Hot and humid, sunny. Possibility of rain. Like yesterday only hotter. It was under 100F for most of the afternoon so I worked outside.
Yeah, I wore a white shirt and my cool vest, big straw hat, and drank several electrolyte replacement drinks and took breaks. I did get the back yard mowed, edged, some weeds pulled, and I organized and cleaned and condensed stuff in the driveway. It was the stuff in the driveway that took the most time. Although edging took surprisingly long, far longer than usual and I don’t really know why. I did have to refill the string trimmer twice, and I don’t normally run out but that didn’t take long (since I have string stacked up.)
In the driveway I found some stuff that got water damaged. Freaking rain will find its way through 4 layers of tarp and plastic if you aren’t super careful. And the plastic sheet breaks down from UV. Nothing lasts anymore. The blue tarps get threadbare. The black sheet gets brittle. The white sheet I’m using does both as it has reinforcing threads. It lasted about a year so its actually pretty good. Everything plastic degrades in the sun now. Buckets too. Add salt air and there is no way the alarmists are correct about how long plastic will last in the environment. I can’t even get a tarp to last more than a few months.
The message for preppers is- keep your stuff out of the sun. Have some metal buckets for backup. You need more plastic sheet in storage to replace the stuff you used when it degrades. Plastic sheet and buckets are two of the most underappreciated preps, but they are two of the most versatile.
And if you are storing wood outside in Houston, it will rot. My pallets are squishing, stored 2x material is growing mushrooms, and anything in contact with the ground or concrete is wet. Firewood piles are doing the same.
The antidote for that? Stack more! Rotate your preps. And keep stuff in the proverbial cool dark place.
nick