Monday, July 30, 2012

Quick Update: My Progress

Hello friends, hope life is treating you well.  I have been quite busy with work, and so of course my personal time and this blog have suffered.  So, today, I figured instead of talking about any specific prepping topic (I have multiple posts in various stages of completion), I figured I would give a short rundown of where I am personally in my preps right now.

As you may have been reading, I consider preps to be a bit more than just going out, buying some things, and stuffing them in a bag, or in a pantry and calling it good.  There are multiple facets, and for me, some are in what I consider "the real world", and some in the "survival world".  I do not mean that distinction as any sort of insult, or that I don't consider prepping and/or survival to be a means of living in the real world.  For me, the "real world" refers more to my everyday life.  Work, bills, time with my family, that sort of thing.  So, in my case, my biggest area of advancement in my preps has been in my physical condition.  I am well aware that I need to lose a few lbs, and after I created this blog, I actually began earnest effort to that end.  I am glad to say I've dropped about 15 lbs and I'm continuing to make the effort to get out more, and be more physically active.  A body at rest tends to stay at rest, and in any sort of survival situation, I don't want to be the weak link in the group I'm in.  I have seen entirely too many short 450lb guys on Youtube making videos of themselves crammed into a 5XL tactical vest, breathing hard as they're walking through the woods on the way to their shooting spot.  I mean, that's just you walking to the range?  Come on, now.  You know what you need to do. 

So, that's my positive advancement in one area.  Sadly, in another area, I've been getting kicked around lately.  My personal finances recently took a huge hit as my home's air conditioning unit died, and I've also gotten bad news from my dentist that I will have to have some costly dental work done.  I'm trying my best to keep a positive outlook, but I would be lying if I said that I hadn't had a couple restless nights lately thinking about my personal money situation.

Of course, before all this happened, I had been working on some of my situational preps.  I have had some good help in both the food supplies area, as well as the information/advice area from some of my close family members who are avid (and highly advanced) preppers themselves.  They are much farther along than I am, and my plans definitely take this into account.  Their home would almost certainly be an ultimate backup location in the event of a longstanding natural disaster that leveled the area I live in.  They live far enough away that their home might survive whatever that disaster is.  So, it's a good thing.  Since I have started this blog, I have been putting together a true bug-out plan, as well as some different routes we might take in the event we have to leave.  I have also bought more food to store, as well as making up a list of things our BOBs don't currently have.  In the last few months or so, I've started acquiring items as I either find them, or have the money to buy them. In no particular order:

- I finally purchased a decent oil storm lantern for the house to use in the event of a power outage, along with a few containers of the oil it uses.

- I purchased some pairs of work gloves for our BOBs, which was a tip I picked up from some video on outdoor survival I watched, where in every scene, the guy was wearing those leather palmed mechanic's gloves.  I think it's a great item to have in every BOB, especially if your plan includes hiking through the woods.  Keeping your hands safe, and undamaged will be absolutely vital.  All it would take is one bad scratch to get infected, or a bad splinter, or a couple fingers broken when you threw your hand out to catch yourself as you slipped down a short hill in the woods to really slow you down, or worse, make you a burden on the rest of your party.

- I have purchased small car first-aid kits for both household cars, as well as another larger first aid kit, along with multiple other first aid type items to go in them.

- I have gotten my hands on multiple 100ft long bunchs of 550 cord.  The things you can do with 550 cord are nearly limitless.

- I obtained two small "throwaway" grills for something like four bucks each.  These little things are fantastic!  I stumbled onto these when a local grocery store actually had the forethought to put together a "Bad Weather Survival" endcap in a prominant place.  They are these small tin pans full of charcoal that have a grate and two little fold-down arms that the thing sits on.  Sure, I keep my grill at home always stocked with propane, as well as a spare tank in the garage, but if we had to leave,  we could take these with us, and at least have a hot meal two of the nights we were on the lam.  I don't need to go into what a huge moral booster a hot meal can be in times of stress.

- Numerous different flashlights and flashlights, as these things ALWAYS come in handy, and honestly, you can never have too many.

-  I have been able to find some decent bottles of water purification tablets, as well as several packs of completely waterproof matches.  These are both must-have items in my geographical location since it's one of the more humid parts of the country.  Your matches have to be kept dry, and any water you find might not be potable.

- Two 5 gallon water jugs to serve as water storage.

That's about all that comes to mind, but of course, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things here and there.  Right now, my current plans include getting my hands on the following:

- Sleeping bags matched to the local climate for my family and I.  This is an obvious need in the event of an on-foot leaving the area.  We have multiple possible backup locations, and might need our own sleeping accommodations in any pretty much any of them.
- A small camp stove for use inside my home in the event of a bunker-in situation where stepping out back of my home is not an ideal situation.  This might be for any number of reasons, but of course, one of the primary reasons is that the rear of my home is visible from the road.  In the event that we have a power outage, my primary concern will be in making sure I don't draw any attention to my house in any way, and the sight (and smell) of me possibly cooking a hot meal on my grill out back would be a detriment to that goal.
- Some means of shelter for our BOBs.  I am mulling over whether a small tent might work, or possibly a couple of tarps.  At present, I am considering the multiple tarp idea, that way we could both carry one, and should we somehow get separated, we'd at least both be able to shelter ourselves from rain or elements with some rope, and that single tarp we'd each be carrying.  With a tent, if my pack were somehow lost, we'd be without shelter.

There are of course many more odds and ends that I want to pick up, but right now, with those items, I'll have our most basic needs covered in the event of a short term bunkering in, as well as a short term bugging out.  I am working on my plans, I'm working on my preps.  I have not forgotten.  I will write more soon.  Until then, stay safe out there, and keep working your way forward.

- Unnamed Prepper



“Survival justifies any means.”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut