30 Days of Prepping - 2023

[EBuff75]

Day 7 - Inspect fire extinguishers

Short version - I have a lot of fire extinguishers.  Not because I'm all that concerned, but it's one of those "cheap insurance" sort of things to have.  The total cost to me was probably around $300.  The house came with three (it was a rental when I bought it 18 years ago), and two of those were replaced by Kidde during a recall in 2017.  When that recall happened, I decided to get some more, so that I'd have newer, higher capacity ones in multiple areas.  At the time I had one in the kitchen, one in the basement, and one in the garage.  I now have:

• 5 lb extinguisher in my bedroom on the 2nd floor
• 5 lb extinguisher hanging by kitchen door (side entrance to house)
• 5 lb extinguisher in front coat closet
• 5 lb extinguisher in basement workshop (which also has a walk-out)
• 2.5 lb extinguisher in basement rec room
• 5 lb extinguisher in garage
• 2 lb extinguisher in garage (very old; came with house)
• 5 lb extinguisher in the Suburban
• 2 lb extinguisher in the car

Additionally, I have a 60x60 fire blanket & fire resistant gloves in both the truck and the workshop.  I may get some more of these, just to have one in the kitchen, garage, and car as well.

All of the extinguishers are made by either First Alert or Kidde, use dry, A-B-C chemical, and everything except the two smallest have hoses to direct the spray.  The 5 lb extinguishers are all refillable as well.

They're all showing in the green, hoses are secured (where applicable), no visible damage (dust and cobwebs don't count!), and the pins are secure.  It's probably a good reminder exercise for me just to go around and touch all of them, as a physical reminder of where they're all located.  For example: I'd forgotten about the small, 2nd extinguisher in the garage at first, then remembered and had to look for it (it was behind the garbage cans). 

[EBuff75]

Day 8 - Winter emergency heater prep - accessories for Mr. Buddy Big Buddy heater

Last year I had my first extended power outage during the winter - just over four days without power due to an ice storm.  I had purchased a Mr. Buddy Big Buddy heater and had a 12 pack of gas bottles for it (plus an older 4-pack, several of which turned out to have leaked and were empty), for just such an occasion.  It wasn't ideal (it made my basement smell like I was running a gas grill down there), but did put out quite a bit of heat.  I preferred to run my small gas generator outside and use it to power an electric heater, which is what I did during the day, but I ran the gas heater down in the basement each night to ensure that there was enough heat that nothing would freeze.  (yes, I had multiple CO detectors as well)

Well, I didn't have an adapter to use the larger 20lb propane bottles and those little 1lb bottles only last about 5 hrs.  So tonight, after picking up a 6-pack of the 1lb bottles during a Sam's Club visit, I came home and ordered the adapter to use the larger bottles, plus a storage bag for the heater, some D-cell batteries for the built-in fan, and a reflective / fire-resistant mat to go underneath it. 

The heater, adapter hose, batteries, 2 gas bottles, and the CO detector should all fit into the bag.  That will give me a ready-to-go solution, either for myself, or to loan to someone else if needed. 

[majorhavoc]

Day 8 - Winter emergency heater prep - accessories for Mr. Buddy Big Buddy heater

[snip] and ordered the adapter to use the larger bottles, plus a storage bag for the heater, some D-cell batteries for the built-in fan, and a reflective / fire-resistant mat to go underneath it. 

The heater, adapter hose, batteries, 2 gas bottles, and the CO detector should all fit into the bag.  That will give me a ready-to-go solution, either for myself, or to loan to someone else if needed. 

@EBuff75 I envy you having the Big Buddy (2 propane bottle) heater.  I have the regular Mr. Buddy heater.  It's adequate for my needs (I rent a very small house), and performed admirably during a few extended New England winter power outages.  But I really like the idea of the built-in fan on your model to better distribute that heat.  Relying on D-cells can be a pain though.  I don't know about you, but I've slowly phased out all my D-cell appliances.  The last two were an ungodly oversized 4x D-cell LED lantern, and a battery powered inflator for air mattresses.  

Before I got rid of those last two items though, I had purchased a bunch of D-cell adaptors.  They're basically plastic cases the size and shape of D-cells, that accept rechargeable AA batteries wired in parallel.  The ones I got accept only two AA batteries and run down pretty quickly in power-intensive appliances like the inflator.  They sell ones now that accept three and even four AA cells.

If you have AA rechargeable batteries, the D-cell adaptors are pretty inexpensive and a great backup.  They still can't quite match the run time of quality (Duracell, Energizer, etc) disposable alkaline D-cells.  But as long as you have a means to recharge your AA batteries, they're an alternative way to running your Big Buddy's built-in fan if you need to do so for the long term.

