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greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

I am a programmer in a smaller town in the midwest. We live in a turn of the century home in town. Our list is based in part on the fact that we don't have the space to store large amounts of fuel or raise a garden. Here it is:

Heat and light ---------------------- Aladdin lamps and several jerry cans of K1 kerosene available locally at $1.15 per gallon. These provide light and will heat a shut off room. Don't forget spare parts for the lamps.

Canned heat for heat and cooking. These we have brought by the case.

Coleman stove and fuel for cooking outside.

Bags of charcoal and outdoor grills. Both may be selling at discount now with winter coming in.

Forever liguid parafin candles available at Walmart. The candle with vase is about $6.00 and bottles of liquid parafin which are a pint or so cost $1.25. I would guess one bottle will supply light for 100 to 200 hours based on our limited test. A real bargin.

Two baskets of candles.

Hand crank flashlights from Russia at $12.00 each. Also NiCad batteries for flashlights and radios and a 10 watt solar battery charger.

A solar charged lantern at about $100.00. May get another.

Balnkets with pace age blankets sewn on to shut off rooms and maintain heat. Also covers for inside of windows to reduce heat loss.

Food --------

A one year supply of freeze dried food for one person from Walton's as backup. There are four of us. Extra #10 cans of eggs and cheese for cooking with out non Walton's food.

A one year supply of canned and packaged food for a family of four purchased mainly from Aldi's and Sam's. This includes at least 200 cans of tomatoes, 200 cans of meats and many cases of fruits and vegis. Sticks of summer susage and similar with amplt shelf life for Y2K. My wife also dries a lot of foods. The food in this paragraph is for the most part what we would normally choose to eat.

Fifty gallons of Culligan water. Three 55 gallon water drums for the shed. These we will initially fill with the hose and as they empty out they will be replenished fron the house downspouts. These cost about $45.00 each. Also buy a pump. We also purchased a water filter for both chemicals and germs. We will also fill up the bathtubs. Almost forgot to mention we buy plenty of Tang and related to flavor the water.

Entertainment ----------------------

Plenty of books and games.

On my wish list is a portable P.C. with a solar charger so the boys can play their CD games.

Protection ----------------

We live in a small midwestern town so crime dosn't take on the same concern that it would in a larger city. Having said that I am a shooter by hobby and have a few guns. A short barrel shotgun can be a crowd stopper that only a fool would contest. Spare ammo. This I hope to never need but one could also say the same about life insurance. Don't flaunt what you have in the way of survival food, etc.

My wish list -----------------

Would like to have a small D.C. only solar system to power a couple of D.C. lights and maybe a T.V.

Please feel to point out what we have overlooked.

Respectfully Ed S.

-- Ed S. (ed@terraworld.net), October 10, 1998

Answers

What kind of foods does your wife dry? What quantities?

-- Greg Sugg (gregsugg@bbnp.com), October 10, 1998.

dont 4-get additional pump attachment for coleman stove, along with a repair kit (just in case) WATCH the tomatoe products in the can they go BOOM and explode if kept tooo long (learned the hard way) also, why buy the 55 gal drums? I have a friend who works at a factory, they gave him 3. Never hurts to ask. Lots of Bleach (for treating water) paper plates, forks, cups etc........saves on washing. Aldi's and save a lot has good prices on paper. toilet paper too.......

-- carrie (PRIVATE@aol.com), October 10, 1998.

Takes just a bit of tinkering to make a foot power 12 volt generator out of an exercise bike, an alternator, and a car battery. Don't forget to hook up a proper voltage regulator. Get your exercise and charge the battery at the same time. Add in a 12 volt solar charger and use a deep cycle marine battery, and you could run a laptop using an adaptor for car battery power (the ones that plug into a cigarette lighter) for a long time without running down the battery.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), October 10, 1998.

What about your first aid kit? How about medicine, prescriptions? Toiletries such as toothpaste, deoderant? What about bicycles, tubes and a hand pump? Extra plywood, nails and 2x4's? Rope, clothesline & pins, hand saw?

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), October 10, 1998.

My stepson is immersed in the Internet, and if not online, is on his computer. If you have children or teens, you can't always rely on answering "how about dusting the living room" to a child who wants to know what there is to do, as my mother used to say to us. We all found things to do (which is why all three of us girls in the family are heavy into crafts of various sorts and not really into housework).

Ideas on how to keep kids busy: Books, board games, card games, crafts that can be done with found or nature materials and a bit of glue and imagination, paper, crayons/pencils/watercolors; embroidery/needlepoint/cross stitch kits and materials; modelling clay, Tinker Toys, Erector Sets (do they even make Erector sets anymore? Always wanted one when I was a kid, 'cause Barbies are sooo boring); fabric, thread and patterns for simple quilts; beads and beading supplies; Origami paper and a book on how to; yarn and knitting needles and patterns; thread and crochet hooks and patterns; wood carving supplies (including leather gloves to protect hands and avoid cuts); small loom and yarn for weaving.

My grandfather learned to knit his own socks in school, as did all the other boys and girls; Aran sweaters (the ones with all the cables) used to be knit by men, not women...so boys can work on 'girl' things and vice versa...

-- Karen Cook (browsercat@hotmail.com), October 11, 1998.



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