Bayou Renaissance Man

The final repairs from our little flooding incident were completed last week.  We've now turned our hands into unpacking everything we packed away so that the cleanup and repair operations could proceed, and putting them back where we want them.  It's a very big job, almost as big as moving house.

We decided to go for a less cluttered look in our living area, so we got rid of an old, much-cat-clawed sofa and a few other things.  We'll have fewer seats for visitors, but we don't entertain much at home, so that isn't necessarily a problem.  Folding chairs to the rescue when needed!  I'll also be replacing older blinds and window coverings with better units, and I need to find a comfortable armchair to fill one hole by the fireplace.  I guess I'll haunt the used furniture stores to see if I can find something with character.

I bought 2'x6' white bookcases to replace the older 3'x6' wood-veneer chipboard units I'd had since the late 1990's.  Some of the latter were getting pretty worn out, and one collapsed during the packing-up process, so it was long gone time to retire them.  We scrapped three that were too rickety and worn to salvage, kept one in the spare bedroom, and donated two others to a local friend who's got even more books than we do.  The 2'x6' bookcases have the big advantage of being more rigid, thanks to the shorter span of the shelves, and they're also more lightly loaded, meaning one can slide them over the floor more easily if need be.  The white color looks very nice against the deep brown paint on the end wall of the living-room.  It lightens up the whole room.

In the process, I accumulated seven boxes of books that were surplus to requirements as I re-filed and re-sorted our library.  One's already gone to the friend who took our bookcases, one's put away to await a visit from a friend who has children who'll enjoy its contents as they grow up, and I'll be distributing the contents of the other five to resident members of the North Texas Troublemakers this weekend.  Any left after that will be donated to the local library's next book sale.

Also, to our great thankfulness, the winter crud that's affected Miss D. and myself seems to have finally run its course.  I was under the weather for about seven weeks, and Miss D. even longer with repeated attacks of sinusitis.  This year's crud has been a particularly nasty variety, as I'm sure those of you who've had it can testify.  Hurry up, spring!

Anyway, so far, so good.

Peter

Regular readers will recall that in November last year, we suffered a not-so-minor flood event at our home.  It's taken a long time to dry out the house, then repair the damage, but yesterday the final repairs were completed, and the job is done at last.

Now comes the not-so-minor job of restoring all our furniture and fittings to their rightful places, installing new shelves in our pantry (the old jerry-built ones had to be removed to install new flooring), and generally put the place to rights.  I've been hard at work re-sorting and re-shelving all our books over the past week - the old chipboard-and-veneer shelves, bought more than two decades ago and having been through several interstate moves, began to buckle when moved after the flood, so we've replaced most of them.  Between us we own several thousand books, so re-shelving them is a big, slow job, but we're getting there.  Today will see us erecting new pantry shelves, moving the contents of the kitchen back to where they should be, and rearranging the dining area.  There'll be plenty of that over the weekend, and more to follow.

Looking back, it's taken us about two and a half months from discovering the problem to getting the final repairs done.  That seems unconscionably long if you're accustomed to suppliers, vendors and workers who have all they need to get the job done, but a big part of that time was taken up in ordering and waiting for supplies.  The supply chain crunch is far from over, and a surprising amount of stuff is still not freely available locally.

On the other hand, we're enjoying our new dishwasher, bought to replace the old unit that began leaking uncontrollably and caused the mess.  We bought a Bosch unit, largely on the recommendation of readers who commented, and are very satisfied with it.  It takes longer to wash up than the old unit, but does so using less water, and cleans better, too.  Our cats are still wary of the red spot it shines on the floor while running (because it's so quiet that without the light, you might not realize it was operating).  They're used to red lights being something they chase around the house.  One that sits there for two hours and does nothing is very frustrating to them!

Oh, well.  Back to work!

Peter

I'm sure we all know dehumidifiers as a means to reduce indoor humidity and produce drier, healthier air for our homes.  However, I'd never thought of them as a way to quickly, efficiently and cheaply dry laundry until I read this BBC report.

Given the high cost of electricity, tumble dryers have become much more expensive to use. Drying a single load of laundry could cost more than £1.50 (approximately US $1.91), according to the makers of energy tracking app Hugo. In comparison, a dehumidifier can help to dry clothes hung up indoors in just a few hours while only costing pennies.

Rachael Peterson, an electronics engineer who lives in Oxfordshire, uses her dehumidifier to dry out clothes hung up in an enclosure under her stairs. She does this overnight, on a cheaper electricity tariff, and says it costs less than 4p (about 5 US cents).

"The clothes are dried down there in a matter of hours," she tells BBC News. "Everything's dried properly."

There's more at the link.

I know a lot of people are battling to pay high electricity bills this winter.  Admittedly, it costs to buy a dehumidifier (prices on Amazon range from $45 up to several hundred dollars), but if one can be found at a reasonable price, the savings in electricity to dry one's laundry might pay for it relatively quickly - and from then on, it's gravy (financially speaking).  There are also the general health and environmental benefits to be considered.  Having just dried out our home after an incident with rather too much water, I'm keeping those firmly in mind!

Peter

Our home repair and renovation, made necessary by a flood in November, has entered its final phase with the installation of our new kitchen and dining area flooring.  The installers finished work yesterday evening, and appear to have done a good job.  I'll be touching up some paintwork and erecting some replacement shelf units, then my wife and I begin the long, slow job of unboxing everything we packed away (including our "deep pantry") and shelving it again.  It's going to take a while.

It'll take longer because the last stage of the project - installing new baseboards to replace those damaged by water and the removal of old flooring - was scheduled for just after the cold snap that hit us last weekend.  With temperatures below freezing for several days on end, a lot of water pipes iced up;  and only yesterday, when the thermometer rose to above freezing for the first time in a while, did some of that damage make itself felt.  ServiceMaster, which is handling our wall repairs, promptly got flooded (you should pardon the expression) with calls for emergency clean-up, dry-out and other assistance.  The foreman who's handling our job among his many other tasks was immediately swamped with new, unexpected demands on his time and his teams.  He had to postpone measuring for and ordering our new baseboards, and says it may take several days to get things back on track.  We can't complain - this is Mother Nature's fault, not his - but it's going to be frustrating having yet another delay on top of all the others.

