30 Days of Prepping - 2024

[EBuff75]

Day 12 - Maintenance check on vehicles, fix reverse light, and re-watch 'The Martian'

Checked all the fluids, air filters, wipers, and tires on both my Mazda3 and Suburban.  Everything was in good shape.  I added a bit of air to the car tires (they were each down about 2psi) and one on the truck (down a similar amount) and then addressed the one issue that I was already aware of: a non-functional reverse light on the truck.

This was an LED bulb that I put in last year and I was a little annoyed that it had quit on me.  I locked/unlocked it using the remote (which activates the reverse lights) after I'd removed the assembly and pulled the bulb out.  It flickered a few times when I pushed it back and forth, so I thought maybe the socket was bad (which is a fairly common issue and easy to fix).  But after swapping in the old incandescent bulb (which I'd kept) the socket was fine.  That was when I noticed that one of the contacts on the LED bulb had broken off.  Grrr!

Here's where the cool part happened - I was able to FIX the LED bulb!  Took it into the workshop, used a tiny screwdriver to pry back the plastic a little where the broken contact was, bent a staple over into a U-shape, trimmed it to the proper length, stuffed one leg of the U down inside the base where the old contact had broken off, used my Dremel tool to polish up the exposed metal a bit, then reinstalled it in the truck  It works!  Feels good to be able to actually fix something, rather than just tossing it and buying another. 

Repaired contact is on the bottom.  The staple (from a staple gun) was a perfect fit!
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Exercise today was about 40mins on the walking treadmill while watching 'The Martian.'  That's one of my all-time favorite movies.  I've seen it described it as "smart people, solving problems" and that about sums it up.  It's a classic man-vs-nature story, so there is no human antagonist.  It's just Mark Watney trying to survive on Mars until he can be rescued, with all of NASA helping him with problem solving along the way.  Great film with gorgeous cinematography and music.  The scene where he is traveling to the other launch site, which is a series of aerial camera shots and soaring music gives me chills every time.

Edited to add:  While working on the vehicles, I was listening to some "futuristic soundscape" music by Eon Odyssey on YouTube.  That's just one of a bunch of synthwave / ambient / chillwave / darksynth sort of channels that I'm subscribed to.

[Rednex]

The past couple days, i ain't done much. Work on truck, go to work, work friends chicken farm, work on house preparing for move to Indiana.

The house move it getting to a more prepper friendly area. Working my friends chicken house, well it's always nice to have good friends. Truck is my BOV, and work need to pau bills and finance more prepper related stuff.

[EBuff75]

Day 13 - Purge bathroom meds

As with a lot of people, I tend to collect various medications in my bathroom and never really go through them to get rid of the ones that are out of date.  Tonight I purged my bathroom and it was quite the pile!  Some of them will stay until I get replacements (hopefully this weekend), and some were still within date.  Others, I'm not all that worried about having "expired" because they're things like bandages, alcohol wipes, hand cream, toothbrushes, etc..  

After pulling all of the expired stuff out, I went through it and made a shopping list of the ones that need replacement.  The oldest item I found was a mini-bottle of daily multivitamins that had expired in... 2002...  Yeah, really need to do this more often...  I'm guessing that it used to be in my overnight kit and that at some point it got dumped in the drawer and forgotten about.  The funny thing is, I actually remember buying it, because it was one of the few times in my life that I found something to be cheaper to buy in small packages than in the large package!  I ended up buying a bunch of these little 30 pill bottles, because overall it was cheaper than buying the 150 pill bottle.  I want to say they were each $0.99 vs something like $7.99 for the larger bottle.  So losing part of one bottle to non-use still puts me ahead! 

Some of the problem is in wanting to get "the best deal" when shopping.  As a result, I have a bottle of 400 allergy pills that I probably use a half-dozen a year out of.  Same thing for the bottles of 600 ibuprofen, 500 aspirin, and huge bag of throat lozenges.  So this time around, I won't buy the giant-sized bottles out of a sense of "thrift" that is based merely price-per-pill!

