UPDATES ON ME

[Kay Alett]

That's a big tent and good setup. If it's something you enjoy perhaps if you want you could find a commune somewhere to set up? My brother spent a few years living at some rural communes in AZ, TN, and CA. He enjoyed his time there. It's private land so less risk of getting run off. But anyways good luck!

CA is a good place to get cheap used solar panels and batteries. Solar panels goes to charge controller. Charge controller goes to battery. Battery goes to inverter (pure sine wave if you can). Inverter gives you 120v AC to power small things all night like LED lights, laptops, phones, etc. Pretty easy to set up. But be careful as it's pretty easy to steal if your not in a secure location.

Yeah my campmate has been trying to teach me how to set up a system for us both to use.
Thanks for the advice on communes but I'm gonna stick to where I am for now. I'm in an out of the way spot on the far end of the slabs, no real danger of getting run off and it's just three of us here in the camp and we respect one another's privacy.

The only real annoyance is the guy here with us who keeps trying to act like he's mayor and runs the whole place but Kathy and I keep setting him straight.
He put on a big song and dance like he was gonna leave and go back to Alabama but he ain't left and i doubt he ever will.

[Kay Alett]

Is there something wrong with this thread that i keep getting database errors whenever I try to post here?

[Kay Alett]

Oh of course, that it posts no problem

[Kay Alett]

So i guess it's time for an update. It's getting hotter here in the wasteland.

Luckily Kathy bought a generator and a swamp cooler the other day and we spent the hottest part of the day holed up in her trailer enjoying the cooler air till her generator ran out of gas. Fortunately by then we had passed the hottest part of the day and it was slowly starting to cool down.


The only issue now is that with rising temperatures I'm drinking more water.

Last month i ran out of water and had to rely on Kathy for water. And this month, since Kathy used most of her check on the generator and cooler I been using my check to cover food and water for the both of us this month, which hasn't been easy.

So now it's getting to be a matter of being able to buy enough water to see me through the month entirely and not running out just shy of month's end.

[Kay Alett]

Update time

So my friend kathy and I have been planning to pull up stake and leave the slabs entirely and go north together to Santa Cruz.

Unfortunately a couple of days ago she fell ill and I had to call paramedics. She was taken to a hospital and shortly thereafter airlifted to a hospital in San Diego. She seems to be doing well but there's a big issue which now rears its ugly head, getting Kathy back home.

She doesn't have her vehicle and it's a long drive from San Diego to the slabs.

So if anyone has any ideas to help please speak up.

[Jade Sinapu]

IDK really.  Is she is very well and brave and able,  is hitchhiking an option?

[DDD]

Hey Kay,

I haven't been on here in ages, but its so awesome to see these updates from you!
Your tent looks amazing at night.
By the sounds of it, you are starting the small strong community there.
Helping others set up tents is a great way to make friends for life.
If it is windy there, you can also get a wind generator.
Another way to harness solar energy without solar panels is to run a long length of black PVC tube filled with water. The sun will heat up the water in the tube, so at night time you can enjoy warm water without ever using electricity!

Looking forward to your next update!

DDD

[Kay Alett]

So it's been a while since I updated here and let everyone know how I'm doing.

The sad first. My Neighbor and friend Kathy's dog Sweetpea passed away a few months ago. I helped dig the grave. We laid an old tire on top along with a large stone and put a little fence around her to protect against coyotes.

A couple of weeks ago a neighbor down the street passed away from his alcoholism. His name was Sonny. He was pretty old and i miss him.

Now onto better things. I've been improving my solar setup, still using little panels to charge backup battery banks but it works well for me. I keep my phone charged. I even purchased a USB charging cord for my old "New 2DS XL". Being able to play games really helps mitigate the boredom here. My LDR boyfriend in Australia has also shipped me a Retroid Pocket 3+ stuffed to the gills with a number of games from the NES to Gamecube and PS1&2. Looking forward to that.

Other exciting news, in preparation for the coming summer i have bought a solar powered fan that has its own dedicated panel along with two small USB powered fans that i run off my power banks.

