07:46 – For some reason, there’s been a flood of orders for forensic science kits. Our inventory of them is now -1, with (so far) one outstanding order for a kit that I don’t have available to ship. So today I’m building another batch of forensic kits.
Most of my time this week was devoted to working on science kit stuff, as will be true for the next month to six weeks, but here’s what I did to prep this week:
- I spent a lot of time on relocation issues. We’re gradually getting all our ducks lined up. We’ll probably end up making at least a couple more trips up to look at homes, but it’s very possible we could find a suitable one on our next trip. If so, we’ll need to make the decision to make an offer versus keep looking. Actually, we may do both pending acceptance of our offer. Even though we plan to pay cash for the house, it’ll probably take 45 days or so from getting a house under contract to actually closing on it. I also need to find a good attorney up there, ideally one who can do the closing and also handle our business needs.
- I ordered a few #10 cans of Augason Farms long-term storage food, including one can each of dehydrated potato dices (just to try), beef-flavor TVP, bacon-flavor TVP, and chicken-flavor TVP.
- I read the first book in Glen Tate’s 299 Days series, The Preparation. Tate, like Bracken and Konkoly and unlike most other so-called authors in the PA genre, is a reasonably competent writer. Yeah, he needs an editor, as all of them do, and there are occasional howlers (repel down a cliff), but at least the first volume is readable. Tate is unabashedly conservative/libertarian, which drives the prog reviewers on Amazon to froth at the mouth. The real downside is that the price of these books is outrageous. There are ten in the series, and most of them are priced at $9.95 for the Kindle. I suspect a lot of people just torrent them.
- I read 100-day Pantry: 100 Quick and Easy Gourmet Meals. “Gourmet” is a gross exaggeration. This book is a collection of recipes that use only shelf-stable foods–mostly canned soups, pasta, canned meats and vegetables, a basic set of spices, and so on–to assemble edible meals as quickly and easily as possible, with minimal actual cooking. If you’re not already experienced at cooking from scratch this is an excellent resource for using the stuff you’ve stored.
So, what precisely did you do to prepare this week? Tell me about it in the comments.
08:55 – Another email from Jen. When her husband got home from work yesterday, he told her about a conversation he’d had over lunch with a guy they shoot sporting clays with. It’s spreading. The other guy remarked that he and his wife were becoming very concerned about social unrest in the cities, and thought maybe it’d be a good idea to keep a bit of extra food and other supplies on hand. Jen’s husband said that he and Jen were also worried, and suggested that the other guy not put it off, but make a Costco run or two to get stocked up on canned foods and other supplies. He also invited the guy and his wife over to their place for a cookout next weekend, where he plans to feel them out to see how serious they are about prepping.