Will You Feel Guilty?

Are you going to feel guilty?

Are you going to let someone tell you that all of your hard work was selfish?

Are you going to let someone bully you out of your months and years of effort, learning, applying, and adding to your stores because they weren't smart enough to get prepared themselves?

There are plenty of people who are going to think, and moan, and complain about how unfair it is that you have something to live off of while they scrounge or starve. It won’t matter how much time and effort you've put into being prepared.  It won’t matter whether or not you have the law on your side, they WILL try and take what you have, either by direct force, or demanding that others get involved in their plight.  They will have no problem taking every last ounce of your effort and then demanding more.

Then when that’s gone, will they show back up on your doorstep hoping that you do have more?

It doesn't take long looking through news stories to see this trend.  If you want new examples look no further than the latest reality TV shows.  Survivor recently had a great example of this.

On the episode titled, “Million Dollar Decision”, one of the contestants stashed some granola/ trail mix.  If you've followed this show, you know that going hungry for several days is commonplace depending on your team or where you are in the game. 

It’s unclear how it starts, but several of the other contestants start talking about strip searching everyone to find food.  There’s some grumbling, and then eventually a few of them start searching bags.  Of course they find the granola. 

With comments of elitist, and entitled, the rest of the group take the advantage and devour the contents of the bag.  Now, however, the girl Julie is made to feel guilty, and outcast.  She was smart enough to stash, but not smart enough to keep it out of reach, and then let the feelings of guilt outweigh common sense. 

This isn't a debate about the right and wrong of stashing something away from everyone else for the sake of the game. It does however, point to human nature.

At what point will your neighbor, that you've known forever, be on your doorstep because they didn't save enough, or didn't do anything at all?

Will they or could they become aggressive?  How aggressive will they get and will you be prepared to use force?  Will you be able to use force against a friend or family member?

Will it be your community leaders or self-appointed community leaders that will decide for you?  Will they show up on your doorstep to redistribute your effort to the whole community in turn putting your chances of survival at an even larger disadvantage?

Let’s be clear. If this happens it won’t just be that you had food that could be stolen.  It will be that YOU took advantage of other’s by having a stash.  That YOU think you’re better than everyone else, or that you've always been that “selfish” neighbor.  It won’t matter that you have been encouraging others for years to get prepared for, “just in case”.  Because when people are hungry, and real life has hit them in the face, they don’t care about what they didn't do, they only care about how to fix it NOW. 

That is a very negative and pessimistic view of the possibilities.

Hopefully this isn't a question that you’ll ever have to address.  Hopefully your community is a planning community and will be standing together.  Hopefully you ARE that neighbor that IS encouraging others to do something to get prepared.

But while we want to be prepared for whatever can happen, we also need to include possible emotional and psychological reactions.

Now... on the other side of that, the reaction to steal someone else’s effort is not a consideration for many of us.  We understand that our outcome is a direct result of our effort, and when that effort falls short on this end, we will have to pick up the slack on the other side.

We understand that little thing called personal responsibility. 

We are the ones that lend our efforts to help those who are in the middle of a disaster without waiting to be told to do so.  We are the ones that spend countless volunteer hours to prepare stock piles of goods for disasters around the world.  We are also the ones that give countless amounts of money to charities of all kinds because we want to be able to help.

People like us are typically not the ones that are going to be making the trouble.  It can happen, it’s just not typical. I believe it’s because we not only understand the better side of people, but move to promote it.

While preparing for your emergency, have you considered how to handle this kind of scenario?  Have you considered what you can do to prepare for a scenario like this before and emergency? 

There are a lot of different things that you can do now that don’t include burying your stash on a far off piece of property.  Are you up to the challenge?

For other great information, and ideas check out NewSurvivalSkills.  You can also find them on Youtube and FaceBook.

Bio Fuel

These can be square like the ones in the photograph or round like the ones Chappy does.

Bio-Fuel.  Seriously one of the coolest things.  Easy to make, super affordable, and the best part...  Easy to start, even with a flint and steel.

Chappy from NewSurvivalSkills.com came up with this amazing tool.  Here is the bio-fuel video he did.

This one, like the Uber matches in my last post can be a great "to-do" with the kids.  

Here are the ingredients you'll need.

*1 3 wick candle. (about 3 lbs or 48oz.  I believe the 3 wick candles are just a little bit smaller than that full 3 lbs.)

