A Trip to a Village Hardware Shop

These are the SAE tools, I bought the metric variety as my car needs metric tools.

This week has been a challenging one. However, even in challenging weeks we can often make progress in one area or another of our preparations. Sometimes, we have enough cash to gather some things we need. Sometimes, we find items we need discounted or on a substantial sale. Sometimes, we can't spend money, but we find excellent preparation information that week, or we can allocate the time toward organization of supplies, or even organizing paperwork you might need for an evacuation.
This week we were making the long trip back from the hospital when we needed to stop in a village where I sometimes buy tires. Driving as much as we do, and with such a climate, we go through tires faster than most people. As a consequence of getting new tires, we noted a small hardware store which was reconfiguring to sell more of the items they do sell, and selling off items which are no longer selling strongly.

We were able to stock up on the following:

Really excellent Master Mechanic tools Metric Combo wrenches with chrome-vanadium finishes.
sizes, 7 mm, 9mm, 10mm, 11mm, 12mm

Assortment of rubber hose washers, and hose filter washers. Items for hose repair

Metal shelf supports

Variety of multi-use spreader scrapers

Variety of stainless and other metals animal hardware, for horses and dogs

Variety of welding hardware and accessories.


We were able to get some things that conventional hardware chains no longer carry, and we were able to get some things at discounted prices.

Some of the tools I bought today are also available here:

http://www.hardwareandtools.com/Apex-Tool-Group-117830-Master-Mechanic-11-Piece-Metric-Combination-Wrench-Set-u117830.html

Gathering things to move toward self sufficiency is a process. It can take a long time, and we can only take over doing so many things for ourselves at a time. After today, we are just one more inch closer to doing more and more of our own car work in terms of maintenance and repairs.

Normally our dogs are in their kennel, or running free on assignment on the farm. However, an evacuation would require that they be gathered on leashes, relocated, and for a short time be secured to metal stakes using a long rope, until we made safer more comfortable arrangements for them.   The items above are dog sledding hardware, but we would use many of these items in a dog relocation, as in the event of a forest fire, even a few miles from here, where the smoke alone could be hazardous to them.

These are some welding supplies.

          Certainly, we can't buy everything everywhere, and we cannot all be prepared to do everything that might emerge as a need in the future, but the more organized supplies we do have, the fewer times we will have to pay to have someone else repair or replace something on our properties.



UPDATE:    February 13, 2014          We have had a challenging Winter with a fair amount of snow and freezing rain.  It's been a big help to have the items we bought on this trip available and in use, in order to avoid last minute or even dangerous trips in advance of major storms.  It's a good strategy to prepare in advance of times when you might not have the time or the ability to get supplies you will need later.