6/16-6/18 Prepper Camping Lessons Learned

A group of us got together and went camping about a month and a half ago, partially for fun, and partially to get familiar with our gear and put it to the test.  It was a good experience and we learned a few good lessons.

Probably the biggest lessons learned revolve around the fact we live in western Washington.  It turns out that it rains here.  Our chosen camp spot happened to be in a rainforest (we live in a region of temperate seasonal rain forests), so of course it rained the entire trip.  This was a actually a good set of conditions for us to end up in because of the learning opportunity it provided us.

My clothing was not appropriate for wet weather - I was wearing all cotton.  The first day we were there, it was drizzling lightly, so as usual, I did not pay much attention to it and when about the business of setting up camp.  I was not wearing my rain gear at this point.  Over the course of approximately 2 hours, I actually became fairly damp.  Fortunately, it was warm out, so I didn't really notice at first.  When I did finally notice, I put on my rain gear.  My rain gear is a nylon shell type of jacket, supposedly water resistant.  I found that it became soaked over the next 2 days and became completely ineffective.  I had changes of dry clothing, which I did change into every night before going to bed, so I was at least dry at night.  I would hang up the clothes I had been wearing to dry.  None of them ever dried out in the climate we were in.  As a result of the above, I'm considering the following.

1.  I need to improve my clothing system.  After reviewing the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Fieldbook, I'm putting together a system based on their recommendations.  Specifically, they discuss wicking layers, warmth layers, and windproof layers.  I actually already have a lot of the clothing to do this, I just didn't bring it with me on this trip.  I have polypropylene thermals and regular shirts and underwear.  I have a good windproof outer jacket.  I'd like to add wool socks, hat, gloves, and sweater.  I'd also like to look at improved rain gear.  The heavier plastic gear is attractive, but it's not particularly breathable.  In addition, I want some large slip on, waterproof boots for wearing around the campsite.
2. I'd like to acquire a tent that will accommodate a stove.  This will aid in warmth of the tent, as well as drying out wet clothing and gear.

I bought a new tent for the outing.  It was a Coleman 10 man tent,  purchased at Costco.  According to the packaging, it was waterproof.  According to field experience, not so much.  We found that water was pooling on the bottom tent, and we were never really able to satisfactorily localize the source.  It seemed to wick in everywhere.  I took the tent back and got my money back.  As a result, I'm considering the following.

1.  I liked the large size of the tent.  I only paid $170 for it, so I figure that this is a "got what you paid for" issue.  I've been researching tents at Cabello's, and I think that the solution lies in one of their expedition tents.  They are large, appear to be reasonably straight forward to put up, and have the option for a stove.  There are also "walled" tents available with similar characteristics.  I read through the good and bad reviews of the tents, and if you throw out the best and worst extreme of reviews (I figure the truth is somewhere in the middle), the tents appear to perform well.

We got lost a few hundred feet from the camp.  Pathetic, I know.  Why did this happen?  Well, first of all, alcohol was involved.  That probably compounded our poor decisions.  Our intent was to walk down the trail and explore another campsite that was approximately 200 feet away.  Since we were just walking down to take a look and we were intending to stay on the trail, I didn't bother to grab my pack or put on my hiking boots.  We went down to the other site and looked around.  One of our party pointed out that this was the site of an old logging camp, so he suggested we look around for the concrete pads of the original building.  So we started tromping around the area.  In the woods we were in, the undergrowth was heavy with ferns.  The trees were also fairly dense and it was a heavily clouded day.  We were walking around as a group, when we became disoriented by all the greenery.  We thought we knew which direct the trail was, so we struck out towards it.  When we did not reach it in a timely manner, we stopped and considered our position.  None of us had a compass.  None of us had any food or water.  We tried looking for the sun, but we could not figure out where it was b/c the lighting was so diffuse.  We tried listening for the direction of the river that we knew was about a mile away, but we could not agree on the direction the sound came from.  There were 4 of us, so we decided to anchor the spot we were in and stretch out in a long line of people, keeping each other in sight, along a vector that we figured the trail was in.  We tried this method twice unsuccessfully.  Finally, we decided to try and follow our back trail.  This had not been our first choice b/c we figured this path was long, circular, and tortuous.  It turned out the following our back trail was not as easy we thought it might, but we were eventually able to find our way out using this method.  All in all, we probably weren't lost more than 20- 30 minutes, but it seemed like a lifetime.  As a result, I'm considering the following.

1. In addition to carrying a compass in my pack, I intend to keep one on my person.  This maybe on a string around me neck, or in one of the pockets of my clothing.  It's just stupid to be in the woods without one handy.
2. Obtain USGS maps for the area we intend to camp in.  They are free to download and can be easily printed at Kinko's or similar.  Laminating them would be good as well, however, that can be expensive.
3. Don't take excursions off of the trail when drinking.  Enough said.

We were able to gather firewood readily around the camp.  Most of the wood was actually fairly dry, as long as wood selected wasn't laying on the forest floor.  In general, trees that have fallen over, but are held up off the ground by something else made pretty decent firewood.  The only real issue was cutting up some of the larger pieces. As a result, I'm considering the following.

1. Purchasing a chain saw and adding it to the camp kit.  This will also require hauling fuel, which I'll need to consider when selecting the saw.

All in all, we had a pretty good experience.  I will say that we probably would have come home early if it had been cold outside, but fortunately the temperatures stayed in the high 50's and low 60's most of the weekend.  I'd like to make adjustments in my gear and try camping out for a longer period of time to test it out.  This will most likely occur next year, since my wife is in the third trimester with our new son.

Concealed Carry License

I haven't really talked about guns very much.  This is mainly because when people think of "preppers", they think of gun toting whack jobs.   There are many prepper's who collect guns as a hobby, but there are many who claim that all they need for the end of the world is a bunch of guns and ammunition to take necessary supplies from others.  The fact of the matter is that guns are a necessary tool for security.   There are many opinions regarding guns and gun ownership, but in this particularly blog, I'd like to focus on licensing.  This is written based on the laws of the State of Washington at the date this is written.



