|
Stock up on food with long shelf life, and toilet paper again. In the next 3-4 weeks poo poo is going to get real drat lovely with the giant surge of covid cases we will have from the idiots gathering for thanksgiving and xmas.
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2020 08:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 02:25 |
|
|
I’ve been trying to build on some of my skills lately. I’ve been reviewing my TCCC/TECC and WFA curriculum content, working on a vehicle emergency bag and trying to teach myself how to tie more knots, and tonight, I started a fire (in my fireplace so obviously under optimal conditions) with a firesteel and dryer lint. My little tinder bundle went up on my second shower of sparks and I had a roaring fire seconds later. Big takeaway here is holy poo poo clean out your dryer filters regularly, and also, what are you all using as fire starters? Heretofore I’ve used cotton balls/pads soaked in petroleum jelly (messy but effective) or petrolatum infused gauze pulled through a small hole cut into the wrapper like a candle wick. Also, in one of the OPs we talked about the importance of community in emergency planning. Have any of you brought in friends as a part of your planning, and how?
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2020 04:21
|
|
|
I’ve used dryer lint for ages too lol The woodsy solution is just making a “nest” with dry twigs and filling it very fine shavings but a bag of dryer lint is easier and faster.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2020 05:36
|
|
|
Dryer lint has been my go-to tinder since I was a webelos, too. One other little bit of woodcraft kit we learned to put together was cotton balls saturated with vaseline, packed into pill bottles or film canister tubs or what have you to keep them safe and dry. Gives you a little bit of fuel to get you going if it's wet out. e: There are about a million variations on this. Newspaper soaked in paraffin is another one I know right off hand. US Berder Patrol fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Dec 4, 2020 |
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2020 06:04
|
|
|
There’s always using crushed Doritos as well, but I think most goons would rather freeze to death in the dark than give up such a time-honored snack. Lit another fire last night with my steel; next step will be to refine my technique even further so I can ignite my bundle in three strikes or less, then practice doing this outside with tinder that I find myself.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2020 14:32
|
|
|
pantslesswithwolves posted:Lit another fire last night with my steel; next step will be to refine my technique even further so I can ignite my bundle in three strikes or less, then practice doing this outside with tinder that I find myself. That's awesome. I'd love to have a go at one of those discovery channel survival shows
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2020 15:13
|
|
|
pantslesswithwolves posted:There’s always using crushed Doritos as. Yo what
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2020 16:24
|
|
|
https://youtu.be/_SrnDYqDp2w
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2020 16:30
|
|
|
Friendly reminder to take a look and inventory of your stuff today or tomorrow. Oh and don’t ever forget the comfort items like chocolate and or gummy bears for in the house.
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2021 17:49
|
|
|
warsow posted:Friendly reminder to take a look and inventory of your stuff today or tomorrow. funny you say that... I'm currently making a shopping list and planning the best time to go to the store..
|
|
#
?
Jan 12, 2021 19:29
|
|
|
Just ordered a bunch of Girl Scout cookies and bought another 5th of bourbon so if the chuds come for me they’ll find me drunk as poo poo with a raging sugar high burning through as much of my stash of 9mm as possible before they overrun me.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2021 01:39
|
|
|
9mm is too expensive of a round to use on them. consider a lower caliber.
|
|
#
?
Jan 13, 2021 02:06
|
|
|
warsow posted:Friendly reminder to take a look and inventory of your stuff today or tomorrow. big "some of you kids are alright, stay home from America monday" energy
|
|
#
?
Jan 15, 2021 17:19
|
|
|
shame on an IGA posted:big "some of you kids are alright, stay home from America monday" energy more of a "if you are stuck in this miserable shithole like me, get some gummy bears if it does go tits up" vibe imo Amazon sells 5LB bags of trolli sour gummy worms.
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2021 03:01
|
|
|
a saw is a good thing to keep in your trunk.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2021 08:00
|
|
|
The Voice of Labor posted:a saw is a good thing to keep in your trunk. Well yeah, how else are you supposed to make the bodies fit?
