Gerald O'Hara

We had a rat problem for almost a year until we got a cat, now named Jasper. I had built rat bait stations out of 3” pvc pipe that nothing but rats and mice could get into. I even rotated the bait but it didn’t really deter them.
Rats are incredibly destructive and get into the house walls where the can hide and store whatever they steal from the supply room. They also like to destroy styrofoam insulation. They don’t eat it, they just turn it into a pile of little balls. And Even more annoying is that they appear to think that the insulation coats of electrical equipment wires are particularly tasty. They will eat down to the copper wire if they are not detected.

Jasper resolved the rat problem in less than a week.  Living on a remote farm there are always predators who kill chickens. We had a problem with a mink and found that rats had created a colony under our chickens coop. The rats would chew through the wood walls of the coop to steal the chicken feed and those holes provided the mink wit access to the chickens. We lost five hens in a single week.  
So since Jasper had never shown any aggressive behavior toward the chickens, we decided to put him in the chicken coop one  night as a guardian for the chickens.   The next morning, there was a dead rat under the feeder, but no loss of chickens. From then on, (after lining the floor where the wall meets it with 1/4” hardware cloth), we have been using Jasper as a guardian of the chickens. He goes in willingly every night and is let out when I come to feed and water the chickens in the morning. Since that time we’ve only lost chickens during the day( they are free ranging birds) because no predators want to mess with Jasper at night.

Leatherman is the way to go. I carry the SURGE model. It’s spendy, I admit but it’s a tool box in the space of a pocket knife and has features you could use frequently.It’s about 11 different tools that all fit in your pocket or on a belt (best option imho.)
The inside tools all lock to hold them from folding while you are working. AND it is made of good stainless steel so it is easy to keep clean and avoid rust when you get soaked in the rain etc.
There’s no day that I don’t use it. The accessory screw driver points that are available just can’t be beat because of the variable size and type of screws that you are liable to encounter.
One of the beautiful features of this piece is that the knife blades, the scissors and the file(or saw blade) all can be accessed without having to open it. The needle nose pliers are inside along with the screwdriver blades and can opener.
It’s THE MOST handy pocket/survival tool you’ll ever have.
And o yes, the knife blades are excellent performers.

A recent article about this stated that the ratio sequence was dependent on the cross sectional area (CSA) of the material in a “J” tube configuration.

It assumed that the CSA was the 1.  The height of the magazine (vertical section) was 2 x CSA; the burn chamber was 4x CSA and the heat riser was 6 x CSA. Given those figures, your heat riser would be 48”. However, I’ve not seen a combustion chamber 32” long.

In the original research by Larry Winiarski at the University in Wisconsin, the design was an “L” shape where the combustion chamber was 1 unit and the heat riser was 1.5-2 units (not necessarily based on the CSA). So, a 12” combustion chamber got a 18-24” heat riser. I’ve built several “L”shaped rocket stoves based on this figure and have had excellent results.

The efficiency of the insulation around the heat riser was of significant importance but without insulation, the ratio remained unchanged.

There has been significant research on this since then. Peter Vandenberg and the Wisners have contributed greatly as well as “Donkey”.  “J”tubes and modified “J”tube styles have come along since then and the “P” channel have improved the performance  greatly.  

I share the concerns regarding spacing of your project from ANY flammable surface. On the rocket stove I bought (Liberator), at the top of the “bell” can easily reach 600°F and I have photos to prove that. The one I built comes close to that. I can keep the temperature of the bell between 300 to 400°F in a large Quonset building with no insulation on the walls. The minimum distance from anything that hot should be greater than 30”(more iyam).

I just lost all nine of my birds yesterday. The description of neck eaten and head hanging by the spinal cord is vivid but that’s a mink or weasel. I saw a brown critter with a narrow tail in my machine shop a few days before the birds were all killed. I had “plugged all the holes in the floor but apparently the corner of the door was chewed away enough to permit access. You could only detect that faulty door from the inside.
It seems that no matter what you do, eventually a predator will find the one weakness in your security plan.
Fortunately, I hatched one pullet in early February and had put 11 eggs in the incubator yesterday morning morning before finding the massacre.
I wouldn’t have begrudged one bird to a hungry beast, but killing for sport makes me really angry.
Needless to say, no matter what you do, the odds are in favor of the predators.
I had moved all the birds to the coop from the chicken tractor that is completely covered with snow. Lotta good that did🤬
Cheers
Trim sends

Did you do a control study with just the water alone? That would tell you the effects of the energy production contributed by the wood.

A neti pot usually holds a cup of water. (250 ml). I have always recommended (and used) 1/8 tsp sea salt NOT Repeat NOT iodized salt in warm tap water.  This gives you essentially the equivalent of what we call NORMAL SALINE.

Boiled water is just as good but it cannot/shouldn’t be over 100°F or you’ll be VERY UNCOMFORTABLE and immediately miserable.

Of course, adding LOCALLY PRODUCED HONEY to your diet will (in most cases) resolve your allergy issues in several weeks.

Hope this helps.
Trim sends

Start with considering 5 essential categories:
1. Water- how and where to get it; how to make it safe (assuming you have a source)
2. Food: how and where to get it/produce it and store enough safely to last till the second growing season
3. Stay warm- this is a wide topic
   Shelter; fire/heat production; clothing
4. Morale/welfare/recreation- huge topic
5. Transportation/communications

You are writing as if you expect to be transported to some planet where no prior civilization exists. While that’s what happened here on earth multiple times, the likelihood of YOU being chosen for such a mission would seem somewhat remote. You aren’t heading out into the great unknown with only what you could carry in a covered wagon.