On the plus side, I've suddenly got a lot more room in the storage!  I still need to rearrange things, but it's a lot better now.  And not everything needed to be replaced after I threw it out.  Some of them were things that I'd tried and didn't like (some horrible "orange-flavored," chewable vitamin-C tablets), or didn't feel like I got any benefit from (various supplements).  No need to get replacements for those!  Once I've restocked with the things I need, I'll clean and organize everything a bit better. 

No workout notes today.  I may try to get in some time on the bike while I'm reading tonight, but so far it's just the 2777 steps that my watch recorded as I went about my day.  Oh, and my watch says that I've climbed 12 flights of stairs today, but only gone down 7.  So Apparently I'm hovering about 50 feet above my house right now!  

[NT2C]

About those "expiration" dates and the disposal of medications...

The US Army did a study some years back of various prescription and non-prescription meds looking to establish hard data on when meds truly expire (lose significant efficacy or become toxic) and everyone was surprised by the results.  Some medications were so stable as to effectively have 30-50 year (or beyond depending on storage) expirations, most had significantly longer lifetimes than previously believed, and some became dangerously toxic way sooner than expected if improperly stored.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7040264/#:~:text=The%20best%20evidence%20of%20acceptable,maximum%20extension%20of%20278%20months.

https://wms.org/magazine/magazine/1305/Expired-Drugs/default.aspx#:~:text=SLEP:%20The%20Shelf%2DLife%20Extension,drugs%20and%20save%20significant%20money.

https://www.health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Health-Readiness/Medical-Logistics/Shelf-Life-Extension-Program#:~:text=The%20Defense%20Health%20Agency%20administers,postponement%20of%20material%20replacement%20expenses.

It's a lot of info to wade through, admittedly, but it can give you a better idea of what you need to store more carefully, what can be left in a vehicle safely, and what might be downright dangerous at some point.


Then we get to the disposal issue.  The disposal of medical waste is a huge problem worldwide, and the disposal of medicines can have ecological consequences that are frightening.  There are safe ways to dispose of expired or unwanted medications.  Some pharmacies offer it as a service to their customers, your doctor's office may do it for you, and there are kits that can be purchased to safely dispose of medications.  In the old days we'd just toss them in the trash or flush them, but no longer.  Certain drugs are now showing up in animals in the wild and, such as in the case of cocaine showing up in the bloodstream of sharks off the coast of Columbia, the effects of which can be mind-boggling.  (Imagine the shark from Jaws looking for a coke fix.)

[majorhavoc]

I didn't go through all of the footnotes, but except for this one linked reference, I didn't see an actual list of common RX medications.  Seems like at one point we had one here (or on the old ZS forums).  Or maybe it was a list of medication types (antibiotics, channel blockers, etc.).  But in my memory, that list indicated which drugs could be safely stored past their expiration date and - perhaps most importantly - those few that actually do become toxic over time.  

Maybe I'm just imagining that list.  Closest I could find was this article warning against using expired tetracycline. 

By accidentally forgetting to take my rx meds every once in a while, and by deliberately taking advantage of every opportunity to refill a prescription a few days early, I've slowly built up a reserve supply of meds that would see me through the first few months of a widespread emergency scenario.  I'm not quite sure how I did it, but I must have almost a year's reserve of one particular blood pressure medication, Licinopril.  

I am aware that none of my rx meds are - strictly speaking - life sustaining.  I won't drop dead if I go off them, even for a period of weeks or even months.  I know that a lot of people with presciptions don't have that luxury.

I consume my oldest meds first, so my reserve always consists of my most recently filled prescriptions.

[majorhavoc]

and re-watch 'The Martian'

Somehow missed this the first time I read it, but need to give props.  'The Martian" is one of my all-time favorite movies.  First and foremost, it's a ripping good yarn of survival.  Second because Ridley Scott and Matt Damon are two incredibly talented human beings. 