(I suppose we don't have all that much reason to complain, really.  The flood happened in early November, and in just over two months we've dried out the house, ripped out all the flood-damaged drywall and flooring, prepared the various surfaces for repairs, fixed the drywall, painted two walls, and installed new flooring.  In today's housing and repair market, that's doing rather well, I'm told.  It'll take another one to two weeks to obtain and install the baseboards, and I have to buy some new bookcases - some of our old chipboard shelving units didn't take kindly to the damp - but apart from that, we're in pretty good shape.  It could have been much worse.)

Today I've got to get hold of some good, thick cover-up white paint to touch up the inside of our pantry closets;  build a new set of metal shelves to go inside one of them;  throw out some of the old, damaged baseboards that were removed during the repairs;  and try to organize bookshelves from Ikea, which is not very helpful about rapid pick-up on its Web site.  (Why do they want four days to have items ready for pickup, when they show them as being in stock already?  WTF???)  There's no rest for the wicked, they say, and my life at present appears to bear that out!

Peter

Today the flooring people begin work, ripping out the old, undermined ceramic tile, preparing the surface, and installing vinyl plank in its place.  It should go reasonably quickly, I'm promised, but we'll see what that means in reality.  I'm going to have a couple of days up to my eyeballs in dust and tile fragments.  I'm not looking forward to it.  To make matters more interesting, I have a doctor's appointment at 07h30 - with temperatures in the single digits!  This African boy is not amused to find himself in the middle of Alaskan winter temperatures . . .

I'll put up another post later this morning, but expect light posting tomorrow and possibly Wednesday, until the mess and fuss is over.  Say a prayer that I don't end up arguing with the installers.  We've had a terrible time choosing vinyl flooring that's actually available and in stock, with two or three tries needed before we found an honest wholesaler.  There seems to be an awful lot of dishonesty in the business right now, with installers promising the earth but failing to deliver on time, on budget or on promise.  Here's hoping we've got our ducks in a row this week.

More later.

Peter

As part of repairing and renovating our home after our little flood incident, I'm also trying to cut back on clutter and make the place more welcoming.  I have the problem that I'm prepper-minded and also something of a packrat.  My wife isn't.  Inevitably, we run into conflict over that now and again.

I'm somewhat comforted to realize that I'm not alone in my affliction.  Eaton Rapids Joe writes, in a section labeled "Cleaning out the "Sargasso Sea" room" at his blog:

One of the rooms in our house was designated the "If you can't figure out where it should go, throw it into that room".

. . .

It was like excavating a midden-pile from some long-lost civilization.

. . .

So far this project has been a great success. We are now able to open the door and are able to assess what is actually inside the room.

There's more at the link.

Perhaps he and I should each rent a U-Haul (the largest available, of course), and ship our respective junk valuables to each other for sorting?  I'm sure we'd appreciate the chance to add to our respective collections - and our wives could compare notes on what they found.

Ducking . . . running . . . 

Peter

The ServiceMaster team completed repair work on our walls yesterday, so now it's on to the floor.  The contractor reported that the new flooring arrived yesterday, so they're getting ready to remove all the old tile and other detritus and prepare the concrete sub-floor.  That job will hopefully be completed by the middle of next week or thereabouts, after which we have all the fun and games of bringing back everything we took out to make space for the repairs, and getting things back into some semblance of order.  It's almost as bad as moving house, and neither of us are enjoying the disruption (to put it mildly).

As part of the fun (?), we'll have to remove the shelving in our "pantry", which is a large built-in double-door cupboard affair.  The tile floor extends into the pantry, so to replace it, everything inside has to come out, including the built-in wood shelves.  We'll replace them with some steel wire shelves (already bought).  A friend will visit tomorrow to help box up the pantry, move the boxes out of the way, and break down the shelves.  I expect much good-natured abuse in the process (the existing shelves look to have been knocked together out of scrap wood by the previous owners, who definitely did not do a good job of all the little and not-so-little "projects" they left behind for us.  Slowly but surely we're tearing them out and replacing them with something more fit for purpose, but it'll take a while to get it all done.

The good news is, I expect to have a little more time for blogging over the next couple of days, until the work ramps up again.  Look for more posts today and tomorrow at least.

Peter

The repairs to our home's drywall, closing panels removed by ServiceMaster to dry out the insulation after our little flood encounter last November, are proceeding apace.  The new drywall is in place and "mudded", and the team will be back today to re-mud (is that even a thing?), sand the edges smooth, and prepare the walls for painting.  That'll happen either this afternoon or (more likely) tomorrow, whereupon the ServiceMaster repair team will step back for a week or so to allow our new floor to be laid.  When that's done, the final step will be to install baseboard over the flooring and tidy up any last bits and pieces.

It's taken a lot longer than I anticipated to get everything organized.  Just finding a contractor was hard enough;  most wanted three to four times more than ServiceMaster is charging, and would only undertake to fit us in around other, larger jobs.  Very frustrating, that.  At any rate, we finally got things scheduled, only for both my wife and myself to come down with this year's crud (which, as I've observed earlier, is the worst annual crud I've encountered since coming to this country for the first time in 1996).  Even now, after almost six weeks fighting it, neither of us is yet fully recovered, and don't expect to be for some weeks yet.  Needless to say, we didn't want to be yet another plague vector for our poor contractors, so we had to delay proceedings until we were no longer infectious.

Now to find out whether the flooring wholesalers kept their promise and delivered our flooring as promised.  The previous lot didn't - it seems making promises and keeping them are distinctly variable propositions, explained away by the catch-all "supply chain issues".  They've gotten so bad that a couple of local contractors have actually shelved plans to build new housing developments, because they can't be sure of getting the parts, appliances and bits and pieces they need, when and where they need them.  It's bad enough for us, with a few thousand dollars in repairs, so when developments in the seven-figure range are impacted, I have a great deal of sympathy for the businessmen involved.

Oh, well . . . onward!

Peter

This week ServiceMaster will be repairing the holes they made in our walls to dry out the house after our little flood adventure last year.  Hopefully, that'll be done by the end of the week.

While that's going on, we've had to choose different flooring from that we originally selected, because the wholesaler lied to our dealer and told him he could deliver the quantity required - but couldn't.  We spent a couple of weeks looking through alternatives, contacting wholesalers and demanding assurances that our choices were available, and trying to ensure we weren't left dangling again.  All being well, our selected flooring should be in town by the end of this week.  That means next week will be taken up with scraping off the old tile, smoothing and leveling the floor, and laying new vinyl plank flooring in our kitchen and dining area.  (We've already taken care of the other bits and pieces.)

