Update on can runs

I had a shocker...my in-laws took the kids camping during Spring Break. My husband took a look at the calendar, said, "Wait a minute: it's their anniversary! What do they want?" I'm glad he said it, and not me...he would have accused me of ascribing ulterior motives that weren't there....but anyway, with the kids away, I got to go on "can runs" with hubby.

Let me describe a can run for you. We get in our best mileage car...that would be our beater Metro. It's low to the ground, and gets 30 MPG. Wouldn't do much good to get in a car that burns gas. We go the streets that don't get much traffic and look for ANYTHING metal. Aluminum is the best, as in soda/beer cans. But tire weights bring good money, too. Appliances left for the garbage man can be scrapped out. We line the back seat with plastic bins and put a small one between my feet. We separate as we go. We wear gloves. We call cans that are already squashed street pizzas. Yes, we pick those up, too. My husband has a good eye for those, I'm not so good at that. If it's a big pile of trash at the curb, we go up and ask the house if we can have it.

This week, we got brass curtain rods, 2 vacuum cleaners, a plasma TV, a regular TV, construction brass fittings, a dust buster, and I don't even know how many cans. We try to map out where we're going, but sometimes opportunity knocks and changes our plans. When we come home, we scrap out what we found. You have to be real careful with TV's. My husband knows more about doing that because he's the electrician. I let him do that. I tweaked in the Navy (meaning I did screws and little things like that) so I take apart things that have no chance of doing any harm. You would be amazed what is inside a motor. Copper wire is the most money when you turn it in. He has buckets for the different metals. I'm not really up on all that. I hand it to him and he sorts it. If a magnet will cling to it, it goes in a different one. I know it takes a lot of scrap steel to make any money, but it adds up. We found a scrap piece of car at a wreck site. Apparently the police didn't feel like cleaning up the wreckage. We did. We're doing a service to the community, too. We also got a trashed bar-b-que pit....cast aluminum. Some kind of burner that was also cast aluminum. And a file cabinet that had brass fittings.

Once, while out, we found a pile of bullets. Scared my husband to death. He called it in. My son was with him. He waited for the police to show up. He knew they were simulated rounds, you can tell because they have plastic tips, but he was afraid someone was doing something they ought not to do. Being a good citizen, he wanted to report it. Turns out, they had a SWAT practice area there. The police gave us permission to pick up whatever we found in the area. Cool. Brass is brass.

I sometimes feel like people look on this as redneck, but in today's society, every little bit helps. This is sending my son to camp.

While we were out, someone had thrown out a box of glasses and mugs. It's amazing what people throw out. We took it in. I'm not going to resell it, though, I'm keeping them. I collect Fire King, and really any other ovenware. It had 2 Glassbake mugs in it, one white and one pink. If the person who put it on the curb would happen to read this blog by chance, thank you. You made someone very happy. It had a Navy mug, from the USS Chicago....we're both Navy....though it has a name on it. It had 2 steins with ships on it. It had 2 Dallas Cowboy steins...those will be birthday presents for my Father in law...regifting is great. It also had a couple juice glasses....you can never have enough juice glasses with kids. And lastly a root beer mug that matches a couple I already have. What a treasure find. Sometimes God leads you down just the right street.

Now the scrapping out begins. We're gonna try to get everything scrapped out by Friday so he can take it down to recycle and see what we got in cash for our haul.

Supplies to have on hand - From Red Cross

This is from another site I was on, and they got it from the Red Cross site (www.redcross.org):

These are basic things to keep on hand in case of a disaster. These should be kept on hand in an easy to carry emergency preparedness kit that you can use at home, or take with you in case of an emergency in case you need to evacuate. We haven't done it yet, but we plan to pack a grab 'n go kit for each family member, preferably in a back pack, and another pack that is carryable. Not all items would go in a grab and go kit, use your own judgement.

- Water - one gallon per person, per day (3 day supply for evacuation, 2 week supply for home)
- Flashlight
- Battery powered or hand crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if possible)
- Extra batteries
- First Aid kit
- Medications (7 day supply) and medical items
- Multipurpose tool
- Sanitation and personal hygiene items
- Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies)
- Cell phone with chargers
- Family and emergency contact numbers
- Extra cash (or gold and silver coins - my addition)
- Emergency blanket
- Map(s) of the area

Consider the needs of all family members and add supplies to your kit. Suggested items to help meet additional needs are:

- Medical supplies (hearing aids with extra batteries, glasses, contact lenses, syringes, cane)
- Baby supplies (bottles, formula, baby food, diapers)
- Games and activities for children
- Pet supplies (collar, leash, ID, food, carrier, bowl [a collapsible one would be best])
- Two-way radios
- Extra set of car keys and house keys
- Manual can opener

Additional supplies to keep at home or in your kit based on types of disasters common to your area are:

- Whistle
- N95 or Surgical masks
- Matches
- Rain gear
- Towels
- Work gloves
- Tools/supplies for securing your home
- Extra clothing, hat and sturdy shoes
- Plastic sheeting
- Duct tape
- Scissors
- Household bleach
- Entertainment items
- Blankets or sleeping bags
- If you live in a hot climate, allow more water

Also in your house, you should stock extra food. Buy when it's buy one get one free, or when it goes on sale. I've heard not to buy the pull top. If you aren't using it, as in no emergency comes along, and you buy new stuff, rotate out your stock and use it up. That way it doesn't sit on the shelf for 5 years, or 20, but gets used, and you're constantly using the older stuff and putting the newer stuff away. It also keeps it fresh in your mind to replenish your stock.