But also because it channels a key aspect of survival and resilience in a crisis that's been proven in study after study: don't give up.  Just keep solving survival challenges and live for just one more day.  And then do it again, and again.  And again.  Even if it's just clinging to the side of a capsized sailboat with no realistic hope of rescue, account after account has demonstrated it's not the person who's the strongest or most experienced or even the best equipped who survives.  It's the guy who decides that no matter what, they're going to continue living to see the next day. 

The final scene of the movie sums it up.  And it's not giving anything away because the story is, after all, one of survival, not death.

[EBuff75]

Day 14 - Repainted address on house, plus miscellaneous painting

I've needed to do this for a while now and it's one of those things that first responders hate (unreadable addresses).  Mine is pretty simple, black numbers on a piece of white board that's attached to the brick.  But the paint has been flaking off for a while and the numbers are faded.

I removed the numbers, scraped and sanded the wood, primed, painted, and reinstalled the numbers.  I'd also spray painted the numbers while they were off.  Now I've got nice, white background and crisp, black numbers on it again.

And since I was doing this, I primed and painted the trim around the front door and did some touch-up on the garage and basement walking door trim as well.  Both of those last ones are due for complete replacement due to rot, but they look a little nicer now.  I have the replacement trim / weather seal for the garage, I just need to install it.  The basement door is a much bigger job, as the entire structure needs to be removed and rebuilt, which is well beyond my skills.

I also removed the mailbox on the front of the house (wall-mounted) and spray painted it black too.  That was mainly an issue of sun-damage over the years that had faded it out, plus some overspray from having the front porch painted this summer.  Looks much nicer now. 

No before picture, but here's what it looked like just before I put my address numbers back on:
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No step count today, as I wasn't going to wear my brand-new watch while I was painting!  I did get in about 20mins on the exercise bike last night after I posted.  I really need / want a shower right now, otherwise I'd go for a walk (it's pretty nice out right now). 

[EBuff75]

Day 15 - Review guest room toiletries

I keep my guest room fairly well stocked for anyone who is staying with me.  There are a few clothing items in the dresser, in case someone has to stay there in an emergency situation and didn't have a chance to pack.  Other items include paper, pens, extension cord, multi-strip, USB wall plug, cords, extra Kleenex, toilet paper, etc., just in case there's anything that runs out.  It gives them a way to restock without needing to wake me up.  Playing cards, night lights (since guests might not be as familiar with my house), flashlights, and batteries too.  Of course there are extra blankets and pillows for those who need them, but the room is also right above my furnace / blower, so adjusting the damper on the vent should cool / heat the room to the resident's needs quite easily.

There is a pretty good stash for toiletries.  Various soaps (bar, body, shampoo), oral care (toothbrushes, travel toothbrush containers, toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, and dental picks).  Hair care items (spray, combs), medications (ibuprofen, Tylenol), Rolaids, allergy pills, eye care (contact case, saline solution, eye drops), feminine products, deodorant, hand sanitizer, hand cream, and shaving supplies (razors, shaving cream).  I'm sure that there's a bunch more that I missed here.  It's quite a pile!

I took a quick pass through all of it to make sure that it's mostly within date.  A few items were past their use by dates, but since all of it is brand new (almost everything is 'Travel Sized') and nothing was more than a year or so out of date, I'm not worried.  The only items which I ended up swapping out were the batteries.  The ones in there were quite old, so I put newer ones in the supplies and moved the old ones into my battery drawer for rotation into use. 

Exercise today was just general walking around while doing stuff.  I'm just under 5000 steps, but that included an hour and a half of working in the yard tonight, collecting leaves, acorns, and twigs.  I only cleared about 1/3 of my back yard, but that was enough to fill three yard waste bags.  It also included scooping 10 piles of deer crap, just from that portion of the yard.  For some reason, the deer have suddenly decided that they love my house and there are some that come by and spend hours napping in my yard almost every day.  This is the result!

