Container time.......Again....

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by Thunder5Ranch, Apr 18, 2022.


  1. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    I have this nasty habit of running out of space. I am nearing that point again, so I bought another 40' shipping container. Since this one has not been delivered yet, I thought I would share what I do for above ground containers.

    First off some details. Shipping containers have increased A LOT in price since the last ones I bought. The dealers around here are running $7200- $7500 for single use 40' containers. $4000-$5000 multi use 40' containers and pretty much a straight $3800 for 20' That is about 2.5X higher than pre covid containers. Oddly enough there is no price difference between high cubes and standard height containers locally.

    Almost all containers come in a couple of dimensions High Cubes are 10' tall and 8' wide and primarily come in 20' and 40' lengths Standard heights are 9' tall 8' wide and also primarily come in 20' and 40'

    Single use means the container has been used ONE time. Multi Use means it has been sent here, unloaded and sent back over seas and loaded again and has been used at least 2x. I only buy good condition multi use because they are just as solid as the single use and are considerably lower cost. I don't care about them looking good because I will burn all of the lettering off, spray on 2-3 coats of primer and paint the T5R Red anyway.

    A decent dealer of containers will guarantee them to be leak and vermin proof and will repair any punctures or defects prior to adding them to the for sale list. But some things to look for when choosing a container are fork punctures that have not been repaired or corrosion holes and more than surface rust. The best way to find punctures is to go inside the container and pull the door mostly closed and look for sunlight. There should only be four points of light, One in each top corner where the vents are. BTW never close those vents up! Unless you are putting the unit underground and will have a roof vent system. They prevent condensation within the container, if you plug the vents it won't be long before you have pools of water on the inside floor ;)

    Prepping your site for the container is critical and the better job you do on that job the less headaches you will have post delivery.

    This is where I am at right now. The Machine shed is 42' long and I bought a 40' High Cube that is going to go next to the machine shed, with 6' between machine shed and container. From front to back there is a small slop. So I used fill dirt and 3" rock to raise the back side and get it level. I have a semi load of RR ties scheduled to be delivered tomorrow morning (256 ties) I use A LOT of RR ties over the course of year so it makes sense for me to buy that many at a time. My cost per tie is also only $9.75 and includes delivery, retail the same ties sell for $20-$22. I will put 14 of those ties under the container. I have another 40' container on the West side of the farm that I used solid concrete blocks with and at least twice per year I have to dick around with jacking it up and releveling it. The Concrete block slowly sink. The RR ties do as well but much more slowly and much more evenly as the weight of the container is dispersed out over the length of each tie VS Centered on one small concrete block. And when it does need leveled the job is much easier with ties.

    The slope here is not horrible, from front to back it is only a 6" drop or rather was :) I would be fine just rolling the container off onto the rocks without the ties. I just like to get a little space between floor and ground......... the ground hogs, skunks and possums need some shelter to LOL.
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    After I get the ties unloaded tomorrow I will set 14 of them beside where the container will go and push then under at the truck pulls forward rolling the container off. They will be spaced roughly 3' apart. But before that I will bore out eight 4' deep holes on either side and set 4 big spiral ground anchors in each hole and back fill with concrete. The container I bought like most have loops on the outside lower frame that you can attach turnbuckles to and secure the container to the ground anchors. Sheer winds and tornados are not very forgiving with containers that are not secured.

    I did have to extend my drive there about 7 feet wider in order to be able to make the turn with my trucks and trailers. LOL I have spend $11,740.53 on 3" rock so far this year. I know this because at least 4 times per day Mrs. T5R crawls in my ear and reminds me.

    Most of that rock has gone into making the new parking lot and sawmill/firewood area. Finally have it pretty solid after the ground ate 7 big tandems of rock LOL. Need to add another 12' of width to to right side and another 10 feet to the back but we ain't gonna advise Mrs T5R of that just yet :)
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    Need to mix up some errr ummm stump removal compound that won't send the stumps into low orbit ;) or break half the windows on the property LOL.
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  2. Motomom34

    Motomom34 Monkey+++

    Good idea to set the container on something. I do like the railroad ties suggestion better then blocks. Have a friend who set their container straight on the ground. It is not level and the door side seems lower. They are going to have to move because of drainage issues.
     
  3. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    For a retired guy...Well you stay busy
     
  4. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Where's the fun in that? No Earth-shattering KaBooms?
     
