Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1237)

Hello Everyone!

Up way too late, Financial stress sucks & Cleaning the IBC tote!

Alright, another day has ended here and I am more or less on time with my writing routine. I even managed to take my late day nap a little earlier... and thus avoided having to scramble around just before sunset to get all my late day chores done.

Last night I could not 'for the life of me' unwind enough to fall asleep at a reasonable hour... and it was close to four in the morning by the time that I actually drifted off. Somehow I still managed to wake up by eight (or nine) this morning... and stayed up afterwards... which was mainly because my mind immediately began obsessing over not having the finances that I need to get a shed and electricity at the new place.

After giving my Hive engagement routine only a small amount of time... I got outdoors with the intent of working on the packing process some more... which yeah seems like all that I do anymore! Today though, my main goal was to get my three hundred and thirty gallon IBC (intermediate bulk container) water tote moved from the other side of the property to the shelter site.

Thankfully the tote has been stored in a shaded area this whole time (for the previous three years) and did not seem to have grown 'dry rotted' but whoa it had accumulated a good bit of water in it along with a thick layer of decomposed leaf matter. Getting it drained and pulled off the plastic pallet it was stored on was not all that difficult... but hauling it across the property was of course a bit of a bear.

Basically, I did that same tactic that I have used before to move it by 'walking' it... which essentially amounts to rotating it on a corner, setting it down and rotating it again. I had to do it that way for a few hundred feet to get it up an incline... but after that I retrieved a wagon and after getting the tote on top of the wagon... I ratchet strapped it down and then pulled (and occasionally pushed) it the rest of the way.

Doing all that alone was quite the work out... but getting it to the shelter site was only one small part of what needed done... because I still had to get it cleaned up and checked for leaks. I will not bore you with all the details of cleaning it on both the inside and the outside... but suffice it to say that after lots of scrubbing (and fabricating a handle for a brush) I got it done.

That whole project took the bulk of the day to get done... but by the end of it I got the tote filled with water (that I added a large amount of bleach to) and the only leak that I found was at the top of the tank near the inlet opening. Ultimately the leak is not one that will make the tote useless... and once I get it all dried out enough... I am going to slap some zip-system (flashing) tape on it and call it good enough.

Well, I am felling pretty low and incredibly fatigued to boot... so I am going to cut this entry short and get on with my evening. I hope that everyone is doing well.