While I was working in the yard, I had the Bluetooth speaker playing the soundtrack from 'The Wraith.'  Such a great 80s flick with an excellent soundtrack as well! 

[majorhavoc]

Day 15.  Charged up my power station and all of my power banks.  Added lighter fluid to my keychain peanut lighter and went on a 2 mile hike that including a lunch stop where I used up another of those 8 year old DIY ration packs.  I took pictures, but my phone is being a PIA.  I may be able to add pics to this post tomorrow.

[Rednex]

Ok what day is it i don't remember. I have off today and tomorrow vacation to burn up, and need to get stuff done round here. So as everyday this month i have been working on the truck. Got it beat this time though. Added bonus, after repairs were finished i had to reload the truck with all the crap i keep in the tool box. So reorganized, replenished, checked the BoT supplies.  Also i freed the spare tire from the evil clutches of the seized , rusted solid double safety lock spare tire winch. So checked the spare for air and it was at 0 psi. Filled it and the 4 on road to there recommended pressure.   
 

[NT2C]

Ok what day is it i don't remember. I have off today and tomorrow vacation to burn up, and need to get stuff done round here. So as everyday this month i have been working on the truck. Got it beat this time though. Added bonus, after repairs were finished i had to reload the truck with all the crap i keep in the tool box. So reorganized, replenished, checked the BoT supplies.  Also i freed the spare tire from the evil clutches of the seized , rusted solid double safety lock spare tire winch. So checked the spare for air and it was at 0 psi. Filled it and the 4 on road to there recommended pressure.   
 

Might want to set a reminder for yourself to check the pressure in that spare again in a couple of weeks, just in case the tire or valve is leaking.

[Rednex]

Ok what day is it i don't remember. I have off today and tomorrow vacation to burn up, and need to get stuff done round here. So as everyday this month i have been working on the truck. Got it beat this time though. Added bonus, after repairs were finished i had to reload the truck with all the crap i keep in the tool box. So reorganized, replenished, checked the BoT supplies.  Also i freed the spare tire from the evil clutches of the seized , rusted solid double safety lock spare tire winch. So checked the spare for air and it was at 0 psi. Filled it and the 4 on road to there recommended pressure.   
 

Might want to set a reminder for yourself to check the pressure in that spare again in a couple of weeks, just in case the tire or valve is leaking.

Well it's the original spare from 08 it's cracked, dry rotted, rim is almost rusted through. I will be surprised if it has pressure in it tomorrow. I got a set of rims that fit the truck , when i can i'm going to get a new tire on one of them as my spare. the truck has a lot of rust not sure where it was before i got it, but they must have used a lot of road salt.

[EBuff75]

Day 16 - Replenish purged medications (aka, grocery shopping!)

I hit up the grocery store tonight and spent half of the trip in the pharmacy section, replacing all that expired stuff that I found this past weekend.  Of course, they were out of the generic version of several items - aspirin and cortisone cream - so I'll have to get those on a future trip. 

This past weekend, a neighbor asked if I had some glue that she could borrow for a project.  At first I thought I did (Gorilla Glue), but then discovered that it had completely dried out.  My glue stores were a bit thin anyway (a few small bottles of Elmer's, a half-bottle of wood glue, some model glue, and a few single-use superglue tubes), so I added to that this evening while I was at the store.  Came back with some E6000, fabric glue, and rubber cement.  I figured it was a good idea to have some variety.  I'll pick up some Gorilla Glue sometime as well, but they only had larger tubes and I didn't feel like getting that much of it.

The watch only said 2500-ish steps, because those never do a very good job counting steps while you're pushing a cart.  I figure that I probably got in another 2500-3000 while I was shopping that wasn't registered.

