if it's the last thing I ever do...

This is going to be a more grim post than is usual for this blog, but it's no longer about 'gardening' but about 'survival'. Skills, teachable and otherwise. I haven't quite gone full prepper, but certainly I'm looking to start preparing for the worst. The world is going down, and while I don't fear death I don't want it to be slow, and I want to be enough of a survivor to be able to help the community around me. That means brushing up on knowledge and being both someone with the knowledge, as well as someone who other people know have the knowledge and are willing to ally with.

Black swan events

· Unpredictable events that change things
I think it's a matter of 'when' now, not 'if'. These are the basics for my own household, but we'll be dealing with a lot of far less prepared people, too, so it could get sketchy. May need to work better at connecting with the neighbours, getting to know their skills and so forth.

More difficult than it sounds. We are instinctively self-involved with our lives and our little thoughts, and the belief that today, next week, next month, next year will all be the same as it was last year, last decade, last century. That is almost certainly not going to be the case. So I'm getting myself organised (in my head and in my house).

What black swan events are possible in the next decade?

• Flood
• Fire
• Earthquake
• Riot/government safety net failure
• Cut off electronic access to money (no card, electronic payments, only cash)
• Internet shut down (blockade, cutoff)
• Water cut off
• Power cut off

How to plan for them
There's only so much you can do, really. THe one that worries me most is fire - it's also one of the most likely, unfortunately. Fire through the area would leave us without a home, and no way to rebuild. That'll be the tough one to deal with. Flood is unlikely, quake/sinkhole also. Can't spend too much time preparing for what might never be. Government failure will be a slow descent. Electronic severance is going to be more of an emotional/psychological difficulty. Even if we're used to communicating and dealing with other people in meatspace, the ease of communications in this era is going to take a big hit if connectivity goes down. Water would be a real problem, and so would power.

1. Energy
• a. requirements
• i. Fridge and freezer
• ii. Computers/modem
• iii. When power goes down, what will we absolutely need?
1. Fridge
2. Freezer
3. Internet/charging
4. Cooking: Rocket stove & gas oven+stove
5. Warmth: gas heater (requires electricity) or manual coverings

Home battery for extra storage 20kwh/day?

1. i. Lithium ion (may not last long)
2. ii. NiFe - will last a long time, so expensive
3. iii. LFP (lithium iron phosphate batteries)

'Standard' battery would be the ones that are being offered right now. They're not very recyclable, but they're cheap. I'd like the Nickel-Iron ones that last for a long time, but apparently they don't do so well with solar panels? (Check with Nev.)

Do we want one for power? For longevity? For reusability (charging cycles?) Price?

2. Food
   • a. More sealable containers (anything in sealable rectangles? - what about the pool chemicals boxes? Do they seal?)
   • b. More pulses, grains - solidly sealed. Buy one extra soft package next time at store.

3. Water
   • o Water filter - purchase is looking at least a couple of thousand
   • o Better water storage (additional tanks/under house water storage?)

4. Can I pay off the house before it all goes down?
   • a. Yes, by selling stocks. However, it will leave us with no savings, and let's assume I won't be paid after July. B1 has useful healthcare and assistive skills, I have homesteading skills. We can live off what we have stored and can grow for a while, although it will not be be pretty.
   • b. Wanted to pay off B2's place as well. Not likely to manage that. Also B2 is having other issues with the costings of her apartment. She might need to take assistance from the parentals and damn the electric fence, even if that's not something she wants to do. But I'd help her get the apartment paid off, so that's one less thing she has to worry about.
   • c. The twins might be more able to hold their jobs: helping, assistive, "femme coded". Low paying, but still necessary and valuable.

Priorities?

1. Water filter for roof
2. Another water tank supply
3. Water bladder for under the house
4. Home battery (unless found cheaply before)
5. More dried foods

Thoughts: I better get the trees in this winter, bushes also. If they fail, they fail. At the least, I need to get them in and give them a chance - particularly the coffee bushes!

House: closing the gaps

The windows are in but the job isn't yet done!

There are a lot of gaps:
Gaps between the architraves and the walls:

Gaps between the glass settings and the window framings:

And then the standard gaps in the floor:

All of which pull drafts up through the walls under the house.

I was linked to this really great site called GIY - Green It Yourself: Australian, full of practical advice, perfect for those of us who live in gappy old houses that weren't built for anything below 10C or above 28C (ie. most of Sydney). We may not want to run the a/c all summer, and the reverse-cycle a/c (heat pump) all winter - we might just want our houses to be liveable without needing to burn more energy...

I wish I'd found this site sooner, it has some really good advice!

