I do not have a regular generator. I do have optics on 3 of 4 of my uppers (Redfield 3-9 on my recce, Eotech XPS3-2 on the block 1 and a Trijicon Accupower 1-4 on the .300). Yea my weapons might not have the most durable optics with longest battery lives, but they are pretty squared away. Guess I should focus on the generator.

bought 420 rounds of 5.56, some 7.62x39, some .308...also some more food, water, and storage.  Gotta stay on top of things with all these hurricanes blowin through here.

Replaced the fuel filter in my truck. Got so clogged it killed the truck.

cleaned, filled, two 55 gallon blue water barrels. want to get more, but working within a tight budget right now

one spaghetti track for TS Erica is running over the top of me, so will check the charge on the trolling battery.. charge up the Eneloops, and battery packs for the cordless drill... gas cans are filled... will check #3 propane cylinder...fire up the generator and give it some run time...check my non potable water storage containers for flushing and bathing... need a new bottle of Clorox...keep the car topped off this weekend... wipe out the 5 day coolers...

hopefully will be a non event, but with the heat in the Gulf of Mexico, who knows how it might intensify... everyone stay safe

Ordered 5.56, 3k more this time. Ordered after trying some from the first case through three quality rifles.

Ordered a Trijicon MRO, should arrive before mid Sept. This will go on my pistol configured AR.

Put my expired in 2012 soup into my kitchen pantry rotation. Eating some now.

Digging out the gutters by the roadside.  Then the sun broke through the clouds.  

Ordered another 2k rds of 5.56 that ship in two 40mm ammo cans. Picked up three 40mm ammo cans at a local 'unclaimed freight' store for $16 each, which I need after running out of space in cans for ammo that's still poorly stored around the house.

Just got an email. The Trijicon MRO I ordered from Botach is now out of 'preorder' and is now 'backordered' until Sept 14th. This isn't surprising, since I placed the order at the tail end of the preorder period.

Picked up a Labor Day shift to rake in some excellent extra money for these preps.

After a hiatus from being really actively involved in prepping Ive gotten back into it. Still going slowly but getting there.

Bought so ammo on sale which is nice
Belt fed should be on the way in a few months
Signing up for some classes for me and the little lady.... and a friend Im trying to slowly convert (and maybe getting them set up with an AR)... hopefully I can find a good carbine and pistol course thats affordable.
Practiced firestarting.... my skills there are slipping, first time in almost 20 years I havent been able to start one in 5 minutes.
Yard work and a prepping for planting again next year.
Fixed atv
More reliable vehicle is now on deck
Going to try for a new generator and keep the two I have for spare parts
Started stocking a couple extra cans every week
Getting more financially fit
GF says shes going to pitch in on ammo every month!
And finally healed up from an injury so I can now slowly get back into shape.

So not a whole lot but its picking up a little more from where we left off.

1. Working on painting the porch so this pig can go on the market in the spring.  Eject to somewhere else!    2. Ordered some asparagus... just in case.  Cleared out more of the garden in prep for fall kale and a second round of lettuce.  Gave some 'maters to the neighbor.

nothing fancy... mostly repair parts.

new tie rod ends for my tractor.............$ 45.00. ( i snapped one building a brush pile the other day, and had to use bailing wire to make a splint to get back home...
hydrolic hose for my tractor loader..... ..$25.00
12 d&k mags.... for labor day sale... $7,99 each... ( only gun type purchase for the month of september)

thats about it....im mostly keeping my purse strings tied tight, buying diesel, and gas for clearing my land .. its going well.. just slow. .iv got one last layaway to pick up next month... my g-43, ccw gun......  everything is pretty much going into savings mostly now to pay for my new pole barn  garage / apartment next summer.

the only exceptions might be me sbr'ing a couple of my guns... and possibly buying a couple more suppressors.. i still have a survival / gun/ tool budget... but its pretty small , and it has no room for any new guns... just maybe money for some accessories for the ones i already have...and some tools i need.. generators, power tools, etc. until i get that new pole barn built and i move my ass out of this rental, things will be pretty strict budget wise.  at least compared to the past..

Bringing in the harvest. Will have about 6 bushel potatoes, and 3 bushel carrot if the rest of the harvest keeps pace.