Once all that's done, hopefully within ten days to two weeks from today, we'll have ServiceMaster make a final pass to install new baseboard on top of the new flooring:  then it's hey-ho to move everything back into the kitchen and pantry, and start living in the house again, so to speak.

Unfortunately, all this work means it's going to be a very disorganized couple of weeks.  I'll try to put up a blog post or two as and when I have time, but regular schedules simply can't be maintained for a few days.  Please excuse the disorganization, and enjoy the bloggers listed in the sidebar.

Peter

ServiceMaster should be here within a day or two to fix the drywall they cut open to dry out the house after our little adventure with our previous dishwasher.  Yesterday a friend helped me move several large, heavy bookcases from their usual place to standby locations, so that a crack in the drywall behind them can be repaired as part of the process.  While that's being done, I'm going to try to go through my library and toss over a thousand books.  We cut down by two-thirds moving here nine years ago, but even so, they've expanded a bit, and it's a lot of work to keep them all dusted and organized.  As I get older, I'm no longer up to that;  so it makes sense to thin the collection.  Anything essential will be kept, of course, or replaced with an e-book edition.

Unfortunately, that means blogging will be light today.  Please amuse yourselves with the bloggers in the sidebar.  I hope to be writing again by tomorrow morning.

Onward!

Peter

Divemedic recently lost his mother.  Our condolences to him, and may she rest in peace.

As part of settling her estate, he's been having an . . . interesting . . . time.

Even more complicated is that my aunt (mom’s younger sister) died back in March. My uncle (the aunt’s husband) died about a year ago. Mom wound up with the ashes of both of them. We found my aunt’s ashes. We haven’t found my uncle’s. My mom couldn’t stand his ass- she downright hated him. Mom had mentioned to my sister that she was planning on flushing “that no-good sonuvabitch’s” ashes down the toilet in the nastiest, dirtiest gas station bathroom that she could find. (Yes, Mom could hold a grudge) The issue there is that his family wants his ashes returned to them. We can’t find them, and well, I think I know where they went.

How, precisely, does one explain that to grieving relatives?  "Well, we couldn't find the ashes among Mom's belongings, but we have a pretty good idea where you can look for them - at your own risk!"

Peter

There was an unusual traffic accident near Cleveland, OH yesterday.

A stretch of highway in Ohio was closed Thursday morning when a crash involving two semi trucks covered the roadway in boxes of chocolate and caramel.

The Ohio Department of Transportation said the two trucks collided about 6 a.m. Thursday on westbound Interstate 90 in Lake County.

One of the trucks spilled its load of chocolate and caramel candy into the roadway, prompting officials to direct traffic off the highway.

There's more at the link.

Here's what the cleanup looked like.  The video is silent, so don't adjust your speakers' volume.  Note the color of the road surface.

I bet cleaning up that lot was a nasty, sticky mess, particularly as it congealed on the road surface in the freezing temperatures.  Driving on that stuff must be a nightmare!

Peter

Today saw the delivery of our monthly "Subscribe & Save" order from Amazon.com.  We order several items on a recurring basis, and once every month Amazon ships those that are due that month.  So far, so good.

Today also saw a prearranged bulk waste pickup by our local trash company.  I planned to put out several larger items that wouldn't fit into our regular weekly trash collection.  I'd managed to haul a couple of them to the curb when the Post Office mail van arrived with our Amazon delivery, among other things.  Also, so far, so good . . . but that's when things went wrong.

The nice Post Office gent hauled our boxes to the front door while I was puffing and panting, dragging a heavy item to the growing pile next to the curb.  As he drove off, I suddenly noticed a sort of white sandy trail where he'd walked, and my heart sank.  Going to the front door, it was clear that one of our boxes was leaking a white powder - and that spelled trouble, because one of our deliveries today was a 10lb. bag of Xylitol, a sugar replacement that my wife and I use.  It's great, but it's also deadly poisonous to dogs;  less so to cats, but still potentially risky for them.  To make matters worse, our neighbor's cats were already sauntering over to investigate the new boxes.

Hurriedly I closed up the garage, then picked up the leaking box and took it into the kitchen where it wouldn't trail any more poison - only to find that our cats followed me, curious about the white powder still falling from the box.  I swooped on them (to their annoyance) and shut them in the bedroom, then chased away the outside cats (to their equal displeasure).  I then spent more than an hour sweeping up every grain of Xylitol from our driveway and path, for the sake of passing dogs, and from the front door to the kitchen (for the sake of our cats).  I mopped inside as well, as even a small dose of the stuff can be lethal to some animals.  Finally, I took out all the other items shipped by Amazon in the same box, cleaned them off as best I could, and put them aside for further attention.  I then got a garbage bag and dropped the entire box, along with the by now half-empty bag of Xylitol, into it, and took it all out to the trash.

Heaving a sigh of relief that I hadn't seen any animals trying to lick up the white powder, I turned back towards the garage to carry on getting our trash out - only to see the bulk waste pickup truck arrive, scoop up all that I'd already laid at the curb, and head off with a cheerful wave from the driver.  I guess I'll have to schedule another pickup next week to get rid of the rest.

Gritting my teeth, I went online and tried to arrange a replacement bag of Xylitol from Amazon.  Their automated system was no help at all - it merely informed me that no refunds were available for that item, and wouldn't let me go any further with an inquiry about a replacement.  Fuming, I finally managed to get an associate on the chat line, explained the problem, and asked for a replacement bag to be shipped.  Unfortunately, she couldn't do that, but as an exception to their policies was able to arrange a refund.  I'll reorder the product from scratch.  Full marks to her - she was as trapped as I was in the entrails of an unsympathetic computer system, but she did her best and came up with a satisfactory solution.  I've had many less productive customer service interactions, so she helped to make my day a little better.

For the first time in a couple of hours, I'm finally able to sit down with a mug of tea and catch my breath . . . but both cats are now sitting next to my chair, glaring at me in an accusing fashion for locking them in a bedroom for so long, and demanding cuddles, milk and treats to make up for this shabby treatment.

Oy.

Why did I get up this morning?

Peter

As most readers will know, our home suffered water damage last Thursday night when our dishwasher decided to fill itself . . . and keep on filling itself, all night long.  Our insurance company was on the ball, and had ServiceMaster here within an hour of our filing a claim.  Yesterday they took out the last of their big drying-out machines and declared our home ready for repair and rectification.  Last night was wonderfully quiet, with no ventilation fans and dehumidifiers roaring!

