the pole bean fences are now all up and vines have been untangled and coaxed on to the fences. The ground was still pretty soft, but I should be able to till Wednesday unless we get more rain.

Shortages of everything, it seems like. Hubby is a motorcycle mechanic - they are getting shipped machines, but the machines don't have the electronics; they are being shipped 'later' - except they aren't. They've had to rent storage to have a place to put the machines that they can't sell because they don't have the electronics. Can-Am and CF Moto (side by sides, big 4 wheelers) are the worst for being delivered sans parts. What they have in stock that are complete are selling easily.

We probably need to get more 'security' cameras than the few game cameras we have; daughter has a system that she can get alerts on her phone, see where the kids are and what they are doing, talk to people who are at the doors, etc... Working night shift, I don't want to get an alert when the mail man comes or UPS, etc... I want to sleep, darn it!!

And speaking of sleep; I need to go get cleaned up and head to bed...

Take care all; stay safe out there!
 

paxsim2

Senior Member
We are getting the Ring security system, my sister and several of our friends have them. DH is going to put a system together for us. We use to have a system that we could turn on our lights from inside or out. I loved it.
My cucumbers, squash and okra are doing well. I'm watering everyday.
My shingles rash is finally healing up, now I am using a trauma balm on it and it's clearing them up.
Next week we are going car shopping. Ack. But it needs to be done sooner than later.
Getting ready to send in a pickup order at Walmart. Replacements for several things like toothpaste etc.
Prayers for all!
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
It's just "Steady As She Goes" for us this coming week.

I have a dental appt., Tuesday, and Cary has a doctor's appt. for a check-up/blood work, Thursday. Outside of that, we'll just be doing our normal everyday stuff here at home. I do have a bit of reorganizing in my pantry room that Cary will help me with to make room for more cases of filled canning jars. Some things will be moved out to my mini barn that isn't heat/cold/humidity sensitive like TP, paper towels, and paper plates/cups. That will free up more space. Hopefully, I can get that done this week, because I want to can more from the freezers on Friday.

Blessings to All!
 

skwentnaflyer

Veteran Member
I may have bought anchors for a sinking ship, time will tell. I work with glass and copper.
Murano is shutting down the furnaces in August, due to a 400% increase in fuel costs. They were receiving government assistance, but it's ending.
I stocked up on the basic colors, hopefully enough to last into next year.
If sales hadn't just jumped, I would have found something else to do, lol.
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
It's just "Steady As She Goes" for us this coming week.

I have a dental appt., Tuesday, and Cary has a doctor's appt. for a check-up/blood work, Thursday. Outside of that, we'll just be doing our normal everyday stuff here at home. I do have a bit of reorganizing in my pantry room that Cary will help me with to make room for more cases of filled canning jars. Some things will be moved out to my mini barn that isn't heat/cold/humidity sensitive like TP, paper towels, and paper plates/cups. That will free up more space. Hopefully, I can get that done this week, because I want to can more from the freezers on Friday.

Blessings to All!

Sherree, do you have something rodent proof to store your paper goods in in the mini barn? 55 gallon steel drum or similar?
Rats make a horrid mess. Dh took the entire rag bag out to the shop, which would have been fine, except he forgot to put it in the steel storage drum. I had a 3 inch deep chewed up mess all over the floor to clean up. My cats don't go that far from the barn, so the rats have taken up residence in there.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Sherree, do you have something rodent proof to store your paper goods in in the mini barn? 55 gallon steel drum or similar?
Rats make a horrid mess. Dh took the entire rag bag out to the shop, which would have been fine, except he forgot to put it in the steel storage drum. I had a 3 inch deep chewed up mess all over the floor to clean up. My cats don't go that far from the barn, so the rats have taken up residence in there.

We keep mouse/rat poison out there all the time. I've already got huge packages of TP, paper towels, and paper plates out there, and we've never had a problem. I'm not saying we never will, but I don't have anything to store it in. It simply has got to be moved out of the pantry room to make room for all my canning. I have section in the pantry room that is stacked with packages of TP and paper plates to the ceiling. The closet is full of huge packages of paper towels. We'll just have to keep a watch on everything out in the barn a bit closer.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
We keep mouse/rat poison out there all the time. I've already got huge packages of TP, paper towels, and paper plates out there, and we've never had a problem. I'm not saying we never will, but I don't have anything to store it in. It simply has got to be moved out of the pantry room to make room for all my canning. I have section in the pantry room that is stacked with packages of TP and paper plates to the ceiling. The closet is full of huge packages of paper towels. We'll just have to keep a watch on everything out in the barn a bit closer.
I've stored TP for years in totes. I line the tote with a large garbage bag, preferably clear, i get as many in there that will fit in the tote, then I twist the ends and suck as much air out as possible. The TP has stayed viable for 10+ years.