Think ahead here. All of this stuff already exists and the information about how to do ALL of this currently exists. Much of it you may even own currently.

ALWAYS USE WHAT YOU HAVE ON HAND FIRST BEFORE YOU GO LOOKING TO SPEND RESOURCES/MONEY TO GET SOMETHING.
Start by:
1.watching YouTube videos on the things you believe you need to learn.
2. gathering
A) books on how to do everything
B) tools to do everything  (hand tools first that don’t need power) garden tools; carpentry tools; kitchen tools; etc.
C) materials to be used ( or learn the process required to do things.

3) get to the place where you are going to do this. Without a place, you will simply fill your current home with stuff and not be able to use it!

“Start at the beginning, work to the end, and then stop!”

Frankly, to be perfectly honest, if you haven’t got all this well on the way before NOVEMBER 3,2020 I would predict that the odds of this dream of yours are essentially zero because it means you have no idea about what the dark forces are planning and have set int motion.

Perhaps you’re familiar with the story of “the wise and foolish virgins.” Well, from what things look like currently, the wedding guest is  here.

I hate to think about this but unless The Carpenter of Nazareth comes back REALLY SOON, we’re in for a really bumpy ride.

I would recommend you read:Revelation
It will explain what I’m telling you about.
I sincerely pray that you can get this all together immediately. You’ve waited too long already.

I fervently pray that I am wrong, but that’s not the horse where I’d put my $2
TMM
TRIM sends

The pallet forks for my tractor are by far the most useful and helpful tool I have ever had. It allows me to carry huge loads, work at higher altitudes, and move things around with ease.
Nothing else that I have ever had has ever come close to the utility and control of work on the farm.

Jennifer Wadsworth wrote:I can pee without pooping but can't poop without peeing.

However, I will admit to sometimes having a ninja turd attack when I innocently assumed I was just there to "make water".

Poop can sneak up on one sometimes.... Just sayin'.

I picked this post to respond to because it justifies the following comments in order to understand WHY we get those NINJA TURD ATTACKS when thinking we were only there to "make water!"

As luck (and G*d) would have it, the complaint issued by Jennifer is not a design flaw; rather a specific design feature. The human waste disposal system is controlled by the "autonomic nervous system" (read: automatic) and the solid waste disposal function is specifically controlled by the 10th cranial nerve in the brainstem called the "VAGUS NERVE" (yes, this is going to be a bit "technical". We are talking about the "pooping system" after all).

The Vagus nerve is a rather complex wiring system which controls the activation of certain bodily functions, of which the poop mechanism is one. There are several signal types that enter into play here. One of these is called the "gastro-colic reflex" which simply stated means that when you eat enough to activate the "stretch receptors" in your stomach, those stretch receptors send a signal to the "main frame" (read: brain) and that sends the "empty out" signal to the colon to make room for what is currently in the stomach. Often as not however, as Jennifer has stated, there is no signal from the brain to the colon to tell it to empty because there is nothing in the stomach to tell it that. So you just get the "time to pee" signal from the pelvic nerves and most folks comply with that in a timely manner, assuming they are in a situation where they can do so.

Now it is important to understand that the signal the brain sends via the Vagus nerve (i.e wiring system) is a smooth muscle contraction signal as opposed to a "skeletal muscle" contraction signal such as when you decide to move one of your extremities. Most of the "hollow organs" are comprised of this Smooth muscle.

The vagus nerve (parasympathetic nerve) has control of a number of functions including (but not limited to) the heart, liver gall bladder, bile ducts, stomach, trachea, bronchi and lungs, the kidney, and adrenal glands all of which can be activated by this "smooth muscle contraction" signal. The bladder, which is held in check as it fills by the "sympathetic nerves" in the "autonomic system" is activated by an "over-ride" signal from the parasympathetic nerves which causes it to empty. Ergo, you often pee but not poop, but in many cases you may notice that you fart while you are peeing. This is the result of the same parasympathetic nerve stimulation along the "parasympathetic wiring of which the "vagus nerve" is included. If you have ever noticed that some folks actually lose consciousness and even some die with excessive straining to empty the "waste port". Stimulating the vagus nerve also has the ability to slow down the heart to the point of stopping if it goes on for too long.

The two systems are equal and opposite forces, just like in Newtonian physics. Now it is also true that there are "stretch receptors" in the bladder as well, which when stimulated as the result of reaching its "volume/capacity" sends a signal to the brain to send a signal via the pelvic nerve to the bladder to empty in order for it to NOT overfill which causes some impressive concern for folks who fail to heed its call in a timely manner such as when driving or doing something that can not be easily stopped at the moment one gets "THAT signal".

So, without going much deeper into the wiring diagram and operation of the human body, suffice it to say, the "two hole activation system" is indeed a deliberate design feature of the "Supreme Architect of the Universe".

I should also like to point out that the "HUMANURE" system is for reasons no one is completely positive about, unfortunately provides an unsafe product and should NOT, repeat NOT be used on vegetables or edible garden produce. Flowers are fine, but there is an association with certain forms of neurological disease, among which MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS is associated (but never as yet proven). There was (and may still be a product called "MilOrganite" which is made from HUMANURE. If you read about it, you will conclude that this is NOT something we want to add to our diet...ever.
Just sayin'
Cheers,
Trim sends

So with all this "technology" you'd think we can come up with the "least technically involved" approach to making a cup of coffee.
Recently, I bought a "tea ball" which is a very fine strainer in the shape of a ball. It comes apart in two halves and I put a tbs. of coffee in it and plunk that into the hot water. Voila! coffee. The longer it sits there, the stronger the coffee gets. I grind the coffee fairly coarse so I dont' get a lot of mud at the bottom of the cup.
QED