This subject comes up now because I just re-applied for my Washington State Concealed Pistol License (CPL).  I say re-applied instead of renewed because I allowed my license to expire greater than 90 days by accident.  I don't carry concealed very often, even less so now that I have a toddler.  Because of this, I didn't even realize that my license had even expired.  I stumbled across it by accident.  I actually was checking to see if my Utah Non-Resident Concealed Firearm Permit had expired.  It does not until this November.  When I was placing the Utah Permit back in my wallet, I thought "well I'd better just check and see how soon my WA license expires."  Much to my chagrin, it had expired last Dec.  Ugh!


The first thing I did was research what is required to get a new license.  In WA, you are required to apply for a new license if your old one is expired greater than 90 days.  All that is required is money (government always gets their cut) and the applicant to submit to fingerprinting for a background check.  Nothing else is required.  This is a bit counter-intuitive to me, because I would expect a state as liberal as Washington to have very strict gun laws.  That does not seem to be the case.  See this website for more information:  http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/firearms/faconceal.html.



Also, in the course of research, I found that my wife, who is a Canadian citizen with US residency can have a CPL.  I decided to encourage her to apply for a CPL as well.  Her first question to me when I suggested that she do so was "Why"?  She said she does not have access to firearms (my guns are locked up), nor training to use them, therefore she should not have a CPL.  I pointed out to her that obtaining the CPL wasn't about either of those 2 things.  In my mind, there are 2 reasons for her to have the license.

The first and primary reason is that it protects her if I ever inadvertently leave her illegally in possession of a firearm.  An example of this would be me carrying concealed while we are out running errands.  If I need to enter a building that does not allow guns (a bank for example), I would have to leave the gun in the car.  More than likely, I'd just put it out of sight in the center console.  That would be perfectly legal in this State if I locked the car when I walked away and no one was in the car.  However, if Barb is in the car, she would suddenly be in possession of a concealed pistol when I walk away.  Her having the license would completely remove that issue.



The second is that it makes it much easier (more convenient really) for Barb to purchase a pistol should she desire to in the future.  In this state, a person purchasing a pistol (not true for shotgun or rifle) without a CPL is required to wait for a background investigation and approval by the local law enforcement agency (LEA), which results in around a 5 day delay.  Inconvenient, but not really a big deal (hence reason 2 instead of reason 1).

The reason I have a Utah Non-Resident Concealed Firearm Permit is because it is most widely recognized by other states in terms of reciprocity.  I drove around the US quite a bit, and I wanted to be able to carry concealed while on the road. For more information, see this website:  http://publicsafety.utah.gov/bci/concealedfirearms.html.


I first applied for my CPL shortly after 9/11, but I did not actually purchase my first firearm until 2004.  At the time, I wasn't sure I wanted the responsibility of possibly killing while owning a firearm.  This is a very real issue that everyone must resolve for themselves prior to purchasing a firearm.  The purpose of a firearm is to kill, therefore owning a firearm is accepting the responsibility of possibly killing.

Nothing I've said here precludes getting proper firearm training and following good firearm practices.  I highly recommend getting formal firearm training prior to purchase or use of a firearm.  I have received training both in the military and through the NRA.  I personally feel that when it comes to firearms, no one can have too much training, education, and practical experience.

What I've Done Lately To Prep 6/5/12

As you can see, it's been a while.  Insert usual excuses here.

Since I last posted, we have done a few things to continue our preparations.  We've continued to grow our food storage.  There have been lot's of canned food sales lately in our area.  Most of the sales have been driven by the fact that Safeway just opened a brand new store and QFC has decided to compete for business head to head with them.  That's to our benefit and we are taking full advantage.  We've grown our canned stock of food quite a bit in the last month, all with items that we regularly eat anyway.  We've started paying much closer attention to the sales ads for the grocery stores, and simply circling the deals we want from each.  We also have been paying much more attention to coupons lately.  We make a list of the items we are going to by and then we just make the rounds of the stores during the week.

In conjunction with paying more attention to sales and coupons, Barb has created an inventory spreadsheet which she and I have been adding pricing information to as well.  We've stored the document on what was formerly Google Documents, but now is called Google Drive.  This allows us both to access the spreadsheet from our smart phones, Ipad, or home computers to see pricing.  We enter pricing as a price per unit from each store so that we are able to compare apples to apples and know when we are getting a good deal.  As you know, this is necessary to be able to judge Costco products against regular grocery store products.  We have found in 90% of the items we compare, Costco is hands down the cheapest source for a lot of the foods we use on a regular basis.

As we bring home the food and increase our storage capacity, I've been clearing off shelves in the garage to make room.  We've developed a habit of rotating the food immediately as we stock and marking the food with month and year with a Sharpie pen.  Our immediate goal is to get 6 months of food on the shelves.  I think we're probably at 2-3 months of food on the shelves right now (includes 30 days worth the freeze dried food we have for emergency rations).  I think this is a conservative estimate based on the rate at which we currently eat food.  There is certainly room for improvement by lowering our daily calorie intake.  Since we are aren't particularly storing food for SHTF, we will continue to base on our current intake rate.  We're mainly storing food to help leverage cheap costs of food when we can and also to act as a cushion for us if either Barb or I lost our job.  It also seems to us that huge inflation must be on the horizon based on the continually deteriorating economic conditions of the world.

I completed 2 fiction books ("Prepper Porn") in the last few weeks.  Both were EMP SHTF scenarios.  I intend to write a review on both of the books as a separate post.

Barb and I both applied for our CPL (Concealed Pistol License) in the State of Washington.  I intend to discuss in more detail in yet another separate post.

The biggest achievement of the last few weeks is that Barb and I got our garden plants into the ground.  Hopefully, we didn't put them into the ground to early.  We had unseasonably warm weather the first couple of weeks of May, which turned out to be deceptive in indicating the last few weeks of weather.  Although frost hasn't been occurring, the mornings here are still starting in the 45-50 deg F range and topping out around 65 deg F.  It's been cloudy a lot, but not as much rain as we might expect for this time of year.

