I'm just trying to stock as much as possible at this point.  I don't have a good feeling.  We are eating lettuce from the fall garden.  The squash and zucchini still aren't quite ready,  hopefully soon. I'm trying to order my Christmas gifts for family and any upcoming birthday gifts needed.  What's everyone else's working on.

I'm planning the same thing re: gifts.  The Amazon sale is on the 13th and 14th.  I'm working on a gift list now. 

Same here, Penham. I'm restocking and making space in the garage and kitchen. I'm sure we're going to be locking down again.

Ditto on Xmas stuff.  

Plus, we are about to cover the polytunnel we put up - awaiting a windless day.  A long wait in NE Scotland!

All 6 of this year's raised beds are now built, but no.6 still wants to be filled.   Waiting for a day warm/dry enough to work on that.  It is profoundly hard to sieve soil that is waterlogged.  I also still have a 12 X 6 greenhouse to put up.  That needs a concrete base - so weather again. SIGH!

Hey Jacksdad!  You were looking for backyard food plants.  Have you considered the Moringa oleifera tree? 

It makes a complete protein and is STUFFED with almost every nutrient.  It is considered the most complete plant-based food of all.  It is so beneficial, we are growing several of them for our polytunnel.  It likes California-type temperatures, not NE Scotland ones.  Beans and leaves are both edible.

I'll look into that. We're allowed to grow things in our apartment complex now, and if things go according to plan, we should be buying a place in the next year or two. That would be awesome.

Thank you, Techno  

Why do you think we will be locking down again?  Just asking. The current political situation in USA at least does not support  this because we are in a much better place now with treatment and PPE.  Also the virus seems to be less lethal now

What does moringa taste like, Techno?

Evudence of why we need not lock down or prep

: COVID: SOME HOPE, AFTER ALL

This may not be news for some, but I find it quite encouraging and makes sense!

A professor of pharmacy at U of Toronto sent this clearly worded update to his family.

For this pandemic there’s a greater chance of survival for those getting infected 3 months later like June 2020 than those who got infected 3 months earlier, say February 2020. The reason for this is that Doctors and scientists know more about Covid-19 now than 3 months ago and hence are able to treat patients better. I will list *5 important

J

Usk wrote: Why do you think we will be locking down again?  Just asking. The current political situation in USA at least does not support  this because we are in a much better place now with treatment and PPE.  Also the virus seems to be less lethal now

This report from Ireland might help explain,

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/we-can-make-level-3-work-taoiseach-says-ireland-has-the-resources-to-cope-with-covid-1.4377770 - https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/we-can-make-level-3-work-taoiseach-says-ireland-has-the-resources-to-cope-with-covid-1.4377770

Seems scientists say lock down,needed ,governments try and not lock down, putting off the inevitable......

The only way all though history to stop a pandemic is it isolate and stop the transmission of the virus......

Thank you for Irland article. It actually makes me winder if Trump and all others were victims of an attempted bio weapon. This virus has been like a super spread. Many people in the Pentagon are now ill because Trump when he was asymptomatic met with top military leaders for a few hours. They went back to their office and spread it all to their staffers. This strain  they got seems different from others. Just a wild thought

I think it more like the 

"kings new clothes" story.....

Or they all got sucked in by not following science....

All over the world,cases going up, not just at the Pentagon,they locking down in UK,France ,Germany,Spain....

..its not over by a long way....

Stay safe all....😷😉

Pentagon scrambles to retrace steps after White House COVID-19 outbreak

ViQueen24 wrote: What does moringa taste like, Techno?

So probably pretty good.

I also think we will be locked down again. I think the only reason we aren't locked down now is for political reasons. Would Trump have any chance of winning the election with the country locked down, more people unemployed, more people going hungry, the stock market crashing, good possibility of having a depression. No he couldn't win an election that way. I think after the election is over  things will  change. 

Major shopping in the city (my nearest one about 2 hours away - it is slow because we have to wait for and use 2 ferries) over and done with.   These were for items we 'want' but are hard to get were we live.   As Finland largely escaped the first wave, masks have only just being strongly recommended - so my wife and I were in the minority wearing masks.  

Now need to bake the Christmas cake (rich fruit cake with brandy so will keep a long time), but I have all the ingredients for it.

Penham wrote: I also think we will be locked down again. I think the only reason we aren't locked down now is for political reasons. Would Trump have any chance of winning the election with the country locked down, more people unemployed, more people going hungry, the stock market crashing, good possibility of having a depression. No he couldn't win an election that way. I think after the election is over  things will  change.

Do you think a lockdown would be like ours, no flights,state borders shut.....?

carbon20 wrote: Penham wrote: I also think we will be locked down again. I think the only reason we aren't locked down now is for political reasons. Would Trump have any chance of winning the election with the country locked down, more people unemployed, more people going hungry, the stock market crashing, good possibility of having a depression. No he couldn't win an election that way. I think after the election is over  things will  change.  Do you think a lockdown would be like ours, no flights,state borders shut.....?

We don't need to shut our borders.  Every country of consequence has shut their borders to the U.S.  Domestic flights will continue because not all states will shut down.  I don't believe individual states can shut down their airports and other interstate travel, otherwise, Cuomo would have done that in our shut down.  

 A depression?  Maybe.  But I guarantee it will be one heck of a recession to clean up after the election is over.  And I agree, I think things will change after the election in terms of taking care of Americans adversely impacted by the economics of this pandemic.  

Back to Prepping.  Like many (if not all) of you, I'm feeling a sense of urgency to be ready.  Today will be spent unboxing purchases made on-line, re-arranging needed items, checking emergency items like radio and solar chargers and battery inventory.  Tomorrow will be about minor around town shopping for filling in and picking up a couple of months worth of coffee.   Because heaven forbid I get caught without enough coffee...

