Survival and Emergency Preparedness

Starting this very popular thread again and making it a sticky like on the old board. Going with 2020 even though we're a little less than a month away.

So, what have you done this week to forward your prepping goals?

I've been sharpening my knives with the ceramic stick sharpener I got from Amazon.

A couple months ago our motorhome caught fire. Pulled out my brand new fire extinguisher, and ran to the back of the bus. That's when I realized it had a thick zip tie on it, that I had forgotten to remove. So I had to run the 40 feet back inside the bus to find a pocket knife, which I normally carry in my pocket. But driving long distances is uncomfortable with stuff clipped in your pocket, so I didn't have one on me.

Found my trusty ZT pocket knife and ran back to cut the zip tie. But my almost new knife was dull from breaking down so much cardboard. So I had to saw at the zip tie with it on the side of interstate 80 in Wyoming, with big rigs roaring by me at freeway speed.

The brand new fire extinguisher got one good blast before it failed. Only used 1/4 of it by the gauge, but it had no pressure. The small backup I had in my suburban was buried and I couldn't find it, so I had to run back inside the bus and grab a squirt bottle to finish putting the fire out.

So, last week was getting my fire extinguishers in order, and this week was sharpening all of my knives. I used to be a Spyderco collector when I was rich, but I sold and gave away most of my collection. Had to sell my high end Spyderco Sharpmaker at some point, so all my knives went unsharpened. But I still have too many pocket knives. A dull tool is an unsafe tool! And the lesson for me was not to slack off on emergency preparedness, especially when driving something the size of a big rig.

Man that story was an eye opener!

Makes me want to go check all of my fire extinguishers and make sure their ready to go. Sounds like the O-ring gave out on yours and leaked out some of the propellant.

We have bought Christmas presents for friends and family that are preparedness related. Some, we have bought 72 hour kits, others we have bought books, and a few we have bought lights. Trying to help and encourage them to get better prepared.

My very recent addition to my vehicles was the Sillcock key I talked about in a thread in the 'Water' section. And thanks again BDC for the idea.

Checked over the several go backpacks we have in vehicles... swapped out older items like batteries, food bars, etc

Added new glue to my Stop&Go tire plugger. ( doesn't call for it, but it makes them seal better )
https://www.stopngo.com/standard-model-tire-plugger/

Getting ready to go debt free!

Bought ammo, see deal alert thread

Also ordered a TDS meter to measure the amount of silver in the colloidal silver I make.

Making a couple of bottles of colloidal silver this morning using the new TDS meter I just bought. Making it just shy of 50ppm strength. That has seemed to be sufficient in the past.

Adding a little gasket to my Zippo lighter to see if it extends the fuel. I will also change out the ranger band and conduct a test.