We started by transplanting our strawberries that have been growing in pots on the front doorstep for the past 2 years into a new garden bed we've created along our fence line.  We divided 2 large pots into 4 plants.  We planted them along with 4 blueberry bushes we purchased at Costco, staggering strawberry then blueberry.  Our only logic in doing this was that we think the strawberries will fill in the ground around the blueberry bushes as time goes on.  In this same bed, we planted 2 asparagus starters, which won't be up to full production for at least 2 years.  We have more room in this bed, so we're considering adding raspberries and possibly rhubarb (I tasted rhubarb for the first time yesterday and I quite liked it).


We planted 2 zucchini and 2 straight neck yellow squash in our main raised beds.  Along with that, we've added pole beans and Romain lettuce.  We've still got an enormous parsley bush (only way I can describe it) surviving from last year in one of the raised boxes.  We've cut it way back.  Barb also took a large amount off of the bush and has dried it.  I think she will use it to make Tabouli, though we haven't tried yet.

We are trying something new with our tomatoes this year.  We haven't had much luck in our front flower bed in the past 2 years, despite the fact that they were getting full sun.  We think it pretty much has to do with the mild temperatures here.  We've elected to try the tomatoes in pots on the deck this year.  We've got 4 total plants and we are trying them in 2 different locations on the deck, up against 2 different walls to try and use the reflected and stored heat of the walls to keep the plants warmer longer.  To this, we've added 2 sweet pepper plants and 4 corn plants.

Finally on the discussion of the garden, we planted several different herbs in pots and raised containers.  We have cilantro, basil, peppermint, spearmint, and thyme.  I'm thinking that next fall/winter, I may bring in all of the pots of herbs and put them under grow lamps in our back room.  We're planning on having a new fire place insert installed this Aug for use this winter, so that room should stay very warm.  It would be nice to be able to have fresh herbs for cooking with year round.

Yesterday, we had a group of 16 people over to our house for a prepper meeting.  Our goal has been to get people together every 6 weeks or so, have a meal, catch up with friends, and then have some sort of "class" on prepping.  We started out by just hanging out and chatting about various subjects, both prepper and non-prepper related.  We then got the food going and continued our conversations.  This meeting, we had an Italian potluck, which I think turned out very well - no one went hungry anyway.  After our meal, Trace (http://tracemypreps.com/) gave us instruction on pressure dressings and tourniquets.  The training was about 45 minutes long and included hands on participation from the audience (learn by doing).  I thought it was excellent training - I learned several things I did not know and dispelled a few "myths" of things that I thought I did know.

I think it's important to "network" with like minded people as often as possible, not only for ideas, but just to confirm that what your doing makes sense and is worth doing.  It gives a sense of community and also allows you to develop some friendships with people you can turn to when times turn tough.

What I Did The Last 2-1/2 Weeks To Prep 4/24/12

Yes I know, pathetic that it's been so long since I've written anything.  Speed of life and lack of doing anything worth writing about are my primary excuses.  No, I don't have any good ones.

Barb and I did purchase 4 blueberry bushes.  Unfortunately, they are still sitting in their pots by the front doorstep.  We're keeping them watered and hope to get them in the ground soon.  They are actually sitting next to our potted strawberries, which are coming to life.  We're excited b/c we're thinking by next year we'll actually start producing a decent fruit crop.  Better yet, my son loves blueberries and strawberries-what better treat could I make for him than homegrown fruit?

I also finished a new book called "Lucifer's Hammer".  The main characters are a group of folks in LA and their story of how they cope when a comet rounds the sun, calves into multiple large piece of rock/iron, and collides the Earth in multiple strikes.  The devastation described was pretty bad-tsunami's at all ocean strikes.  As the tsunami's collided with each other, they built in intensity and basic reflected around the planet like ripples in a giant bathtub, destroying every coastal city.  Every fault line instantly triggers due to the impacts as well.  LA basically goes completely underwater after it's hit with a massive earthquake.  The survivors flee to the Sierra's, just managing to cross the San Joaquin valley before it becomes the San Joaquin Sea from the massive amounts of rain and broken dams generated by the comet strikes.  Then, of course, comes neighbor killing neighbor with shotguns, rape, cannibalism, etc.  Afterwards, a new ice age starts b/c the planet is covered in clouds.  The whole time I was reading this novel, I was thinking "I'm not sure I would want to survive this".  Sounds defeatist I know, but that would be a pretty awful thing to survive.  I do know for sure that I do not want to survive a nuclear war - I know far too much about radiation poisoning to want to die that way.  Oh, and zombie apocalypse - I definitely don't want to survive that either (I know-watching too much Walking Dead).

Sunday, I had a few of my prepper friends over for dinner and a discussion of home safety/preparedness gear.  It was a great get together.  The weather was awesome, we got to do some networking with new faces, and we had some really good conversations about prepping from all points of view.  The home safety/preparedness gear was pretty basic.

1. Temperature sensors.  We have a dual output temperature sensor device which reads a sensor located outside the house and one located inside the house.  Very handy for instantly determining what the conditions are both in and out.  Saves time when you need to leave the house in a hurry and don't have time to check the forecast.
2. Lights.  I'm big on lighting for many reasons.  Top of my list is keeping escape paths lit.  We bought a pack of LED nightlights a few months ago and have them plugged in at key locations to light paths to our doors.  I like the LED lights because they use significantly less power than incandescent lighting.  Next, I have an LED headlamp stored in each of Barb and my bedside tables, 2 in each vehicle, 1 in the garage, 1 in the bonus room (convenient for taking the dogs out), and 2 in each of our BOB's.  I love these lights b/c they are hands free, bright, and last a long time on their batteries.  I was actually scoffed at a little bit about putting them in our bedside tables, but that changed when we actually lost power and they were readily at hand.  We also have LED candles scattered throughout the house.  We like them for the same battery longevity reasons and they are totally handy in a power outage.  Finally, we have candles of varying types scattered all around the house.  These are our backups for when we are out of batteries.  In conjunction with the above discussion, I recommend that you learn how to move around the house in the dark without lights, though I will say that with an 18 month old boy around, there are often toys scattered around that act as very efficient booby traps. 
3. CO detectors.  We have 3 gas fired appliances in our house.  We want to make sure that they are all properly ventilated.  When they are not properly ventilated, products of combustion (CO, CO2, etc) build up inside the house.  The CO detectors will sense when this has happened and ply us with 80 decibels of love.  The CO detectors are plugged into regular wall electrical outlets, but also have battery backup.
4. Smoke detectors.  We have l located in each bedroom, 1 located in the top of the stairs going to the bedrooms, 1 located in the kitchen, and 1 located in the garage.  We test them twice yearly, when the time changes.  Yes, I know, the manufacturer recommends more-but I'm good about remembering at the time change.  As we all know, they beep maliciously when the batteries run low.  They are especially prone to this failure in the middle of the night.
   