*2 containers of petroleum jelly ( 6 oz. each)

*Cotton make-up or cosmetic pads.  (These can be round or square. and can be found nearly any where that cosmetics are sold.)

Tools you'll want and need:

*Chop sticks, forceps, tongs, large tweezers.  Basically anything that you are comfortable using to lift the cotton pads into and then out of the hot wax.

*An old pot or #10 can.  Something big enough to melt your ingredients in.

*Aluminum foil or wax paper.

*You may want to use a cookie sheet underneath your aluminum or wax paper.  I like doing that because I can more easily get things out of the way if I have to move.

Projects like this typically get their own #10 can for the purposes of storing the left over ingredients.  Especially when we know we'll be using it again.  

Using your pot or #10 can you can start melting the wax.  Again this is a great use for the #10 can.  On low heat this can be your "pot".  I find that breaking the candle or wax into smaller chunks makes the melting process faster.  Once all of the wax is melted, pull out the wicks, and then add all of the petroleum jelly.  If you're going to use a spoon, use one that will be used only for this purpose.  We like to use cheap chop sticks.  They can be used to stir the contents, but also for pulling the finished product out of the wax.  However, we have also used forceps and metal tongs.  Both work just fine.  

Once the wax and petroleum jelly are melted, begin dipping the cotton make-up pads into the melted wax.  Take care to cover the entire pad in the wax by submerging it.  Once it's, coated pull it out, letting it drip momentarily, and then place it on a wax paper or aluminum sheet surface.  I prefer aluminum.

You can do them one at a time, or several at the same time.  Just make sure that they are separate when you lay them out to cool.

Now that you have this cool pile of wax pucks, aka, bio-fuel... now what?

You can light these with matches.  That's easy enough.  But you can also light these with flint and steel.  And if you can do it with a flint and steel, you can do it with a ferro rod.

You simply pull or fluff a part of the puck.  A good strike and this will light.  Then once you have it lit, you can use the entire puck to get your survival fire going, OR use it long enough to light something else and then blow it out saving it for another time.  Just re-fluff the spot you want to ignite again.  Another thing that I like about these, is that you can break them in to smaller pieces.  This is especially helpful if your having to ration your supplies.

Take a minute and subscribe to New Survival Skills.  They have excellent information, and thoughts on survival.  I especially like their videos on the DIY solar oven, 20 mm ammo can wood burning stove, and other reviews.

Open letter to Entheos of Utah

Dear Entheos,

It saddens me to have to write this letter.  I was hoping that parents like myself opting their children out of the Sage tests would have been an indication that there was, ”trouble in Common Core paradise”. 

A so called paradise, tied to grant money which was tied to “Race to the Top”.  A so called paradise because once again, rather than dealing with the deficiencies, school boards all across America jumped on the chance for more money.  Money that even when available has proven time and time again will not actually fix anything.  If the money could fix the problems why is it that some of the highest funding falls to some of the worst schools? 

Let me tell you a little about my kids.  My oldest who is now high school age is one of those kids that gets rave reviews.  Even with the struggles she had with grades the last couple of years she’s basically a good kid.  She does what the teacher asks.  She tries to be kind even when other students are more than a little frustrating to her.   She is encouraging to the people around her.  There are a few things that intimidate her, but for the most part she pushes through her fears and continually advances in everything she works for. 

One of the areas that I was glad to see her improve was in her ability to stand up for herself.  I have to give a lot of credit to Entheos for that.  I would encourage her from home, but out on the proverbial battlefield she had amazing teachers encouraging her too.  I know of two teachers in particular who reminded her that she didn’t have to put up with anyone’s nonsense even if they were friends.  The teachers at Entheos were able to pull her out of her shell and get her to try new things that previously she would never have considered.  For example, at the end of school she sang in front of her crew.  No one in her class knew she could sing. 

Now for my youngest.  Her story is very different from my oldest.  She is very much a kid who will work harder to get out of something than just getting the project done.  School work, homework, chores.  She works to extremes to avoid the things she doesn’t consider to be fun, or that she deems to hard.  This was especially the case when she was in public school. 

We did the things that we were expected to do as parents.  We read with her and to her. We helped her with her numbers, sight words, and other class expectations.  When we were working with her she was doing the work, and making strides.  However, we were to find out, not thru a phone call or letter home, that she was not doing the work in class.  When the teacher would work with her she simply wouldn’t work.  The teacher(s) didn’t have enough compassion for my kid to let us know that she was struggling, until it was time for parent teacher conferences.  A good chunk of the year was already gone by the time we were approached on her lack of work.  At the meeting we showed the teacher what she could do.  Imagine the teachers surprise when she COULD do what was asked.  A phone call to get her back on track was all that was needed.  I would have been in class with her but we were under the impressions that things were better. 