Maybe its just luck but stored that way nothing has ever gotten into the product. You could clear out a lot of space by getting your paper products out of the house.
 

Cyclonemom

Veteran Member
Recently filled a massive gap in the preps.....

Poison ivy treatment!

We don't have poison ivy on our property, but YDS and I recently went geocaching, and he came down with a horrid case. Over a weekend of course.

My mom is very prone to poison ivy rashes, and she recommended an OTC product called Zanfel. Pricey as heck,( $38/oz) but worked really well, and we avoided a trip to urgent care (his eye was swelling shut).

I have a tube tucked away, plus a calamine based anti-itch lotion and an outdoor wash to use asap if you think you may have been exposed.
 

WanderLore

Veteran Member
I've had great luck with plain old vinegar for poison ivy, if caught right away. When we go hiking, I rub vinegar on everyone's skin before and after the hike. Seems to stop all of it. I'm very allergic to it. Only allergy I have.
We had our 4-H meet today at park/lake. Was very nice. Then boys and I had a little cook out in our new camp spot in back acre.
Looks like hubs has ear infection. Have to run him in tomorrow probably. Have some antibiotics put away but have to make sure he gets right treatment as he is transplant patient.
VBS starts tomorrow. Gardens are really doing great. Levi is making zucchini bread as one of his projects for the fair.
All the cats are back in the cabin with me. Lord. water in squirt guns does help somewhat when they are climbing the curtains.
 

Barry Natchitoches

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I have been harvesting vine ripened, organic tomatoes coming and going. I have near 2 bushels right now.

So, tomorrow I water bath tomatoes.

squash is doing great, too.

But I got the climbing beans out really late, because of all the rainy weather. So I am still waiting for the first bean pods to show up.
 

Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior
Recently filled a massive gap in the preps.....

Poison ivy treatment!

We don't have poison ivy on our property, but YDS and I recently went geocaching, and he came down with a horrid case. Over a weekend of course.

My mom is very prone to poison ivy rashes, and she recommended an OTC product called Zanfel. Pricey as heck,( $38/oz) but worked really well, and we avoided a trip to urgent care (his eye was swelling shut).

I have a tube tucked away, plus a calamine based anti-itch lotion and an outdoor wash to use asap if you think you may have been exposed.

there's a medicated soap they also recommend >>> ????

here's some home remedy ideas >>>Prepping for Poison Oak, Poison Ivy, and Poison Sumac
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I've stored TP for years in totes. I line the tote with a large garbage bag, preferably clear, i get as many in there that will fit in the tote, then I twist the ends and suck as much air out as possible. The TP has stayed viable for 10+ years.

Maybe its just luck but stored that way nothing has ever gotten into the product. You could clear out a lot of space by getting your paper products out of the house.

I don't think all our TP would fit in totes. Not counting all the packages already out in my mini barn/shed, I have 10, 45 roll packages in the pantry room stacked up, plus 3,12 roll packages of paper towels. Those have got to go somewhere, and out in my barn is the only place left if I want any room for more canning. We've had TP and paper towels stored in the barn for several years, and haven't lost any, yet. I hope it stays that way. Cary or myself are always in and out of there almost every day, and we do keep a close eye out for signs of mice or rats.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
But I got the climbing beans out really late, because of all the rainy weather. So I am still waiting for the first bean pods to show up.

We got our beans out late, too. It was more of an experiment than anything else. Summerthyme suggested we try letting them climb on our fence, so we gave it a try. We didn't plant many hills. We just wanted to see how well they do. We now have baby beans just beginning to show! If they do well, we will be planting them all along our fence from now on.
 

briches

Veteran Member
I know how you feel! We've been eating our fair share of BLT's and tomato and onion sandwiches!!!!

I’ve never had tomato and onion. Yum. We love putting fresh basil on our BLTs. We will have tomatoes coming in until a deep freeze (usually late October or November). Hubby planted a TON of tomato plants. It’s his thing. Lol

I’m not sure what my prep focus this week will be. We have company coming Wednesday so will do some deep(er) cleaning today and tomorrow which will feel good to get done.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I’ve never had tomato and onion. Yum. We love putting fresh basil on our BLTs. We will have tomatoes coming in until a deep freeze (usually late October or November). Hubby planted a TON of tomato plants. It’s his thing. Lol

I’m not sure what my prep focus this week will be. We have company coming Wednesday so will do some deep(er) cleaning today and tomorrow which will feel good to get done.

