Redoing, Reintroducing and Rebuilding

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Now we concentrate on what to do in, and how to plan for, the long term via Prudent Prepping.

Redoing, Reintroducing and Rebuilding

I have finished unpacking in my new place, started re-building the Get Home Bag and brought up to the Landlord a couple ideas on how to better protect the house: new deadbolts, motion sensors on the exterior lights and added locks for the windows. The existing window locks work fine, but there is no way to keep them partially open for ventilation in nice weather. Deadbolts and lights are self-explanatory. I'll have to see if he wants to go for it or not.

Get Home Bag

The inventory is really thin at the moment, with everything besides matches, lighter, Life Straw, beef jerky and a cheap emergency blanket being tossed and replaced. Warm weather gear is going in: shorts, long sleeve T-shirt, socks and a Boonie hat. A new first aid kit is going in, following this plan, since it is small bag for personal use, for a short time. One new item is being added:

A new CRKT knife. This is a C/K Dragon, model #2010KNS - sadly a discontinued model, but found on sale in a local discount sporting goods chain for $19.95! The Kydex sheath comes with 2 add-on belt adapters (1 pictured), which allow the knife to be attached any way you like: rightside up, upside down, left or right on a belt OR on a pack by inserting webbing through the slots on the sheath itself. It is very sharp out of the box, just like the 3 other CRKT knives I've seen lately. How sharp? It shaved the hair off the back of my wrist with no pull or tugging. 

I am happy with this knife and it is going in the bag.

The Last REI-cap

Sadly, my attempts to score any more discounted gear from my local REI store failed. I arrived at 6:45 on the Saturday before Father's Day and still wound up 20 people back from the door! I did go back at 10am to see what might be there, only to find things very picked-over. What I thought might be a good buy of 6 gallon water jugs turned out to be a bust, since the item tags all said "leaks from around cap/seam by cap". No tents or sleeping bags were seen at the checkout counter, either. The employees said there is still more merchandise to sell, I'm just not going back to see what it might be.

Happy with what I did find, disappointed in not seeing more of what is on the prep list.

Book Review: Survival Wisdom & Know-How

This book was found at my local Half Price Books and is filled with really great information, just like the cover says: "7,845 useful skills and step-by-step instructions". All this was compiled by the editors of Stackpole Books, a specialty publishing house founded in the 1930s, which is when most of the articles seem to have been written. This fits into my outdoor skills learning and refresher agenda. One drawback to this book is its size, 11" x 17" and 480 pages long. Luckily there is a Kindle edition available for $9.99, exactly what I paid for the print version.


Here is a picture of a small portion of the title page:

I can't even begin to talk about all the really great info packed into this book! After my 1960's era Boy Scout Handbook (which I can no longer find), this book seems to be what could be considered the expanded version. I really like this book and am considering purchasing the eBook version too.




Nothing else was purchased for my supplies this past week.


As always, if you have comments, suggestions or corrections, please post them so we all can learn. And remember, Some Is Always Better Than None!

NOTE: All items tested were purchased be me. No products have been loaned in exchange for a favorable review. Any items sent to me for T&E will be listed as such. Suck it Feds.