5. Fire extinguishers.  Fire is a very real danger in any home.  I've experienced 2 home fires in my life.  One of them was a grease fire.  When I was in the Navy, we had a fire on the ship almost every patrol.  They were always minor and out within seconds.  All of them were electrical fires.  For this reason, we keep fire extinguishers all over the house.  We have 1 located upstairs in the linen closet, 1 located in the kitchen, 1 located in the garage, 1 located in the storage shed, and 1 located in each vehicle.  For more information about fire and on how to use fire extinguishers, go here:  http://tracemypreps.com/2011/11/28/only-seconds-to-react/.  Also, we had a great discussion on grease fires and how to combat them.  Whatever you do, do not throw water on them.  Try to smother them with baking soda, put the lid over, or pretty much anything that will remove the source of oxygen works.  For an idea of what water does in a grease fire, go here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmjSUlKoMXE
6. Safety ladders.  We live in a 2 story house with all of the bedrooms located on the 2nd floor.  We keep a 2-story escape ladder in each bedroom.  It's basically just a roll up ladder that hangs on the windowsill. It was pointed out that we've never actually tried to escape the house with these ladders, so Barb and I will be testing them very soon.
7. NOAA radio.  We keep 1 in the kitchen, 1 in a box in the storage shed, and small handheld versions in each car.  We like these b/c they can give us the most up to date information on weather issues as well as emergency broadcasts during disasters.

Thanks so much to everyone who made it out

What did you do this week?

My Plan (humor) - Levity by My Friend Bill

Bringing a little levity to a sometimes all too dire/depressing  subject (disasters).

From one of my favorite movies ... Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeJzHSxRq40

New Product -- Tooblite - A Review by My Friend Bill

Saw (and purchased) this at the NW Sportsmans show in January and thought it was pretty neat, so I thought I'd share.  Totally ok to criticize if you think it's totally lame and that I got suckered (entirely possible).  So, with that ...

http://www.uvpaqlite.com/tooblite.html

Tooblites are basically high-powered glow-in-the-dark sticks or sheets.  These are not the glow-in-the-dark stars from the cereal box.  They work as advertised.  They charge quickly (even with ambient light) and easily last all night.  They can be re-used indefinitely and provide enough light, to least get around/get dressed/etc. in the dark.  Also water-proof.

If you charge it with an intense light (flashlight or lamp) it will glow brightly for 5-10 minutes -- on the order of a chemical glo-stick or indiglo watch.  After that, it puts out a soft glow that easily lasts all night.  Once your eyes are adjusted to the darkness, they provide enough light to "get around" a darkened room, tent, etc.  I've been "testing" one of mine (3" tube) by my bedside for months.  I also have a 6" tube, the "dots" (ok, those are for my son), and a small sheet (UVPaqlite).

What I Did This Week To Prep 4/6/12

I'm a day late posting this.  In addition, I really didn't do that much this past week.  Work has been sucking up a lot of my time.  Plenty of excuses, no good ones.

I did my normal workouts, but nothing special there.  Admittedly, it was a struggle to do it this week.  I had lot's of temptation and excuses to blow my workouts off.  Fortunately, I summoned up the moxy to do them anyway.

I started creating a 2 week meal plan.  I've (of course) created this in a spreadsheet (can't help myself-love spreadsheets).  My goal is to create the 2 week meal plan with all ingredients required for each meal.  The ingredients will include quantities in a common measurement.  The sheet will then add up all the quantities and create a shopping list based on the amount of the common measurement in a package.  It will also be set up to repeat the 2 week cycle as many times as I designate-in this case, I'm setting it up to add up 6 months worth the 2 week cycles.  It assumes that 1 month equals 4 weeks (not true, but simplifies calculations).  I'm also starting to accumulate pricing data for the ingredients to add into the spreadsheet.  I've gotten 2 meals entered and tested.  Barb and I will now work together to decide what the rest of the meals will be and create the ingredients list for each meal.

Our goal is not to have the 6 months of food be completely dry stores.  It will be a mixture of dry stores and frozen.  This is b/c we are storing the food with the idea that we'll need it in the event 1 of us loses a job (personal emergency).  We figure if we were in a SHTF scenario (national or global emergency), we would not weather in place.  We would bug out carrying is much of the dry stuff that fits in the BOV.  We haven't really thought out that part of the plan-we have focused our planning on personal and local emergencies first (see Modern Survival Philosphy | The Survival Podcast link).

I had pea gravel placed in the fenced in area between my deck and shed.  By the term "had", I mean I hired my landscaper come in and do it.  I did this for several reasons.  First, it gives our dogs a place to use the restroom without coming in with muddy paws.  Second, it covers up the mud so that we can get access to the storage shed (we store gear there) and our fire wood pile, also without becoming bogged up in lots of mud.  Third, it gives us a dry, out of line of sight place to camp if the house were to collapse in the event of an earthquake (regional emergency).  Finally, once we acquire a BOV, we'll store it in this area (there is a 10 foot gate).  Having the rock will help keep the vehicle from tearing up this area.

At the same time, I also had a garden bed created against the 4 foot tall section of fence bordering our yard (we live on a corner lot).  We intend to transplant all of our potted strawberries to this bed.  We also intend to plant blueberry bushes and asparagus plants into this bed later this spring.  Our plan is to start with this stuff, then expand this garden bed with other plants next year.

What did you do?

