Various thoughts

No work tonight. Seems there was a miscommunication and I'm scheduled for tomorrow night. It's okay, the hospital said they had no staffing needs. Then again, I knew there would be no shift tonight when I found out who the shift supervisor today was.

Spent more time inside today than I have in months without working. Rather sucks but even with the little time I spent outside my allergies have run rampant. Feel like sand is coming out of my tear ducts.

Been thinking about a lot of things. While I've been having a rough time for a while, my eyes are not closed to what happens beyond my own life. Though the only life I have any power over is my own.

I don't have a lot of faith in the current infrastructure or that basic necessities will remain affordable to all Americans in coming years. I think a lot of people are going to wind up in situations similar to what I've been through for some months now.

Even if I'm wrong, I still prefer to learn skills and have preparations to establish more independence from public utilities which have been severely mismanaged for decades and only get worse.

I mentioned the design for a wood burning stove which would be highly efficient. Pellet stoves are good but expensive and will not burn regular wood if pellets are not available. So I plan on building the wood stove. Even if I can't use it while my daughter is here it would be a good thing to have in the house for security. Combine that with modifications to the house to make it more energy efficient and cost effective.

Definitely going to start investing in solar panels sometime this year. One big problem for me is a common one- figuring out the size of the system needed. Because of that and cost, it will have to be built a little at a time.

I want to find a well pump. Preferably one that is optionally electric or manual. If I can't find that then I just may go with a manual pump. Together with a reservoir or couple of rain barrels would be a workable setup. It would be good to learn how to make activated charcoal filter systems and maybe reverse osmosis.

Last few things I can think of are that I want to learn are how to build a still for multiple reasons. Purify vinegar or water. Possibly alcohol for fuel, drinking, medicine. I already know how to ferment basic alcohol, so it would be a good thing to learn. Illegal to use that knowledge right now but good to know how. Also want to learn how to make methane and basic ethanol.

All of this probably makes me sound like a hippie or survivalist. I'm neither one. Just knowledge I find it prudent to have. Possibly even foolish to not learn in our current world.