First things first: How to Caulk. Get thee a caulking gun and learn how to use it! Anyone can use it, you just need to get familiar with it. Learn not only how to use it, but also how to clean up after! Also, trim your nails right down and have the hand-cream ready! You can wear gloves, sure, but there's nothing to beat your fingers doing the walking.

Second things second: the actual type of caulk to use. If you only have options from Bunnings, use options from Bunnings. Better to be draft-proofed than not! However, the stuff at Bunnings is for your average DIY - their bread-and-butter is the weekend DIY warrior. Tradies tend to use tradie-specific hardware places and the stuff there tends to be better quality. My local tradie hardware is Hardware and General, but I got the white gap filler from my local Reece hardware and plumbing down the road.

My new double-glazed windows are white, so I'm using the white caulking (Soudal Gap Filler) around the edges, and to seal any gaps between the window frame and the wooden architraves themselves.

However, my skirting boards are white, and my floors are natural wood - polished floorboards done (rather badly by sub-contracted "professionals") after we pulled up the carpet. I used the white caulking for three floor gaps and...well, it doesn't look great. But that's done now and can't be undone, and they're in 'bedrooms' rather than the main room. Which was pretty intentional. It's gonna be clear caulking (HB Fuller - Ultra Clear Caulk) for the rest of the floorboard gaps!

Also, might try to fill in a few of the spaces between the floorboards - wood putty might do the job if it can be neatly cleaned up.

Third things third: I'm doing this now is because we have all the furniture and stuff out, and it's easiest to do when it's all out of the way. Moving furniture is a PITA and no fun, especially when you're doing it all by yourself.

Plus if I get it done this autumn, then when full winter turns up, at least it won't be quite as bad as it used to be...

The downside is that I've been basically exhausted the last two weeks. Painting the window architraves, sealing them up. Sealing up the floors, putting up curtains (where the windows are ready)...

On a personal, I think I might also have come down with something. It might even be COVID, although very mild and largely asymptomatic thanks to full vaccinations and all the boosters. But I've been absolutely shattered for the last week and probably should have gone for a PCR or a doc visit. I might do that this week, if I can scramble the time.

next thoughts on the house

Next thoughts on the house

1. sealing up between the skirtingboards and the floorboards - particularly in the study and the lounge and my bedroom (all major draught areas)
- probably should use something between a silicone and latex sealant: very narrow tip (pinprick, really) and with a shaped nozzle to keep it lined up. White? To match the skirting

2. painting the inside frames: they're primed, but they'll need a coat of paint.

3. external awnings (b1 wants external awnings - at least to the west, so she can let down the awnings at will; I'm more for a vergola, myself...)

4. creating some kind of a seal/stopper for the wall vents, at least for the winter season, to determine if it helps the thermal profile of the room (may want to keep them for in-wall ventilation)

5. cleaning up all the paint specks and wood fragments from around the garden and the grass; might have to ask if there's a kind of 'external vacuum' and whether I could use it to get the worst of the paint chips, etc. up.

Inside the house: more cube storage things and the boxes that fit in them so we can put things away

outside the house: more storage spaces and boxes-that-don't-break-down (or maybe just go with plain cardboard ones)
- chooks
- pruning and tying up
- netting and fruiting
- sprays and pesticides

Need to do a "cleaning tools" day with PSN

oof it's a window replacement

Double glazed windows are about to be installed!

It's not a cheap project, but it will hopefully make a fairly big difference in both soundproofing and draft-proofing. I did what I could to seal up the gaps, but the breeze still came through. Once these windows are in, though, the seals will be pretty tight!

Next gap to seal is the one between the floorboards and the baseboard. I think I might just use some kind of caulking to seal that gap. Need to go watch a bunch of YT vids for options.

After that, I'd have to think about the tiny cracks happening in the architraves.

About half the household is in storage, and will probably be there for a couple of months. I know the risk of putting things in storage is that you never get them out of storage, but it is nice to have things out of the way and be able to rethink the space around here...

I wonder if I could put a couple of rolling bookshelves in the study? Or how much it would cost to get shelving that would go all the way up to the ceiling? Also, whether it would cost much to make some cupboards above the wardrobes in our rooms.

house windows

Spoke to some asbestos removalists this morning: they'd take both the cladding and the asbestos off.

Got the quote for double-glazed windows with thermally broken frames.

It's interesting. I know that my version of 'affordable' is vastly different to most other people's versions. But I was expecting the windows would be more expensive than they are quoted as being. I do wonder what the price of uPVC windows would be though. But getting anyone to quote them will be an effort; everyone is crazy busy with building right now.

Also wondering: how can I retain the glass in my current windows for re-use (as, say, a greenhouse) instead of just having them tossed into the bin and taken to landfill? Is there anyone who would be willing to take them for other use?

I guess there goes the dream of installing a stained glass window in my street-facing floor-to-nearly-ceiling lounge room...