Another product position and review

I don't get paid for anyone for doing my blog (because they certainly wouldn't get their money's worth, that's for sure!!)

But occasionally I get a product that I get excited about when I think of the possibilities.  Here is one such product.

Its fairly basic and innocuous, but when a bit of ingenuity is used, it can be a very wise and important prep item, especially for the short-term.

It dawned on me that I might could use a handy, readily available power source when I saw all of the issues that the folks that were hit by Sandy were facing. 

If need be, I could put this in my shelter, hook a few low voltage LED lights to it to provide more suitable illumination than candles as well as be able to run a radio, charge a cell phone etc.

I jerry-rigged a 12 volt florescent bulb to it to test how long it could run.  I ran it for almost 48 solid hours before it got low enough for the last battery charge indicator to start dimming.

So basically if it runs a 12 volt florescent for that long, it should easily run 4 times that long on good LED's with room to spare. 

This would be a good backup to have as an emergency.  Plus it can still help start your car in an emergency, pump up your tires etc.

This would not be able to replace a generator (which you should have regardless) and would be a good addition to any wind or solar power that you may have.

Just my .02 cents worth.

No shock

Since people figured out that they can get on the government dole and they can vote in someone who will take what belongs to one person and give it to them, I guess we get what we deserve as a country.

Keep prepping!

Keep your friends close and your food closer - #4

Ok, so I have talked about grapes and cherries and squash and quail and peppers and tomatoes and chickens and eggs and okra and etc etc etc.

Now let's get a bit more personal.  All the quail and chicken in the world ain't gonna help you if you don't know how to properly (AND HUMANELY) process them. 

I don't want to sound all weird and stuff because I am a pretty down to earth guy actually, BUT, I am always a bit in awe when I harvest and process an animal because this animal is giving its life for me and my family, friends and acquaintances to eat and gain nourishment from them.  Treat animals with the respect that they deserve and always strive to harvest and process them in the most humane way possible.

Ok, enough of the touchy/feely crap.  Onward.

The saying goes that a pictures is worth a thousand words, so a video is probably like a whole library.  So here ya go. 

I took this video last night on a request from a fellow blogger who wanted to know more about how to process a farm raised quail. 

By the way, wrap these in bacon, pan fry (or grill them) and they are delicious!

How to properly process a farm raised quail

SO THE SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN...NOW WHAT?!

I recently read a great article that said "So the S has H T F.  How do you know really know though?  Is it a local, regional, national or worldwide event?"  What happens if you experience a Carrington Event.  How do you know that its not just a local thing and that by tomorrow you will be sitting on your front porch sipping mint juleps? In the same way, how do you know that it is not a life changing, true SHTF end of the world scenario that has jumped out of the pages of fiction and landed right on your head?

That really got me thinking.  Right now we are so used to easy, cheap and verifiable information.  In less than a minute, I can find out who a girl that I dated out of college is married to, how many kids they have and where they live.  I can find out what the lead drummer for Led Zepplin likes to eat and how he likes it prepared.  I can find out what our current national debt is and verify it through several sources.

However, in a true TEOTWAWKI event, we will not have this type of information.  We will be going off of word of mouth, hearsay, rumors etc.  Information will not be quick, it will not be easy, it probably will be a mix of some truth and some fiction and it will not be easily verified, if able to be verified at all.

SO WHAT ARE WE DO TO?

If you came here for answers, you are SOL, but over the next few weeks/months, I will be digging up some way to help combat this type of information vacuum and come to some good solid information.

Of course I always welcome comments, so if you have some information to help other folks out, please feel free to share.

Well guess its been too long

Been quite busy over the last few weeks just getting stuff prepped if you know what I mean.  Working on the shelter and getting it ready for storage has been taking up a bit of my time, but along with work, family, other small remodeling projects just haven't posted here for a while, but here we go.

Here are a few older pics of my shelter.  It looks a bit different now, but I will be taking some pics of what it looks like now one of these days and post them up here.

Nothing really fancy, but has got plenty of room for a substantial amount of temperature stable storage.  There won't be much room to move around down here, but that is not really the point of this.  Over the next few months I will finish stocking it (or at least get to a comfortable spot) and will be running electricity to it for lighting and better ventilation and de-humidification if that becomes necessary.

The boys think that its awesome, but the dogs are not impressed at all by the giant hole in the ground and will not venture near it. 

Well, that is all for now, will be posting again soon to cover some other item. 

Take care and keep prepping.

I HAS SHELTER!

Well, the shelter is in and is awesome!  Very pleased with the construction of the shelter and feel very confident in its ability to ride out just about any storm nature could throw at it.

It is a 10' x 7' x 6'3" tall (thought it was actually a bit shorter initially) flat top unit that weigh's a whopping 13 tons, so even it I had just left it on top of the ground, I doubt if much would affect it anyway.

Buried with about 5 inches sticking out of the dirt, the temperature should remain pretty stable year round.  I will be running electricity from the house to the unit so as long as power is available, we will have it in there too.

Over the next few months I will be busy installing shelving and stocking it with my stuff.

It is reassuring to look out the back window and see it.  

Getting a shelter

After a few (too many) years without an adequate storm shelter and seeing how wild the weather is getting in and around my AO, my wife and I have decided to purchase one.  The local storm shelter guy said that he would recommend a 4'x6' shelter for me, my wife and 2 boys.  4X6?  IS HE NUTS? 

Of course a shelter is typically used about 30 minutes at a time, a few times a year maximum, so a small cramped shelter might do for that use.

But I plan on using it for a lot more than that!

The shelter that we are getting ready to have installed is a 7' wide x10' long and 6'1" tall shelter designed to accommodate about 18 (skinny) people for a storm.  Perfect for what I have in mind.  Even though I am a 6'3" tall person and my wife is 6'2", we will make due with the cramped headroom without too much of an issue.

The shelter is a flat top unit designed to be almost completely buried underground.  This will certainly serve the need for a good shelter, but it will also serve to maintain a much more consistent temperature without any electricity than my storage inside our house.  It will also help serve to keep it hidden from view if that need should arise.

My plan is to have 1 ft deep shelves lining the entire length of 1 wall as well as the width of the other wall.  this will give me approximately 420 square feet of storage for, you know, whatever I might want to store.

I will be installing a set of 6" bunk beds in it that my boys will be easily able to use (at least for the next few years) and that my wife and I would be able to use in an emergency.  There will also be storage room under the bottom bed.

Even with all of these things in there, I will be permanently installing a couple of extra fold down seats as well.

This project should be complete by mid to end of August, so I will make sure to keep things posted here as the project progresses.