Yesterday I visited three local flooring dealers, and arranged for each of them to come out here during the rest of this week, measure our home, and quote for replacing damaged flooring.  Our insurance policy will replace/repair to the same standards as before the damage, but not for any enhancements or improvements over that standard.  However, our laminate flooring (laid when we bought our house) was laid end-to-end down the length of the building, with no interruptions or joints.  That means, apparently, that to get that same quality of installation, we have to replace it in the same way, laid in one continuous pattern from one side of the house to the other, even though most of the laminate was not water-damaged.  The color or pattern of eight-year-old laminate can't be exactly matched, so it all has to be replaced.  That's likely to be very expensive!  Flooring's gone up a lot in price over the past eight years.  We'll see what the numbers look like.

The kitchen is another problem.  The water got underneath the ceramic tile floor, to the point where when one walked on it, water gushed up from the joints between the tiles, and washed out some of the grout.  Some of the tiles also cracked through people walking on them in their newly unsupported condition.  That means they'll have to be replaced, but again, they're an older pattern of tile that can't be matched out of modern stocks, so it'll have to be a full replacement.  That means taking up the old tile, scraping the grout and glue off the concrete slab, leveling the surface, then re-laying fresh tile.  Again, that's going to get expensive.  We'll see what the insurance company has to say.

When all that's been done, I still have to find a general contractor to patch the holes in the drywall made by ServiceMaster to remove wet insulation, replace baseboard and skirting-board removed to let the walls dry, and repaint the repaired walls.  I haven't even started to look for that yet.  I'll worry about the flooring first, and the rest later.  I can only do so much at once.

Today we have the first of the flooring companies coming in to measure for a quotation, and also an installer bringing our new dishwasher.  We went with a Bosch model, recommended by several readers in earlier comments and attracting more-than-usually-positive customer reviews on Web sites.  It has a lot more features than our old, relatively simple dishwasher, so I can see we have a learning curve ahead of us as we figure out how to do what, with which, to whatever.  It was expensive, but that sort of unexpected cost is precisely why we (and, I hope, you) have an emergency reserve fund.  It gives us peace of mind to know that in most situations like this, we can usually cope with the bills without panicking.  We'll rebuild the emergency fund over the next few months.

Blogging may be lighter than usual today as I juggle installers, measurers and other visitors.

Peter

If you stopped by yesterday, you'll know that we had a plumbing emergency on Thursday evening.  Thankfully, our insurer (USAA) was on the ball, and authorized an immediate visit by Servicemaster.  Their technicians were here within an hour of our lodging our claim, and stayed all day, measuring water contamination, removing baseboards, drilling holes in drywall and cutting away certain parts of it, getting rid of wet insulation, and preparing the house for dehumidifying.  Their machines are roaring away right now, and will be for a few days yet, drying everything and making sure no mold or other problems will remain.  (I must admit, I had no idea how much work is involved in drying out after a leak like this.  In my country of origin, South Africa, most houses are brick-built with plastered walls.  There are very few framed houses with drywall, like most homes in the USA.  In the former water can't get inside the walls, and cleanup mostly involves drying things, replastering if necessary [it's usually not], and repainting.  Simpler all round.)

After everything's dry, it'll be at least a couple of weeks worth of remediation.  The techs ripped up a couple of hundred square feet of laminate flooring, and part of the tiled floor in the kitchen will need repair and/or replacement;  and there's new drywall to fix the parts taken out, plus patching and repainting.  I'm grateful our insurance policy is a good one;  without it, we'd be stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in remediation and repair costs.  As it is, we pay our deductible of $1,000 (which our emergency reserve fund will cover - yet more proof that taking the time and trouble to build up such a reserve is worthwhile), and the rest is not our problem.  USAA's premiums may be higher than some of their rivals', but dealing with them has always been straightforward on the few occasions we've had to make a claim, and in our experience they're very quick to respond.  Peace of mind is worth the cost, IMHO!

Insurance doesn't cover the cost of repairing or replacing our dishwasher, so we'll be looking at options over the next few days.  I'm sure we can repair the one we've got, but it's a very basic unit that came with the house.  It looks to be 15-20 years old, and its internal trays are showing the passage of time - some rust, a few missing posts and brackets, and so on.  We'll look at new and used alternatives, and see what's available in our area.  I know new machines are hobbled by the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned EPA regulations, but I understand there are a few makes and models that get around them to be pretty efficient (and we can always add boosters to the detergent to make them more so).  If any readers have recommendations for current-model dishwashers, please let us know in Comments and provide a link if possible.  If we learn anything interesting during our search, I'll put up a blog article about it.

Our two cats are NOT. HAPPY.  Their nice, peaceful domestic world has been trampled all over by strangers, parts of their floor first got wet and then went away (noisily), mommy and daddy have been so distracted that they haven't given them their usual care and attention, and they don't know what's going on.  They want it all to STOP. RIGHT. NOW.  One can't blame them, of course, but they're just going to have to put up with it for a few weeks.  (One problem is going to be to stop Ashbutt, who was described by Bob of the FarmFamily as a "paws-on helping cat" when he gave him to us, from trying to get into all the work going on.  He's intensely curious, and wants to fiddle with everything.  Not a good idea when power tools, glue and paint are involved!)

You'll understand that with all that going on, I didn't have time to prepare my regular Saturday Snippet post.  Please amuse yourselves with the bloggers listed in my sidebar.  I'll try to have a Sunday Morning Music post as scheduled tomorrow.  (Hmmm . . . water music, perhaps?  Something about drying out?  I don't know if there are songs about plumbing, drywall and laminate flooring, but I'll check!)

More later.

Peter

Woke up to a very wet (sodden!) kitchen floor, and an overflowing dishwasher.  I don't think it's a blocked drain, or something simple like that, because when emptied, the dishwasher keeps filling up again.  It'll be a plumber day, I'm afraid, and possibly a replacement dishwasher.

That being the case, and working around mopping, pumping, buckets and two curious cats who Want. To. Help., I suspect I won't have much time for blogging today.  Please amuse yourselves with the bloggers in the sidebar.  They write good, too!

Peter

EDITED TO ADD:  09h50 - Plumber has been and gone.  Leak stopped.  Now for insurance assessment of damage, and getting hold of an appliance service company to fix/replace the dishwasher.  So far, so good.