Fire Starter Review by John

My friend John did an awesome job comparing fire starting devices.  Here's what he had to say:

"Fire starting devices. No, these are not matches or lighters. These are based on spark and tinder.

Precondition: All flames were started with a small, thumb sized size of cotton, not treated in any manner. I will review three products.

1) Standard magnesium block with embedded flint. http://www.cabelas.com/fire-starters-lighters-coghlans-magnesium-fire-starter.shtml?WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=747275&rid=40&mr:trackingCode=E98F9052-F5D2-DF11-82EF-001B21631C34&mr:referralID=NA&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=5855053104&mr:keyword={keyword}

This item was part of the military aviator survival vest for many years including 1995 when I left active duty. This item works, but is not very easy to start a fire using my base line "precondition" of a cotton ball. The Magnesium though flammable, is not easy to light.

Why?  It relies on igniting the magnesium shavings one shaves off of the magnesium block. They do ignite, but it is difficult for a "non - survival situation" person to rely on this item to ignite the baseline "ball of cotton".

2) Second item is called "Spark-lite". http://www.cabelas.com/fire-starters-lighters-coghlans-magnesium-fire-starter.shtml?WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=747275&rid=40&mr:trackingCode=E98F9052-F5D2-DF11-82EF-001B21631C34&mr:referralID=NA&mr:adType=pla&mr:ad=5855053104&mr:keyword={keyword}.

This device departs from the standard "create a spark device", to the device that is combining flint, magnesium and\or other elements in order to create a spark that lasts longer.

Bottom line: This device works very well, and easily ignited a small ball of cotton.
Summary: Apparently military issue. Super cheap. Super lite. Buy metal version if you want ability to change the flint.

3) Blast Match. http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/CAMP223-1.html

As with spark lite, this item can be used one handed. This item will probably last longer than one, non flint renewable spark lite. This item produced more sparks, and more quickly ignited the cotton.

This device has the thickest spark producing rod of any device on this thread. I believe this equates to long lasting device on this thread.

4) Aurora fire starter. http://www.buycheapr.com/us/result.jsp?ga=us13&q=aurora+fire+starter

This device works well\Ok. The flint\magnesium stick used to produce spark, is thinner in diameter than any of of the above three mentioned fire starters. As I said... using it's method of igniting fires, is ok, but it does require two hands.

Summary: I recommend Blast Match. Why?? one handed operation ability, reliability, effectiveness, thickness\longevity, and ease of lighting."


Thanks John!

What I Did This Week To Prep 3/30/12

This week tended to be oriented around writing on the blog and creating a public blog more than anything else.  I know that blogging may not be considered prepping, but I would argue that it is for me.  First, it helps get my thoughts organized.  Second, it forces me to think about what I've done this week, and if the answer is not much, then I try to go do at least a couple of small things.  I'm also finding that in the private blog I'm maintaining, there have been some good discussions on how we might approach our planning/training for a SHTF event.  Although a SHTF event is not my primary focus for preparing, it is something I try to make consistent little gains on.

I did my normal workouts this week.  I've definitely been feeling better since I've started back doing regular workouts in about mid-January.  Already my pants are fitting a little less snug and I have much greater breathing control on the bicycle.  In addition to working out, I've made it a goal to cut out Coke, lattes, and beer during the week.  I started doing this about 3 weeks ago.  I figure I improved myself by something on the order of 600 calories a day during the week just by cutting that stuff out.  I did not have to lift a finger or break a sweat to do it either (my favorite way to start a weight loss program).  During the weekend, I don't go super crazy drinking a bunch of that stuff either. It is nice to have a bit of reward for a couple of days, though.

I purchased some books this week.  "Tom Brown's Field Guide to City and Suburban Survival".  I've been reading a copy borrowed from my friend Greg up until now.  I just finished the chapter on weather this week and will continue "Disasters" soon.  "Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival".  I'm hoping this will be a good follow on to the first book I'm reading.  "Washington Road and Recreation Atlas".  This book shows a lot of the trailheads and back roads of WA.  I'm hoping to use this as a guide this spring, summer, and fall as I start exploring the northern Cascades.  My goal is to start committing geography to memory in this area since I consider my current primary BOL to be this wilderness.  "Fieldbook: The BSA's Manual of Advanced Skills for Outdoor Travel, Adventure, and Caring for the Land".  I've never really looked at this book and have no idea if it will be useful or not.  I figure since it's BSA, there must some value in reading it.



I also purchased some supplies to add to my primary and secondary BOB's.  This includes 6" Ace bandage wraps and some mylar emergency blankets.  These items were all relatively inexpensive and have a lot of useful versatility.


I've been using Amazon Prime for a big portion of my preparation purchases.  I've found that the pricing is very competitive on items that I want and I like that using Prime gets me free shipping.  It costs a yearly fee, but I find that with the number of little things I purchase at a time, the price is worth it.  Especially when I'm home with a toddler.  Going shopping just does not hold a lot of appeal for me.

Over the next 2 weeks, I'm expecting to get our garden planted and to transplant our strawberry bushes to a new bed I'm creating next to our fence.  We'll also be adding blueberries and asparagus to that same bed.  We're going to keep our garden simple this year I think.  We intend to plant several types of herbs, zucchini,  tomatoes, and peppers.  We've had rotten luck with tomatoes the past 2 years, so we are going to change it up by trying tomatoes in pots.  We're going to put them against a wall that gets a lot of afternoon sun to see if that helps us.



What did you do this week?

How Will We Communicate?

I've been having discussions with a couple of friends about how we can communicate in the aftermath of some "event".  This doesn't have to be SHTF.  It could be as simple as power is gone and cell phone towers are down.  It's still important to maintain comms with my group for mutual support as required.  I believe normal communications within my group occurs as follows.

1. Blogging - non-urgent and not requiring a timely response
2. Email - non-urgent and not requiring a timely response.
3. Cell phone - non-urgent or urgent.  Leave message if no answer and want a call back.
4. Texting - non-urgent or urgent.  My understanding is texts may still go through even if cellular calls will not.
5. Show up on the doorstep - if nothing else works, this may.  No guarantees that anyone is home though.
6. ?