I'm not sure what type of things will be put in place. I know the place I work for typically follows government guidelines and about 2 months ago. About 2 months ago a rule was set in place that if you travel out of state for personal reasons you have to quarantine for 1 week after returning home prior to returning to work. And bring in a negative covid-19 test with you when you return. If you are exposed to anyone with covid-19 you have to quarantine 12 days and bring in a negative test when you return to work. Our job requires us to take our temp at the beginning and end of each day. We take random covid-19 tests when they ask. If we call in sick we have to provide a negative covid-19 test and a doctor note. There is no work travel period. We have to wear masks at work. 

Back to Prepping I ordered a canning lid attachment for my food sealer and they cancelled my order saying they were out of stock. I have looked several other places and can't find one.

Penham, I saw them at Ace Hardware.  I don't know if you have one near you, but I know they ship.  Try there.
https://www.acehardware.com/search?query=FoodSaver+Jar+sealer - https://www.acehardware.com/search?query=FoodSaver+Jar+sealer

I will check this weekend, there is an Ace 4 miles, in the next town from where I live. Thank you! I would have never thought they would even carry that sort of thing.

Penham, before you make the journey out, order them on their website for pick-up at your local Ace hardware store to be sure the store has what you need. If the store doesn't, corporate will ship it to the store for curbside pick-up.  I do it all the time.  Makes life very easy in Pandemic when all you have to do is drive up for curbside pick-up and go. 

I ordered one from Amazon, that was previously unavailable. Hopefully it comes. 

We had a disaster at the weekend when we noticed some shredded toilet paper on the floor. Our spare toilet paper is stored on the top shelf and when we started to take it down we found that mice had been into every single pack except 4 of them. Not only that, we found a huge mouse nest with about 18 babies in it. The upshot has been that we've spent the weekend emptying all the shelves and dismantling them. We've found 3 holes the mice have nibble through the walls to get into the store room. I've had to throw out so much stuff. Today my hubby is picking up zinc sheeting and will line out the whole room in metal and reinforce all the corners. Then he'll rebuild the shelving and I'll wash down all the tins and jars and re stack them and then go to the shops and replace all the ruined things. 

I'm so cross. What a tremendous waste of money. But at least it'll never happen again. The mice had got in there a few years ago and we'd blocked the hole with timber, but they've eaten around it and in one place, through it. Not any more! I've yet to see a mouse who can eat through metal sheeting.

We have our items stored in different locations throughout the house. So far everything is good. 

Sorry to hear the news KiwiMum.  We have a mass of shelves in our garage, but I discovered years ago that it is not mouse proof (they were enjoying the seeds for the bird feeder!)   A zinc lined store sounds like it will keep the pests out.

The zinc is up already and the room now looks like the inside of a brand new elevator! It's very shiny. Shelves will be back up tomorrow and we'll get back on track. Lesson learned. 

We don't have many mice, rats have been our problem,have grape vine have rats...... They love grapes.....

For me, this month was mostly cleaning supplies and pet preps.

It's nice being prepared! We are on the 3rd round/3rd night of an ice storm. We still have power thank goodness, lost our internet for a couple of hours, but it was back on sooner than I expected it would be. I didn't have to leave the house or stop anywhere on our early release from work Monday for any type of supplies. 

I'll likely do some quick car prep replenishing  in the morning because I am very close to those fires in Orange County. That smoke is awful, btw. I might need to add one of those half face respirator masks to my preps because the smell actually filled up my car yesterday (if they work for fire, I mean). The air quality is categorized as unhealthy for the time being, but I have too many dr appts to stay home that have to be in person through next week.

Penham wrote: I didn't have to leave the house or stop anywhere on our early release from work Monday for any type of supplies.

I had that situation as Superstorm Sandy was rolling in.   It's a good feeling, isn't it?

Stay safe Hachibani! I imagine if N95's work to keep out food smells, it must do the same with the larger smoke particulates? I'm not sure though. Someone in our group who has more expertise in such things could tell you?

Wow you guys, an ice storm (sounds really exciting) and wild fires (sounds utterly terrifying). You really have it all going on in America right now. Stay safe. 

Kiwimum, I belonged to a smaller prepper site a number of years ago that I joined because it was more European practicality (specifically U.K.) and less guns 'n' ammo American.  I was the lone American.  We had some great discussions, but after a couple of years I began to notice that out of the entire group, I seemed to be the one to utilize my preps due to emergencies most often.  Be it Superstorm Sandy to a three day winter storm wherein my building lost heat.  

I thought I was being Chicken Little.  So its nice to have confirmation that it isn't my imagination!

No it's not your imagination. I've been through the earthquake swarm in 2010 and 2011 that really affected out local supplies. Every 25 years or so, my area gets a 1.5m deep snow dump, and we're now officially overdue for the mighty Alpine Fault to rupture and it's expected to be an 8.2 or larger, and I live close to the fault line. I also have related fault lines to the east, west, north and south of my property so for all we know, they might all rupture within weeks of each other. I can run my entire house off grid and so I do feel prepared. Being prepared helps me to not worry about it. Thankfully I'm up high so don't have to worry about tsunamis.

Anyone else waiting to see how all these unmasked Halloween get-togethers affect the covid numbers? Just me? But seriously, I think it will be near impossible to identify if it's from Halloween, voting, or Thanksgiving as the cases will be surging just as we get to Hanukkah and Christmas. Hopefully everyone has their freezer and pantry stocked...this will get ugly.