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Post by thereth on May 1, 2016 17:02:42 GMT 10
To be honest if you live in a unit or apartment that had minimal space. I think you pretty much have no choice but to rent a storage unit or something, especially if prepping for long term, a unit could fit maybe a months worth of food, fuel, water etc? It is also very unsecure as if you cook or run any electronic devices your neighbours will know and if they are hangry (yes i said hangry) they wouldnt hesitate to come over.
A normal storage unit (at least here in perth) is protected by high fences, barbed wire, solar powered gates only openable by rfid chips, generally has emergency lighting and are made of damn solid concrete. So with all that in mind i would think that somewhere with all these features would be vastly more safe and secure than your unit or apartment.
While im thinking abiut it, storage units also allow for people in the city who are part of a group to combine resources easily. Imagine if you and 3 buds all rented storage units ar the same place and have been preparing for a few years, the risk of moving food, fuek, guns, ammo etc is negated by thr fact you are all in the same locale, but by being one among hundreds means a much harder time finding your particular locker or unit if you arent there yet.
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Post by thereth on May 1, 2016 16:50:46 GMT 10
I have a rented firearms locker at a Kennards. Only keep a couple rifles in there now I've moved out of home. That's $60/month That's handy. In WA (as I understand it) we can either store firearms at home, at a licenced firearms dealer, or in some cases at a police station. Indeed. Most dealers charge $10 per gun per month, unless you are a member of an affiliated range and they usually do it for free. However i like having my guns close by, i am nervous at the idea of someone else having essentially unrestricted access to my firearms.
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Post by thereth on Apr 27, 2016 1:30:56 GMT 10
depends who you believe, the West says they are failing miserably and the Russians themselves say they are stronger then ever.... I imagine the truth is somewhere in the middle.
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Post by thereth on Apr 5, 2016 12:24:18 GMT 10
also plumbing and electrical consumables, things like tap washers, connectors, flux, flaring tools, joiners, spare copper pipe etc, water is so important and it would be a crime if you are conserving water in every way you can but there is a leaking tap or pipe
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Post by thereth on Apr 4, 2016 21:02:48 GMT 10
I am of the mindset that battery operated tool are more beneficial than corded. It is far easier to charge a 12v or 18v battery than it is to operate a drill @ 1200w or similar. It may not be as effective but I think considering you require a lot less power to operate them and nowadays have various options that share batteries (Ryobi one+ for example) it makes far more sense to concentrate on battery operated tools.
However more than anything consumables are key, most of us have the basics and can generally jury rig if need be and desperate enough (car battery arc welder anyone) but you cant have enough screws, washers, nails etc etc
Looking at austemplars list I notice he has forge listed, from a prepping eprspective, if practical, i think it is nearly 100% vital to have a forge, the ability to reshape and forge from scrap is an incredibly handy skill now, let alone when SHTF
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Post by thereth on Apr 3, 2016 12:34:58 GMT 10
Just do your patrols etc without firearms, or carry hiking sticks to simulate. For those with large properties, a motorbike or quad patrol regularly can be very beneficial, not only for learning the lay of the land and possible weak points and choke points that could be easily defended, but also checking for poachers etc damaging fences etc. I have often though about utilising the actual fence as an alarm of sorts., like have 1 wire of the fence as a normally open circuit alarm, so when it's cut at whatever point, it trips an alarm at the house. I know it would be a decent job to setup logistically, especially if you have multiple fence lines, and then gridding it up in sections so you can know what direction anyone is coming from. But this could be done with a remote solar powered transmitter for each section back to the house. But very valid points on practicing patrol/fire and section movements in your groups of trusted prepper buddies/family. The only issue I see with quad bikes is the noise, it would attract attention like nothing else, I have thought about this as well and have considered golf carts, they are battery powered so silent, yes they are slower and have a limied range but this is just for short range patrols. Also they dont use precious fuel and can be used as long as you have solar or wind power. The only issue I see with them is that they are not suitable for off road so would be restricted to road/gravel roads or fire breaks.
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Post by thereth on Mar 31, 2016 21:16:15 GMT 10
trail mix is one of the best things for kids, it is relatively light in weight but fills them up and tastes great. Also those LCM bars or Muesli bars are good to as they are again light but kids enjoy them, especially if they dont normally get them (im a scrooge of a dad), they will enjoy them more and that will help them deal with he crisis better if they are distracted and happy.
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Post by thereth on Mar 23, 2016 0:54:12 GMT 10
wouldnt mind seeing a couple of the smaller partied getting some seats, i know it is harder now but there are a lot of people becoming more aware of how much the larger parties bend us over and prison rape us.
personally for in the AUS elections, libs with ALA, liberal democrats and katters party holding the torch and for the US I think there is a damn good chance Trump will get in, he is a very intelligent man who is singing the song the people want to hear
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Post by thereth on Mar 7, 2016 2:37:39 GMT 10
if space is an issue, there is also the option of geting one of those 10L coles or black and gold water containers, they cost about $4-5 and are smaller than the 24 pack cartons, the issue with them is that they arent individual serves like the 24 packs
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Post by thereth on Mar 4, 2016 21:54:19 GMT 10
sorry, had some more thoughts after posting,
I KNOW I would have long term mental issues from this if it was a kid, no ifs ands or buts, I love children and the mere thought of having to do that makes my skin crawl.
I have only seen one dead child in my life and that was after a motor vehicle accident outside my old house. Even this little kid who I never knew got to me as I wondered who he could have been, would he have made a good dad? been a good man?
