Corona Virus and Prepping

[alamo5000]

I think things will start to open up in May. Why? Because people are getting... Spicy out here. When I contact the public, there is a lot of Fuck this ... attitude. I think people are going to get a lot more bold here soon. I can’t blame them since this virus is messing with not only peoples health, but their lively good and quite possibly, their long term financial future.

I agree. I also think so many places and people are going over board. That includes many leaders. They went over the line. If the doctor says take two of these and call me in the morning.... they think 'if two is good four must be better'...crap like preventing people from planting flowers in their own yard 'because of quarantine' is a bunch of crap. Stuff like that certainly doesn't help with the public sentiment.

[MoxyDave]

This pandemic motivated me to finally take care of a few things that have been on my list for a long time.

To wit, my new 150 gallon potable water storage tank, cleaned, plumbed, disinfected, installed and filled:

[UWone77]

Dave, that's nice dude! Details? How is it plumbed? water goes out and you can switch to the 150 gal tank?

I hope we all take a minute and take the lull in the action to prep for the 2nd wave that will likely come. I think shutting down the economy through the summer is obviously not realistic. Take this time to stock up on the stuff you didn't have before.

[Uffdaphil]

Gotta agree with UWone. That’s the best thing I never heard of. I assume it is a flow through system keeping the ware fresh and always topped off. Sure beats my Water Bob.

Here are other good items to have. Mylar Long term storage bags with oxygen absorbers. Great for dry beans, rice and other non-moist foodstuffs. Zip lock and heat seal.

https://packfreshusa.com/gallon-seal...-storage-bags/

[MoxyDave]

Dave, that's nice dude! Details? How is it plumbed? water goes out and you can switch to the 150 gal tank?

Thanks! The tank is made by Bushmart (formerly Poly-Mart). I bought it from Baytec Containers in Texas, only because it's close to Colorado and I figured they might actually get it to me in a reasonable time (they did). It's made from PTFE, which is BHA-free and safe for potable storage. It's made for this purpose exactly. It cost me about $500 delivered.

I also chose this container because it's the largest diameter (30") I could physically get into the basement (still had to remove the back door from its hinges) and only weighs 50 lbs empty so I could easily install it myself.

A lot of folks use 55 gallon drums but they have a lot of drawbacks, primarily because they're upright and you have to pump the water out vertically. That makes them a huge pain in the ass to maintain, and every time you open one and stick a siphon down into it you risk contamination. Drums also take up far more space which I really don't have room for.

I made it easy to fill by adding a "T" to the water heater fill line and placing a full-port ball valve directly above the 8" manway (the opening in the top of the container). To fill it I simply unscrew the manway, open the valve and an hour later it's full. There is a full-port ball valve at the bottom near a floor drain, making it very simple to drain. The gate valve about 1/5 of the way from the bottom makes filling a 5-gallon or bucket very easy. It's just like a normal garden hose attachment. In this case, a gate valve is better than a full-port ball valve because of the limited flow rate.

I can also use a portable RV-style water filter when filling it but that's probably overkill.

This container is specifically separated from the main water line because A) it's not pressure-rated and B) it won't be contaminated if that becomes an issue. We've all seen what happened in Flint, MI with the lead contamination and in my town Peterson Air Force Base was found guilty of contaminating water with their activities on the base. You're not going to learn that your water supply is contaminated until it's actually in your house. So it makes sense to keep it separate and just flush & fill it every couple of years.

First step is to clean the container, removing any debris. Then you disinfect it with a bleach solution (1 cup of bleach in 5 gallons of water), then when you fill it with tap water it's good for basically all time. There is a lot of FUDD out there but if your container is clean, tap water will never go bad. You can always treat it again when you use it if you are really concerned. I also read a lot of FUDD about containers directly on concrete leaching chemicals into the water, but that is only true if the concrete is at a very high temperature.

I also bought 6 Wavian 5-gallon water cans and store them nearby. 150 gallons weighs about 1200 lbs, so you're not going to take that with you if you have to leave. I can however easily grab a few 5-gallon containers to toss in the car, give to a neighbor, or whatever. Side note: I had previously used cheap 5-gallon containers from Wal-Mart and they all failed in less than a year. Wavian has the best water and fuel cans available anywhere.