I've long been frustrated (as, I'm sure, have many of my readers) with the declining effectiveness of laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, floor cleaners and other cleaning products.  They just don't seem to work as well these days as they used to.  The reason is pretty clear:  the EPA and other Federal agencies have been trying to legislate or regulate many effective cleaning materials out of existence in the name of "environmental protection" or "pollution control" or whatever is the reason du jour.  (That's not helped by new "efficiency" regulations that hobble the performance of new clothes and dish washers, even if they had the old full-strength detergents to use.)

I've tried to get around the problem wherever possible by "adding back" some of the missing ingredients to the cleaning products I use.  One of the most common "hacks" is to add a little TSP (trisodium phosphate) to laundry or dishwasher detergent.  Until recently I've bought a box of the stuff at home improvement stores (Home Depot, Lowes and the like) when needed, and it's lasted two or three years when used sparingly.  I find it particularly useful for mopping dirty floors and cleaning grimy, greasy paintwork.  I don't do that often, but when I do it makes the job much easier.  It makes cleaning a charcoal or gas grill much faster, too, and a lot less effort.

Unfortunately, when I went shopping for a box of TSP yesterday, I found that the major home improvement chains in a nearby city have all stopped carrying it.  Instead, they're selling what they call "TSP Substitute Phosphate-Free".  The packaging claims that it's as good as the real stuff, but many customer reviews online are pretty emphatic that it's not.  I daresay the EPA and/or other agencies "leaned on" those stores to stop carrying TSP.

Fortunately, there are still ways around that.  One can get TSP online from various suppliers in 1lb. or 4½lb. boxes, or even in 40lb. buckets.  Buying in bulk, like the latter option, is also quite a lot cheaper than the current substitutes.  I've just ordered enough to keep us going for the foreseeable future, plus a little extra in case the bureaucrats shut down even the online channels.  If you, like me, have been accustomed to using the stuff, or you want a powerful cleaner that just plain works, you might want to stock up on some yourself while the going's good.

Another bone of contention is pre-mixed or pre-diluted solutions of common cleaning products, whether spray bottles or aerosols or whatever.  I may be wrong, but the small consumer-ready bottles on the racks seem to be less effective than before.  I suspect the concentration of cleaning product has been reduced, and/or some of the chemicals used to make it have been replaced by environmentally friendlier alternatives.  That's great for the eco-weenies, but not so useful if you're trying to get something clean in a hurry.  I've therefore started to buy one-gallon bottles of concentrated cleaning detergents and products (e.g. Simple Green, Zep, bleach, vinegar, etc.) and mix my own solutions in my own spray bottles to higher concentrations than those sold commercially.  No more problems with weak-kneed solutions!

I hear that some people add TSP to their solutions of such cleaners.  I'm leery of that, because I don't know all the chemical reactions involved.  Instead, I'll have a spray bottle of TSP solution right alongside the bottle of cleaning detergent solution.  I'll apply first one, then the other, then use a mop or cloth to rub the combination into the surface I'm cleaning.  Works like a charm.

Finally, if the supply chain goes to hell in a handbasket and we can't get the cleaners we need in a timely manner, it's good to have extra in your emergency supplies to take care of that until supplies are restored.  (I wonder how many of them are made here, and how many come from China?  Even if the products are made here, where do their containers come from?)  Buying cleaners in bulk makes that easy.  One can put aside a year or two's worth of concentrated product in not very much space, and for a lot less money per unit than buying small consumer-size containers.  Add a few spray bottles to your preps to mix them, and you're all set.

Just a thought.

Peter

I'm getting more and more comments here that I'm having to delete, rather than publish, because of several problems.

1. Some directly attack other commenters.  Folks, if you have a beef with someone, take it up with them on their blog, or person-to-person, but don't try to use this blog as an attack platform against them.  I won't tolerate it.  Such comments will not be published.
2. If you disagree with an opinion expressed here (whether mine or a commenter's), feel free to express that disagreement, provided it's directed against what you disagree with rather than the person saying it.  They have as much right to their opinions as you do.  Try to trash them, and your comment will be trashed instead.
3. If you want to tell me, or discuss, something off-topic (OT), please don't leave an OT comment on a blog post that has nothing to do with the subject.  There are an increasing number of political comments that seek to propagate a particular point of view.  I'm not prepared to see Bayou Renaissance Man turned into a political debating floor or echo chamber.  I have my views, and I'm willing to express them here, and I don't mind debate on those issues on that post, at the time I express them.  However, I won't allow random posting of unrelated matter as an OT comment on a completely different subject.  Frankly, to do so is disrespectful of me as the blog host, and my readers and commenters as well.  I won't publish such comments.
4. I try to keep this blog family-friendly:  in other words, F-bombs and similar expletives will not normally be published here.  It's been that way since I began this blog in 2008 - yet there are still commenters who sprinkle F-bombs and similar not-niceties in their text.  Those comments will not be published.

Peter

I was struck by this report about the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.

After a 2019 fire destroyed part of its roof, walls and spire, officials in France decided to reproduce the church exactly as it had been built some 800 years ago.

It's an undertaking that requires meticulous attention to detail.

To know what types of axes to make, Soumia Luquet, the director of the Maison Luquet, a traditional workshop near Munster, France, and her team analyzed the markings that remained on wood oak beams salvaged from Notre-Dame. They also looked at old engravings that showed workmen of the time hoisting axes and using tools.

It was a forensic investigation, of sorts, as they tried to create axes which, in the hands of modern craftspeople, would leave the same marks on the wood as those of the 13th century. 

They decided on five models of axes — some built for chopping, others for finer, finishing work. But to make enough for the team of craftspeople, they needed to make multiple replicas of each axe, 60 in total. 

Given that it takes nine to 14 hours to make one axe, Luquet knew they needed additional manpower.

Enter Collette, who, in the world of toolsmithing, is seen as a master. 

Toolsmithing "disappeared from history" with industrialization Luquet said, "and Mathieu is one of the first of this generation who chose to go to that job."

Collette arrived in France in October 2022 and, for weeks with little sleep, he worked alongside a small group of toolsmiths. Shoulder to shoulder, working in the 50 C heat of the forge, surrounded by fire and the noise of hammers striking iron, they fashioned raw iron ore into the axes, which upon completion, were sent to the carpenters.

"I think that we still can't believe what we have done," Luquet said. "You know in a way that you left a part of you in history."

There's more at the link, and in the video report below.