It's an early night for me tonight, as we've got a major project at work going live tomorrow morning and I've got to get up early for it.  Keep prepping!

[EBuff75]

Day 17 - Test out my new folding wagon and radio pouch

My TIDRadio TD-H8 came with a belt clip, but it's plastic and uses two small screws to attach, so there is the risk that it might break or come loose.  To give me an alternative, I bought a radio belt pouch from Agoz.  I can stuff the radio in with the clip still attached, but it's difficult, as the pouch isn't designed to have that much depth (it's actually intended for a Baofeng UV-5R radio).  It fits almost perfectly with the clip off and has just enough leeway to allow me to plug in the shoulder mic.  I'm planning to test the radio with the clip only and with the pouch at Oktoberfest this weekend to see if one or the other is preferable.

For a long time, I've used one of those collapsible "hand trucks" (sort of like this one) for schlepping things around with various groups that I volunteer with.  It's okay for smaller amounts / loads, but it just doesn't have enough capacity to carry everything that I frequently need, resulting in multiple trips to haul everything. 

Enter, a folding wagon!  There are a ton of these for sale and I spent quite a few hours browsing around the ones on Amazon to find one that had good reviews, wide tires (that were made of rubber-ish material), and could carry quite a bit.  There were a few that appeared to be virtually the same wagon.  So I picked a color I liked, that happened to be marked down a bit, and bought it.  I ended up with one from Sekey (part of my research was whether the brand had their own website, this one does) that met all my requirements.  It came pre-assembled.  All I had to do was pull it out of the box and unfold it, just like you do every time you use it.  The red things are wheel locks and the wheels are a hard rubber/plastic.
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Here it is with just under 100 lbs of stuff in it (two power stations, a folding table, and a 24-pack of Mountain Dew Zero).  Yes, it's as big as it looks.  Interior dimensions are:  36.2" L x 22.4" W x 14.2" H
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I hauled it around my driveway and yard for a bit with that load.  No problem!  The wide tires do make it a little less maneuverable (the handle is just used to pull and isn't connected to the wheels), but they also make it easy to pull across grass, which is a huge plus.  It could also be used during an event where I might need to carry large amounts of stuff or even people (given the large weight capacity), such as a bug-out.  While not as rugged as something like a garden wagon, it's better than nothing if I needed to haul things for a long distance.

Folded, it's a bit smaller than an overhead compartment-sized roll-along.  I'm already feeling better about having to set up during future events! 
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Heading downstairs to use the exercise bike again.  Oh, and our rollout at work went just fine this morning, which is always a good way to start your day off!  Starting early also meant getting done early - yay!

Edited:  Got in 20mins on the bike while listening to the soundtrack from Amelie and reading a Dresden Files book. 

[EBuff75]

Day 18 - Prep for Oktoberfest

Our CERT helps out with the local Oktoberfest event every year.  We keep people from bringing in outside booze, keep the booze contained to the event perimeter, move barricades around for the hay ride to get in/out, provide first aid, and generally act as the unofficial information booth.  As usual, I'm signed up to be there for both Friday night and all day Saturday.  On top of that, I have a training event tomorrow night (also for CERT - more info to come), so I need to start to get ready for Oktoberfest tonight. 

It takes place in the parking lot of the local police department, so I don't need to go over the top, as our "backup" is literally right there if we need them!  Most of what I bring for this event is stuff for me - drinks, snacks, my on-body carry stuff (radio, pepper spray, hi-viz gear, hat, ID, flashlight, etc.), and other things that might be useful (sunscreen, fan, personal first aid kit).  I'll also have my 12v fridge in the car, along with a power bank to run it.

But I do bring some stuff for the group as well.  Mainly some string lights and a couple of Onite USB lights, plus USB power banks, to put in our canopies (we have one at each entrance).  The parking lot is very well lit, but under the canopies it can be a bit dark, so I'll have those to put up if we need them. 