Eying up the dent corn to about 6 bushell shelled.


Bought 2 spool hydraulics for the 316. Ready to build 3 point for it.


Bought winter hay for the cow and horse. That was an interesting evening...


Put new headlights uin the pickup. The old ones were badly yellowed.


New barn 50% complete.


Now have the cow lead trained.

I started and ran my generator religiously UNTIL we moved 6 months ago. Went to start it on Wednesday of this week. No go. Took it to a buddy at work whose a small engine whiz. Lesson learned.

packing in mylar with desiccates:
Kosher salt
table salt
baking soda
corn starch
cream of tartar
Morton Tender Qucik


Put 1/2 a hog in the freezer
2lbs vacuum packed yeast in the freezer

picked 1/2 bushel of green maters to make relish

Actually a pretty good prep for me... bought a torque wrench.

Last thing I need to build or work on AR's. I've borrowed up until now, so this completes it. Good thing too, with all the home builds and economy guns out there, probably would spend all day, every day fixing them.

Makes me think I should stock 100-packs of every single pin and detent there is.

I said NO to spending any more money for a month. School tax, eyeglasses, dishwasher died, etc...

Save some for the next SHTF event.

What was the lesson?  Ethanol gas?  New carb or rebuild it?  How does it run now?

what brand?
how old?
what did he find?

My buddy shot me a text. Says hell have the genny back to me tomorrow, no charge. Sent me a pic and said quit putting bourbon in your gas tank. Shitty ethanol gas. He drained it completely, pulled the carb and cleaned it.

It's a Champion. Had it for probably 5 years. Bought it back when Tractor Supply had the sale where they shipped it for free.

Lesson learned. don't get lazy. Get good/ real gas. Use stabil.

Got together with a couple friends this weekend to verify the zeroes on our crossbows and compounds, in preparation for early archery deer season opening this week. One of my friends is also a licensed ham, and while there I programmed his and my Baofeng UV5RA radios the same, so we can ensure that we easily set our rigs to the same frequency.

Ordered a replacement battery eliminator for my Baofeng, since my old one died. (I tested the fuse in it with a multimeter and it's good, so something else must've shit the bed.)


Got a better antenna for my police scanner.

6 LifeStraws for $85.

Ordered a new Timney trigger for a Rem 700 I have set up as a decent mid level precision rifle setup. The X Pro or whatever was a NONadjusting 5lb trigger, no matter what Remington says.

Reason it's a prep, learned from Iraq the best way to survive against a tech-advanced force is to have a bit of distance between you and them. Got into precision rifle stuff after that.

After reviewing financials and some other issues  - decided a BOL  is not in the cards  ( unless  I win the lottery )- and will be staying put in suburbia.    So will be changing course and doing more hunker down where I am preps.

now instead of multiple layers of the same prep (   IE current home/location = mobile = BOL )  I will be concentrating on higher grade preps.

Ordered and installed a 3 point for the 316 garden tractor. Subsoiler/potato plow/middle buster on order, other attachments already being worked out for construction

Pic!!!

mostly freaking repairs right now.

i did buy the g-43, 3 extra mags,a holster, and 2lbs of 4895.. today..... thats the good news.

sucky stuff.. broken shit everywhere....

1.. -2 tractor tie rod ends.... unfortunately the old one that broke off, i could not remove it... so, i had to order the tie rod bar itsself as well... should get it tomorrow.
2....tie rod bar
3. as was mentioned earlier... hydrolic hose
4. i THINK i managed to smash my newish chainsaw ( hisqvarna 435), against a tree, while in its carrier, while clearing... im 98% sure i managed to rupture the fuel tank.. gotta open it up and fix it.... try filling it and now fuel pours out of the case.
5. car i recently bought... front tires started going flat.... i ended up having to buy two new front tires, and get a alignment... ( old tires were 8 years old, and missing 1" of the inside tread).. i bought the tires yesterday at walmart, and got the alignment today.
6. suburban still has a busted window.... but i was waiting till i was done pulling stumps to replace it, its not a problem at the moment.
7. my deer camera died for no reason.... just on the tree.. totally dead.... if you wiggle the battery compartment, it will come on for 30 seconds... but then die.... i sent it back to moultrie for hopefully warranty repair / replacement..

things are going great otherwise...i cant really complain, i have not had to repair anything due to breakage in a long time...hell, might even be getting married in the near future as well ! ... that glock 43 was my last gun purchase,..... until i build something on my land to live in.... so theres that.. im officially on a tighter-ish budget now !