That's all very well, and I'm sure it takes great craftsmanship and skill to recreate medieval tools like that.  My congratulations to all involved.  However, I have to ask:  for a major rebuilding and restoration project like this, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, is it a wise use of the budget to take years longer over the restoration by recreating such tools?  Time is money.  How much money would be saved by simply cutting the new trusses and other parts using modern tools and equipment?  It's not as if people are going to visit the restored cathedral to "Ooh!" and "Aah!" over tool marks on the wood.  They're going there to experience the totality of a medieval cathedral.  In that context, I suggest that the extra cost and time needed to restore it the old-fashioned way aren't so much "authentic" and "artistic" as they are a waste of time, money and resources.

Am I out of line?  Does historical authenticity trump time and money in a project like this?  Isn't it wasting money to make a faux restoration more convincing, despite the fact that everyone who walks into it will know it's not the original, authentic article?  Why bother?

Let us know what you think in Comments.  I'd like to hear how many share my view.

Peter

Continuing our thoughts about emergency preparedness...

Too many people today have never tried to live outside their homes.  They've never been camping, and when they have, it's often been with tents (even travel trailers), lots of food in coolers and in cans, plenty of clean clothes, access to showers and toilets (or, at least, areas where it's safe to bathe in streams and "do your business" without being disturbed by natural hazards), and so on.  They have no idea at all what it means to get "up close and personal" with Mother Nature without such aids to comfort . . . let alone with other human beings who are also struggling to survive, many of whom are going to be more than ready to take whatever they need from you, whether you like it or not.

Let's look at some of the issues we're going to run into from Day One of a long-term emergency.  We've discussed some of them in these pages before, but I don't think we've put them all together into one big picture.  In many cases, these are the "little things" that can make a difference between coping with an emergency, or being swamped by it.

After identifying some issues, I'll talk about what they imply for us during a prolonged emergency.