I hope our late volunteer tomato plants (6) do well. They will give us tomatoes for lots longer. They are beginning to bloom, so we'll see how they do.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I know how you feel! We've been eating our fair share of BLT's and tomato and onion sandwiches!!!!
I bought bacon for DH a blt. But he only wants tomato and (gag) miracle whip. Since I rarely eat white bread I've not had one. I tried having a tomato wrap with Blue Plate mayo (my fav) but it was to messy. But I've been eating them in my eggs. Love a fresh tomato.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I bought bacon for DH a blt. But he only wants tomato and (gag) miracle whip. Since I rarely eat white bread I've not had one. I tried having a tomato wrap with Blue Plate mayo (my fav) but it was to messy. But I've been eating them in my eggs. Love a fresh tomato.

Since it's been extremely hot here, I haven't been heating up the kitchen. We've been eating lots of sandwiches and salads. Cary likes his BLT's for supper, and the tomato and onion sandwiches for his lunch. Lots of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers to go in our salads.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We will get to the point where we are eating tomato sandwiches (with Duke’s mayo) and/or BLTs about four times a week. It’s a huge saver on the food budget too so win win.

Yep. The savings on my food budget is a winner. I have lots of bacon already in my freezers that needs to be eaten, so I'm not having to buy extra bacon for the BLT's. Lettuce and bread are still cheap, so that's not much of a cost.
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
Went to pick up dh's prescriptions this morning, I'd had a robo-call they were ready. Well they didn't fill the main one I had to have, said he was out of re-fills and required Dr. authorization. They changed their computer system a few mos. ago and it screwed everything up. I was seriously ticked off and left them a somewhat nasty review when they asked for feedback. Aside from how much gas costs, it takes a little over an hour for me to go to the pharmacy and back. So I guess I will have an extra trip when they bother to straighten it out. Thankfully, he's not completely out of meds.
The woman in front of me at Aldi had 2 carts and bought $400 worth of groceries, $100 of it was produce. I have never had an Aldi cashier be nasty to me before, but this one was.
My Chewy auto ship is supposed to come this week, along with some things I ordered from WM, we'll see if they actually show up. They split my WM order into 4 shipments.
 

briches

Veteran Member
Went to pick up dh's prescriptions this morning, I'd had a robo-call they were ready. Well they didn't fill the main one I had to have, said he was out of re-fills and required Dr. authorization. They changed their computer system a few mos. ago and it screwed everything up. I was seriously ticked off and left them a somewhat nasty review when they asked for feedback. Aside from how much gas costs, it takes a little over an hour for me to go to the pharmacy and back. So I guess I will have an extra trip when they bother to straighten it out. Thankfully, he's not completely out of meds.
The woman in front of me at Aldi had 2 carts and bought $400 worth of groceries, $100 of it was produce. I have never had an Aldi cashier be nasty to me before, but this one was.
My Chewy auto ship is supposed to come this week, along with some things I ordered from WM, we'll see if they actually show up. They split my WM order into 4 shipments.

I would call the pharmacy and ask if they could ship it to you for free. I know with Covid our Walgreens was doing that. Can’t hurt to ask.
 

WanderLore

Veteran Member
Ran errands in small town 8 miles away. Then made hubs go to bigger town 20 miles opposite to urgent care. He put up a major fight. Didn't want to change his shirt, etc. so I called my son on FD and threaten to have him come with 911. That did it. Whole way there he just knew he was fine. Turns out he has a deep inner canal and eardrum infection. Got him the meds.
So what do you do with someone who refuses treatment to the point of emergency. I told him next time I plan to just ignore him except to notify his family doc.
12+ years of this. AAAGGGG!
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I posted this in the wrong week:

One of the bags of rice I pulled out of one of the freezer was 10#s. After a couple of days part of it still felt cold, so I dumped part of it in a big bowl and waited a day and then jared them up, and then the remainder of the bag. I ran my clean hands through it and it felt just fine, no cool spots.

I've had a pile of stuff in my kitchen that has been building and building. I've started going through it and putting things in jars. I found 9# of barley that I bought a couple of months or so ago and get it in jars and vacuum sealed. I did one pint jar, but the rest is going in the she shed, the pint jar is going in the china cabinet so that I can see it. I'm now working on my third case of quarts, rice, barley and a few other things. The first two cases have gone in the she shed which has an air conditioner.

