Friday, May 1, 2009

May Day!

Blessed Beltane! Happy May Day!

Well, swine flu is continuing to make itself felt around the world. As of yesterday there were over 108 confirmed cases in different places. People are saying a lot of things about it. Some are saying it's no big deal, flu season comes every year and then it goes. Others are saying that it's going to turn into that epidemic/pandemic that the nervous nellies have all been waiting for years for. I don't know and I kind of am removed from it right now. I live out in the middle of the wilderness, so for it to hit me I would have come into contact with it when I go into the big city for supplies. Unfortunately, I still have to do that, so if this gets big who knows if I will be at risk or not.

For that matter, if it gets that big I don't think I'll be able to GET into town. The nearest large town to us has an military base in it. I would imagine that this means if the swine flu comes to town that these guys would do their best to shut down the town. This would mean no getting in and probably no getting out. So I would have to rely on the smaller towns to get what I can. And because THEY are supplied in the big town, then their stuff would be rationed or non-existant.

Hummm. Time to take stock of what I have and what I don't have. I have plenty of food, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, vitamins, medical equipment, clothes... I have 2 weeks worth of water, gas and propane. So I'll need to get more of these from the local smaller town soon. Don't want to run out of any of these before we have to. Especially the water. I need to get my big tanks filled up. then I'll have to run to town less times in a month I think. I am hoping tht 680 gallons total will last me a month. Even with showers, dishes, cleaning the floors occasionally, and some laundry. I guess We'll have to find out. of course this also means that we'll have to find someplace to put the water tanks where they won't freeze. Difficulties abound there. If I put one of them in the now empty cabin, then it would be a pain in the rump to fill. Not to mention that I question putting 2600 lbs on the flooring of the cabin. Last thing I want to do is break out the floor. This leaves me with building a shed like cover around them. I'll just have to see what I can do.

Gas and Propane is the next things. We can run for about 2 weeks on the propane tanks we have here for heat. and almost 3 months on the propane for the cookstove. Gas we can go for almost a week and half on. I just got the great idea last night of car tanks. Someone in the newspaper is selling a gas tank for a car. These tanks average about 12 - 15 gallons, so that would last me a bit longer too. Use a siphon to get it back out. not that I want to park a lot of derilect cars out here, but if I can get double duty out of one.. Like a dark colored SUV, one that I can use the gas tank on to store gas, and the interior of as a dehydrator. or maybe the mice will just get into it too. Who knows. :D Gotta think about this some more and see what I come up with.

Brainstorming at Treehaven
























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