Autumn

Autumn

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Survival Buckets and The Great Three Year Experiment, part 3

Shall we continue.

On our first failed attempt to find our buckets we had taken two metal probes. Unknown to us we had at one point been standing atop our stash. We only discovered this small but important fact the day we actually found our buckets and had opened them for the first time in three years. One was damaged, slightly. The bucket belonged to Senior Chief.
When he opened his bucket he found water. After careful examination he found three small puncture holes in the lid of his bucket where someone had indeed probed his bucket and had not felt the probe puncture the plastic lid. The probe cut a hole in one of Senior Chief's plastic water bottles. It dripped water for a month. The only damage was to one previously vacuum sealed package of AR15 magazines, a small tear from the probe, that allowed a bit of water to enter the package.

Above, Senior Chief's water soaked magazines which were fine when dried. Notice his ammo packs.

Above, again from Senior Chief's bucket; bug repellent, energy bars and clothing, I think.

ShooterSteve even included a wrap of tools in his bucket...note, no damage.


We all agree our three year experiment was a success. These buckets were buried on a high sandy slope that had excellent drainage. We selected this site with the full knowledge it would not be disturbed for at least twenty (20) years. Why? It was a fairly young tree farm located miles from the nearest city. Act accordingly if you decide to preposition supplies for your situation.

In part one I mentioned we as a group had a retreat under construction. The day of our road trip we returned to our retreat location to continue our work. Our building, a combination bunk house, kitchen, storage building has been under monthly construction for over a year. We're presently adding small finishing touches to the building. Our plumbing, (we have a well) most of the electrical (generator powered) other than the 12 volt system is finished. We will be adding solar panels down the road when expenses allow. Cash is king in our world.
Last Saturday ShooterSteve, a master electrician, had plans to continue wiring. Duke, Rebel, Senior Chief, Austin and yours truly would drill, paint, and screen ventilation holes in the eves of our metal roof. Sounds easy doesn't it. Took hours. Let's have show and tell.

Pictured above is our retreat building. It has a kitchen, wood cook/heating stove, and a sleeping area. This is the rear of the building. We constructed the building under a grove of trees.  We used construction methods to limit as little damage to the trees as possible, not for environmental reasons, we  just wanted the canopy as thick as possible.

Above, our kitchen cabinets. We've yet to hang the upper portion.

Above is Iraqi Freedom War vet, Duke, at work on the vent screens.

See that sink, we found it in a tangle of brush. It is enameled cast iron. On the back is a metal tag dated September 1929. It took three grown men, a Cub Scot troop, and six donkeys to carry and lift it in place. We hung it just off the edge of our deck and plumbed it with a hose bib. Notice our work station for outdoor cookouts attached to its side. It drains onto the soil underneath.

 
Above we have Senior Chief and Rebel. Rebel is our resident former hippy. He was once upon a time a long-haired, van driving, weed chomping gnome. We changed him. His intellect is spooky. We're lucky to have him as a member. One of our counsel members, Pirate, is on an extended leave of absence for business reasons. Pirate is our medic. We miss him.
Lunch. My knee, and from left to right, Duke, Rebel, ShooterSteve, Austin, Senior Chief (aka Joey) - all are my best friends.

Above we have ShooterSteve on smoke break. He's standing on our front deck. Notice the elevation...we built the 'Boar's Nest' on pilings. Old telephone poles...our location is prone to the occasional one hundred year flood.



My good friends I must leave you now, work awaits. I hope you've enjoyed this little look into my life.

Have a great day.


Stephen


17 comments:

  1. That's looking really good. You folks have come a long way over the years, I'm impressed.

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  2. Congrats. I worry about my new friends on here. You and AH are two I mark off my list of worrying.

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  3. Arsenius, thank you, and yes we have. When you make another trip down here plan to spend a bit of time and I'll take you out for an old fashioned BBQ.

    MudBug, thank you. I too worry about a few of our friends in the blog world.

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  4. Looking good, sir.

    On a related topic, our Governor is going live in 15 minutes to discuss disaster preparedness, including what to do when "civil unrest" (his words) hits the Lower 48 & we have to begin turning back those seeking asylum/refuge here.

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  5. Rev. Paul, thank you Sir. Keep us posted on the Governor's plans.

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  6. I worry about us lol. Very awesome job!!!

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  7. Lila, thank you. It's been a labor of love and great fun. Can't wait to finish the electrical and get a small window A/C to cool the Boar's Nest off.

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  8. The majority of my stuff was good to go, however with the 3 weeks between our visits and the rain we had during that time, that added to the water level in the bucket from the three puncture wounds. There were several vacuum sealed packages that did absorb some moisture due to being scrapped and punctured. Overall, I rate this experiment as a success. We learned a lot of lessons from this and its great that we can get our successes and failures out for everyone.

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  9. Joe, good comment. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Senior Chief.

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  10. Not sure what kind of bucket was used.. but maybe an old paint can lid or something stuck to the top would prevent it from getting punctured when probing? Aluminum flashing maybe? We found some of that while digging out the area for the coop and it was very much intact (was from when they built the house about 25 yrs. ago.)

    Great sink! Amazing luck to have found such a great piece! We're hunting for one similar to that.. because some food prep.. is best done outdoors. Awesome set up.

    & Hello Senior Chief!

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  11. Anne, the bucket holes were nothing more than an accident by our searching for them with probes.

    Thanks for you comment. Nice to see you back.

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  12. Stephen - i have been away for a while but have now just caught up on all of your blog posts - what a great read!

    thank you sooo much for sharing this series of posts about your group's great 3 year experiment!!! the info is top-knotch and i loved all of the pics!!! it's by sharing this kind of detailed information that the rest of us can really learn from- so thank you from all of us!!!

    oh and of course - i loved reading the posts about Lil Bit!!!

    again thank you Sir!
    stassja

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  13. Stassja, nice to see you again. Thanks. Where have you guys been hiding?

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  14. Stephen - we have been up to our eyeballs with community events - dinners and kitchen parties every week for the last 5 weeks, bingos every sunday, bake sales and tea parties throughout the week as well - all of which we set up for and clean up for!!! oh and cook for!!! we have also just joined the volunteer fire department that works for our two villages (villages are about 9km apart) and have been doing courses and training (my FAFFE training in the military came back pretty quickly!). all of the events over the summer are to raise money for a new fire truck and we are almost halfway there!!!

    anyway - we have met everyone in the 2 villages and are being very warmly welcomed - life is great!!!

    hope all is well with you!
    your friend
    stassja

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  15. Stassja, all is well. You guys stay busy don't you. Thanks for stopping by. Don't be a stranger.

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  16. Stephen - i may disappear from time to time when life commitments demand my time - but i always find time for the blogs that teach me and inspire me - yours is one and through you - i have found several others!

    yes - we try to stay busy - but being in such a small community of like-minded "preppers" ( i bet all of the people here have never even heard of that word!!!) is exactly where we want to be! as the nearest "store" or town is over an hour away from here - the people here tend to stockpile food, grow their own, raise their own meat and poultry, and the majority own actual fishing boats. not to mention that they all have "unregistered" guns and know how to use them.

    Stephen - you would like these people. and they would like you!

    i will never be a stranger - thanks for always making me feel so welcome!

    your friend
    stassja

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  17. Stassja, during your periods of absence, I will be here in waiting.

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