It's really the ? of number 6 that I want to find a solution for.  I've been looking at MURS radios.  I've focused on this type of radio because they are readily available, require no FCC license, are not line of sight, and have a somewhat reasonable range.  By reasonable range, I mean something like 2-7 miles.  They are not super high power, but with an antenna can extend out to the maximum range.

I was looking at these models by Dakota.

http://shop.murs-radio.com/MURS-Hand-Held-M538-HT.htm

http://shop.murs-radio.com/MURS-Base-M538-BS.htm

And antennas.

http://www.dpdproductions.com/page_murs.html

I haven't yet purchased radios for myself.  This is something I'm planning to work on with my group sometime this summer.  Right now my thinking is that it would be best to establish comms between everyone's houses within my group.  I'm planning on putting a base with antenna at each house and handhelds in each vehicle.  Handhelds can then be transitioned to backpacks for field use.  Eventually I may want to equip my vehicles with antennas as well.

With the use of batteries, these radios can at least get my group all moving in the right direction if we need to bug out.  I think we'll probably establish some frequency settings and perhaps broadcast times to conserve battery operations (for instance, every even hour for first 5 minutes of hour).  The radios will only be useful for as long as the batteries have charge.  Once we can no longer charge the batteries, they are paperweights.

I'm proposing within my group that the first step be that 2 people purchase base radios with antennas to see if we can establish comms between 2 houses.  Hopefully, we'll be able to transmit over that distance.  If not, we can use these 2 radios to establish what range is effective.  I have no idea if there is a way to create a repeater network with this kind of system.  My guess is if you can, its probably expensive.

What are your thoughts?

To Bug Out or Not to Bug Out, That is the Question

This subject jumps to the highest point in the Personal-Localized-Regional-State-National-Global hierarchy.

A comment to a post made on my private prepper blog stated:

"First of all, what happens after one bugs out? Many scenarios to think about. Here are some, and follow on thoughts:

1) Super Volcano eruption at Yellowstone - would need to move South or North, or West depending on prevailing winds. For massive area evacuation, what is the best route or best hidden routes?

2) Pandemic situation where the epidemic moves inward from our major ports of entry - Would need to move East, South or North.

3) Food, or other socioeconomic situation, rule of law intact - Stay home? start to grow food, using stored food only if required.

4) Food, or other socioeconomic situation, No rule of law - Get away from civilization? (likely would not occur fast and decision where to go, would maybe be clearer as such a situation develops. Also, the time of the year would also influence. Example: If wanted to move North or South, we could get ourselves to the Pacific Crest Trail. We could go to Canada or to Mexico on that trail and it purposely avoids civilization for the most part. Water, fire, shelter.. fine. What about food for the long term? would have to rely on anything one could hunt or catch.

We should research Easterly routes that would get us across the cascades, preferably by vehicle over foot, while avoiding the major highways going over."

Here are some of my thoughts on how to decide if it's time to go.

1. We have to survive whatever event causes us even to discuss bugging out.
2. Regardless of the event, if it is large enough for us to even think about leaving the city, we probably should.  There are hundreds of scenarios that we could come up with.  The central idea of every one of the scenarios is this: flow of goods into the population areas is interrupted.  All scenarios boil down to that 1 reason for leaving the urban area.  When there is no flow of goods into the city, people will start doing really bad things-looting, murder, cannibalism, you name it.  There is enough food on the shelves of grocery stores for about 3 days.  Food and other survival type gear will disappear as soon as everyone realizes its time to horde.  When power goes away, so will water, communications, natural gas, etc.  When hunger and thirst sets in, looting and murder will begin.  People will feel justified in killing their neighbors to feed their children.  Once all the food and water looting is complete, people will result to cannibalism to survive.  It's ugly.  A situation could degenerate to this level in as little as 30-60 days.
3. We should assume help is not coming.  FEMA couldn't get help to New Orleans for literally weeks after Katrina.  We cannot count on anyone but ourselves.
4. Staying in an urban or suburban area in this situation most likely means death.

Here are some of my thoughts on where to go/what to do.

1. We want our primary escape routes to be available to us year round.  We are limited in a western direction by the water.  We are limited in an eastern direction by the mountains, which may or may not be covered in snow.  There is no guarantee that the passes will be clear to vehicles once we decide to leave.  We are limited in a southern direction by the city itself.  The Tacoma - Puyallup - JBLM areas are a bottleneck on the best of days - think what it would be like if people realize they should evacuate the city.  The only real escape route is to the north, and even that has limited choices if we don't decide to leave before everyone else does.
2. The decision to leave should be made quickly.  Once the decision is made to leave, it should be communicated to everyone involved in the plan and executed quickly to coordinated BOL's.  Time will not be on our side.
3. We should have secondary escape routes planned as well.  Over the mountains might be a possibility in vehicles at the right time of year.  It might be a possibility on foot any time of year, assuming that we have the proper gear and the knowledge to effectively use it.
4. A fixed BOL which we own is ideal as a repository for a cache of gear, food, weapons, seeds, etc.  It would allow us to abandon our bug out vehicle and walk to the BOL with our BOB's and still be able to receive support.
5. A fixed BOL which we do not own is still useful, but there is no guarantee of security if we try to hide a cache somewhere.  We might consider renting storage somewhere a bit more remote that could supply us if necessary.  Security of this storage would of course rely on it being kept secret.
6. Whatever we do, we are better off coordinated and together.  The more of us there are, the more we can do to help each other.
7. We should not discount the value of being able to move and hide.  We will never be a force that can handle a mob of people unless we've prepared a strong fixed fighting position.  Frankly, I think we are years from being able to build anything remotely like that.
8. Until we feel like we are safe enough to fix our location and grow food, we must rely on hunting, foraging, looting, or pre-positioned caches.
9. If we learn how to use the nature around us, it can provide our every need.  For me that's a pretty steep learning curve.  I don't know very much at all about edible/medicinal plant identification; hunting, killing, dressing animals; fishing; building shelter; preserving food; etc.  I've read a bit about all of these things, but the skills can only be developed through practice.  It's easier to practice right now when we don't have the pressure of a crisis weighing down on us.
10. After about 90 days, the cities will be mostly devoid of people.  Once populated areas can then become a source of tools and raw materials for us to begin building a settlement from.