[majorhavoc]

Day 8:

Completed the mandatory online training module for my upcoming (9/18) in-person American Red Cross Adult CPR/First Aid class.  Spoiler alert: now you know what my Day 18 prepping activity is going to be. 

14,817 steps.

[EBuff75]

Day 8 - Winter emergency heater prep - accessories for Mr. Buddy Big Buddy heater

[snip] and ordered the adapter to use the larger bottles, plus a storage bag for the heater, some D-cell batteries for the built-in fan, and a reflective / fire-resistant mat to go underneath it. 

The heater, adapter hose, batteries, 2 gas bottles, and the CO detector should all fit into the bag.  That will give me a ready-to-go solution, either for myself, or to loan to someone else if needed. 

@EBuff75 I envy you having the Big Buddy (2 propane bottle) heater.  I have the regular Mr. Buddy heater.  It's adequate for my needs (I rent a very small house), and performed admirably during a few extended New England winter power outages.  But I really like the idea of the built-in fan on your model to better distribute that heat.  Relying on D-cells can be a pain though.  I don't know about you, but I've slowly phased out all my D-cell appliances.  The last two were an ungodly oversized 4x D-cell LED lantern, and a battery powered inflator for air mattresses. 

Before I got rid of those last two items though, I had purchased a bunch of D-cell adaptors.  They're basically plastic cases the size and shape of D-cells, that accept rechargeable AA batteries wired in parallel.  The ones I got accept only two AA batteries and run down pretty quickly in power-intensive appliances like the inflator.  They sell ones now that accept three and even four AA cells.

If you have AA rechargeable batteries, the D-cell adaptors are pretty inexpensive and a great backup.  They still can't quite match the run time of quality (Duracell, Energizer, etc) disposable alkaline D-cells.  But as long as you have a means to recharge your AA batteries, they're an alternative way to running your Big Buddy's built-in fan if you need to do so for the long term.

Yeah, I've got some of those adapters too (both the single-AA style that Panasonic/Sanyo include with some of their Eneloop kits, and some 3-AA versions).  The problem is that the heater takes 4 D-cells for the fan, and that's a lot of AAs to keep it running!  I mainly use rechargeable batteries, but I do keep some single use batteries around, just in case.  For that matter, I have a handful of rechargeable D-cells that I picked up on a whim a few years ago.  They work fine, but at 10,000mah each they take forever to charge! 

[EBuff75]

Day 8:

Completed the mandatory online training module for my upcoming (9/18) in-person American Red Cross Adult CPR/First Aid class.  Spoiler alert: now you know what my Day 18 prepping activity is going to be. 

14,817 steps.

All of my first aid certifications have expired.  Our CERT group keeps trying to line up another class for us all, but we haven't gotten anything scheduled yet.  The last medical training that we got was last year for Narcan (we all received an overdose kit with two doses to put in our First Aid bags).  We did watch the training videos for our AED a couple of months ago in one of our meetings, just to make sure that people have seen how to use that specific model, so that's better than nothing!

[Rednex]

Catching up here.

 Ok so checked fires extinguisher's  ( 1 in each truck, 1 next to my bed, 1 in kitchen, 1 in shop. Going to get 1 for laundry room. Thanks Ebuff75.

Checked first aid kit in home, need to go to dollar tree and get ace bandages ( they work and are $1.25 each ).

Sighted in deer rifle.

I walk a lot for work like 10 to 15K steps a day , but I don't exercise/workout . 

[EBuff75]

Day 9 - Organize all my mosquito repellent

Recently I was looking for the refills for my Thermacell mosquito repellent and was getting slightly frustrated at how widely spread out all my various sprays and such were.  So, I grabbed an empty storage bin and started rounding everything up.  The Thermacell (and refills), Flextail Tiny (and refills), various Off! sprays (including the discontinued Off! Explore mini spray bottle refills), wipes, and candles; all of it went "in the bin!"  

I might expand it to include all types of bugs, by adding spider spray, yard guard, wasp/hornet spray, etc. that I also have knocking around in various places.  And I'm sure that I've missed some, as I kept finding more and more of it in closets, boxes, hanging on walls, and so on and so forth.  I'm not including the ones which are deliberately packed in bags or that I keep in my vehicles, just the ones which are held "in reserve" or for use here at home. 

[majorhavoc]

Day 9:

Did sort of a mock day trip bug out at a local land trust hiking system.  Mostly for the exercise, but also to to consume the out-of-date food stocks I recently replaced in my get home bag (GHB), and hopefully live to tell the tale.  (Detailed report of gastronomic results can be found in the Near Death Experiments with Food thread, here.)

13,928 steps   

[majorhavoc]

Day 8:

Completed the mandatory online training module for my upcoming (9/18) in-person American Red Cross Adult CPR/First Aid class.  Spoiler alert: now you know what my Day 18 prepping activity is going to be. 

