What a relief to be receiving daily shipments of food, gear, supplies we have been ordering over the last 6 months.

Get frustrated (depressed?) when supplies do not arrive after a 3-4 month wait. Beginning to see a little daylight in a dark tunnel.

BTW the UPS folks are beginning to know us by name!

Been experiencing a early Christmas yet?

-- Joska (Joska@Hunky.com), December 17, 1998

Answers

dunno Joska, here in political correctness land, the UPS lady has started looking at me really funny ...think it began when she delivered that second package from a knife manufacturer...

*sigh* and then there's the credit card bill...

Arlin Adams

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), December 17, 1998.

I laughed when I read this. The UPS man delivered a kerosene cookstove Monday and a kerosene heater Wednesday. He asked my husband if we were planning to set up housekeeping in the shop. My husband just chuckled and told him it was the only way to heat his brother's cabin up in Maine.

So, I'll bet if TSHTH the UPS guys will know who's door to knock on, ey?

Okum

-- Okum (ws000@aol.com), December 17, 1998.

I hear ya, Joska :-)

I just received my non-electrical washing machines and tried 'em out. I was amazed that they did a better job than the electric washing machine, and there really wasn't that much effort involved.

What's interesting is that the stuff that I think will have a moderate turnaround time for delivery has turned out otherwise, and vice versa. For example, I ordered a couple of Katadyn water filters around Labor day and expected to have them by late October. The last time I called, they said January. I ordered some solar powered battery chargers and got it within a few day...guess it depends on what you order, and from whom.

Gosh...imagine what it's going to be like when the masses start ordering this type of survival stuff 'round March or April!

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), December 17, 1998.

Where did you get the battery chargers from? Been looking for something like that.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 17, 1998.

Here for solar battery chargers: http://www.campingworld.com

-- curtis schalek (schale1@ibm.net), December 17, 1998.

For a solar charger for yer basic NiCads and such, check out:

http://www.ccrane.com/solbatcg.htm

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), December 17, 1998.

Here's the place, Robert:

B & A Products
http://www.baproducts.com

They also have some interesting books pertaining to alternative power sources.

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), December 17, 1998.

Radio shack has a solar battery charger part# RSU 11903184. The C Crane company carries one at http://ccrane.com/products.htm

-- Steve Bell (JVin470924@aol.com), December 17, 1998.

What kind of washing machine did you get. I am trying to convince my DH that my arthritc hands will not be able to wring out his undies, adn he is balking. I tghink maybe he will do them by hand this weekend, and then maybe he will order me one of whatever you ha

-- NOYB (granma@lakehope.yet), December 17, 1998.

NYOB:

Check out Lehmans site (http://www.lehmans.com). I purchased them there. It took some persistence to get through to place the order. I heard that they were really busy, so I anticipated a long wait...but lo and behold, I received them in about a week.

In essence, they resemble small, plastic hand-cranked cement mixers. Once you start cranking, the warm water which is sealed in the airtight washer drum creates heat, which causes the air to expand, which builds pressure. This drives the soap and water into the clothing and combines with agitation to force the dirt out of the fabric.

Wasn't hard to learn how to use: Add a few quarts of warm water and a couple tablespoons of low-suds detergent into the drum with the clothing, rotate for 1-2 minutes, then dump and rinse.

The loads are small...about eight adult shirts or two pairs of jeans per load. However, it beats using a washboard. Trust me, I know...been there, done that ;-)

-- Tim (pixmo@davenport.edu), December 18, 1998.

About washing and wringing clothes: the washing's no problem with a galvanized tub and a *new* toilet plunger with a new longer handle...the wringing part could be done with the hardware on top of the buckets used to wring mops [passing on someone else's good idea]. Don't know where to get one, though, and am going shopping this next week to find one.

Don't forget a drying rack/line - nothing like damp clothing sitting to long to stink up the place.

-- Karen Cook (browsercat@hotmail.com), December 18, 1998.

Look for a janitor supply store. Yellow pages?

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 18, 1998.

Now I am really excited! Yesterday Yellow Frieght delivered 2 pallets of food that arrived from Perma Pac. Ordered this early November, and didn't expect it until February. Our family can really put things into gear: Now we start the ball rolling for relocation.

We chose to order a lot of our food because of the time element. This cost us a lot more money than if we had chosen to do it ourself. For personal reasons I won't go into here, we could not afford the time to "do it yourself." We have been doing some, but not a lot.

BTW we don't use much sugar in our home, but now we have 3 x 5 gallon buckets of sugar! Oh well, will be great barter item down the road!

-- Joska (Joska@Hunky.com), December 19, 1998.