This is all doom and gloom stuff.  Will it ever happen?  Who knows?  I personally hope that every preparation that we make for the above is a complete waste of time.  I like the cushy world I live in just fine.  But, I want to live if this cushy world ever turns against me.  The only way that happens is through planning, preparation, education, and networking.

My plan (and believe me, it's in its infancy) revolves around my thoughts above.  I'm open to discussion/suggestions because I think cooperative collaboration is going to help the best plan emerge.

What are your thoughts?

FAQ's - My Thinking on Preps

I thought it would be useful to summarize my point of view of why I "prep" or call myself a "prepper".  I'm going to do this in the form of a FAQ.

What influenced you to start prepping?

Let me start by quoting from one of my favorite web sites that I'm "not whack job crazy".  In fact, I'd like to think that my reasons for prepping are far more calculated.  Prepping is actually something that's been on my mind literally for years.  I've discussed prepping with friends as far back as 2006.    Lately, having Cole in my life has given me a heightened awareness of my need to try and protect my family from anything I realistically can.  But it's more than that - my reading list over the past few years has consisted of a lot of historically fiction (John Jakes, Patrick O'Brian), some alternate reality fiction set in times that didn't have a lot of our current technologies, and of course some apocalyptic doomsday fiction.  All good stuff I assure you.  But a common theme in all of the novels is how the characters dealt with not having computers, electricity, etc.  Essentially, life 100 years ago.  In addition, this past summer, Barb, Cole, and I visited the Museum of the Rockies.  One of the really cool exhibits is a turn of the century (1900) farmhouse.  In the exhibit, there are people wearing clothes and doing tasks from that era - blacksmithing, weaving, farming, etc.  These kinds of chores/hobbies interest me.

What events do you really think will occur to make all this work worthwhile?

 Let me quote Jack Spirko and say "Everything you do to “prepare” for emergencies, disasters or economic turmoil should be blended into your life in a way that improves your life even if nothing disastrous ever occurs."  This is 1 of his 10 core values as to why to prep.  In fact, it's the very first one.  Read about them here:  http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/articles-by-jack/modern-survival-philosophy-2.

I have a ranking of events that I think are possible to happen to my family.  I developed this ranking based on Jack Spirko's 6th core value, which is "Plan for disaster in the following order of priority – Personal-Localized-Regional-State-National-Global."

1.  Personal:  I think it's likely that Barb or I could experience a vehicle breakdown of some sort in the next 10 years.  Therefore, my preps include having gear stored in the vehicles to help us if we are stuck on the road.  We subscribe to AAA as our first line of defense against vehicle breakdown.  We keep cell phones with us when we go somewhere in a vehicle.  We insure that we do all the required maintenance on our vehicles.  We fill up the car with gas when the tank gets half full.

I think it's possible that either Barb or I could lose our job sometime in the next 10 years.  I think it's possible that either Barb, Cole, or I could be very sick sometime in the next 10 years, possibly to the extent of partial loss of income or extremely high medical expenses.  Therefore, my preps include having a store of extra food that could sustain us for 6 mos to lower our monthly costs.  We are starting to grow some of our own food for the same reason.  We are putting money into savings to help cover living expenses for such an eventuality.  We are paying off our credit cards every month to keep our credit clear as a secondary line of defense.  We are paying off our house and car loans as quickly as we can to lower our monthly expenditures.

2.  Localized:  I think it's highly likely that we will lose power in the house sometime in the next year.  I think it's likely that the power outage will occur concurrently with cold weather.  Therefore, my preps include food storage, alternate sources of heat, alternate sources of light, and alternate sources for cooking. 

I think it's possible that we could have a house fire sometime in the next 10 years.  Therefore, my preps include keeping important documents and extra cash in a fire-proof safe.  We have smoke detectors in each bedroom and the kitchen.  I'm going to install a smoke detector in the garage.  I have fire extinguishers located in the linen closet upstairs, kitchen downstairs, in the garage, and each of the cars.  We have roll down escape ladders stored in each bedroom on the 2nd floor.  We talk about what to do in the event of a grease fire.  We keep supplies in each car that can help us in the short term.  We are developing a network of friends that can help us in the event of a loss of the house.

3.  Regional/State:  I think it's highly likely that there will be a large snow storm that will shut down this area for several days in the next year.  Therefore, my preps include storing extra food in the house.  We intend to always own at least 1 4-wheel drive vehicle.  We have chains for each of the vehicles.  We have warm clothing and boots in case we have to leave the house on foot.

I think it's possible that we'll experience a large magnitude earthquake in the next 10 years.  Therefore, my preps include storing supplies in a location external to the house to make them readily accessible.  We keep tools that can help us gain access to certain areas of the house in the event of a collapse to reach more supplies.  We keep a store of water external to the house.  We keep spare  gear in the vehicles.

4.  National/Gobal:  I think it's possible that an economic disaster could occur in my lifetime.  This could include the loss of goods coming into the city and the ability of the government to respond.  This could result in no food, water, power, energy available in the city.  Therefore, my preps include being able to leave the city to a known remote location.  We can do this primarily in a vehicle or if necessary on foot.  We are teaching ourselves skills that can help us survive in the wilderness around us.

As you can see, a lot my preps for the more local emergencies dovetail well into the large scale emergencies.

What are your short term prepper goals? 

 I think it makes the most sense to prepare for the personal and localized events first.  As I stated, there are highly likely scenarios that I think will occur within the next year.  I maintain a list of prepper tasks that I prioritize in terms of cost, effort, and necessity.  I'm also working to build a network of preppers to become a safety net in the event of a personal tragedy that may require the help of others to overcome.  I'm learning to grow things in my own yard.  I'm constantly learning new skills to add to my personal skill "toolbox".

What are your long term prepper goals? 

