In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days

Discussion in 'The Wood Pile' started by DNH, Jan 22, 2017.

  1. Oldman47

    Oldman47

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    Mort is actually death, not life. It is derived from the latin.
    I read that as death debt, what you owe even if you are dead.
     
  2. Canadian border VT

    Canadian border VT

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    Thanks Oldman47 for correcting me... I got a lot of things running in my head I guess I should use Google to verify before I post.. or use old desktop where they are stored.. :tip:
     
    Chazsbetterhalf and NortheastAl like this.
  3. tfdchief

    tfdchief

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    BS. Good advice. I think the moral here is, plan but be prepared to live with what you have. Too many people expect more than than they have. I try to just live life with what I have and thank God for that. Chief
     
  4. tfdchief

    tfdchief

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    Hang in there my friend. You are a hard worker. And God rewards people like you. Chief
     
  5. DNH

    DNH

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    It has been 4 years, with the recent weather, 20+ degrees colder than what we have seen in last 5 years, broke records set 30 years ago. I thought I would see how everyone is doing. Have your preparations helped in the recent years, any event in the the last few years that have influenced you to be more self sufficient and prepared?

    My family came through the snow and cold weather warm, safe and with no power outages would have been fine even with power outage.

    On the home front 4 year seasoned oak/cherry/walnut mix kept us nice and warm even with sub zero daytime highs! Diesel on hand doesn’t help when tractor is gelled up on the trailer, which is hooked up to the truck with a busted front drive shaft that is now stuck by the barn with 10” fresh snow on the ground! Stores are sold out of winter additives, I thought the additive I had was winter rated but it wasn’t! I can live without truck and tractor for a few day so I let them set!

    Without replenishing fuel supplies with the cold weather I could have easily lasted 1 week with moderate fuel use and 3-5 weeks if I practiced strict fuel conservation. I should have filled up all my cans prior to storm, now with truck broke down I can’t refill without putting cans inside my wife’s minivan.

    Cash, food and water I am in okay shape, working on rebuilding them. We went through a moderate amount of our preps in 2019, I was unemployed for 5 months, cash on hand really helped us during this time! My unemployment was unplanned but not unexpected, I needed a vacation, then a family members Alzheimer’s got significantly worse, I elected to take more time off to get them the care they needed! They passed away on Valentine’s Day so I also had to plan a funeral during all the above events!

    In summary above events affected but did not incapacitate us, another event (additional accumulating snow storm, 2nd vehicle breakdown, power outage, injury/illness) could have created some hardships for us. So use this as a reminder to see what worked and what didn’t!!!
    The biggest shortcomings I identified are
    1) Tractor has to stay running for winter weather events
    2) Laundry room is depend on supplemental heat, I need to test my alternative option to portable electric space heater.
     
  6. Chazsbetterhalf

    Chazsbetterhalf

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    Chaz and I split up the bill. I have my life insurance, tractor and my medical bills. Did have the truck but paid that off last year. What I was paying on the truck is now going on the tractor. Which should be paid off in about 7 mo. I put some in savings each month. If it wasn't for this last hospitalization, I would be in great shape.
    Chaz has his own life ins, we have one cc we use that he takes care of, has gas for the vehicles and other machines, electric, we get fuel oil about once every 3 years which comes out of savings which we both put into.
    We both have our monthly meds.
    Buuut I had to take an ambulance and it turned out I was not covered. That bill is $6,000. That is going to be a minimum payment until the tractor gets paid off.
    We heat with wood primarily and we have well water.
    We still have the house pmnt but the balance is coming down fast.
    So all an all were happy with where at.
     
  7. isaaccarlson

    isaaccarlson

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    Our house just got paid off this year. The vehicles are clear. We officially own everything now. My biggest worry is power to keep the freezers running. We are planning on canning up a bunch of food this year, but the freezers are big storage. If I had a steam powered generator I could run off of that. More projects.....
     
  8. amateur cutter

    amateur cutter

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    A gas or Diesel powered generator is a must have imo. I have three, mostly because two were real deals. My stuff's paid for except for a small commercial loan that I keep on my building for tax purposes & credit with my bank. I keep a year's worth of cash locked up in a fireproof safe, about 6-8 month food supply & a month's worth of fuel on hand. I've got spares of everything including trucks & tractors. I don't like getting caught unprepared & honestly, I like equipment. Plenty of wood available at all times. Now if I could just stock up some spare time I'd have it made lol.
     
  9. Kimberly

    Kimberly

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    Yes, cards and such are so much in use but require the internet/bank networks etc. If you live in an area where you can use cash then it would make sense to have some on hand. I think around here though, there are no shops where you could buy because they wouldn't be able to use the register. I remember a shop here that is long gone where the old guy that ran it used one of those old fashion registered; no power required. I guess one could use a cash box; the only problem is that the ones running cash registers today have a hard time without a machine telling them how much change to give back.
     
  10. Kimberly

    Kimberly

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    One thing I need to do is to get a generator. If I had a stream running through the property, it would be used to generate electricity. I have a well. I know how to raise veggies, how to process food. I could raise hogs and chickens; when I was growing up, Mum and Dad raised hogs and chickens and I assisted them; including when it came time to kill the hogs (I didn't enjoy that part but it is what it is). There are a lot of people out there that would really be hurting if something happened; those are the ones that scare me because when they get hungry enough, they will come for the food you have. I am prepared there as well.
     
  11. Kimberly

    Kimberly

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    The problem is that we truly don't own anything, we rent stuff from the government even after we pay for it. If we don't pay the rent, they come and take it away from us.
     
  12. Kimberly

    Kimberly

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    Good ol' Obuma care :D
     
  13. Lennyzx11

    Lennyzx11

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    My wife got a piece of mail this week touting “BidenCare”.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  14. isaaccarlson

    isaaccarlson

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    Well....'bama didn't care and neither does biden....
    They've been biden their time and now its coming in hard.
     
  15. Haftacut

    Haftacut

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    Good advice to live by:yes: Not a question of if the rainy day comes....it will and you can count on it! My house has prepared all our “stacks”. Over the last year, I’ve been surprised how confidently people continue to spend their money. I remember saying more than once over the last year, how quickly people forget 08’/09’. Not selling fear, but preparedness sure helps you sleep better:yes:
     
  16. Haftacut

    Haftacut

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    Good point:yes: Means different things to different people!
     
  17. Haftacut

    Haftacut

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    Lots of what DNH is talking about sure aligns with his stuff! Good practices to have:yes:
     
  18. Haftacut

    Haftacut

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    Wife and I just met with financial guy last week. He was giving us a review of last years performance and I told him exactly what your saying....it’s all good, but the market has to correct at some point. Again, not selling fear, but it’s another thing you can count on. How you prepare kinda depends on how close you are to retirement. Sounds like you have a good plan in place:yes:
     
  19. Haftacut

    Haftacut

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    Paid our house off almost 5 years ago. I’m sure you’ve all seen my pickup truck:rofl: :lol: I’ll let you all determine whether I have a payment on it! We went without a lot for several years to make this happen. Always prioritized at least a summer vacation that we paid for, but saved money where we could and earned extra where we could. Always been pretty cheap. Still running a one saw operation. Since everything’s been paid off, it’s been an adjustment to learn to let go a little when it comes to money. I know it seems funny but the habits that got us to where we are are kinda keeping us there:rofl: :lol:
     
  20. Haftacut

    Haftacut

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    Wifes grandpa used to always say,”if you can work with your hands you won’t go hungry”. Becoming more and more true with fewer and fewer people knowing how to do single repairs/maintenance on their own homes. My brother has a handyman business and he has more work than he knows what to do with!