All Things Prepping, Simple Living, Back to the Basics [Survival Today, an on going thread]

vanity | 2/26/18 | CottonBall

[CottonBall]

I’ve been missing the vast amount of information on prepping, survival, camping, simple cooking, the old ways of doing just about everything – all the things nw_arizona_granny knew so much about and shared with us, along with numerous other posters with a vast array of skills and knowledge.

We have our various related-threads here, a recipe thread, a gardening thread, and even a prepper thread. They are all great and I don’t mean to take anything away from those and the hard work their owners put in.

But I was missing a place to talk about ALL those things, to get the camaraderie that we used to have on granny’s thread.

I learned how to can on those threads! The pressure canner was not my friend, I thought, but I bought one and stared at it for a month, intimidated. Then I read the directions for another month. But with the help and encouragement of posters on granny’s threads, I jumped in and now have my very own food storage room in the basement with lovely jars of shelf-stable meats, vegetables, and fruit. When we moved, I fashioned my food storage room – and insisted upon having a basement – from what I learned on her threads. Getting started gardening was from her threads. Making my own cleaning products….the list is endless.

So I thought I would take the chance and start another comprehensive prepper thread and see how it goes. I used to have granny’s ping list since I made one of the threads for her, but alas, with numerous computer changes, I cannot find it. So please pass this onto any posters you think might be interested.

We’ll just keep it running until..whenever. Granny created a new thread at 10,000 posts or so. I do like the idea of having ONE thread to go to – because often I cannot find or keep track of the weekly threads. I won’t be posting lots of recipes or tidbits myself – to any mods concerned about the size of this thread. I’d just like a place to chat, post questions, post ideas, make new prepping friends.

Here are granny’s threads, if anyone wants to peruse them:

nw_arizona_granny’s Thread #1

nw_arizona_granny’s Thread #2

nw_arizona_granny’s Thread #3

[Albion Wilde]

Thank you so much for Part 2 of American Hollow — I had seen part 1 years ago. How wonderful!!

[V K Lee]

:-)

[Aliska]

Just to let you know I’ve been AWOL because I was in the hospital for (lost track of time) a total of 13 days. First several in regular then transferred to care home for OT, PT and building muscular weakness & personal stuff.. Got my eyes really opened, very hard on me emotionally and physically.

[CottonBall]

I have been wondering about you. Actually I’ve been wondering about everybody since I haven’t been online much. More arm problems.

But that’s nothing compared to what you have been through! I’m so glad you’re back home though. And darn that hospital for not giving you Internet access and a tablet!

Are you better now? If you don’t mind sharing the details I’d like to know what happened and how you are doing. Must’ve been serious, 13 days in the hospital is a long time.

[CottonBall]

What kind of birds eat mosquitoes? I’ve noticed an abundance of bluebirds this year, they are so darn cute. They are busy building a nest all around our house.

I was trying to look up what they eat and apparently it’s nothing that I can buy. Because I’m not going to go by meal worms! And Suet isn’t recommended until winter. I can give them some raisins. If I don’t, they might go scavenge a few blueberries I let live on my blueberry bushes.

[CottonBall]

Sorry to not respond sooner, I did start watching it on my phone.

I’m still having trouble with my arm so I am trying to use them as little as possible. I really want to watch the movie on my tablet but it can get kind of heavy. And the phone is just too small.

So I’ll save it for a rainy day. A good rainy day, when my arms feel better :-)

i’m an idiot. I have to admit it. Every time I feel better I go and do something. It’s just so hard to feel good and not go out and take care of my babies in the garden or the furry ones inside. I’ve let the house go to hell, dust and dust bunnies and stuff on the floor, windows dirty, it’ll take me months and months to get it back to normal. Even with the dirty windows, birds are still hitting the windows :-(

Thanks so much for the ping and for keeping this active. I hope to be back to normal real soon! Whatever my version of normal is…

[V K Lee]

Get better soon! :-)

[Aliska]

Sorry about the arm problems. Sodium went too low, and it took awhile to get it to where it should be because I have lost my appetite for a long tim. We had wifi but my daughter's laptop the trackpad is wacky.

I'll freepmail a little more but am really tired and getting home to a worse mess than what I left and upsets me I can't count on my family but they got an air conditioner out of me because theirs broke and daughter had afib and a procedure and sil has to get an angioplasty. And so on.

[z3n]

Will watch when I get a spot of time for it.

Speaking of surviving in Appalachia, when I was in 7th grade we were given a book to read Where the Lilies Bloom. Not sure how accurate but if my foggy memory recalls there were quite a few references to food and herb gathering.

[V K Lee]

Thanks for the info, z3n. The book, and the movie. According to the synopsis on Wikipedia it does tell of the herbs gathered to help the local pharmacists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Lilies_Bloom
Will explore and see what might develop.

As an aside, the book must have made a powerful impact on you. For the past several years, attempting to remember a book once read and have yet to find the title. Personal memory here is certainly not as sharp as yours. :-)
Thanks, again.