Besides what I already have, I've found several boxes of velvetta cheese sauce, I do not need to buy any more.

One thing I've found are all the tortilla bags that I've kept. They have a zipper and I figured they would work if I can't get zip locs.

I just took the lid off of a bucket that is half full of lima beans. They might be two years old, but I'm going to put them in jars anyway. And I found almost a whole case of 1/2 gallon jars.

Obviously this pile has been there for awhile. It will be a real accomplishment for me to get that pile taken care of. My new system of working on the stuff in the front room, where I can go, do a few things, rest, and then do more. I seem to have an energy spurt in the evenings. I'm so happy about this that it brings tears to my eyes, that I'm actually getting things done.

I also want to get started on the linens that are on the shelves in the second bathroom. And get them packed away properly. I use clear trash bags and suck the air out, things store like that for a long time. These shelves will be used for my stash of things that I would put in cabinets in the bathroom. An example are my four large bottles of milk of magnesia, my four or so bottles of calamine. Many bottles of hydrogen peroxide, things like this. Finally get it all in one place. Can't let strangers go in the bathroom, they will think they are in a drug store.
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
I would call the pharmacy and ask if they could ship it to you for free. I know with Covid our Walgreens was doing that. Can’t hurt to ask.

I don't trust them to actually send it. Either somebody input data into the computer wrong, or one of their employees stole his medicine. It costs almost $300 for a month's supply, I get it at a huge discount since we're on SS.
My neighbor's steal mail. We don't have informed delivery here, too rural. I didn't get a power bill for 2 mos and I was too busy trying to look after dh and run the farm to notice --- I darn sure got a disconnect notice with 1 day to pay the bill before they cut me off. This will be the 3rd month I didn't get a power bill and I am complaining to the power company and the PO tomorrow.
 

Cag3db1rd

Paranoid Pagan
Got to finally use the crank handled strainer today for those tomatoes. Son loaded them while I turned the handle. Then he helped me stir the ketchup until it thickened some. We used his french fry cutter on some of those potatoes I harvested a few weeks ago. We fried those up and paired them with a little of the ketchup. Then I canned up the rest. It made 10 half pints and a little more that went into the fridge. I put 1 jar in my mom's b-day gift bag. Btw, that is today, and she is 79 and beautiful.

I also harvested my dill seed tonight. Killed looots of squash bugs and destroyed probably a dozen clutches of their eggs, and dug out 8 vine borers which went to the chickens.

Speaking of chickens. Hubby ordered 17 chicks from MPC. That is on top of the already 6 chicks in my brooder right now, amd the 3 outside. I told him I am not taking care of them alone. I will butcher them out if he thinks I am going to do that many chickens all by myself on top of everything else I do. Btw, I think he is over his fear of chickens now. I caught him in the front bedroom giving them mealworms and affection.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Temp is 81 right now with humidity at 92%. I haven't checked the heat index, yet, but it's got to be high. There is a hot haze over everything. High forecast for today is 101 with 110 heat index. We may get some relief tomorrow with a good chance of rain in our forecast.

Watered the gardens again this morning. Everything is doing good. I'll be gathering more bell peppers tomorrow. I have 2 red bells that will be ready, too. Those were planted later, but they've caught up with the green ones. Volunteer tomatoes are loaded with blooms. I hope they do better than these in the beds. Late squash and cukes are doing great, along with our pole beans.

We got the reorganization done in the pantry room, yesterday. That freed up more space for my canning. I have a question, though. I read on the forum, yesterday, that ground beef lost it's texture after being canned if it is older than a year in the jars. Is that true? I don't know if we can eat all I've already canned in a year's time. I'm not going to like it much if I realize that I've done all this for nothing.

I have a dental appt. today at 1 pm. I'll be out of commission after that. Valium and all........I'll probably be out the rest of the day. I think this will be my last appointment, until in August when I have an appt. to see the oral surgeon. Trying to get all the fillings done, before the surgery.
 

hd5574

Veteran Member
Just a heads up
I placed a walmart.com order. ...for 5 items...
4 were delivered yesterday. ..the 5th item was delayed with no date for delivery given....just check back for delivery info

Called the charge card bank they billed for all 5 items.

Called walmart.com customer service...was told the last item was not available and would not be delivered ....
1-800-925-6278..in case you need the number

Appears it was up to me to request the refund for items not delivered. ...they would not automatically process the refund.
Not a problem having the refund processed. .but be sure to keep up or you may be over billed
 
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