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2021 08:23
|
|
|
Steezo posted:Well yeah, how else are you supposed to make the bodies fit? noob break some bones and they fit fine
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2021 08:44
|
|
|
The other day, some good friends of mine had a significant scare with carbon monoxide in their home. To make a long story short, their neighbor’s unoccupied home (here in DC, a lot of homes are row houses that share one or more walls) was leaking carbon monoxide into their home at levels that could have eventually killed my friends within a few hours had they not heeded their carbon monoxide detectors. You can get a decent carbon monoxide detector that plugs into a wall outlet and has a redundant battery back up for like $30 at your local hardware store. Consider this and other stuff like fire/smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, a crowbar and an escape ladder to be essential equipment- you can mitigate like 95% of the most common threats in your home with $150 and 15 minutes in a hardware store.
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2021 01:57
|
|
|
Yeah, that's very good advice. I set an alert in my calendar app to check the carbon monoxide and smoke detectors once a year.
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2021 05:44
|
|
|
FYI, if any of you are like me and see something "preppy" that can help, just buy it if you can afford it. I made the mistake of waiting on "a deal" for a water bob. That was a mistake...
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2021 17:48
|
|
|
You're much better off than this motherfucker  The whole texas thing has me wondering what I'd in the event of a power out now that my landlord replaced the wood fireplace with an electric one, though. Tent plus candles in an interior room to create micro-climes is the best I could do offhand, I think. That and leaving a the taps on a little bit so pipes don't burst and make everything a million times worse.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2021 20:19
|
|
|
Guest2553 posted:You're much better off than this motherfucker That is GOLD. My wife had an "earthquake kit" in her car. When I discovered it I asked her how she was going to open her can of food. She now owns a manual can opener. Still surprised that people forget those.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2021 20:28
|
|
|
I’ve been thinking about how I’d prepare for something like this. The DC area is better equipped to deal with super cold weather than Texas by way of our better insulated homes, so I’d be less worried about some of the more extreme things like icicles coming out of my light fixtures. That said, if it were really bad, I’d probably tarp over my downstairs windows to act as something of a vapor barrier, keep a fire going in my wood-burning fireplace (which I had serviced recently so I know my flue is clear of buildup and good to go), and set up a tent in the living room for my wife, dog and I to sleep in with all of our blankets. I’d probably store some of our water in there to keep it from freezing solid. A lot of our stored food is like Thai or Indian food packets so I wouldn’t need to really heat them before eating. For sanitation- well, guess it’s going to be a bucket with kitty litter and bleach for us, and hoping that the toilets didn’t crack when the water froze.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2021 20:52
|
|
|
pantslesswithwolves posted:I’ve been thinking about how I’d prepare for something like this. The DC area is better equipped to deal with super cold weather than Texas by way of our better insulated homes, so I’d be less worried about some of the more extreme things like icicles coming out of my light fixtures. That said, if it were really bad, I’d probably tarp over my downstairs windows to act as something of a vapor barrier, keep a fire going in my wood-burning fireplace (which I had serviced recently so I know my flue is clear of buildup and good to go), and set up a tent in the living room for my wife, dog and I to sleep in with all of our blankets. I’d probably store some of our water in there to keep it from freezing solid. A lot of our stored food is like Thai or Indian food packets so I wouldn’t need to really heat them before eating. I have discovered that a fireplace that runs 24/7 will keep the area around it at least 50. If I were to try to optimize that heat I could likely get it higher/longer if needed. The staying warm part was actually the easiest. Water. This is where you will encounter an issue. Not drinking water, but water for cleaning, flushing, etc. I was GROSSLY underprepared for how much water it takes to flush a toilet vs how quickly our tubs naturally drain. It would have been much better/easier with one or two water bobs, or even a special plug that seals the tub drain better. Everyone is good with "surviving", it isn't crazy hard. It's being comfortable that needs more attention in my case. All that being said, if my conditions were ongoing for more than a week I would be totally hosed.
|
|
#
?