Last acquisition is a propane camp stove so that i can finally cook food of my own and stop eating hormel compleats meals like they're ration packs.

I'm also using powdered gatorade and powdered milk to flavor up my water now heh.

I still intend to work on getting some kind of refrigeration out here. I'm thinking that if i can get something like a jackrey and some solar panels to keep it charged i could get a little DC powered cooler chest off Amazon. But man is that stuff costly...

Some new people have moved into the area as well, most of them living in tents, one has a tent that looks kind of like mine but made of typical tent nylon instead of canvas. They're not horrible people i guess but i wish they'd stop shouting.

Still living in my tent, it's holding up well so far. Life is settling down into an odd kind routine now.

[Jade Sinapu]

Thanks for the update Kay. So sorry to hear about the neighbor and dog.  That's sad.  But at least for the dog you all paid last respects and will never forget.

Sounds like you are holding up well so far
 Is it still your long term goal to get ID and move into a town etc? Just wondering if it didn't matter as much now that you are so self sufficient.

[Kay Alett]

Thanks for the update Kay. So sorry to hear about the neighbor and dog.  That's sad.  But at least for the dog you all paid last respects and will never forget.

Sounds like you are holding up well so far
 Is it still your long term goal to get ID and move into a town etc? Just wondering if it didn't matter as much now that you are so self sufficient.

Oh i already got ID. Got that about a month into my life here.
No, i don't think I'm going to go back to civilization any time soon.
I rather enjoy this wasteland living. It's not ideal and can be pretty stressful at times i won't lie, but i have fans to keep cool, i have electric lights, i can keep my phone charged, i have games to play, and now I can cook food again.

It's quite an adventurous way of life here, and there's a certain bent appeal in approaching the challenges of building a life here like a crafting game.
"Stove acquired! Cooking unlocked! New crafting recipes have been added."

Next step is getting running water. And once i have a water tower and tank I'll set about getting some lumber and try building myself an outdoor shower.

[Kay Alett]

Time for an update I think.

The stove is working out better than I could have even hoped for. It's so nice being able to cook again, granted most of what I do is just heat up canned food that is already cooked but the point is that i can make more varieties of meals.

I've been enjoying mac and cheese quite a bit lately heh. Nothing fancy and it's taken some compromises that lead to a need to develop an "acquired taste" for it. I'm using the really cheapo Walmart brand mac, in place of milk I'm using powdered milk, the cheese powder it comes with is just okay so I decided to improve upon it with some velveeta.

Rice boiled in broth and topped with gravy with quite tasty, especially if you add in a can of roast beef or chicken.

My usual go to for meat is SPAM. I love SPAM, always have.
Cube it and mix it with baked beans, cut it into patties and fry it with a little cheese and put it on grilled bread for a great sammich. Cut into strips, fry it put it on a hot dog bun with ketchup and mustard or a little chili. All time great for survival food.

I'm gonna try and get ahold of a big can of powdered eggs so i can start having a nice hearty breakfast.

I been enjoying the heck out of my new gaming system, it's called a retroid pocket 3+ running an emulator called retroarch. I can play everything i grew up playing again. Nes, genesis, TG16, dreamcast, sega cd ps1, ps2, gamecube, all the gameboys, it's fantastic. And since it's basically a kind of a modified smartphone it charges exactly like my phone.
Tbh I'm still in awe over how technology has advanced from when i was a kid and this system is like magic to me.

My neighbor Kathy finally stopped using her large ice chest which really wasn't doing her any good because she kept it in the doorway of her trailer where the sun always hit it.

That's pretty much it as far as things are around here. Just a day to day survival challenge.

[Jade Sinapu]

I have been wondering... what's a person to do for bathroom breaks? Sorry just curious.

[Kay Alett]

I have been wondering... what's a person to do for bathroom breaks? Sorry just curious.

It's okay. Basically you get a thing at Walmart called a camp toilet which is like a toilet seat and lid that plugs on over a standard 5 gallon bucket.
I'll let you figure out where things go from there.
The best thing to do is use a garbage bag to line your bucket for ease of cleaning.

EDIT: Additional - Standard practice out here is to bury your waste.