Even though we begged for a phone call if things didn’t change, we again were left with no information until the next parent teacher conference.  This was to be her school life for the next three years.  Parent teacher meetings at the first of the year, where we informed the teachers what she would try to do made no difference.  We spent the year with no information from the very people who were supposedly working side by side with her.  I suggested that we hold her back a year.  I was thwarted.  Informed that we wouldn’t be able to do that.  I suggested that I should make surprise visits.  That way she wouldn’t know when I was coming and would hopefully have the incentive to stay on task and work hard.  Thwarted again.  I would have to schedule all visits. 

As a parent this is not just frustrating.  This is telling me that I can’t see my own kid in any and all circumstances.  This leads me to wonder what is being hidden from me. I suggested keeping her from things like assemblies and recess if her work wasn’t getting done in class.  I was told that was a great idea and then later found that it wasn’t happening.  I suggested making sure that all un-finished class work be sent home so we could at least be working on the daily tasks…  It never came.

We were however, told the last year the kids were at that school that I should perhaps get my kid “on something”.  When I asked what kind of Ph.D. gave this particularly nasty teacher the right to suggest anything like that, I was informed that her plethora of children gave her the knowledge that a parent just didn’t have. 

My kid didn’t and doesn’t need drugs.  What she did and does need? People who are willing to push her and hold her accountable.  This is what we found at Entheos.

I am taking the time to tell you all of this so that perhaps, you’ll have a clearer understanding of why Entheos was such a huge change and good change for my youngest in particular.

The year that we finally made it into Entheos, I had planned on home schooling my kids.  We hadn’t heard from the school yet, but I wasn’t about to put my kids through the hell of public school any longer.  About a month into the new school year we found out that both the girls had made it.

This was a huge blessing.  Although we didn’t know how big at the time. 

Ms. Tsu, an amazing teacher, was our youngest’s first Entheos teacher. The first opportunity we had we sat down with her and explained what school life had been like.  We didn’t know what to expect, and had very reserved feelings due to our prior experience.  We were basing everything we knew about Entheos on someone else’s say so.

Thankfully we were pleasantly surprised.

Our youngest not only finally wanted to be at school, she was making huge strides in recovering three very detrimental years.  I think the one huge difference was that Ms. Tsu cared.  When she did well, notes were sent home.  When we needed to help work on something, notes were sent home.  When my youngest had a minor melt down a note went home and Ms. Tsu took time out of her busy schedule to work with us.  She never worked against us. 

Ms.Tsu was followed by Ms. DeMille and then Mr. Miller and respectively Mr. Loertscher.  All of them wonderful!

The simple reason? They cared.  They cared to keep us informed.  They cared to push our youngest when she needed it, to challenge her.  To raise the bar.

Unfortunately, here we are.  Common Core. 

The name pretty much says it all…  Well, then again, maybe not.

I don’t know the reasons why Entheos chose to go along with Common Core.  Was it a real want to do something better for the kids?  Was it a need to follow certain protocols demanded by the state?  Or was it simply an easy way to acquire grant money to help the school?

It doesn’t matter what the reason was.  And here is why.  No matter if it was for the kids or the money the fact is that this program, even under the best of circumstances will ultimately remove local control.  It will be just another one size fits all program, funded by the tax payer and run by Washington monopolies and bureaucrats. 

When the powers that be can admit that “Students will cover less academic ground under Common Core”, but assure  us that, “kids will go ‘deeper’ into each concept and develop ‘critical thinking skills’ that will prepare them for all the new jobs”…..  I can whole heartedly say, “Houston I think we have a problem here.”

Stanford Professor emeritus James Milgram, who was the only mathematician on the Common Core Validation Committee, refused to sign off on the proposed standards because he believed they were too weak.  In testimony to the Texas legislature, He explained that the standards were “in large measure a political document that… is written at a very low level and does not adequately reflect our current understanding of why the math programs in the high-achieving countries give dramatically better results.”  (Chap 13 Common Core is “Rigorous” from the book Conform.)