Feb 17, 2021 21:01
|
|
|
The waterbob and Big Berkey I bought at the beginning of the pandemic are gold right now in the failed, collapsed state of Texas. Other good things were extra battery packs, tealight candles, and warm sleeping bags. I need better gloves.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 04:16
|
|
|
ASAPI posted:FYI, if any of you are like me and see something "preppy" that can help, just buy it if you can afford it. I made the mistake of waiting on "a deal" for a water bob. That was a mistake...  but with a sad fist bump at the endI've been working on building a better prep kit, but my mental deadline was the beginning of hurricane season and this scenario was not on my radar at all. ASAPI posted:Water. This is where you will encounter an issue. Not drinking water, but water for cleaning, flushing, etc. I was GROSSLY underprepared for how much water it takes to flush a toilet vs how quickly our tubs naturally drain. It would have been much better/easier with one or two water bobs, or even a special plug that seals the tub drain better. This is the big hole in our preparation too. We have flats of drinking water. We even have filters and the ability to boil bad water! But there's no water to filter or boil. We didn't fill up our tubs because we were asked to leave them running by the building management. And you bring up a good point about the tub slowly draining anyways. I ended up being able to fill a 5 gallon bucket from a broken pipe across the street which bought us a few flushes. Just in time too, because we were about to go full Cousin Eddie: SHITTER'S FULL! Plan B was going to be making GBS threads in gallon ziplocs and throwing them in the trash, for lack of any better options. Thankfully we had a brief period Tuesday morning where water pressure came back and I filled up every cooler, bucket, and trash can I could. But even this wouldn't solve our problem if our water straight froze indoors. That's something I hadn't considered. Thankfully our temp indoors only got down to the mid 50s before a mix of sun in our big east-facing windows and intermittent power bounced us back out of it. The big windows and being on an upper floor gently caress us good in the summer, but it has certainly helped the past few days. Ultimately I'm going to have to do a postmortem but so far here is what has been useful from my emergency kit: Emergency blankets - put them reflective side in between our bedroom windows and the curtains. Immediate and noticeable difference, especially in our kid's room. Camp stove - Had to take this to the parking garage and put it in the tailgate of my SUV. Wish I had something I could use inside but that's more of a ventilation issue. Like hell I'm opening a window. Chargers - battery packs are essential, but having QuickCharge/PD chargers both indoors and in in car has been gold in an intermittent power situation. If your power comes back on and you don't know if you have 30 minutes or 3 hours, you have to make the most of it. Your phone is your lifeline, to news, to your friends and family, and to shitposting. Food - canned soup and the precooked Indian food packets have accounted for roughly half our meals so far. Haven't been into the dried beans yet but I'm glad I have them. I managed to save some of my fridge contents with an ice chest and moved the salvageable frozen stuff to my car. By late yesterday our power was consistent enough (we'd lose it for 3-4 hours but it would reliably come back for an hour or two) to put stuff back in the fridge/freezer. Nitrile gloves - not so much for first aid but great for dealing with anything gross when you can't wash your hands What has not worked out: Water - duh. Again, not drinking water. But rationing toilet flushes sucks, especially when you get to the point of leaving a piss-filled toilet because you only have 3 flushes left and the next person may have to crap. And that was our starting point, lol. Never thought I'd say this but our son being in diapers was kind of a godsend. Also yesterday I sacrificed about 6 pints of drinking water to the god of clean dishes and felt immeasurably better. Travel/the general game plan - all of my preparation has been for a hurricane-type scenario of enduring moderate issues in place, like an extended power outage in warm weather, or enduring a worse situation for 24 hours and then GTFO if things aren't improving. My idea of impassible roads has been more of a Harvey type situation where things clear up to allow an orderly evacuation to somewhere like my parents' house or, if we need to go farther, my MIL's. The latter is about four hours northeast which we thought would be far enough away to be in a better situation. She does have power but is very much caught in the winter storm too and the roads between us are iced over and subject to sleet/"frozen mix." Skin care - this sounds dumb but between using lots of hand sanitizer (no water to wash hands) and the cold my hands are cracked, raw, and flaring up with dermatitis something fierce. I got ahold of some lotion which will hopefully help. poo poo I didn't expect - leaky sprinkler pipes lead to hours of fire alarms yesterday when the power came back on. I have ear pro for my toddler but it's hard for him to keep it on. The alarms are loving loud, painfully so (although mainly in the bedrooms and common hallways, which we kept him out of), and I really worry about his hearing. My tinnitus feels worse than it did a day ago but hopefully that's just me being paranoid. Not really on the game plan but an added "lol nope" - any pizza place or fast food restaurant that manages to open up ends up with a quarter-mile long line or 90+ minute wait. Hope they're paying their employees handsomely for coming in (they're not). Discussion Quorum fucked around with this message at 10:54 on Feb 18, 2021 |
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 10:50
|
|
|
Discussion Quorum posted:
So Travel is one category I CHOSE to ignore. Like you said, most of the planning is for a moderate situation, not absolutely everything breaking in the worse possible way, while it's freezing. Unless I chose to keep a vehicle that can handle the snow, sitting around, for the one day I need it, is not economical. I considered many things, the need to travel in weather/road conditions that Texas has/had, just means I have to go into "well poo poo, the world is ending" mode. With the current map, I would have to clear hundreds of miles to hopefully find power/water. There is no prepping for that condition, at least nothing practical.