No, I think I would baulk in the face of having to do that to a child, if that makes me weak, so be it, but there are some lines I couldnt ever see myself crossing
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Post by thereth on Mar 4, 2016 21:48:30 GMT 10
In regards to the OP, I am not sure...... I like to think I wouldnt hesitate and could live with myself, especially in the defence or prtotection of my friends and family. However it really isnt that simple, I am confident in my ability to commit the act itself if required (and ONLY if required), however I think I would personally have issues afterwards, all the questions about who he was and why he was doing it,
"Did I just shoot a father like myself at the end of his tether who cant stand watching his children starve and die?"
"Was he someone who was sick of being nice and getting beaten, raped and robbed every time and finally just snapped?"
"Did I shoot to early?, maybe I shouldve given it a second warning shot"
Shit like this would permeate my thoughts in the quiet times and tbh until it happens I have no idea how I will handle it.
Its a thought provoking subject and one that aside from the few of you who have been deployed or in a similar situation, we wont know how we will react until it happens, no matter what our ego tells us
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Post by thereth on Mar 2, 2016 21:12:01 GMT 10
Here's some of my current Buckwheat being used as a cover crop and for 'clucker-tucker'. I currently have about 50 sqm of it growing and the whole plant is edible which makes it great. From seed to flower is about 4 weeks and 8-12 weeks for the grain heads. Hey Veg, Do you buy you Buckwheat from anywhere in particular? The only place I can find it is at those hippy natural food places and I am not sure if those are growable
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Post by thereth on Mar 1, 2016 12:17:55 GMT 10
Hey Guys, So I know nothing at all about welding, the closest I have ever come really is soldering and that is probably a blasphemous comment to everyone who has ever welded......
So what I am wondering is this, What is the "best" all purpose welding method to learn and concentrate on? With the new property there are already things that need fixing and some of it can be welded back together as opposed to buying new stuff, so I figure buthcering a couple gates while learning would be a good way to learn.
Can anyone with more experience and knowledge pitch in and give a newbie some pointers?
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Post by thereth on Feb 27, 2016 22:34:29 GMT 10
The whole point of prepping is to avoid last minute crowd panic true, but this particular scenario is based on us having advanced knowledge by one hour, so it hasnt hit that mental stage yet, the fact we have developed conncetions to have this warning is as much as point of prepping as avoiding a last minute rush
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Post by thereth on Feb 26, 2016 15:15:11 GMT 10
ok, so one hour, I will do 2 depending on if I am at home or at the office, i spend a fair bit of time on the road but seeing as we cant account for everything in a thing like this, home and office is enough. Oh and I am assuming weekday as well.
HOME- Seeing as it is 15 minutes to the nearest town I would call my other half and immediately get her to stop work and head straight to the farm supply store and grab all the grain/stock feed/ammo and gas she can fit in her car (4WD wagon) after picking up the Reth-spawns.
For myself I would chuck on the trailer, grab every unfilled jerry can I could grab in 5 minutes, drive into town and quickly swap the trailor to the missus car to hold the gas and anything else, then head to the petrol station and stock up on as much as I could within the time limit
OFFICE- is very similar to above however as I am already in town I would swap it around a bit by getting the missus to rent a trailer from the local servo (its one of those automated things) instead of me dropping it off, and I will grab the spawns instead.
Aside from that it would be very similar except I would probably drop into our local Mitre 10 and grab a few tools and some propogation equipment
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Post by thereth on Feb 22, 2016 21:10:15 GMT 10
nope, nope nope, cant watch these, i get bloody teary everytime I watch any of those "soldier comes home" style videos
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Post by thereth on Feb 21, 2016 19:11:22 GMT 10
"ISIS has been at least slightly rolled back in Iraq by the U.S.-led coalition in Operation Inherent Resolve"
What a load of crap, Russia has done more in the last 5 months then the US did in the 12 months before it!
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Post by thereth on Feb 21, 2016 18:49:59 GMT 10
TBH I dont think it would be that hard to make, now that I have a bit of space I will be looking at making some myself, the main thing is what to use for the absorbant matting, I dont think I could use carpet, but I am sure I will think of something
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Post by thereth on Feb 21, 2016 13:26:21 GMT 10
The solar cell idea will work, they already sell them commercially as Carocell (http://www.fcubed.com.au/aspx/carocell-panels.aspx) and I managed to buy one with a tiny rip for $50, they work quite well, but onviously require a sunny / warm day. For me aside from the obvious no power consumption and pure water for nothing the biggest beneit is you can layer them in tiers. So for Tier 1 you have say 10 panels, the 'leftover' then goes through tier 2 which consists of say 6 panels, than again @ 4, 2, 1 whatever. It means you can get as much of the potable water as you can with minimal wastage. Reverse Osmosis plants for example are around the 18% recovery mark if i remember correctly, so that means for every 100,000L you process, you only get 18,000L of clean water, the rest will need to be reprocessed or disposed of, the reprocessing procedure increasing the overall TDS (total dissolved solids) of your water and lowering the lifespan for your filters therefore costing you more and being far more inefficient in a PSHTF scenario.
I am keen to look at building these myself as Mr Pete has mentioned and get not pay the $400 per panel it was last time i checked (each panel is capable of doing 50L per day). The way they had theirs set up was similar to Mr Petes design, however they had a carpet style material for soaking the original water and as it evaporated it went to one catcher that drained away. The waster was pushed down the 'carpet' by the trickle feed at the top and pushed into another channel, this also drained away. The matterial was very cheap aluminimium...... which is why I dont have it anymore, if you do make these, secure them well..... mine ended up doing a Dorothy and I never saw it again after a good storm.
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Post by thereth on Feb 16, 2016 20:00:32 GMT 10
Good on them. More guts in one of those blokes then there is in every last one of the cowards runnig over the borders to europe
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