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  5. Bandit99

    Bandit99 Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    @Thunder5Ranch I'm thinking about getting a 20-foot container and planned on sitting it on level ground with a small downward slope for drainage and putting down a load of driveway gravel first but after reading how you do it, maybe I need to rethink this plan?
     
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  6. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++


    The 3" rock vs CA6 or CA7 AKA Road Pack is that it allows drainage much better than the smaller rock or the road pack. When I built the roads on farm here I put 8" thick 3" rock down and drove on it for a year and then put road pack on top of it the next year. Have real solid internal roads now that only need a fresh coat of road pack every 5-6 years. Same thing happens under the containers, it just gets more compacted and sold over time. I made the mistake of doing one without RR ties and it was a major problem until I emptied it out, lifted it up one end at a time and pushed ties under it and blocked it level. It got enough twist to pinch the door to the point they would not open. With the RR ties you can get a low profile bottle jack under the frame making level corrections real easy.

    Yeah last Boom I made blew out all of the windows on the West side of the Cabin. The Ear-Shattering KaBooms in my ear for weeks after from Mrs T5R.........................
     
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  7. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    And 8:49pm and just finished unload the RR Ties that arrived at 8pm tonight instead of 8am this morning LOL. TG for hydraulics that can lift bundles of 16 ties at a time! Aside from putting under shipping containers, RR ties make great corner and gate post, retaining walls for areas prone to erosion, building bridges over ditches, and tripping over after dark and face planting in a mud puddle :)
     
  8. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Yeah when I told my BOL neighbor my gate post rotted off at the ground he suggested replacing it with a RR tie.
    That I did and cemented it in with a half dozen bags of concrete. Pretty solid but heavy and hard to handle for an old duffer, finally pushed the end into the hole with the truck.

    Oh, and @Thunder5Ranch, do you cut them and if so how?
     
  9. Gator 45/70

    Gator 45/70 Monkey+++

    Most push the easy button and whip out the chainsaw.
    Be prepared for a new chain and bar.
     
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  10. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Ok got one of those, chain saw that is
     
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  11. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    Yep chainsaw I only use my rattiest already missing a tooth or three chains for cutting them. Lost of metal and a fair amount of rocks ground into them and the chains strongly dislike cutting through the creosote. Also clean around your sprocket more often, it will get gummy at times and start sticking and building up heavy under the cover. If you use a new chain on ties just plan on ruining it.

    For putting them in holes........ I am a firm believer in bucket tractors and hydraulics LOL. Chain around one end and lift it and then just lower it into the hole. About the only Natural post that will last as long as a tie is a Locust.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2022
  12. Altoidfishfins

    Altoidfishfins Monkey+++ Site Supporter+

    Dreaming about one for a long time, front-end loader and a backhoe ....
     
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  13. When we bought, south line fence was a stand of Osage Orange. We cleared it and used the (straightest) branches for permanent fences. That was in 1962. Those posts are still holding up line fences on two sides of the farm.
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2022
  14. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    Wish I could find a stand of Osage Orange (Hedge Apple) around here.
     
  15. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    Container update: Finally got enough dry to get the first one in this morning and the second will arrive this afternoon.

    Finished up the site prep last night getting it as level as I could. Actually it is not level but that is intended, the front is 8" lower than the back. That is for a couple of reasons, the drainage from the machine shed roof will flow much better and I want the front higher for the rock ramp I am going to build up to the doors. Simple matter to jack it up 8" and block it. Just a bottle jack under each front corner, level it, block it and done.
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    Can't stress site prep enough. There is a world of difference in the way I set containers up and just rolling them on dirt or thin gravel. DSC02642.JPG

    Normally I will set 8 ties under a 40' container. I didn't have as many ties as I thought I did :) So I am doing 7 under each container. Having everything ready when the truck arrives to roll it off saves a lot of time. Simple matter of hopping on the little kubota tractor and using the bucket to push them under as the container is rolled off. Entire roll off and pushing ties under took 10 minutes once the truck and trailer were in position. I have a much larger tractor with a bucket that can move and make minore adjustments. If you don't have a tractor or other means of sliding a 9,500 pound container make sure the truck is going to roll it off exactly where you want it. DSC02643.JPG

    Next 7 ties ready to line up and be ready to push under the next container. DSC02644.JPG