One of Milgrams objections; that the standards instruct schools not to teach algebra until 9^th grade.  Milgrams and other math experts note that this means students won’t be introduced to pre-calculus until college.  Jason Zimba, a professor at Bennington College and lead writer of the math standards acknowledged as much in the Baton Rouge Advocate. 

Zimba also admitted that the students following Common Core would likely be precluded from “attending elite colleges” since the Core is “not aligned with the expectations at the collegiate level.”

Then take into account this…

According to Milgram and Stotsky’s report: “It is extremely rare for students who begin their undergraduate years with coursework in pre-calculus or even lower levels of mathematical knowledge to achieve a bachelor’s degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) area.  Also students whose last high school mathematics course was algebra II have less than a 40% chance of obtaining a four-year college degree.”

I ask you, how does this make Common Core more rigorous?

English standards aren’t much better.

Sandra Stotsky, the professor that coauthored the Milgram report, is highly regarded in education circles for her work in helping author Massachusetts’s English language arts learning standards, which were widely acknowledged to be the best in the nation.  You’ll notice it says “were”, have since been replaced by Common Core.  (Chap 13 Common Core is “Rigorous” from the book Conform.)

When texts are “practical” and “Meaningful” to a student, what do you think that really means?  What would it mean to the student?  What does it mean to the people who have crafted, funded and pushed Common Core?

Do you think it really does mean that the kids will be better off?  Or does it mean we’re just spinning our wheels, and turning our children…  Our Nation’s future, into the next generation of drone workers?

A focus on “informational” texts instead of literature pushes our kids towards things like manuals rather than novels.  Literature that promotes free thinking gets shelved. 

Then there is the data collection. 

”Usually, firewalls are set up for our protection.  They prevent hackers from getting into our computers and they block our children from visiting inappropriate Web sites.  But these state firewalls don’t help us.  They hurt all of us.  They impede our ability to serve students and better understand how we can improve American education… Hopefully someday, we can track children from preschool to high school and from high school to college and college to career.  We must track high growth children in classrooms to their great teachers and great teachers to their schools of education.” Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education.

Sounds great right?  But let’s think about what that really means.  Would you as a free American citizen want to be tracked your whole life?  How about as a teacher? 

I don’t want that.  Not for me nor my family nor anyone around me.  When you decided to teach, did you do it because someone in some upper echelon told you that's what you should do, or was it something you chose?  How many times, when you were a kid, did your dream of what you would be when you grew up change?

Did you get there without being tracked?  Would being tracked have helped you?  Or do you think it might be for another purpose?

The claim is that it, tracking, will help identify where students may or may not be struggling.  With modern technology that sounds so Star Trek right?  I mean what could possibly go wrong with algorithms that track a student?  Let’s add to that,  technology is already being tested to read the responses of the participants.  Okay.  The thought process being, of course, that now the teacher/administrators have a real time view of what gets a kids attention. It’s also a real time view of what bores a kid to death.   It’s supposed to be a clever way to personalize or tailor make education to fit a kids specific need.  Awesome right?  Then why would we need teachers?  Because with the current tech, and the ability to read facial expressions and body language, why send a kid to school at all?

But see, that’s not the end of it.  Where does all of this information go?  Who has access? What will be the price tag to store it and for how long?

Because algorithms aren’t myopic.  They in fact are engineered to accomplish a vast array of tasks.  These ones in particular, to build a nest of data that will affect not just the kids. 

Tracking our kids will have a ripple effect on everything from where we have permission to live to what profession we have permission to pursue.  Why else would the Department of Education make a historic change in 2011 to the Family and Educational Rights and Privacy act?  This change allows schools to release student records to third-party organizations without parental consent.

Duncan has defended this change claiming that this will make it easier for those tailor made experiences.

The mechanisms are already in place in all 50 states for the sharing of the data.  In 2009 the passage of the $787 billion stimulus bill included a hefty sum for the creation of longitudinal data systems to track kids from preschool thru to their first “real” job. 

First question I think of is where does it end? 

Second is how could anyone think this was anything more than control?

Changing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy act is a huge security concern.  Not just for a family’s privacy and what they choose to disclose or keep private.  But what does the release of that kind of information really mean in the real world.  Will our kids be goaded into giving away information that could be potential fodder for politicians, enemies/opponents, or identity thieves?  Absolutely!

Those “firewalls” that Duncan doesn’t like have already led to information being hacked and released.  Like the more than 15,000 records that were stolen and then released to message boards… Via a teenager in 2012-13. 