[V K Lee]

Lack of sodium leads to electrolyte imbalance which can lead to seizures, fainting, loss of balance and a million other oddities. When in hospital, the docs found that one particular diuretic depleted my sodium and limited intake of only a small amount of fluid per day. Angioplasty - it helped but unable to make a lasting impression. Mitral valve replacement at a later date helped with the afib

[z3n]

No, in fact, I could not remember the title without assistance. I thought for a few moments, then I googled “book orphans appalachia”

Now that I think about it, as a theme, when I was in 4th grade we read a book called “My Side of the Mountain” about a boy surviving in the Catskills.

[V K Lee]

Fortunately (or not) google does come to the rescue several times a day. Frequently find myself asking for answers when failed memory gives nothing.

[Aliska]

He lucked out, didn't need stents after all.

The sodium thing happens with the elderly, but I think a lot of it is due to being unable to eat due to anxiety. The latter much are family problems that eat away at me..

And, yes, I was on Lisinopral (sp?) bp med that had a diuretic component. Luckily the dr at that time knew to have it checked. First check went low. Second check went lower. Took me off it. I'm not sure the hospital doc believed me but he will find it in my records if he bothers to look.

They said mine was dangerously low. It has happened before. Sodium chloride drip which takes forever and blood draws every 4 hours for days. When I finally got my appetetite back, it went up toward ideal # fast. Then they took away a med I depend on in high-stress situations like rolling panic attacks and feeling trapped and I still don't want to eat. They lost my trust completely now. I will never trust any of them again for that and other stuff like forgetting my bp med after an incident with my bp. After about 2 hrs I remembered it wasn't with the other drugs. I finally got it.

Other mixups. I talked to my CPA about something else, and he says I am right to go over all my meds and find out exactly the dose, what and why. Used to pop whatever they gave me. No more. I even called my pharmacy from the hosp twice to make sure without dragging them into it.

And, yes, it can cause death so the paper said.

Now when I do other legal stuff if I ever can get there, I need an attorney legal advocate. They have one. In their system which means if you don't go outside the system, they will cover for each other. And I am not going to pursue legal action or file a complaint. Too hard to prove for one thing but may have to go back there. Can happen anywhere really.

A trusted friend or relative can't be there checking for you 24/7. Sounds paranoid. What it's come to. Luckily I still have a fairly sharp memory to fend for myself, can't count on that lasting either. Now I never want to go to one of those homes because of what happened.

[V K Lee]

Remedies that can help others might be detrimental to one individual. Unable to take statins due to the fact they cause such pain to joints, unable to take a step without a walker. Once off of these, all was fine. The sodium depletion was such a surprise. NO ONE mentioned that when taking a diuretic that potassium should be taken as well. Thus - the inevitable occurred. After suggesting that plenty of water should be consumed, to find yourself denied fluid truly makes one wonder. (Sigh) Doctors do stick together. They might actually be teaching politicians to do the same.

[Aliska]

Please don't go by my experiences and "some" self-diagnosis. It still makes me wonder and I asked 2 or 3 times how much water is that exactly? They leave and you never see them again. Never got a straight answer. So I looked found a conversation on the web, checked the math another way, and get 6.3 cups. I was drinking a lot of other things non-alcoholic.

But I blew up today at the new dr's appt. The ultimate is if you are down and unable to take care of yourself, they threaten with this was a question "would you go back to xx place?" I blew up. No way will ever go back there, will sell everything I have if I have to, leave here if necessary. I need someone to talk to. I need to take care of my legal affairs. I have to put up with more professionals invading my space.

Yes I have tried to learn from others' bad experiences, told them early on I wasn't willing to take a bp med that required potassium. My neighbor had to do that. And keep bananas in the house.

Doctors and psych people ought to have to take some of the treatments they push on us. Some they do like us, routinely of course. But most of it no. If they experienced some of the bad side effects we do (and almost every drug has them to the point I read as little of that as possible unless I have a specific need to know), maybe they would see things a little differently. This last is based on cumulative stuff.

Yes, big pharma has a powerful lobby on politicians. And lots of influence on dr's in the form of physician samples and who knows what else. I still think surgeons do the most life-saving and extensions like advances in heart surgery. I don't know about doctors any more. I was 100% right about the bags of meds they prescribed before I left, all in self-protection, not as a matter of pride. So far. Seems like crossed signals mostly, probably not life threatening in my case but who knows? I'm still kind of in shock

[V K Lee]

One day at a time, we attempt to learn from others.

Life is a journey. Prayers that yours becomes easier.

[Aliska]

Your #917. So true. Can’t wimp out of the ultimate. Thanks. Aliska

[V K Lee]

VIDEOS: Finding Usable herbs and plants in your back yard:

5 Medicinal Plants And Herbs You Can Find In Your Yard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPQi-HaNMeE

Finding Wild Herbs Anywhere | Basic WildCrafting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np-Ujzmbb_A

Harvesting Wild Medicinal Herbs in Your Own Backyard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzGFCOAEDMw

How To Identify Wild Edibles & Medicinal Plants - Toxic Look A Likes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_pXXozY8fA

[DelaWhere]

I still have all
my communications with NWArizonaGranny...
Sure miss her...