    I am putting these containers at the main home place and it is next to impossible to back a 40' gooseneck into my drive off of the road. The road is about a car and a half wide and the ditches are bottomless mud. You do not want to get a steer tire off of the road! After several attempts at backing in from the road the driver finally listened to my advise My barnlot drive way is 4X wider than the road. 3" rock under the grass and mustard weed 8 feet off of the edge of the road pack center drive. LOL We pull 48' Grain trailers with Conventional Day cabs in here all the time and turn around. Just have to pull in turn left in the U part and then back straight up in front of the machine shed and then make another left and you are pointing the opposite way you pulled in LOL a basic 3 point semi turn around. No one ever wants to listen though until they spend a hour trying it the hard to impossible way.
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    Finally got it in and close enough to straight. I was VERY SHOCKED that the little Kubota bumped and pushed the front or rather back of the container the 6" it was off. Didn't think the little guy would have it in him!
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    And in this pick we can see where the 8th tie is missing LOL 8 is really kind of over kill 6 would actually be enough. And Mrs T5R just advised that the driver called and will be here in 30 minutes with Container #2 that is going in right beside #1 so I gotta go. More pics after it is off and set up.
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  16. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    And DONE......... well mostly will take 30-90 minutes to push together tight, jack up, level and block them. Will probably bore out some 8 feet deep holes and set some big screw type ground anchors in concrete for these two given their location and exposure to the sometimes very brutal SW sheer winds we get 2-3 times per year. I did a pretty good job on the rock work #2 is a half inch higher than #1 but not to shabby for a eye balling it job! Once it broke through it was rock it or do the ties by hand on the back half and I am getting to old to be pushing and pulling heavy RR TIES !

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    Still have a decent path down the side to get the 2k bulk bags to the feeders and am going to put 18" of 3" rock down the ditch where the tractor bucket is. Its a real wide ditch and drains the entire 5 acres that I call the home and barn lot. Can't get rid of that ditch but with enough rock anything can be made driveable :) Had to pull a couple tons of rock off the side because the little tractor was sinking in the mud trying to push the ties under #2. DSC02653.JPG
     
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  17. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    Started moving some of the old wire shelving into #2 Container yesterday and assembled the two new shelving units inside #2
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    #2 is going to be the Food and Food Preservation equipment container so it is getting spray foam insulation and a heat pump for year round climate control. So I am not moving much of the shelving into yet, just enough to get a feel for the space. Things always feel different with some physical presence than they do plotted out on graph paper.
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    Our local Fred's Stores closed a few years back and I bought all of the Wire shelving from their Fridge and Freezer cases. Ended up with 60 feet of this stuff for like $500.
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    Inside looking out and the 13' of new shelving. Going to hit Menards again next weekend and land 8 more of those units for Container #1. After assembling these two and figuring their Chinese manufacturing defects out (No holes drilled in the cross supports for the bolts to go through! So I had to drill holes in all 18 of them.) Other than that they are decent medium duty units that are rated for 1800 pounds each.
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    I was just going to build the shelving with pine 2x4s and use 1xs for the shelves. Scrapped that when I was standing in home depot calculating the cost per 10' of shelving and it came up to more than the $229 for the Menards shelving units. I could have used my milled oak or hickory to build them but really don't want to use my rough 2x4s and 1x for shelving.

    Next step is the guys putting the spray foam on the walls and ceiling and then Ed coming and running the electric and installing the heat pump. I have a free 100amp slot in the disconnect box 40 feet from the Container. Have a 600amp service there with 200/200/100 used for Machine Shed, Commercial Kitchen and Cabin and the 100amp that went to the old mobile home available. So Ed is going to run it to the containers and hook up a spare 24 slot breaker box I have floating around. For security I have a dozen old abloy trailer locks, not the very best but one does not simply cut or pound a abloy lock off. Also have a selection of spare mag locks and electric slide bolt locks. I will most likely use a slide bolt lock inside and have the buttons to lock and unlock them in a discreet box in the Kitchen or the machine shed. LOL would be very frustrating to spend 30 to a hour cutting through the abloys only learn the doors still won't open. Even more frustrating to learn that while you were cutting you are the star of the Movie being made whilst cutting.

