Now that it's started...

[Gman]

Briquettes are sometimes made with peach pits, so I'd be wary of using them to purify water.

There's also the chlorine bleach method for water disinfection.

https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and...drinking-water

[Doc45]

Here's a great product, been using it for a couple years-Soap Cloth, only needs 4 teaspoons of water to activate:
https://www.soapcloth.com/SoapCloth-.../scdhwc-10.htm

[00tec]

We smoke a moderate amount of food over a few days. Vacuum seal, dated with package info, then freeze. This makes it easier for meals when no one feels like cooking. Plus, if the powers out and you're using a pellet or other type that needs power to run. There's no worries about food going bad. AND smoked meats have longer shelf life.

Most pellet smokers only take a few hundred watts to run. You can usually run them off of a small power inverter.

I have an inverter I keep in the truck, along with a 50ft extension cord.

[Wulf202]

Briquettes are sometimes made with peach pits, so I'd be wary of using them to purify water.

There's also the chlorine bleach method for water disinfection.

https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and...drinking-water

This seems like a good time to plug a thread I started a long time ago and put together a helpful guide for water treatment

https://ar-15.co/threads/55421-Water...nt-cheat-sheet

[Gman]

Most pellet smokers only take a few hundred watts to run. You can usually run them off of a small power inverter.

I have an inverter I keep in the truck, along with a 50ft extension cord.

My truck has an inverter with 2 110 outlets if it came down to that.

[TheGrey]

I'm a board member of my HOA, largely in principle to know my neighbors, and or know what they are planning for me.

A neighbor app, just sounds like so much gossip.

-John

Yes, that's very nice but not everyone belongs to an HOA, Nextdoor actually connects neighborhoods to go beyond your own HOA, and there are actually leads and value you can take advantage of. But hey, what use is gossip, right?

This is information for people to use or not. Stop minimizing it because you don't see the value.

[iego]

There are a lot of disadvantages from joining Nextdoor, and other similar (free) apps. Someone famous once said, if you aren't the (paying) customer, then you are the product.

-John

[Irving]

Like everything else social media, there are plenty of criticisms of Nextdoor. It's basically Facebook, but for concentric circles around your immediate neighborhood. The negatives generally don't outweigh the positives, and there ARE positives that just can't be recreated in other ways. I'll give you some examples from my experience before I got kicked off.

The amount of stuff people are selling, and that you can sell to are great. A common thing I saw was people getting rid of dirt, fallen trees, and extra garden plants or chicken eggs. Sure, you could browse on Craigslist for that stuff, but you're in a much smaller market and things happen quicker and with more trust within your own neighborhood. I was able to sell a bunch of stuff that wouldn't have been worth the hassle on Craigslist, and might not have moved at a garage sale.

There are a ton of dumb posts about people seeing hawks, raccoons, and coyotes, and so many lost dog threads that you'll wonder if magic gnomes stole every fence and door latch in the neighborhood all at once. However, my parents neighborhood backs up to an open space, and mountain lion sightings can be posted up NOW, instead of some blurry picture in the monthly news letter 17 days later.

I often refer my neighbors who are in need of a contractor to turn to Nextdoor and ask their neighbors. If a big hail storm rolled through, their neighbors WILL have had their roofs replaced and can give first hand reports of good or bad companies, and heck, you can even drive by to check out the work yourself. Also, with people remodeling or repairing or whatever, there is always someone who needs a contractor.

People post up about businesses that they run that you might not otherwise know about. Events that are happening, etc. It's just an enhanced version of being involved in your neighborhood, and you get to control how much or little your participate. You can browse through and pick up information about stuff, and never post anything and you never run the risk of a negative interaction with your neighbors. There are abuses, and annoyances, but most stuff can be filtered or adjusted so it's not a constant bother. I think besides all the free or useful stuff, I liked how they'd do maps of who was passing out candy during Halloween for the kids. I think more kids at houses that wanted them, and less at houses that didn't. Either way, it is useful, but only if you choose to use it. Just as a heads up though, to sign up and verify you are actually you, you can either provide your social, or elect to have a post card mailed to your house. The post card has a code that you can use to be granted that first time access.

I've actually been thinking about going back, but I have to be careful because I get roped into arguments too easily and I'd rather not have that.

[Ianski]

In my neighborhood the next door app has alerted me via people’s posts to police activity, fires, criminal activity, etc. numerous times. I have to sift through all the political rants and the “your dog pooped in my yard again” posts but in the end I think it does serve well as a first alert aid in case of mobs/riots mass theft and looting situations.

[CS1983]

Pure charcoal is sold as "lump charcoal" or "natural charcoal"

Some brickettes are compressed charcoal dust, some have chemicals all will have a binding agent.

Charcoal is also useful medicinally

Yes, well aware of charcoal?s uses. My concern is some moron trying to purify water with what is essentially lighter fluid and grilling charcoal.