Eventually, I'd like to purchase a bug out location.  This would be used in the event of a national/global crisis.  I'd like to stock it with equipment and make it defensible.  At the same time, I'd like it to become a recreation area where I can camp, shoot, grow food, play paint ball, or experiment with coming "off the grid."  I think of prepping as a hobby as much as I think of it as useful tool to help keep my family safe.

Why blog about prepping?

I think it puts subject matter out for people to discuss ideas and to talk about what the best approaches might be to solve a given problem.  I think it's a great way to build a network of friends.  I think it's a great way to learn and to teach.  I think on a prepper blog, there can be something that will strike a chord with anyone who reads it, no matter how serious they are about prepping.  Most of all, I think it gets people to think, which is a skill we seem to lack all to often in our modern world.

What 1 question would you ask of anyone reading this post?

What does prepping mean to you?

What I Did This Week To Prep 3/23/12

Well it was certainly a busy week in terms of prepper stuff for me.  I got a lot of little items checked off my list.

The top of my list is that I worked out 4 times-2 cardio and 2 weights.  As a prepper, it's my opinion that I'm useless if I'm not fit enough to carry a pack or even do the simplest tasks that require a reasonably fit body.  As the weather gets nicer, I think I might start putting Cole in the baby backpack we have and cart him up to the park.

I read more of Tom Brown's Field Guide to City and Suburban Survival.  I'm finding a lot of great information in this book and I've generated a lot of good ideas based on what I've read.  After reading the "Shelter" chapter, Barb and I had a great discussion on some simple things we can do around the house.  First, we talked about crumpling up newspaper into some garbage bags and stuffing them up in our skylights.  It defeats the purpose of the incoming light, but it does provide great insulation in a location that is prone to heat loss.  Second, we talked about installing heavy curtains over the windows in our bonus room, living room, and dining room.  The bonus room is where we spend a majority of our waking hours during the year.  We'll probably install them in such a way that the bottom can be tucked into the windowsill to eliminate cold drafts from entering the space.  Third, we talked about installing heavy curtains in the open doorways (no doors) from our kitchen to the dining room and front hall to the living room.  This will have the effect of isolating that portion of the house and lowering the need to heat that space.  The overall effect of these items is that it creates 2 shelters in the house if we need them.  The bonus room has a wood burning fireplace insert to provide heat and the living room/dining room area has a gas fireplace.  Now we have 2 alternatives to effectively weather a power outage in the dead of winter.

After reading the chapter on "Water", I recalled some training I received when I was doing summer camps in ROTC.  Tom talks about recovery of water from the ground by simply digging a hole in a sunny location, putting a bucket in the bottom of it, running surgical tubing out of the hole, covering the hole in clean, clear plastic that has a rock located in the center.  This should take advantage of the heat evaporating water out of the soil, collecting on the plastic, and running down into the bucket.  The surgical tubing can then be used to draw the water out of the bucket without removing the plastic.  The water is purified, so no further steps for purification are required.  I'm adding this to my list of things to try this summer-yes I intend to dig a big hole in the backyard.

Barb and I sat down and took the time to re-familiarize ourselves with the contents of our secondary bug out bags from the car.  I was adding the new Gerber EAB's, their refill's, and tea candles to all of the BOB's, so I figured this was a good time to remember exactly what we are keeping in the cars.  For a good explanation of the Gerber EAB, go here:  http://tracemypreps.com/2012/01/09/product-review-gerber-eab-lite-utility-knife/.  For a good explanation of tea candles, go here:  http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/2012/02/simple-survival-gear-tactical-tealights.html.

I also added emergency cash to both Barb's wallet and my wallet, as well as the secondary BOB's located in each of the cars.  This was prompted by a discussion between Trace, Sarah, Barb, and I last Saturday night.  It was pointed out to me that we need to keep cash on hand for something as simple as a power outage, where, for instance gas pumps might be on emergency power, but the credit card machine may not be.  I'm pretty much solely a credit card user.  I pay off the card every month, but use the charges to generate cash back based on the types of cards we used.  Now Barb and I will have enough cash on hand to fill up the car with a tank of gas, get a motel room, and buy some dinner, without the need of a credit card.

I also started keeping a "Task List" of all the preps I'd like to make as I think of them.  I use this to organize my list in terms of priority, cost, and need.  My list will never be completely resolved, but it seems like a good idea to me to keep everything in one place for quick reference.

What did you do this week?

What I Did This Week To Prep 3/16/12

Up until today, I wasn’t as productive as I hoped this week. I ended up working a lot of hours. Of course, as my boss likes to remind me, I’ve got plenty of excuses, but I don’t have any good ones ;p.

I can pretty much only claim that I read a few prepping articles and glanced at a website a friend recommended to me: http://opensourceecology.org/. This site looked interesting from the point of view of building the tools needed to rebuild our world after a SHTF scenario. I hope to research more. Add it to the list right?  I also did 3 workouts this week - 1 cardio (25 minutes on my bike) and 2 weight (30 minute Gunnar Peterson video).

Today, I was a little bit more productive.  I ordered some gear from Amazon to add to the vehicles and packs.  I also created this blog.  Yay me!

Barb and I are headed to Costco tomorrow for our monthly shopping trip. Not a lot of great coupons, but we’ll continue to build our stockpile ;p.

What did you do?

And So It Begins

I started blogging about my preps a few weeks ago to a group of friends.  I still maintain that blog as a private blog, mainly because we use it as a way to bounce around ideas and plans.  However, it made me realize that I would like to share some of the posts from my private blog in a more public way to generate discussion with a larger group of people.

I guess the first thing that you will be wondering as you read my blog is why do I blog about this subject.  The main reason is rather selfish.  I find that writing down my ideas adds clarity to my thinking.  That's why I started the private blog.  I've created this public blog to increase awareness, stimulate conversation, and generally get people thinking about the idea of preparing for all types of emergencies.  I have opinions about a lot of things, some that many people may or may not agree with.  I welcome all points of view to any discussion, as long as it is presented in a respectful fashion.  I feel it's important to maintain respect throughout any discussion in the posts so that the central idea is not lost due to presentation.

Welcome to my blog.

Mike