    Security in my situation is a bit different than typical homestead/farmstead security needs to be. The single biggest draw back to what I do and doing business direct off the farm, is that a lot of people know that you keep literally tons of frozen meats and a Walmarts worth of canned goods on the shelves. If a door is open on the machine shed or the Woodshop they then can see the tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools hanging on the walls and on shelves. Hard to be gray and discreet when you are doing business. Thus you have to compensate with better video coverage and stronger locking mechanisms. Every security system can be defeated given enough time and that is the key TIME the more time they spend the more time on video they get and if the video is defeated...... when the door opens a simple motion activated game camer gets a nice clear portrait and uploads it to the cloud. And then my commercial insurance covers the theft and loss of any food items and equipment. My security systems and fire suppression get me about 40% off of what the insurance would cost without them in place. I have all of the insurance Fleet/Loss/Product Liability/ General Liability all bundled together with various discounts that get the entire package down to $3200 per year. The Progressive sales person though has just about convinced to move my fleet insurance over to them. No tickets in 25 years, no at fault or preventable accidents (Had the one where the Nissan SUV rear ended Big Red and destroyed the Nissan and only scratched my balls) Only debate is if saving 7% more on the fleet insurance is worth leaving a insurance company that has been good and reasonable for the 15 years. Insuring 5 trucks and 7 trailers is not cheap, finding drivers with the reasonably clean records I require is pretty much impossible now days. LOL another reason I am cutting back and have mostly retired to the farm. I should probably sell 3 of the trucks and 3 of the trailers and just keep Big Red and the Box Truck and the All American and Chuck Wagon Trailers.

    I kind of lost my sh!t on the two Ladies running the All American last year. "We only made $600 profit at the show and have to give you $100 and that does not leave much left over for us to split!" Me OMFG after the split you each only get $250 for working a 6 hour show! THE HORROR of only making $41.67 per hour!!! How in the hell can you possibly survive making those poverty level wages!!!!! Guess I made them angry they never even called to let me know they were breaking our agreement. Mrs T5R ended up taking over operation of the All American with a friend helping her out for the rest of last season. Cough I lost the $100 lease though every time it and its truck pulled out LOL. So I end up with disgruntled people that feel like I somehow cheated them that are potential burglars.

    And now I have to go because I have a tractor and parts coming home from the shop, a mechanic to work on the box truck and architect for the new house coming all at the same time today that were supposed to all come on different days last week, It will be real nice to the Oliver 1755 back home after his engine and tranny rebuild. The box truck is just annoying...... he starts runs for 5 seconds and dies and I am guessing it is a simple bad sensor that I can't locate,, FRED WILL FIND IT :) and the architect Mrs T5R has to have to plot out the floor plan for the barn to house conversion........ That we could plot out on graph paper for the cost of the paper and the ink........ But not a hill I want to fight for LOL.
     
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  18. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    Had a Doctor appointment today down in Marion and decided to hit Menards and snag some more not so cheap anymore shelving. I NEED a lot of shelving for the containers!!! Landed 10 of these for $130 per. A bit lighter duty than the first ones but $100 less per unit as well. Eight of These will be for dry food and canned goods. Two are going to be for lighter stuff and tools in my shop. Heavy suckers mostly from the 5 particle board shelf pieces but each box weighed 120 pounds. Going to do a lot of canning this year and I don't particularly like wire shelves for quart and pint jars.

    I pressure can a fair amount of pre made stews and soups, beef, pork and turkey. Laugh if you want but most years I catch a few hundred pounds of carp scale them,cut the mud veins out, chunk them and can them, The bones crystalize just like canned salmon or mackerel and they make great fish cakes/patties with all the bones common carp are full no longer a issue. Also can a lot of tomato juice, salsa, spaghetti sauce and whole tomatoes as well as a lot of other vegetables and jellies, jams and pie fillings. Mrs T5R has gotten pretty good with the jams, jellies and general water bath canning. Can't get her to touch the big pressure canners lol. When canning meats, fish and the more high risk things it is best to be confident and know what you are doing. A case of botulism from a bad run pressure canning ain't no joke!

    I do believe between what I already have and the addition of these 10 I now have all of the shelving I need for the containers. Spray foam guy is going to try to get the food container done Thursday or Friday next week and Ed will install the heat pump in it in between his other jobs after that. LOL translated that means between 2 and 6 weeks. Not going to complain he works for Hams and Steaks most of the time.

    211-3983Shelf.



    https://www.menards.com/main/storag...61-c-12652.htm?tid=6043100098462202333&ipos=3


    LOL didn't mean to add the pics below but other stuff I picked up at home depot yesterday. Wild hair for a new portable table saw and a new planer. Going to set up a second wood shop just to get back into making the White Oak/Red Oak/Pecan/Hickory/Walnut tables and benches again. Less food service/sales and more Tables and Benches in my future :)

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    DW734_1-1000.