14,817 steps.

All of my first aid certifications have expired.  Our CERT group keeps trying to line up another class for us all, but we haven't gotten anything scheduled yet.  The last medical training that we got was last year for Narcan (we all received an overdose kit with two doses to put in our First Aid bags).  We did watch the training videos for our AED a couple of months ago in one of our meetings, just to make sure that people have seen how to use that specific model, so that's better than nothing!

Yeah, I last took this employer-sponsored course 3 or 4 years ago.  I manage retain the basics, but it's amazing how much of the little details you forget.  All the acronyms and protocol steps (Check to make sure the surroundings are safe!  Call or tell someone to call 9-1-1!  If victim is conscious, explain what you are going to do and get consent!)

On one level, it's unfortunate that ARC charges any money at all for these courses - it's in everyone's best interest to have as many First Aid-certified citizens as possible.  I get it ARC is a non-profit that needs funding streams where ever it can find them.  But especially for a regular, lifetime blood donor like me, they should provide the training free of charge. And if someone can organize a group of motivated students (like you and your CERT group), ARC should totally jump at the opportunity to give you guys that training.

[EBuff75]

Day 9 - Organize all my mosquito repellent

Recently I was looking for the refills for my Thermacell mosquito repellent and was getting slightly frustrated at how widely spread out all my various sprays and such were.  So, I grabbed an empty storage bin and started rounding everything up.  The Thermacell (and refills), Flextail Tiny (and refills), various Off! sprays (including the discontinued Off! Explore mini spray bottle refills), wipes, and candles; all of it went "in the bin!" 

I might expand it to include all types of bugs, by adding spider spray, yard guard, wasp/hornet spray, etc. that I also have knocking around in various places.  And I'm sure that I've missed some, as I kept finding more and more of it in closets, boxes, hanging on walls, and so on and so forth.  I'm not including the ones which are deliberately packed in bags or that I keep in my vehicles, just the ones which are held "in reserve" or for use here at home. 

Ended up using 3 different types of repellent this evening (the Thermacell, FlexTail Tiny, and one of the citronella candles) while a group of us were hanging out at a campfire.  The mosquitos were BAD tonight, at least until the temperature dropped, but they probably would've been worse without those three running the whole evening! 

And yes @majorhavoc, the candle was one of the Coleman ones that you posted about the sale on Amazon!  Only drawback to them is that once you blow them out, they take forever to cool off and harden back up.

[Rednex]

Today I helped my buddy out working his chicken farm. 8 houses and around 470,000 chicken in them 8 houses. Been doing it a while now so I have a working knowledge of how to raise meat chickens. The walking a few miles, and keeping a secure bond with an Apocalypse/ bug out Buddy. He also has a few farm's I can hunt, he is a deer hunting machine. 

[EBuff75]

Today I helped my buddy out working his chicken farm. 8 houses and around 470,000 chicken in them 8 houses. Been doing it a while now so I have a working knowledge of how to raise meat chickens. The walking a few miles, and keeping a secure bond with an Apocalypse/ bug out Buddy. He also has a few farm's I can hunt, he is a deer hunting machine. 

Those personal connections are important and are frequently overlooked in our online world.  

Last night a friend invited several of us over to hang out around the fire at her place.  It was the first time in a couple of months that we've managed to get together, just due to how busy this summer has been.  Our hostess is a serious gardener and the kids got a kick out of looking for fresh things to pick (a few leftover strawberries, carrots, beans, peppers) and even tried eating the greens off of a carrot after being told that they are edible (they weren't fans though).

It was a nice night, we had some fun food (some friends brought gourmet cookies from a local shop!), and even the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.  All in all, it was a good evening!

[majorhavoc]

Day 10:

Bought replacement food stores for my motorcycle GHB.

5,937 steps

[EBuff75]

Day 10 - Oukitel P501 power station review

It's sort of a "meh" power station for me, but I figured that I should go ahead and post the review.  I'm still compiling my notes on a few others which I'll probably post this month as well.  Short version for this one: decent specs, but it powers off if there's no load after 1 min on DC/USB or 5 mins on AC, which is a bit of a deal-breaker for me.

[majorhavoc]

Day 11:

I've actually been chipping away at this for a few days now, but I'll take credit today.  Recharging everything I own - power banks, Rockpals power station, various rechargeable flashlights, headlamps and lanterns, and all my AA and AAA NiMH batteries.  

Including my lithium jump starter, which I hadn't checked in quite a while.  It was down to one bar (out of 4).  I wonder if it would have done anything had I actually needed it to self rescue from a depleted car battery.

Who knows?  This might come in handy if Hurricane Lee makes a beeline towards New England.

11,685 steps.