Hopefully you’re not still thinking that there isn’t anything sinister going on.  But if you are, can you tell me where it ends?  Maybe you’re right.  Maybe everyone needs to calm down and take a breath.  But, when has ANY program dreamed up by the government EVER been short term?  When has the government EVER said it will only be “this” big? 

Can you tell me when the government didn’t use an existing program to grab more power through enhancements, enticements, pure bullying?

Common Core IS a one size fits all program.  And I believe the powers that be are trying to make it all encompassing. 

When my youngest in particular was struggling to even want to be in school when she was in public school, we sought alternatives. 

Because we had heard such great things not only from parents that we knew that were involved with the school but their kids, we took a leap of faith. 

We chose a charter school.  We chose it because it was better.  The several years that my kids were there at Entheos were great years.  Both excelled in ways that we hadn’t thought of.  And although my youngest still has a few things to catch up on, she was given a second chance through Entheos.

But now with the engagement and seemingly enthusiastic engagement with Common Core, this great school is just the same as public school.  Well, no.  It’s not the same.  Because even though there were several aspects that were the same as the public schools, the one big, huge difference was the teachers, and staff.  THEY are the ones that made the difference.  Now, their hands are tied.  The freedom and creativity that they were once able to utilize will be clobbered over time.  Class time that used to be instructional time is now practice test time.  Computers that are so very expensive to any school will have to be a priority.

I wonder…  At what point will paying the piper, for the grant money, become more costly, not just in money?  But in real world it’s too late to turn back value.

Sincerely a concerned mom,

Update 9/24/14:

This article brings to mind that cost of giving every child some kind of electronic device.  Where will the crippling of the tax payer end?

Deseret News More Tax money.

Update 9/25/14:

This article is about a book supported by Common Core proponents.  It's reading material for 10th graders.  "Dreaming in Cuban", was pulled from Arizona schools reading lists recently in light of the x-rated nature of the book.

Dreaming in Cuban Recommended By Common Core.

There is also this story from The Blaze that was back in May 2014.

19 Minutes. A book recommended by Common Core for 9th graders in New Hampshire.

What is this really setting our kids up for?  Who's pushing it? Who's getting paid to push it?

Uber Matches

Not everyone, when they get started, has the skill required to start fires with char cloth, flint and steel, or ferro rod. Not to mention bow drills, magnifiers or other primitive techniques.

Here are a few things you will need.  (We made these with box strike matches.  Next time we'll do them with Strike Anywhere Matches.)

That said...  I like to share ideas that get people working/doing, thinking, trying and practicing.

Here is one of those ideas.

This was passed along to me through a friend.  It was one of those, "sounds plausible" ideas.  So, we tried it.

We used strike on box matches.  It was what I had and didn't add any expense the supplies that were already available through my many other projects.

They typically run about $0.97 per large box of about 300. Occasionally I can find them in 2 packs for just a bit less.

1 bag of large cotton balls is typically about $3.97 per bag of 400 count.

Candles are also usually cheap and easy to find.  They even can be found fairly large at the dollar store.  Paraffin is typically $3.00 or a bit more for 16 oz (1 lb) of the Gulf wax brand.

This is the site where the idea came from.  Practical Primitive.

Easy to understand instructions, and photographs.  Even a show off moment at the end with a glass of water and then striking the new match combination.

Simply wrap half of the un-rolled portion of a cotton ball around four matches.  Make sure that the cotton weaves through the matches.  We did this by simply starting the wrap around one match, and then adding on the rest as we rolled the cotton.

Next we made sure that the cotton was nice and packed and securely wrapped around the matches.

After melting the wax in a "large bean" sized can we were able to dip each of the Uber matches first one end and then the other into the wax.  (Of course letting the first end cool.)  We placed them on a sheet of aluminum to allow them to dry.

Once they dried and cooled completely we placed them into a tea tin.  We hot glued the strikers onto the under side of the lid.

The ones we made burned just shy of 10 minutes/ Not bad for a few matches and some cotton and wax.

When we did this test burn it was a very windy day.  The thunderstorms always bring in the wind this time of year.  The Uber Match lived up to its reputation.

Now, it is one more simply, fast, and reliable way to get a fire started if we need one.

In the meantime, we are working on all of those other cool ways to start our survival fires.  Char cloth, Flint and steel, ferro rod, and all the others.