1. Fuel:  What are you going to use for heat and cooking if electricity is cut off?  (That will also cut off propane and natural gas supplied by pipeline, as the pumps will shut down.)  You can store a certain amount of propane in cylinders, or kerosene in drums, but probably not enough for an extended period (i.e. months) - and certainly not in cities or towns without violating all sorts of fire safety regulations, which may get you into a lot of trouble if authorities find out.  You'll probably need firewood to cook with, and (in winter) to heat your home.  Do you have a fireplace and chimney, or any other means of burning it?  If yes, when did you last have the chimney swept and the firebricks checked?  If not, where are you planning to burn wood to cook?  You can't do so indoors, after all!  An apartment balcony may be all you have available - and then the entire neighborhood will see (and smell) that you have food.  They're going to want it, too.  How much wood and/or charcoal and/or coal do you have in your stash?  One cord of firewood (a stack 8' long by 4' high by 4' wide) takes up a lot of space, and can be expensive if you buy clean-burning seasoned hardwood.  A typical fireplace in a typical suburban living-room will go through at least one cord of wood every winter if you burn it for 3-4 hours most evenings.  If the central heat shuts off (i.e. no electricity or natural gas), and you have to rely on your fireplace as a primary source of heat, you'll quadruple or quintuple that consumption.  Don't think you can just go outside and chop down trees or pick up deadfalls, because everyone and his neighbor will be doing the same thing.  Competition for firewood and other fuel is likely to be heated (you should pardon the expression), and may turn violent.  (It won't matter if the trees you're trying to harvest are on your land, either.  In a prolonged emergency, people will ignore property rights and chop them down anyway - and you as well, if you try to stop them.)  Most of us don't have enough storage space (or money) for more than half a cord or so of firewood, and few of us are accustomed to using chainsaws, axes and other tools to get more.  Therefore, plan on storing as much as you can near your home and keeping that stockpile in good shape by regularly replenishing what you use.  If you regularly cook on a charcoal or gas BBQ grill, how much fuel for it do you have on hand?  There won't be any available when an emergency hits.  The same goes for camping gas stoves and their little canisters of fuel.  If you don't have it now, you won't have it then.  (Strong recommendation:  a few Esbit stoves and their fuel tablets can be worth their weight in gold.  The fuel tablets can also serve as firelighters.)  If you boil water to make tea or coffee, heat more than you need, then use a thermal carafe to store it for future use - that'll save fuel.
2. Water:  We've already discussed purifying and filtering it.  However, keep in mind that simply gathering it is going to be difficult and time-consuming.  Your vehicle may not have enough fuel available for regular runs to the nearest source of water (e.g. a local dam, or stream, or lake).  Do you have something like a garden cart to carry your containers there and back - and are you fit and strong enough to make the journey, repeatedly?  Water weighs 8 pounds per gallon, so a full 5-gallon bucket will weigh 40 pounds plus the weight of the bucket (and the lid, of course, to prevent loss due to splashing).  Can you handle that?  If not, what size and weight of bucket can you handle?  How many will fit on your cart?  That determines how often you'll have to make the journey to get more.  How long will it take you to get there, fill your buckets, and get home again?  We may be talking about a few minutes, if you're lucky:  but if your water source is a mile or two away, it may take hours, depending on conditions.  The short-term solution is to store as much as practicable at home in case of emergencies, but you may not have much space available.  I plan on needing 2 gallons per person per day (Texas is a very hot, arid state in summer), and there are two of us here.  That means every week I'll need 28 gallons of water, weighing 224 pounds, along with a decent amount of storage space to accommodate it all.  It also means that when my stored water runs out, I have to collect 4 gallons every day to replenish my stash, weighing 32 pounds.  How am I going to do that?  I'd better think about it before the need arises, and equip myself accordingly.
3. Household cleanliness:  Think of all you do right now to keep your home neat and tidy.  You wash dishes, probably using a dishwasher - but such appliances won't be working in the absence of electricity and piped water.  You mop your floors.  You vacuum (or have something like a Roomba do it for you).  You clean your windows.  You launder your clothes (again using a washing machine and dryer for most of us).  In a prolonged emergency, you'll have to do all that by hand without any labor saving devices - and that's going to take a lot more time (hours every day!) than you currently spend on such tasks.  That means washing clothes in bathtubs or buckets, probably using washboards and/or manual agitators.  You'll have to rinse them, wring them out, and hang them up to dry.  Do you have a manual clothes wringer?  It's not essential, but can save a lot of hard work and allow clothes to air-dry faster.  What about a clothesline or drying rack?  For a lot of laundry, plan on needing more than one.  What about cleaning your home?  Detergent, glass cleaner, etc. won't be something you can pick up at the supermarket, as we do at present.  You'll need to have stockpiled at least a basic quantity in your emergency supplies, to allow you to perform at least basic domestic hygiene for several weeks or months until supplies are available again.  (Remember, this isn't just for cleanliness or smartness - a dirty home is a health hazard, particularly in case of injury, and can attract insect and animal pests.)  I keep several months' worth of concentrated detergent, 30% vinegar, glass cleaner, bleach (in powdered "pool shock" form), baking soda and other materials on hand.  (Be careful about mixing them!  For example, bleach and vinegar together produce chlorine gas.  Doubleplusungood!)  Also, maintain a reserve stock of dish washing sponges, cleaning cloths, spray bottles (to dilute concentrated cleaners), paper towels, a spare mop and broom (and/or spare heads for them), and other such goodies.  We also keep a supply of powder laundry detergent that can be used for hand washing as well as in washing machines.  (Those dinky little liquid detergent sachets are nifty for machines, but not so good in buckets of cold water.)  A more recent development has been laundry detergent sheets, which are neither powder nor liquid, and can be dropped into washing machines or buckets when needed.  I think they're a great no-mess, no-fuss idea for traveling, and I've put some in our emergency stash as well.  (I've found they don't dissolve well in cold water, but if you pre-dissolve them in a cup of hot water, they work just fine.)  For fabric softener, mix warm water, baking soda and a little vinegar, and add to your rinse water.  It works.  (IMPORTANT:  See the note about unscented products in point 9 below - this applies to cleaning products too.)
4. Personal hygiene:  This is an absolutely vital consideration.  Our health will depend on personal cleanliness to a very great extent, as will our ability to live with each other - being stinky is not conducive to good interpersonal relationships!  In a prolonged emergency, most cosmetics and hygiene items will not be available, so we'll have to get back to basics.  Keep a stash of bath soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, skin moisturizing cream and other basic hygiene items.  Forget fancy touches like cosmetics, bath bombs, hair curlers and the like - they'll all be luxuries that take too long to use and demand too much time and attention (and fuel to heat water).  Add extra skin lotion, because we'll be outdoors a lot more than usual in such emergencies, gathering water, fuel and other items, and our skin will be exposed to a lot more sunlight and get a lot drier in hot climates.  Stock up on nitrile gloves in the sizes needed by members of your household;  they're invaluable to maintain hygiene (particularly in cleaning or food preparation) if/when water for hand-washing (not to mention soap and towels) is/are in short supply.  Figure out how much of each item you use today, plan on needing at least double that during the emergency, and stockpile accordingly.  When it comes to critical feminine hygiene products (sanitary pads, tampons, panty liners, etc.), find out what each person uses and prefers, then stockpile that.  It's such a personal choice that forcing people to use a common item, with no choice available, is likely to spark friction.  Take the easy way out, and stockpile what the women in your life really want.  If you think that may run out, consider adding some reusable menstrual pads and/or period cups to your stash.  (Don't forget lots of toilet paper!  Corncobs and pinecones are not all they're cracked up to be . . .)
5. Personal care:  Things like nail clippers, foot files, denture fixatives and cleaners, toothbrushes, medicated shampoos and/or soaps, hair brushes and combs, and similar items should be included in every individual's emergency preparations.  I strongly suggest packing at least one spare of every item in your emergency stockpile.  It's hard to cater for everyone's tastes in a common stockpile, so individuals should be responsible for providing what they need and adding it to the stash.  Those who insist on needing wanting non-essential items such as cosmetics should be advised to stockpile what they need want for themselves - it should not be a burden on the overall household budget.
6. Personal health:  Another critical area.  If you rely on prescription medication(s) to treat a chronic (i.e. ongoing) condition, you should plan on stockpiling them in your emergency supplies to the extent possible.  Your doctor may be willing to give you an additional prescription now and again to add to your stash, or you might lose your luggage while traveling and need to replace a prescription, giving you an additional supply.  Some prescription medications are also available for animals, but in human-grade form (see, for example, this supplier - there are many more).  Use them at your own risk (I do, and have never encountered a problem).  I regard a six-month reserve supply of essential medications as a good start;  a full years' worth is desirable.  You may be able to research natural supplements that can substitute for prescription drugs to treat certain conditions, but this is risky, because one can't be certain that the supplement's claimed potency and effectiveness is as described (particularly if it's sourced from China).  Talk to your doctor about this.  Add to your stash common over-the-counter medications such as pain relief, indigestion aids, constipation and diarrhea treatments, sunblock (and sunburn treatments), and the like.  Plan to need a lot more of them than you'd normally use, because you'll be exposed to very different patterns of work and life than you were before the emergency hit.  If you rely on medical equipment for your ongoing health (e.g. a CPAP machine, an oxygen generator, a powered wheelchair or mobility scooter, etc.) then the loss of power during a prolonged emergency may be life-threatening to you.  You'll have to see about a backup power supply (e.g. a generator, a power station, etc.), plus some means of getting fuel for it or recharging it (such as a solar panel for a power station).  Those options are expensive, but if you rely on such life support equipment, you don't have much choice about spending the money.  In fact, let's be blunt:  if you're medically impaired to any severe extent (e.g. diabetes, paralysis, asthma, epilepsy and so on), or very unfit (including obesity), or old enough to be affected or weakened by age, your life expectancy during such an extended emergency may be a lot shorter than you'd wish.  The much more difficult circumstances of daily living in such an environment must and will take their toll.  I think it's important to face up to that reality, discuss it with your loved ones, and plan accordingly.  It's a hard truth, but it's truth nonetheless.  (It certainly affects me:  after a partially disabling spinal injury 19 years ago, plus two heart attacks, I know I'll find it difficult to survive an extended emergency, and avoid being a burden on others.)
7. Dealing with Mother Nature:  In a prolonged emergency, we'll have to spend a lot more time out of our homes and in the great (?) outdoors.  Gathering firewood and water, perhaps hunting for food, walking long distances to buy and/or trade for what we need, patrolling our property to keep out intruders, and other activities will become routine.  That means we'll have that much less time available for other routine activities.  We'll also be exposed to insects, animal pests, hot and/or cold weather, and potentially infectious environments and diseases much more often than is usually the case.  Plan accordingly, and stockpile sunscreen, insect repellent, protective clothing (particularly in areas where ticks can attach themselves to your body - long trousers and socks can protect you from some nasty diseases), and other necessities.  If you aren't sure what you'll need, talk to friends who go camping or hunting often, and follow their advice.  Don't skimp on your stash!  In a prolonged emergency, you'll need a lot more of such things than you imagine.  In heavily infested snake country, snake gaiters can be a life-saver:  if they strike at your lower legs, the gaiters are too thick for them to easily penetrate.  Stout walking boots or shoes, poles, hiking hats, work gloves, day packs and other equipment may be very useful indeed, even if you don't need them under normal circumstances.  (Emergencies are, by definition, not normal circumstances!)  Mosquito nets (wearable and over your bed) can be worth their weight in gold, particularly if you're in an area affected by diseases such as malaria, Zika or dengue fever.  If you're going to be away from your home for some time (for example, gathering firewood or water), it's worth having some energy bars or concentrated emergency ration bars on hand, along with smaller bottles of water.  They allow you to eat and drink as you move, without having to stop to prepare food.  Sleeping bags, tents and other equipment may be necessary, but that'll depend on your individual circumstances.
8. Pets:  This is a very emotional issue for many people, particularly children.  In an emergency, pets can be an asset (e.g. dogs can warn of intruders, cats can help control animal pests such as mice and rats, etc.);  but they're also a liability, needing to be fed and watered and kept healthy.  If hunger becomes widespread, other people in your area will almost certainly eat pets, and will see yours as just another item on the menu.  If you try to protect your animals, this may provoke violence.  (I'm not joking.  I've seen it happen before.)  Also, stockpiling dry animal food doesn't work for prolonged periods, because it becomes stale and your pets may reject it.  (The fats in dry pet food will go rancid sooner or later.  Storing it under climate-controlled conditions in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers can delay that for a short period, but probably not more than a year or two at most.)  I've got a stash of food for our cats, but the time may come when we can no longer feed them.  We won't be able to release them into the wild:  they're indoor cats, and would be completely incapable of fending for themselves.  They'd be killed and eaten by predators (hawks, bobcats, coyotes) or hungry people within a day or two.  The only merciful solution will be to painlessly euthanize them.  If you're a pet owner, and that idea shocks and horrifies you, you need to re-evaluate your ideas right now, because this is a situation you may have to face yourself one day.  There are no easy answers.  When push comes to shove, people come before animals, and we have to prioritize our decisions and actions accordingly.  That's a lesson I learned the hard way in the Third World, but it's one that most folks in the First World have never had to confront.  Better to think about it now than when you won't have time or leisure to think.
9. Other considerations:  Some people struggle with chronic health conditions such as asthma, allergies, etc.  It's very important to take them into account when planning what to stockpile for emergencies.  For example, an asthma sufferer may not be able to tolerate strong scents (e.g. in soaps, shampoos, cleaning materials, etc.).  That means you have to stockpile unscented items to avoid potentially life-threatening (not to mention relationship-threatening!) complications when an emergency strikes.  (Note, too, that "unscented" does not mean it has no smell at all.  Some manufacturers use the word loosely.  The only way to check is to actually test their product to see if it's truly odorless.  I've been caught that way a few times.)  Even if only one person in your household has that problem, it may be serious enough to require everybody to do what they can to minimize it by using disability-friendly products.  It's also important to consider the safety and trustworthiness of what you're buying.  (For example, many products coming from China, particularly food, have in the past been adulterated with additives that may or may not be safe for human or animal use or consumption.)  I look for brands that I've used before and trust, and often look up their MSDS information to confirm that they're safe.  I also check consumer reviews;  it's amazing how often customers contradict manufacturers' claims from their own experience.  If I can learn that the easy way, without wasting my money on the product, I'll take that as a win.  Finally, consider how things that you take for granted today (for example, the ability to get a good night's sleep) will be much more difficult in emergency.  Without heating or cooling, you'll find it more difficult to relax and rest;  the sounds and activities of day-to-day life will be a lot noisier and more disturbing than pre-emergency;  remaining on your guard against intruders and thieves will be a major requirement;  and you won't have as much time to sleep as before, because all those things will take longer, and take more out of you, every day.