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    Last edited: May 15, 2022
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  19. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    Nearing completion of the two container project. Just waiting on Spray foam and climate control for the #2 (The Food Container) And Ed to fit me in to install the electric and boxes to them and hook said climate control up. Then glue on sheets of FRP over the Spray foam....... LOL have 3/4 of a pallet of FRP left over from doing the commercial kitchen. Hey I got a deal that was cheaper to buy the entire pallet than just the sheets I needed.

    I am building 3" rock ramps up to both of them so I can drive the little kubota up into both. Will let it settle and then put a few inches of road pack on top of the 3". Once it gets rained on a few time and dries out road pack is just about as good as concrete and a fraction of the price. And I usually keep a 20-30 ton pile of 3" , Road Pack, Coarse Sand, Pea Gravel, and Washed CA7 on the farm for maintenance, Spur of the moment projects and small concrete jobs. Yeah the rock is burnt in a 50' radius LOL I set off a new make fire device last night that made a lot more fire than anticipated :) Was expecting a small fireball not a mushroom cloud LOL.
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    The new shelving units are not as good as the first new shelving units BUT they are more than adequate for their intended purpose. I just finished assembling the last one. If you don't have cooler with a case of ice cold stag it would take about 15 minutes per unit. With the Ice cold Stag it took about 40 minutes per unit with two beers to spare. The junk part of them are the end caps for the post. I had to use a heat gun on each one to shrink them down after they were on to keep them on. What needed some help, the clamp bracket that holds the two pieces of the post together. I used 4 small self tappers in each to keep them from pulling apart. First impression as I started assembling them was....... "Well this was a mistake!" that changed as they went from wobbly flexy unstable to very tight and rigid and very solid once the particle board shelves were in.

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    Back to front picture.
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    I assembled the frames but am leaving the particle board shelves off for now. 7 of them come out to just about 36' long. I wanted them assembled at least mostly so that I can move them right over to #2 Container (Food) when the spray foam, FRP. Floor Epoxy, Electric and Climate control are done. Hopefully that will all be done and ready in the next 10-14 days. Ahhh floor Epoxy I forgot to mention that. I am going to put a real heavy layer on the floors to seal them up in #2. Not the cheapest way to go but the best way to go IMO.

    I fully assembled one of the two new shelving units that will be staying in #1 as much for my own testing purposes as for sharing here :)
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    Not my best shelving by a long shot but will exceed the need for the intended purpose and it was affordable at $129 per unit. And a honorable mention to that little box stove. It is the first wood stove I bought back in 1988 or 1989. It has been a barn warmer for the last 10 years and now I am contemplating putting in the back of #1 to keep it above freezing on the couple weeks of cold we get here over the winters. But that would not be conducive to storing the 20#-100# propane tanks in #1. HEhe fire and fuels generally don't get along well. I need to expand my Propane/Gasoline/Kerosene/Diesel Dump anyway so might take this opportunity to do it.
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    A LOT more to prepping my style than keeping food, guns and ammo :) Keeping it all neat, cleaned and organized IS IMPORTANT!
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    I am the guy that keep new in the box back ups for my new in the box back ups LOL. And this picture reminds me that while at the bog box stores I noted a real shortage in Homeline and Square D breakers (I run both) and Very little Eaton anything. Plenty of 15amp breakers, not so many 20amp, There were NO single pole 30amps to be found and only a handful of 40amp through 100amp breakers. Breaker Boxes and Disconnect boxes were pretty much non existent as well. I grabbed this red homeline because it was the last one on the shelf and I am going to swap it with the 10 circuit box in the machine shed and move the 10 circuit to the 4 circuit in the warehouse..... LOL Ed is not impressed with my feat of hard wiring everything direct to one 50 amp cable in the warehouse :)
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    Probably won't post anything else in this thread until everything is done. LOL right now everything has became a big slide puzzle as I am reorganizing just about everything on the farm and moving just about everything from building to building. The Big job is going to be moving all of the existing food from the warehouse to #2. One side of #2 is going to be the new shelving, the opposite side is going to be 40 feet of chest freezers with shelving above it.