Want more information on readiness survival?  Check out this site.  NewSurvivalSkills.com.

Water Proofing

Spending as much time as I do online, I easily see hundreds of ideas, DIY's, "hacks" and other ideas that supposedly make life better, even comfortable or convenient.  Occasionally the idea is something that I am specifically looking for.  Other times its worth a try just to see if what is suggested actually works.

The bottom three pictures of the bag show the before, drying stage, and beading of the water once the whole bag has been dried. When we first poured water on the bag, before it was treated, it beaded up a little.  However, not long after the water was left to sit on the canvas it began to soak into the bag.  The wax will give the bag or canvas a "jelled" look before it is dried.  

In the second picture on the bottom you can see the "jelled" look and the dry area near the ink stain.

Finally the last picture on the bottom right is after the whole bag has been treated and dried.  There were a couple of spots that didn't bead as well, but a second coat of wax would take care of that.  You can see that the water just sits in a bubble on the surface of the bag.  

This one for example.  Water proofing.  I was specifically looking for a more natural way to create a water proofing agent that might be done in an emergency situation.

This video from SurjRacer56 was one that I couldn't wait to try.

The sound quality wasn't the best, but if you pay attention you'll see what needs to be done.

***Here's is the recipe.***

1 lb All Natural Bees Wax
8 oz Boiled Linseed Oil
8 oz Gum Turpentine.

You'll want a can or pot that will only be used for this purpose.  And a stirring stick.  We picked our stick up at the Home Depot when we purchased our Turpentine and Linseed Oil.

In the video SurjRacer56 uses a single burner camp stove.  We used our propane camp stove.

I'd highly recommend that you melt and mix the ingredients out doors.  The fumes this concoction create could be a problem, and it is simply better to be safe.

Pull or cut apart the bees wax into smaller bits. It will melt a little bit faster. Melt the bees wax at a very low temperature.  You can use a double boiler, and for safety that is recommended.  I melted the wax on a camp stove at a very low temperature in a #10 can.

While the wax is melting, stir constantly.  Only use fresh bees wax.  We tried our hand at some long stored wax but it was too dry and would not melt properly.

Once the wax is melted, remove it from the heat.  Next pour in your 8 oz of Boiled Linseed Oil.  Stir well.  Then add in your 8 oz Gum turpentine.  Again stir well.  Finally let your mixture sit until it solidifies.  This can take a while.  Between relative temperatures and the ability of the Bees Wax to hold onto the heat, our batch took several hours to cool.  We let it sit over night.

The wax will be soft like butter.

In the video SurjRacer56 used a cloth or rag to rub the mixture onto his canvas bag.  We simply rubbed in the soft wax with our gloved hands.  We made sure to make the coating as even as possible.  Anywhere that the wax coat seemed a bit thick we simply used our gloved fingernails to scrape and then re-apply the wax in a new area. We coated the handles, seams, and even the zipper.

Once we had everything coated we used the heat gun to dry the bag.  The whole process from start to finish was about 90 minutes.  Not including the amount of time it took for the wax to cool.

I purchased the bees wax from Amazon.com as 2 1 lb blocks or slabs.  It was $17.95 for the 2 lbs.
I found both the Boiled Linseed Oil and the Gum Turpentine in 1 quart containers at Home Depot for less than $8.00 each.  Boiled Linseed Oil, $7.98 Gum Turpentine $6.97. Because they come in quart containers you'll need to measure them to 8 oz.  However, 8 oz is the same as 1 cup. (Avoid buying the turpentine and Linseed oil from craft stores.  The price for both was nearly tripled.)


The total cost per ounce is around $.36 cents.  Considering the costs on some of the other water proofers we've purchased in the past this is very reasonable.

There is a bit of a smell especially before the wax has been dried.  The smell will fade over time.  And in my opinion is no worse than any of the sprays and commercially prepared water proofers.

We did two bags and used less than half of what we mixed together.  I'd use this again, and am already searching out other items that I can use this on, including a pair of out door boots I have.

The only other thing we are waiting for, to see if we can dry the second bag using only the heat and sun of the day.  After all, what good will it be if I can't dry it without electricity?

**UPDATE: Since adding this recipe to my blog, I have had the chance to water proof a couple of pairs of boots.  One leather, one leather like.  Both have a collar on them that is made of synthetic material.  Materials that are not natural, i.e.; nylon, faux leather, plastics, are all susceptible to the heat from the heat gun.  Use caution.  These materials can melt or even burn when too much heat is applied to them.  If your heat gun has dual temperatures use the lowest setting around these and quick passes rather than slow.