The Wavian cans are nice since they have a spigot built-in at the bottom. I would just toss it on top of my refrigerator upstairs, use the spigot to fill up my Berkey Light water filter in the kitchen directly below, and it would be business as usual.

If you combine everything I have including the 50-gallon water heater next to it, I now have about 250 gallons of water on-hand in case of emergencies and most of it is treated and separate from the municipal water supply. For many this sounds excessive but it gives me peace of mind. We take tap water for granted and with all this shit happening lately, this helps me sleep at night.

[Stone]

Millionaires to receive a 1.6 million dollar stimulus check. You can't make this shit up...
http://https://nypost.com/2020/04/16...ing-1-6m-each/

[tact]

......and I don’t get one.

[mustangfreek]

Millionaires to receive a 1.6 million dollar stimulus check. You can't make this shit up...
http://https://nypost.com/2020/04/16...ing-1-6m-each/

Da Fuq.....

[alamo5000]

I happened to go to town today to see how things are going. Tomorrow at midnight many of the quarantine restrictions will be formally lifted here. That said Texas is definitely still doing a phased in approach. Different parts of the state are on different schedules but all of them start on Friday at midnight with the transition.

At the big gun store near me they had quite a bit of ammo on the shelves except some key popular items. They had a fair amount of 55 grain 5.56 but the price was nosebleed high on every thing which is par for the course for that particular retailer. They have a bad reputation for price gouging. That particular store is the HQ for a bigger online store so I won't mention names in public. The owners are kind of rude as well from what I hear.

I also went into academy sports but their ammo selection is sparse still. Academy is typically one of the last to actually get things at least in my area. I don't think ammo is high on their priority list to be honest.

All that said I see lots of signals in my area that says we are slowly getting better. I will give it a month or two and I think we should be able to find more ammo. As far as prices go it's no telling when those will get back to normal.

[UWone77]

Our stay home order here is likely extended to 5/18... probably more like 6/1 realistically.

The natives are getting restless. I'm sure more business owners will open on their own soon. I've seen several social media posts about doing it on 5/4.

Grocery stores are stocked, and I've noticed an uptick in commuter traffic in the mornings.

Hope everyone is staying safe and doing well.

[juanlien]

Hopefully this calamity is immediately destroyed from the Earth

[UWone77]

Well... 2+ months later, life at the grocery store at least... back to 99% normal. Stopped in at the regular grocery store, everything in stock, full paper aisle.

Costco as you know require masks, but on a Monday morning I didn't have to wait in any kind of line. Meat was limited to 3 per. Frozen Chicken breasts 1 per. Plenty of TP and paper products.

During the last 2 months, I've tried to be productive, got my 2 year old full potty trained. Big win, since no more diapers to buy or stock.

Got a jump start studying for my next promotional exam at work.

[alamo5000]

I don't know about anyone else but I personally have been more busy during the last two months than I have been in a long time. I have still been pretty much working full time and on the side we removed a few hundred yards of over grown old fence and we are currently having people clear about 15 acres with a hydro mulcher. We still have to do a bit of chainsaw work too. We are saving the nice oak logs and are filling up our firewood storage as well. We also sprayed for weeds in areas we can't mow near the pond and we will ultimately install a new fence after a bit of bulldozer work is done.

It's turned into a bigger than expected project. It was good for the people with the hydromulcher though. We hired them to come out and without ever having to advertise they got four other jobs from neighbors with bordering property.

My 'days off' don't really feel like days off. LOL!

[gatordev]

Well... 2+ months later, life at the grocery store at least... back to 99% normal. Stopped in at the regular grocery store, everything in stock, full paper aisle.

Meats still seem to be not at 100% here. It got better, but then started to not be fully stocked again. The shelves aren't bare, but there aren't as many of any one kind of cut of meat, mostly on the chicken side.

Paper aisle is pretty much full except the Charmin portion. Obviously that's a favorite in my area...and I totally agree.

[fledge]

Charmin is sparse at the grocery. But across the street, Walmart is in abundant supply.

The grocery butcher counter reopened last weekend too.