You can purchase several different brands of bag/gelpack which are convenient and sanitary to use, along with various containers. We used www.rei.com/product/876179/reliance-luggable-loo-portable-toilet

which is a standard five gallon bucket with seat and lid.

In use, the gelpack is opened, revealing a large plastic bag which goes into the bucket and contains the waste, etc. Within this bag is "Bio-gel" which interacts with waste to produce a product which can be disposed as ordinary waste (different products make differing claims). After use, this bag is sealed within another bag, constituting the package to be disposed. You also get toilet paper (not enough) and sanitizer. Ideally, one bag = one use, although it is possible to stretch it to two uses (not highly recommended).

All in all, it was simple, effective, and sanitary. We could not afford to let illness delay our work. It ain't cheap- two dollars plus per gel pack, but it is much better than a slit trench, etc.

I have a unit and gel packs stashed away for the next EQ plumbing disrupter - such is life in SoCal.......

The unit is versatile, as well. We needed to mix a large amount of plaster and the bucket served well in that capacity.

Started going through all of the kits (personal, house and vehicle), replenishing things that expire and move the old into the current camping pile. Checked the fit of winter clothing on my rapidly growing teenagers to what we need to replace. Rotated stored water and cleaned the containers.

Our yearly fall storms are upon us and the first one is due to hit Wednesday. Although they are not hurricane size and strength, we get our fair share of them and usually between now and January.

http://weather.gc.ca/warnings/report_e.html?bc41

Powerful October storms expected to pound B.C. South Coast this week

Started preparing this afternoon for the storm.

- Rotated all the stored water and also picked up a 30x500ml case of bottled water.

- Purchased another 5 gallon gas jerry can and some more stabilizer (which was already on the to do list.) With this new jerry can we now have 20 gallons of gas storage. Leaving shortly to fill up the truck.

- Ran the generator for about 8-10 minutes, checked the oil in it etc.

- Put the drain plug in the aluminum car-topper fishing boat as it makes a very good rain collector. You would be surprised how much water will accumulate in a day and I will take a pic once the rain starts.

- Topped up all Eneloop batteries (about 30 total)

- Although we are good for food, we will stop at the grocery store tomorrows sometime.

- Checked the yard and made sure there was nothing waiting for a free wind trip.

Ordered four 3.5 gallon waterblox w/ spigot. I haven't decided yet if they will replace or supplement the two liter soda bottles.

New forecast for today.

Rainfall amounts could exceed 200 millimetres in some coastal areas and more than 100 millimetres further inland. In the mountains, some areas could see as much as 400 millimetres of rain over the four-day period.

The first of four systems is expected to arrive Wednesday night with heavy rain and winds possibly exceeding 80 km/h. A second storm is expected early Friday, and a third will make landfall on Saturday.

The final storm is expected to be the worst of the trio.

"Remnants of Typhoon Songda could pack quite a punch," Environment Canada meteorologist Matt MacDonald told CTV Vancouver.
"Currently the forecast models are developing as to a major storm so we'll have to wait and see as we get closer, but definitely potential is there for widespread impacts and strong winds."

The area remains under a special weather statement for now, but weather watches and warnings are likely during the next several days.
"It's going to be continuous heavy rainfall, so every storm is going to bring 50 to 80 millimetres of rain," MacDonald said.
"Potentials for flooding are definitely there and even landslides once we get into the North Shore mountains."

MacDonald said the storm cycle is similar to one that passed through the area 13 years ago, bringing prolonged rainfall, but added that the forecasts are early predictions, and could change as the cycle begins.


Pretty much prepared for this and now just waiting to see if the storm predictions are accurate.

Currently it is the proverbial "calm before the storm" as from our vantage point it is mostly sunny at 12C (53F) with some sporadic clouds above.

Working on repacking bags for Fall/Winter here. Personal fitness goals - 10 mile hike. Adding home lighting. Rotating food stocks.

I've been doing the same thing with our packs, Teacher. The Fall is always tricky because it's a transition season but this year Mother Nature seems to be really conflicted. Yesterday was sweltering and we're going right back to wet and cold tomorrow. I feel like I need to pack bathing suits and wool sweaters right now. LOL!

Personal fitness is back on the top of my priority list too. I basically stopped exercising in August. When the heat and humidity hit I stopped riding my bike, and my daughter is old enough to hike on her own two feet now. The problem with that is that it's takes the work-out out of hiking for me. I carry a pack to make it more challenging but our pace isn't fast enough. I'm putting solo hiking back on my weekly agenda as much for my mental health as for my physical heath.

How are you holding up??

The much anticpated storm was not what was expected. Depending on the area, the winds were gusting up to 45-60 miles per hour along with very heavy rain with Friday afternoon being the worst. In a period of 3 days, collectively close to 200,000 homes were without power for varying duration. I was impressed with our provincial electrical company aka BC Hydro For this storm, a lot of their crews were preementively located to many areas before the storm hit and it paid off as they were able to quickly restore power as the outages occurred. Last I looked on Monday, less then 1500 homes were without power.

As for us we lost power on Friday but it was only for a brief time. However when the power came back on, we took a couple of strong surges and 2 kitchen lights blew and on bulb actually shattered as somehow we had missed turning off that switch when the power intially went out. Other then that, no other damage to report.

The heavy rain lasted all weekend then slowed somewhat into Monday and Tuesday. After some real heavy rain early this morning the afternoon was actually sunny for awhile. Ironically though we lost power late this afternoon, but again, it was only briefly. Not sure the reason, but doubtful it had anything to do with the weather.

Tonight we are back to rain which is going to stay with us throughout the weekend. This month alone we have received just shy of 200 mm (7.5 inches) of rain of which - almost 90% has been since this past Friday. Oh the joys of living in the wet PNW.

I had previously posted about using our aluminum boat as a rain collector. From Friday through Sunday morning, I let the rain collect then emptied the boat. Altogether, 16 pails were emptied out of the boat. That equals to 320 liters (70 imperial gallons) which is 84 US gallons.

From Sunday through to today, the boat collected about the same amount of water. Although we did not need the water, it was still a good experiment to test for possible future use for a longer term power outages and when mains water is also out.

Sorry, no image of the inside of the boat with the water in it as the only picture I took was way out of focus and did not realize until after the fact.

Having seen what comes out of a boat drain hole -- spilled fuel and oil, battery acid, bird droppings, all sorts of rancid bait and fish goo -- I'd be interested to see how usable the water would be. Certainly better than nothing, but the fuel and oil seem worrisome.