The leather on one pair of boots was a fawn color.  In this case the proofer did alter the color of the leather making it a bit darker.  This was not a problem for me, rather, something to be aware of.

Around the soles of the shoes there may be excess wax once you apply the heat gun.  Simply wipe up with a paper towel.  **

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Cut A Bottle With A String

So many great ideas out there.  So many "pretty" ways of doing things.  Sometimes it's a good idea to try them out and see if they really work.

Here's one that I did.

You've probably seen this one go around the net.  It's been on Youtube, Face Book, and I'm sure, although I haven't seen it yet... Instagram.

This one happens to be accompanied by "why" you would go to the trouble.  It makes sense.  You're having a BBQ and would like a little atmosphere.  But that darn wind keeps getting in the way.  The candles are getting blown out, or maybe they're just burning to fast.

Solution.... A beautiful recycled glass cover.  DIY style.

So here's the thing.  It works.  Not only that, but the flame on the candle doesn't suffocate from lack of oxygen.  I could go into all of the things that a fire needs to burn.... But that has already been done by someone else.

Once we new what to do, it took all of 5 minutes to break the glass.  I'd say it'll take about another 5 to grind the edge to get rid of the couple of sharp spots it has.  But for 10 minutes, and a new way to re-purpose old glass?  Worth it.

Picture 1 is basically steps 1 - 4.  Just like in the videos, we wrapped the yarn around the bottle, tied it, and cut off the extra string after the knot.  Then we pulled the yarn off of the bottle taking care not to un-wind it.  We soaked the yarn in its created shape, in fingernail polish remover and then re-placed it on the bottle. (This step is why it is important to not un-wind the yarn.) We did our best to make the yarn was as even or level as possible around the bottle.  A crooked string can mean a crooked break.

While you're soaking the yarn, fill your bucket or sink with COLD water.  We added ice just to make sure.

Once we were happy with the placement of the yarn we lit it.  While the yarn was burning we turned the bottle over and over until just before the fire began to burn out.  Once we could see that it was on the verge of burn out we dunked it into the sink full of water.

Immediately we heard, "SNAP", and the bottom of the bottle sank to the bottom of the sink.

Picture 2 shows the rough edge of the bottle.  It will need to be ground, or sanded down, but at this point it is just a matter of cleaning up the supplies and removing the yarn.

In Picture 3 you'll notice that the break line is well above the yarn.  If you look you can also see a fracture underneath the yarn line.  (The red arrow is pointing out the fracture.)  This tells me that the fracture line is right at the edge of the heat line.

And Finally in Picture 4 you can see the lit candle burning nicely.  While I write this post I have left the candle burning.  Currently it has been burning for more than an hour.  This could be because the bottom is un-even and allowing air flow to help feed the flame...  Or it could work just fine even with the edge flat to the table surface.  Once I get the new bottom cleaned up I can update this post and let you know.

I'm thinking I know a few people who might enjoy these as a house warming gift.

CHEERS!

***UPDATE:  One way that you can knock down the sharp edge after "cutting" the bottom of the bottle off is to carefully rub the cut end against cement.  I'd recommend cement that is as smooth as possible.  Rub the bottles cut edge against the cement in a circular motion.  This is a tedious process and needs to be done carefully.  This can produce vertical cracks in the bottle.  ***


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Calculating How Many Days Your food Storage Will Last

How do you calculate your food storage, and how many days it will last?

That is the question…   

There are a few things that go into the calculations of food storage.  There is a bit of guessing with some things, and then some really good data on others. 

The best way is to think about it in servings.  This can or bottle, or even bucket has “X” amount of servings.  Dividing by 3 servings a day will give me the approximate days this food storage will feed 1 person.  All that’s left to figure out, how many people are relying on your food storage.

This makes it very easy to calculate or estimate how many days your cans, bottles and buckets will last you…

I don’t worry about how a can will compliment a meal, I think of it as A meal.  If every can is a meal regardless of contents it makes it easier to calculate.  Besides, if you’re down to your last can are you going to worry about what that last can compliments?

There are a couple of challenges with calculating food storage…  One being "home bottled" items.  

1) There are a couple things you can do.  The best one, although somewhat labor intensive, would be to compare the same types of items that you have with those you can find at the store.  If you’re like me, and utilize a variety of items for your storage, you may already have comparable items in your storage.  