    The Current and for years food storage (Personal not business) has been a 12 x12 section of the 12x40 warehouse, with the personal freezers in a corner of my shop. Make no mistake a 12x12 area and four 35 cubic feet of freezer holds one hell of a lot of food. A 8'x40'x10H container will hole a whole lot more! I might be dead wrong and pissing a lot of money away on this years upgrades and projects but My gut tells me, looking at the State of the Nation tells me and My Crystal Ball that used to be pretty clear at predicting likely outcomes that is now all muddy and murky looking tells me......... That there are some real dark and dank days coming much sooner than later and I am not really seeing where brighter days are ahead in the near future. A real sense of impending doom if you will.

    Right now seems to me to be the last opportunity to double and triple down on everything. From Asparagus Plants to V Belts :) Right now is NOT a good time to start thinking "Hmmm Maybe I should start to get prepared for what is coming." Starting out now is going to be expensive as hell, I am finding more and more things totally out of stock with NO eta as to when there will be more. A few hours ago a tractor parts order I have had in place for just short of a year was totally cancelled and can't be reordered at this time. Nothing fancy in that order a set of injectors and gaskets..... Low tech common parts! So I find a place online with the parts and put them in the cart and go to check out and get "We apologize but this order can not be completed at this time."

    Even locally crime is going crazy. 4 of the Dozen neighbors in a 3 mile radius have been hit. One came home from a weekend getaway to find every copper pipe in their home gone and every wire ripped out of the walls and every electric auger and blower motor on the grain bins gone. The Meth freak bubba factor has increased 10 fold over the last two years!

    Police protection, yeah we have it and response time range from 10 minute to 90 minutes depending on where the 1-2 deputies on duty are in the County. Fortunately this is a Very Pro 2A County with a VERY Constitutional Sheriff, it was no shock when it was voted to make the County a 2A Sanctuary County. I didn't used to keep a pistol on my hip on the farm at all times. I have always kept a Pistol, a rifle and shotgun secured and stashed in every building. With the current state of affairs I open carry every time I walk out the door even if it is just a 20 foot trip to the warehouse from the cabin. Don't exactly like packing that Ruger .45LC around every where but the way my luck goes, the one time I don't is the one time I would need it. Still love my Rock Island .38spcl's but the are my desk and barn pistols :) BTW Did not know how I would feel about the Old Single Action Vaquero. Gotta say I fell in love with it the wheel and often have a debate as to whether to put the Vaquero or the Old Colt Python .357mag on the belt. The .38s are primarily for Mrs T5Rs benefit they are right in her size and comfort zone. I only have two autos and both are old Colt 1911 .45acp the only autos I have a fondness for and they serve as pillow guns.

    Anyway we are living in a much different world than we were even two years ago and it is in my view changing VERY fast and not for the better. My advice to a new prepper type........ Try to get everything you actually NEED not everything you WANT. Once you have what you NEED then you can start putting together what you WANT. There is a very large difference between NEED and WANT and more often than not I see folks get what they want and fall very short on what they NEED.

    I am in a very good position in life now days and can do and get the things I want, because I have the things I need all well covered. Trust me that was not always case :) Did I need to get $10,000 worth of shipping containers (Shipping container prices have been steadily going up for the last 4 years) and two more on order? Nope I didn't NEED to. I WANTED to, I was in good shape with what I already had. Don't think you will ever hear anyone argue that you can be over prepared or to secure :)

    A very large part of being a proficient prepared person is learning and knowing what you should spend more money on and what you should spend less money on. I have a real Dewalt and Milwaukee tool fetish, I work my tools hard and they have proven over the years to me that they can take it and keep working. Tools that I don't work so hard I am more likely to go the Menards Tool Shop Brand or Harbor Freight. Best Side Grinder I have ever owned is a Tool Shop Brand, best band saw is a Chicago Electric from harbor freight. Ok that is not exactly true best band saw is my old craftsman....... I went with cheaper shelving than I had initially intended 36 feet of shelving that is durable enough to stand there and hold what it needs to hold for $905 or shelving for the same space that is heavier duty and in general better quality for $1675 for the same 36'? What I WANTED was the more expensive shelving, after some thought what I NEEDED was the less expensive shelving. LOL while I am in a good place in life, I do not have a infinite supply of money and it is WISE at this phase of life to be very mindful of that. Also the $750 price difference = more things I can buy to put on those shelves :)

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    arleigh and CraftyMofo like this.
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