[EBuff75]

Day 11 - Clean / sharpen my EDC pocketknife

I'm a bad knife owner, in that I've had this knife (SOG Aegis II) for something like 7-8 years now and I've never taken it apart to clean it...  Bad EBuff!  *smacks hand*  Yeah, it was pretty dirty in there.  One of my most frequent uses is for opening packages, so the first step was actually to clean off all the tape goo that was all over the blade. 

Here's what the inside looked like (I'd already cleaned off the tape goo by this point, which is why the blade is so clean): 
You cannot view this attachment.

Ewww!!  I broke out the gun cleaning kit and started scrubbing.  I carefully removed each piece and was glad to discover that this knife uses an updated spring assist that was much easier to reassemble than what was in the video I'd watched beforehand.  No histrionics required, just slip the one end of the spring into the pinhole on the blade and lay the whole thing back onto the scale.  Done!  I touched up all the moving parts with some Hoppe's lube (I've got one of those bottles with the needle applicator, which made it easy to get in everywhere without making a mess) and put it all back together.  A bit of fiddling with the pivot screw to get the tension just right and it was back to normal.

I did think far enough ahead to wait to sharpen it until after I'd done the cleaning.  That way I'd have less of a chance to cut myself!  A couple of passes on the coarse side of my sharpener (I have an older versions of this Smiths sharpener) with a few drops of honing oil, then 10 passes on the fine side (again, with some oil) got it fairly sharp.  Another 10 passes and it's slicing like a razor again!  I had to sort of eyeball the angle as I went, but I tried to aim for somewhere in the 20 degree range and it seems to have worked out.  I'm all ready for my next Amazon delivery now! 

BTW, the decision to clean/sharpen the knife was partly a reaction to my other fails today on mechanical-ish preps that I had planned to do for the daily prep - changing the headlights on my car and reassembling/reinstalling the pump on my hydroponics setup. Glad I was able to figure out how to take apart, clean, reassemble, and sharpen a knife!  Whew!

[majorhavoc]

Day 12:

Oh boy.  Really scrapping the bottom of the barrel here.  Um ... still finding more AA NiMh batteries to charge in anticipation of Hurricane Lee, now headed straight to the Gulf of Maine, my AO.

Ah ... posted here on ZS, a couple of bargain prepping deal posts, and contributed to @Moab's Your Team - finding others who prep and the knife chat threads.  True, those last two were bullshit posts.  But look at it as: building the prepping community, passing along prepping knowledge, etc.  

OK, lame.  Tomorrow's not likely to be better.  I do have a life people, you know.

Even step count is pathetic: 8,004.

[Moab]

Had to search "Preparedness Mind Map" because I wasn't familiar with that term. Interesting.

Ok. This 30 day thing is very cool. 

Can you link to image or post a .pdf? That is incredible. 

[Moab]

Just read thru the thread. A few things came to mind.

Batteries:

I just bought a new set of rechargeable batteries. And charger. I've been using Tenergy rechargeable nimhs for 20 years. They are always reasonably priced. Not the cheap brands that come and go. But not crazy expensive either. Each set has lasted me at least 10 years of regular use. As did their ten bay charger I originally bought with a set of batteries.  That actually lasted closer to 15 years. 

I don't buy lithium because AA and AAA get lost all the time. I use the nimhs in everything. Except my two good flashlights. They use 18500s. I did recently find a charger that does them and nimhs. Which is pretty handy. 

GHB:

Now that I'm not driving a soft top Jeep. I can actually put together a decent sized GHB. Although I still have not decided how to hide/secure it in the back of my hard top Jeep Wrangler JK 4 door. I like the black blanket idea. Anything else is going to be seen and invite a break in. Like a lock box or something. 

I would like to carry at least one milk crate of vehicle only stuff. Meaning just things for the Jeep itself. And a medium sized backpack that holds everything. Including boots and clothing. 

Vehicle preps:

Since I just got this new to me Jeep a couple weeks ago. Most of my time has been spent working on it. Other than cosmetic things like cleaning it and dyeing the exterior plastics. I'm upgrading all the lighting to LED. And eventually adding light to the interior. Like the liftgate and back has little to light. I plan to put a light strip up there. Better footwell lights. And some battery operated led lights to strap to the roll bars. Externally I plan to add backup lights. With a separate manual switch. So I can flash tailgaters. Lol. 

Mechanical repairs are coming this week. 02 sensors, spark plugs, wires, oil pump. I had the oil changed. But the rest of the fluids look great.

It came with an excellent roof rack with ladder. So I need to come up with some sort of waterproof system for storing things up top.

Preps:

I still need to transition into my new bug out/inch/go bag. I have everything from my old bag. I just need to repack it.  

Tomorrow is hopefully dyeing the external plastics, upgrading the backup lights to led, and fixing an led issue with the rear dome light.