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 14:29
|
|
|
Great Outdoors has a bug-out bag thread that seems particularly relevant for people without utility service, even if it wasn't intended for that originally: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3933065
|
|
#
?
Feb 18, 2021 14:56
|
|
|
Good thread. Looking through the recommendations the main things I need to sort in the house are keeping backup batteries charged and getting more fire extinguishers. Any bigger issues than that I'll drink the whisky and wait for the nukes. 1 question I do have though is about making rainwater drinkable: I have hundreds of liters of rainwater storage available to me but how do I make it safe for my family in the unlikely event I did need to drink it?
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2021 10:14
|
|
|
Bleach, if you can’t boil. Not kidding. You can look up the exact ratio from the CDC. Iodine and chlorine as well but iodine is not supposed to be used frequently.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2021 10:21
|
|
|
SpaceSDoorGunner posted:Bleach, if you can’t boil. Not kidding. You can look up the exact ratio from the CDC. Just make sure you get the unscented kind.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2021 13:59
|
|
|
ASAPI posted:Just make sure you get the unscented kind. also avoid “low splash” or anything other than good old plain delicious drinkin bleach
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2021 14:13
|
|
|
If you have a bunch of clear containers kicking around (or unlubed condoms, which pack up nicely on the trail and are surprisingly durable), don't forget about UV filtering - put that bad boy out in a sunny place for a few hours and you'll have potable water once the UV radiation murders the life-forms growing inside. Prefilter the water first or else some organisms will invariably survive in the shadow of larger debris.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2021 21:22
|
|
|
I have a feeling this can't be right, otherwise pretty much every pond or puddle would be safe to drink out of
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2021 22:15
|
|
|
UV purification is the OG steripen, dawg.
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2021 22:42
|
|
|
Nitrousoxide posted:I have a feeling this can't be right, otherwise pretty much every pond or puddle would be safe to drink out of if you had a way to just suck up the topmost layer of water and there was a low suspended load of sediments and organics
|
|
#
?
Feb 22, 2021 23:08
|
|
|
SpaceSDoorGunner posted:Bleach, if you can’t boil. Not kidding. You can look up the exact ratio from the CDC. 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons, mix it up and wait for 30 seconds. It's gonna taste like poo poo but not quite as bad as iodine water.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2021 00:38
|
|
|
I've had to drink bleach water before, kool aid or gatorade powder is a godsend
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2021 01:30
|
|
|
At least in the USMC there were pretty strict rules about using iodine beyond a certain amount of time. I think chlorine was the preferred treatment method, then bleach, then iodine. Apparently some 2nd LT once had the “good idea” of deciding that his platoon should just take iodine instead of enough water, I don’t think it went well for him once a prevmed corpsman found out and immediately raised hell.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2021 03:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 02:25 |
|
|
Pretty sure we used iodine in SERE. Great.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2021 04:12
|
|