If not, a trip to the store may be in order. 

Compare your home made jam to a store bought jam that is about the same size.  Spaghetti sauces, soups, chili’s, juices, canned beans, all can be compared to your home preserves.  Commercial manufacturers have to put serving size and approximate servings per container on all of their goods.  This gives you the opportunity to estimate how many servings yours might be. 

2) Another challenge is food stored in buckets or dried goods.  Most people find that with a little effort on their part, they can save a few dollars here and there by storing their own dry items in buckets.  But calculating this can be challenging.  After all how many bags of beans can you fit inside of that 5 gallon bucket?  Sometimes it really is a bag and a half.  How about rice?  Then there’s flour, sugar, wheat, barley, and many other items that you’ll want to calculate. 

The best way is going to be by servings.  If your bag of goods is labeled with the nutritional values, it should include serving size, and estimated servings per container.   However, that being said, there are many bags that only include the weight and contents.  Now how can we calculate those?

By cup: 

How many cups of “X” fit into a 1 gallon bucket?  Don’t have a gallon bucket?  Do you have a #10 can?  1 #10 can is a U.S. liquid measured 1 gallon. 

Does 1 cup equal 1 serving?  Or is it ½, ¼, or 2 or more?

By weight: 

If you know about how much a serving size is, and how much it weighs or you can weigh the serving size, it’s then just a matter of some math to get the answer.  

If the #10 can is commercially prepared, it will have that information on the label. 

~~For example:  1 #10 can of small white navy beans is about 5.6 lbs per can.  1 serving size is ¼ of a cup.  There are approximately 48 servings per #10 can.

Let’s work with a 50 pound bag.

If we divide 50 pounds by the weight of the Navy beans in a #10 can (5.6 lbs) we get …

50 lbs / 5.6 lbs = 8.9 # 10 cans. (I like to round down to make the math simpler.  Doing this will also give us a buffer in our actual storage.) We’ll use 8.5 # 10 cans.

There are 48 servings in a #10 can; if we multiply that by 8.5 # 10 cans we get 408 servings.~

Since we know that a #10 can is the same as a gallon, we can then multiply by larger containers to find their serving sizes.

If you have an empty #10 can, you can use it to measure number of servings and weight.  Then just multiply by the size of the larger container. 

(I found the information based on a commercially purchased #10 can.) 

Measuring your food storage this way works for anything that is commercially prepared.  A quick web search for serving sizes may help. (I was able to find the nutritional value, and serving size information on several #10 cans on beprepaired.com)  Or visiting your nearest store to find commercially labeled products for amounts can help.

~Of course if you or your family regularly eat more than 1 serving you'll need to compensate for that.  For our purposes, 1 serving per person is enough.~

**Some of the trickier items to measure are going to be things like sugar, white flour, wheat berries, baking soda, salt, and other “baking” items.  It will be challenging to measure them because the amounts needed will vary between recipes. 

Rule of thumb; calculate your flour and sugar or other similar ingredients by the recipes that use the most of those items in 1 recipe.  For example; if you use 6 cups of flour every time you make bread, that’s the number you’ll use for the flour servings size.  You’ll also need to figure out how many times a week you’ll make bread.  How many loaves each time and so on.  

For some, figuring out how many loaves per year is easy.  For those who rarely bake bread, or who have never baked bread this will be a lot more challenging. 

Once you know how many cups per recipe, and how many recipes per week you can calculate the amount you have and the amount you need.  

~Don't forget; If you make breads and pies, or pies and cakes, pastas and so on, you’ll want to base your calculations on total or estimated total cups used in a week.  If your using 12 cups of flour in a week regularly, then estimate your amounts based on those 12 cups.  That would = 624 cups in a year. 

If a #10 can of flour holds approximately 9.9 cups you can figure out how many cans or buckets you’ll need to store

. 

This is how I figured the math for the flour when using 624 cups of flour a year. 

53 servings per container, 3TBL = I serving

16 TBL = 1 cup

53 servings x 3 TBL = 159 TBL

159 TBL / 16 TBL = 9.9 cups.  Round down to 9.5 cups.

9.5 cups per #10 can / 624 cups per year = 65.5 #10 cans.

OR, 13.1 5 gallon buckets.  ~

~Always round up on containers.~

Make sure to do this with all baking ingredients.  Baking soda, yeast, sugar, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, etc.

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