Anyway, I've got water and Gatorade cooling in the fridge, USB power banks charging, power stations topping off, and all the rest of the stuff in a big pile in my dining room.  Once the training is done tomorrow night, I'll start loading it all into my car (not enough stuff to bother with the truck) so that I can leave as soon as I'm done with work on Friday and it'll all be ready.  The lights are all packed in a bag already and I've got a big pile of snacks ready to take out to the car.

And since it's me, I've got a list of all the stuff to take along that I put together a few days ago so that I wouldn't forget anything.  I'll go through and make sure to check everything off before I leave.  And on the plus side, if I forget anything critical, I only live about a mile away!    And for any really simple items, there's a Family Dollar across the parking lot, with a Little Caesars right next to it!  (yeah, we usually end up eating pizza during the event, because the only food offerings there are a bit heavy on the "Oktoberfest" theme and aren't to everyone's liking).

No exercise tonight, other than tromping up/down stairs hauling things to add to the pile.  I didn't sleep all that well last night, so I'll likely call it an early evening and try to catch up.  It's going to be a long couple of days here!

[majorhavoc]

I donated blood today.

[EBuff75]

Day 19 - Attended "Introduction to Radiological / Nuclear WMD Operations" (AWR-140) FEMA training class

Because the trainers were in town to do some classes for local first responders, local CERTs were offered the opportunity to take the 100-level class.  The trainers were very good and did a great job communicating the information in the book (nearly 200 pages long - we each got a copy).  They even brought doughnuts for us!  I'll put the book aside and go through it in more detail later, since we really just zipped through 3/4 of it over the course of a 3-hour class.  

This isn't meant to make us into first responders for radiological emergencies, which they were very clear about.  It's really intended to give us some passing familiarity with the subject so that we can better understand what is going on if we're helping out.  They emphasized that CERTs are going to be in support roles, doing things like putting up signage, helping to direct people for decontamination, helping with paperwork, or other logistical work. 

And my evening isn't done quite yet.  Next up is to load gear into my car for Oktoberfest tomorrow, since I'll need to jet out as soon as I'm done with work.  Mostly that's just reorganizing the trunk and putting some of the bags / totes into the car.  I'll also lay out my clothes for tomorrow.  Everything that needed to be recharged has been and the drinks that need to be cooled went into the fridge yesterday.  Just gotta pack it all up and load it.

No time for exercise today, although I've gotten in around 3000 steps so far and will be adding to that as I get the car loaded. 

[majorhavoc]

I requested my absentee ballot today.  I have no intention of being anywhere near a polling location on Nov 5th.

[EBuff75]

I requested my absentee ballot today.  I have no intention of being anywhere near a polling location on Nov 5th.

Several years ago I had to wait for three hours in line, with light rain on and off in order to vote.  When Michigan started allowing absentee / mail-in ballots for anyone a few years ago, I signed up right away and have used that in ever election since!

[EBuff75]

Day 20 - Renew car insurance and volunteer at Oktoberfest event

Car insurance was almost due, so I took care of that this afternoon. Not sure why, but it actually went down a little. Not much, but that's better than going up!

Pretty slow night at Oktoberfest.  CERT set up our pop-up and I hung some lights in it. The area is actually quite well lit, but the canopy creates shadows. It's just some USB powered cafe / string lights and one Onite light hanging right in the middle. That's enough to do a really nice job without being too bright.

Edited to add picture of our pop-up.  The lights work well to just fill in so that we're not in the dark with all the lights around / above where we're set up.
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There's a local karate school that comes to all these events and the guy stopped to talk for a few minutes. He remembered the power stations that I had at the National Night Out event and he wants to talk  with me tomorrow about what that would take to run a TV to show videos. I told him that I could point him her for all my reviews and he thought that would be perfect!

Still about two hours to go tonight and I'm at 5700 steps. It would be more, but I'm just sitting at one of the entrances doing "beer containment".  😁