What have done towards your prep?

[Straight Shooter]

Made some Apricot jam... four jars .... Cardiff market early today, picked up six large punnets of strawberries ....made six jars jars when i got home ......just a observation on markets ....i use several regularly Cardiff and Abergavenny ....decline ! the stalls are getting less and less to the point there are more dead spaces than actual stalls selling stuff....even the businesses that do turn up are getting their heads kicked in.....the crowds are in decline .....how times have changed .....as wild child pointed out .....who really cooks food these days ....who bakes bread or cakes .....who makes jams and jellies anymore ...most people can,t be bothered to cook from scratch and some have no practical knowledge on how too....most all the younger generation (if they have a job or three) will buy a ready made meal or at best pasta the shit out of a plate and add a ready made source and throw in a tin of processed peas for Colour...because they run out of time.....instead of paying for childcare and using most of your wages to have someone else relieve you of your responsibilities for a few hours ....what amazes me most is the pittance left over from the pittance of the low wages ...and makes no sense to me at all ....where will it all end ? .

[Mortblanc]

Yesterday I sold one of the boats. I suppose that would be a thinning down things prep.

It was the little 12' aluminum John boat. I had not used it in a year and it was time for someone else to get some good from it.

I still have the 16' attack boat. Well not really an attack boat, more like a runabout modified for duck hunting and recreational fishing.

The funds from the boat sale will go toward the purchase of a new air gun I have been craving for several weeks. I want something for the range inside the house so accuracy is to triumph over power for thus application.

In my part of the world an indoor range is a blessing on many occasions. We have a spring and autumn, both about 2 days long, then a winter of -20 from November till May. Summer is from mid-May till early November and the average temp is 35!

Fortunately I have a long span of 14 meters shooting through two rooms and down the hall. I also have several heavy steel traps. It is not safe for a powder gun, due to the location of the neighbors and the off chance that I might miss the target trap, but just fine for air rifles.

[Straight Shooter]

Finally got around to levelling off a piece of ground around the rear , where i felled some trees for more light a week or so back...on the digger at 8 am and sorted it out by 9 am ....then set up the hoops , cross members and braces 20 ft x 10 ft ....took me the rest of the day ...finished 4 pm ..... i pulled some spring onions (with the digger ...struggled a bit nearly snapped the D link on the chain) will heat it up and straighten it out in the morning......so i can pull some Turnips which are ready....... on the black side ....i completely ruined the hedge trimmer blade cutting a lettuce ....its not good to force your tools .

[Mortblanc]

Now you are just checking to see if anyone really reads your posts!

[MaryN]

Just gleefully acquired another couple of galva tanks for water storage. And they have decent lids! My luck was in. With the threat of yet another drought round the corner and the water boards bossing everyone about with their regulations, at least I should be able to water the veggies.

[Mortblanc]

A drought?

In England?

What does that mean?

Is it only going to rain every other day instead of daily?

[MaryN]

Well, MB, believe it or not, and in spite of the reputation of England being a wet, rainy place, we are facing a drought. The water reservoirs are getting very low and the water boards (as usual) are getting ready to boss us about. If things deteriorate further we will be facing hosepipe bans and monitoring of other water usage. This is down to a massive increase over the years in building and immigration - people use water without thought of where it comes from. It's not Africa, but it can be bloody annoying.

[Skean Dhude]

MB, If they put our government in charge of the Sahara we would have a sand shortage in a few years.

The issue is that in certain parts of the country we have build new houses without increasing the water capacity. Thus every year when it gets to summer, and we are only a few weeks in with the main part to come, the pitifully few reservoirs we have get low on water and as houses go up it gets worse every year. Then they put in place hosepipe bans and soon water rationing, which is why the push for water meters for control.

It still rains here as much as it did. In fact with *cough* climate change I suspect it is even heaver but you can't account for stupidity.

[MaryN]

There you go, MB, far better than my explanation, SD has nailed it. We face this problem every year. This just goes to confirm my long held feeling that there really is no cure for stupid!

[Mortblanc]

Same thing over here.

Our big thing is to build a city in a desert equal to the Sahara or Kalahri and stuff it with 18,000,000 people, then shut off the river that had been diverted for a water supply for 100 years and try to blame the "drought" on climate change rather than stupidity.

We call that place Los Angeles.