What Have you done to Prepare This Week?

[obijohn]

let me get on a soap box here. first preparing for emergencies is a GOOD thing. we should all get started.

if i might suggest...knowledge is as important as bullets and beans...so...get involved with scouting. the original scouts in england were lord baden powell's idea to prepare young men for service to their country. they learned outdoor skills, leadership, discipline, etc. scouting today is still giving our boys the opportunity to learn these things. and you as a scouter can learn them also. you'll be teaching and mentoring. i know of no better way to master a skill than to teach. having all the gear is kool, i'm a gear junkie myself, but you must know about it's use. self reliance and outdoor skills will be, likely, of more use than several cases of ammo.

unless zombies are knocking on your tent flap, of course....hehe.

[karlsgunbunker]

Originally Posted by obijohn

let me get on a soap box here. first preparing for emergencies is a GOOD thing. we should all get started.

if i might suggest...knowledge is as important as bullets and beans...so...get involved with scouting. the original scouts in england were lord baden powell's idea to prepare young men for service to their country. they learned outdoor skills, leadership, discipline, etc. scouting today is still giving our boys the opportunity to learn these things. and you as a scouter can learn them also. you'll be teaching and mentoring. i know of no better way to master a skill than to teach. having all the gear is kool, i'm a gear junkie myself, but you must know about it's use. self reliance and outdoor skills will be, likely, of more use than several cases of ammo.

unless zombies are knocking on your tent flap, of course....hehe.

Good Point!
the Boy Scout manual is one of the better survival skills books out there.

Boy Scouts of America Official Catalog - Scoutstuff.org

[Pami]

Originally Posted by karlsgunbunker

Good Point!
the Boy Scout manual is one of the better survival skills books out there.

Boy Scouts of America Official Catalog - Scoutstuff.org

+1 on that.
I had the opportunity to go to the Boy Scout office downtown a couple months ago and was jealous at all the cool things they had in there. I grew up in Girl Scouts (lifetime member, actually), and we never got to play with any of the toys they sell there! The books GS produced in the 1920s and 1930s were so much more fun. I want to say the building is around 18th & Meridian if you want to stop by their office/showroom instead of ordering from the website.

BTW .. by "fun toys" I mean they actually have real camping/short-term survival gear in there. When I took a backpacking training with GS 15 years ago, Mom and I had to hit every sporting goods store in the city to find all the stuff we needed because the GS office just didn't offer the things... and some we got on "Boy Scout specials."

[karlsgunbunker]

Got my Stimulus Check on Friday.
100# of Pinto Beans
20# of Navy Beans
10# of Split Peas
25# of Converted Rice
50# of Long Grain Rice
5 gal of Veg OIL
Spiced
50# of Salt
50# of Sugar
25# of Brown Sugar
10 - 5gal Buckets
10 - 1gal Containers
4 - 1/2 gal Containers
8 rolls of Duct Tape
3 cans of paint (For Gas and Kero Cans)
4 - Drop Cloths
3- Large Bags of Pasta (4# I think) Wife wouldn't let me get more.
20 - Small bottles of Poultry Seasoning (Wal-Mart Clearance $0.05 ea) again wife wouldn't buy more, going to have to spank her.

Wal-Mart had plenty of Beans but was low on rice.
GFS seemed to have plenty of everything on the shelves.

Now I have to pack all this stuff away, and make another run.

Planning to buy a Big Berkey Water Purifier and a Generator.

[bwframe]

Originally Posted by karlsgunbunker

25# of Brown Sugar
3 cans of paint (For Gas and Kero Cans)
4 - Drop Cloths
20 - Small bottles of Poultry Seasoning

Just curious of what your plans are on these items? What kind of seasoning?

Originally Posted by karlsgunbunker

Planning to buy a Big Berkey Water Purifier

Can you give us a review on this when you get it?

Thanks

[Royal-1]

Originally Posted by karlsgunbunker

Got my Stimulus Check on Friday....
Planning to buy a Big Berkey Water Purifier...

One of my next items that I need to get also.

Question for you, which one? and where have you found the best $?

1) Big Berkey
2) Aqua-Rain Model 400
3) The plastic one I saw that I can't remember where or what it was called?

I am leaning toward the Stainless ones myself, might weigh more but look better and might last longer.

[karlsgunbunker]

I did a Google Search and most of the places have the same base price on the Berkey Filters.

The Big Berkey is $250 with the Black Purifier Filter (What you want).

More Than Alive - Big Berkey

The plastic model (looks like a blue 5gal water bottle) is $209
The Travel model is $220.

The only difference in most models is water tank capacity.
They all use the same filters. More filters = faster filtering.

My wife informed me that I may be building a DIY filter using Berkey Filters and 5 gal plastic buckets.

[Royal-1]

The Aqua-Rain Model 400, is $229.99 + 5% off for using "Survivalblog" as the code. It uses 4 of the ceramic filters. Looks just like the Big Berkey, but US made and a little less $

Aqua-Rain Water Filters

[Lock n Load]

While cleaning out the garage this week, I went thru my sons and I "grab bags" and our hunting packs. I normally carry surgical gloves in our hunting bags and the wife joked by asking "wheres your masks"?

She was asking about a couple gas masks I used to have, but the thought of the surgical masks crossed our minds then. We still have boxes of them from when she was on dialysis. I know they were still wearing them when we were in China in 2003 (adopted a baby girl)due to the "bird flu".

So, I added the surgical gloves and masks to our first aid kits as well as the house list.

[SavageEagle]

On the Boy Scout thing. I'm an Eagle Scout and being prepared, like their motto, is something I try to live by. Admittingly, I don't have a BOB prepared, but I have just about everything I need scattered all over. I used to have my Boy Scout manual memorized (at least most of it) but then my partying days took over and I'm lucky if I remember them! LOL

On a bit lighter note, you could consider my truck to be my bug out bag. I have fishing gear, water purification, full pack of bags of Ramen Noodles, 2 knives, flashlight, tools(mostly to keep my truck running!), change of clothes, and some other misc items. Not suitable for the whole family, but in case the old lady kicks me to the curb I can live outta my truck for a while!