Finally I prepped without spending $$$.

Went through my apartment and separated out a ton of gear that I'll take back to the house (three hours drice away in a very rural region). I live 5 minutes from a nuclear plant (2-3 as the crow flies), so bugging out has to be fast if something were to happen there, so fast that if I'm not home at the time that I can't go back. That's a lot of stuff, even if the world doesn't end and I can't go back and get it ever again.

Also decided no more 40S&W ammo or guns at the apt, only 9mm, so I can have much less ammo on hand there.

In anticipation of a cold winter, there were two cords of wood delievered.  Also dug up the last of the potatoes that were in the ground.

Taught a friend to shoot safely.
Fixed ATV
Lining up that third genset
Land shopping.

Stacked three cords of wood.  Getting ready for being snowed in this winter.

Just took delivery of 25 pounds each of chickpeas and lentils, one #10 can of freeze-dried chicken, and some gamma lids.  Always getting ammo.  Got started on building my reloading bench on Saturday.

picked up a used .410 single shot and more canned cat food.

I decided to try to find one of my favorite flashlights that i havent seen in awhile. Its a surefire z2 that i changed the bulb out on to a green kill light that i use while hunting.  No luck there yet but i went through and organized the safe, took inventory of ammo, mags, parts and accessories, and found that I have a few things I need to sell.  I also found that I have enough spare parts to build a new ar upper, so ill do that one of these weekends.  Also found a loaded pmag in the wifes car I must have forgotten about.  Found my release for my bear archery bow in my jeep, along with an under armour beanie and light weight gloves from last bow season.
 



Also talking to a buddy who went too hot for his wife on his jalapeno and cheese hog sausage and wants me to come take it, which is perfect timing because im about empty of it in my deep freezer.




 

Finally, i picked up a few extra walther p22 mags, 300blk subs and super ammo, and a few more pieces of trauma med supplies.  


I saw gas was 1.97 a gallon today, so ill swing by and pick up a few new cans and fill em up.

Took in the garden.
Well, at least the rest of it.


Heaping 55 gallon barrel, plus a heaping bushel basket of potatoes.

10cu ft of carrtots


Need to plant root crops 4 or 5 weeks later next year.

Went shooting
Test drove ATV

Replaced both fans on the wood boiler
bought the rest of the cheap .308 ammo at the shop

stacked up some wood

made progress.... i got the new tie rod bar, its 87% heavier than the original..... solid as hell, the old one you could bend if you put it in a vise and pulled halfassed... this one wont bend, not without a 4' cheater pipe at least.. its strong, easily 3-4x as stong as the old one... impressive upgrade ! .

i got the tractor fixed yesterday, and then today got another 2 hours in building brush piles and clearing / cleaning up land. for a tiny tractor it does a hell of a job.... i REALLY want a heavier tractor, ( 30-40 hp) to go with the tiny 18hp... ( ill turn the 18hp into a lawn mower with a belly deck)...... as i said, i WANT a larger tractor, but thats a couple years off.. and would have to come AFTER building the garage apartment..... i will buy a older used unit, that does not have all the newer bullshit sensors and urea stuff on it when i do...we will need it to help my gf's dad with his farm before long... hes getting older ( 80 at the moment ! ) and we are going to be picking up a lot of slack soon... hes got around 8 cows, and id like something that can lift and move those big round hay bales..... hes got a old john deere with those two skinny front tires that are mounted together, under the engine... i hate those things, as they are pretty tippy on uneven ground IMHO...

i also got the new car tires and alignment done.... car drives a lot better, and i definately feel safer.... i need to work on my chainsaws now.... fix that fuel leak , and adjust them both to run right.. i also need new chains in a few weeks...... ( once i go thru 2-4 more chains, ill just start dropping them off to be sharpened at once ).

but as i said, no new guns for quite a while.... however i am going to be buying tools, and other things im going to need for the land. im on the look out for a lot of stuff, that i will be needing at various times next year. .