Update on garden, recycling, slightly political

I posted my Cheer leader plaque on Ebay. I made $4.99. Not bad for a dumpster dive find. Only one of them sold. I guess because it had the H on it, the other one was turned and didn't have the H and didn't get bid on. I mailed it to someone who's home town started with an "H."

I cleaned out my closet, finding a set of sheets for a size bed I no longer use. I have the headboard/foot board, but no mattresses. I decided to keep them, in case we need material. One is a high thread count, the other is microfiber. We're in the beginnings of a depression....don't throw anything away.

My husband took the louver doors down from my sons' closets. He was going to scrap them out. I stopped him. Compost bins. He's going to take the brass fixtures off of them, take them apart and use them as the borders for my compost bins. I compost for a season, lasagna style, and then it's ready to plant the next season. I did this last season and now I have one plot ready to plant. I haven't gardened in a while, and it's a nice way to break in to doing it again. You don't want to jump in to doing a lot of gardening. You'll burn out and your garden will turn into an untended jungle of unproduction. We just moved into this house last year (in April) and the previous owners left a lot of stuff behind. There was some kind of what looks like a shelving unit, but we can't figure out how it goes together and don't think it's all there. We're going to use parts of it as a trellis for the climbing plants, you know, cucumbers, peas, things like that. I'm not sure what I have room for in my little plot. I have priorities and we'll see when I start plotting it out. It's still a little cold.

But it's warming up here in Texas, and I'm getting that spring fever. I may start turning the leaves under. They didn't really rot like I'd hoped they would over the winter. I put a layer of leaves over the top of the compost to keep the worms warm over the winter. Now with the weather in the 40's and higher, it may get too warm. I'm not real sure what I'm doing here, playing it by ear. My husband says my plot is not big enough, but he's a city boy, what does he know? He didn't even know to pull the suckers off the tomato plants. I may find time today to turn the leaves and measure the plot.

So, our plans include stripping down the louver doors. When it warms up, we're going to hire my husband's sister's fiance to pull out the pom pus grass. That will give us an area to put the new compost bin in. Then I can start putting compost out in. We also picked up an old drawer off the side of the road. We have to pull the drawer pull off of it (brass) and knock out the bottom, and it's a ready made compost bin. It would hold a couple pepper plants. He also picked up a couple drawers that someone had already destroyed, so it's just the sides and ends. The hardware is usually brass or some metal that's able to be turned in.

Right now, most of the money that is being turned in is going towards my son's summer camp. We've already collected about $50. I'm donating $10 a week of my allowance (I get $15 a week). My son is donating his whole $3 allowance. He gets $3 as a set allowance, at the age of 10, and if he does any extra chores, it's 25 cents a chore. At this point, he's not really motivated to do extra chores. I don't know why, he's trying to earn money to go to camp. But, he's going on can runs with his dad. His dad is letting him keep what they collect in cans. They pick up aluminum cans and any other scrap metal they can turn in. They pick up tire weights, broken electronics, anything, then on Saturday take it to the recycle center. Every little bit counts.

My husband says I shouldn't be writing about this. The more people who know, the less will be there for him to pick up. But, I look at the number of people reading my blog, and figure he's safe.

I had a thought that goes with politics a bit. With the economy edging towards collapse, I was thinking how bad things could get. There are a lot of people who see the worst possible scenarios coming down. They see terrorists running in the streets, targeting conservatives, Christians, anyone who they think could have "caused" this to happen. Of course, it could go the other way, and they could blame the Obama administration. But, if they decide it's the fault of the capitalists, it might not be a bad idea to buy (at a thrift store) a few liberal-slanted t shirts so you could pose as a liberal. Don't attack me, I claimed to be a capitalist up front. And if you're on this site and a liberal, sorry. Guess you won't know who you're friends are. Welcome to the crowd. I just got attacked by a mole in a conservative blog. We'll adopt your tactics.

I guess that's what gave me the idea. Liberals have infiltrated our blogs. They pose as us, and live among us, but they can't hide their ideals, and eventually attack because they can't have calm discussions. They can't discuss with facts, they have to attack the person, and name call. It always comes out. So, we as conservatives will have to learn to fight like a liberal to hide among you. I can name-call. I can fight with emotion and pretend to be a liberal. I can have a bunch of liberal clothes and go among the liberals and fit in. I can be a chameleon and you would never know I was a conservative. I just hope it doesn't come to that, because I would feel like I sold my soul.

Lori Ann Smith