We haven't spoken at all in this article about food, general emergency equipment, tools, self-defense and security issues, and a host of other areas (although we've covered many of them in previous articles dealing with emergency preparations, some of which are listed in the sidebar).  This article has only addressed peripheral issues around those major topics.  However, it's surprising how often people forget about or ignore these issues, while concentrating on what they consider to be more important elements.

What do these factors imply for an emergency situation?  Basically, they mean we're going to spend a lot more time, and require a lot more strength and energy, to accomplish tasks that right now are performed by labor-saving devices, and/or by buying goods and services we need rather than making and/or doing them ourselves.  Want some examples?

• If you're used to spending only ten to fifteen minutes tossing a load of laundry into the washer, transferring the clean clothes to a dryer, then taking them out, folding them and putting them away, you're in for a shock.  Doing all that by hand without automated assistance will take you a couple of hours per load of laundry.  During that time you won't be available to do anything else, so (for example) you'd better have someone else to gather and prepare food, or you and your family will get very hungry.  While you're preparing a meal, all of it by hand without labor-saving devices, and then washing pots, pans and plates, you won't be able to make beds, or sweep floors, or gather firewood.  Any and every task in your everyday life that was aided by automation is going to become a hands-on, full-time task.  Many non-essential tasks will have to be left to whenever you have a few moments available (e.g. dusting, cleaning windows, etc.).  Some tasks (e.g. ironing clothes, washing vehicles) will have to be abandoned altogether, because you won't have time or energy to do them.
• The demands on your physical strength, stamina and energy are going to increase very sharply.  If you're not already fit and strong, you're going to have to get that way pretty quickly, or you'll find that you just can't cope.  Gathering and chopping firewood;  finding, collecting and purifying water;  disposing of trash;  all these and other activities are going to drain you, each and every day.  Things like playing with young children may have to become occasional treats, few and far between because of the demands of essentials.  Every member of the household is going to have to get involved and help out, whether they like it or not, from the youngest child to the oldest ancestor.  If your household comprises older or health-impaired people, you're going to need the help of a network of others who can help you while you help them.  Some can cook, some can clean, some can gather and distribute essentials, but by helping each other, they all get the things done that they need to get done.  Without such teamwork, they may not get done at all.  (Yes, this affects my wife and myself very directly.)

Time and energy.  We seldom have enough of either in our normal lives.  In an emergency, we're going to have a lot less of both - but our need for them is going to be vastly greater than it is at present.

Please add a comment if you can think of other areas around the topic of emergency preparations that we haven't addressed.  This is a never-ending process, and there's always room for improvement and new ideas.

Peter