1. disk for the tractor.
2. small trailer for towing firewood behind tractor.. ( small 4x6, or 4x8 max)
3. cement mixer
4. post hole driller.. either gas, or pto for tractor... ( maybe both)
5. a small work generator...for running the mixer, and or hand tools ( 1000-2000 watt)...
6. a medium sized generator.... for tools and emergency power needs... ( 3500-8000watt)
7. 1/2" drill of some kind, for drilling larger holes.
8. a culvert.. at least   4' diameter x 20' long

Picked up a cheap compound bow.
Bought a couple more cases of canned veggies at Costco.
Set up a shooting day with friends so we can hit the broad side of a barn.

bought 12 #10 cans of Augason farms food.

Like to buy / rotate in September.

Will buy some more next week.

If (the big if) shit went down, we (the SO and I) could make it for about two years never going to town (live in a small very out of the way rural community with year round water):  keep putting up dry goods (vac seal), canned goods, taking down and canning end of year garden items and squaring away our tools. For the first time in years, we feel very comfortable with our storage items (should have mentioned that we are only on wood heat and sometime use our wood cook stove with a metric ton [that would be cords and cords of cut/split/stacked] wood).  I'm going to be pissed if there is not a SHTF event ......

A SHTF event is always around the corner.  We prep to make our lives a little more manageable and provide basic needs when others are stressed to worry about water, shelter, protection, and food.

Replenishing/rotating

2 gal white vinegar
1 gal bleach
2 bottles Hershey's choc syrup
2 bottles ketchup
2 100 ct kitchen trash bags
10 lbs flour
2 cans of coffee
2 rolls of aluminum foil
4 can evap milk
2 jars peanut butter

Rotating 10 gals of gas
Ran generator under load for an hour

The world seems to do a good amount of purging several times a century.  Maybe you'll get lucky and the next event will be more local.

I won't. I'll be very, very happy. For one, I live in Minnesota. Even -IF- my immediate family and I manage/survive, I'm sure a lot of relatives wouldn't. A MN winter without the expected supplies would kill people by the tens of thousands. I'm sure a lot of friends and relatives would be in on that.

I believe the biggest loss of life during the Revolutionary War was Valley Forge, because of the winter alone. Didn't fact check that, just what I recall hearing.

My wife and I didn't smoke again today.

270 days in a row!

Tom

Ordered wife a 9 tray Excalibur dehydrator, getting ready to pull the trigger on a berkey water filter, and ordered a Vitamix 750. Cash paid for all.

To offset the costs we've cut our eating out and junk food budget down by 1/2 and plan on spending more time growing and preparing our own food.

I'm attempting to find some meat rabbits and if I can find a suitable breeding trio, then I'll probably order a fodder tower set in the coming days.

I have that dehydrator and it's awesome.  I can turn 7lbs of meat into beef jerky in about 4.5hrs.

Gonna make sure the deer rifle is on this weekend and then drop my R700 into a different stock and test out the TBAC can I just picked up.  Probably load up some .308 and test loading some subsonic rounds for it too.

Brought home my first suppressor.

S. end of Ches. bay has been wet and windy.  We were all hyped up for Joaquin, but that's going to be a blessed non-event for now.  Took everything down for inventory and inspection; no real surprises.  My nice B&D LED rechargeable torch seems to have died though- the charge LED lights up but after 48 hrs. it won't turn on.  I suspect cheap Ni-Cads have failed.  The light array is nice, so I'll probably keep it and re-make it into something else.  

Got a butt-ton of good liquor and normal beginning of month groceries. Shopping was crazy!  People everywhere.  Since the storm track started bending eastward, I put off stockpiling gas.  

It's a nice day today, but I'm at work.

Will optest genny after I cut the grass; probably mid-week.

Put the portable radios on charge and gave them to the kids to test.  Still working fine and have great range!

Went to a case lot sale today and bought 100lbs of sugar, 3 cans of banana chips and 2 cases of soup, tomato and mushroom. Stopped by Sportsman's Warehouse on my way home and picked up 150 rds of 9MM FMJ and 50 rds of 9MM Hp.

Started building my house.  Well, technically we've been moving dirt for a week.  Digging the basement at the moment.  Hope to have concrete started next week.

House will incorporate some survival features....and some nice to have features as well.