Prudent Prepping: (Purple) Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

The dust has settled and the First 72 Hours have passed. Follow along as I build a long term plan via Prudent Prepping. 

I had a chance to break into my very basic First Aid kit to clean up and cover a very small cut to a finger belonging to the Purple Pack Lady. It's an odd story.

Purple Is The Color

I have no problem with someone having a favorite color, just as long as your favorite color isn't forced to be my favorite color. Besides the Purple Pack, there are shoes, socks, various apparel, stuffed toys (yes, even that one) and hats, but the one thing lacking was a small knife for Every Day Carry. Her home culture does not usually see women carrying knives in public, unless it is for food preparation or agricultural uses. Any EDC knife for her would have to be something that could be carried on a keychain lanyard, which meant small, light, and simple/easy to use. 

And Purple.

Jason Perry is a friend with a knife shop in Concord, CA where I've spent more that I should. He has found things for me before so this is where I went to ask for help. Did I mention that the knife had to be purple? 

Spyderco Ladybug 3 FRN Purple LPR3

https://tinyurl.com/y8qwfk96

And what a purple knife it is! This fit all the boxes that needed checked:

• Small
• Light Weight
• Easy to use
• And PURPLE!!!

From the Spyderco website:

It attaches to your keychain and is nearly as small as your car keys, one of Spyderco's smallest lightweight knives is the Ladybug.

Made of VG-10 stainless steel, the hollow-ground blade comes in a Plain Edge configuration. This modified clip-point blade style is matched up with a purple, lightweight handle of fiberglass-reinforced nylon making the entire knife weigh only 0.6 of an ounce (16.4 grams). The Ladybug doesn't have a clip but rather a lanyard hole for attachment to a keychain or lanyard.

Like its larger counterparts (and all Spyderco knives) the Ladybug 3 packs tremendous cutting power and can take on both fine and heavy cutting tasks. 

More on the last sentence soon.

Spyderco is a well respected brand and makes many different knives, many of which use the distinctive Thumb Hole as the opening method in place of studs. I don't have thumbs that work well due to several motorcycles crashes, so as much as I like how well Spyderco knives look, feel and work, I don't own any. That isn't a problem for Purple Pack Lady, so I ordered one of these for her. 

Remember when I mentioned the last sentence of the Spyderco ad? 

           

They come from the factory reasonably sharp, and if you are not very careful and deliberate in pushing the lock while holding the blade securely, you could end up with a small but painful cut, like the one shown above.

Out came the small First Aid box with my usual assortment of band aids in various sizes, alcohol wipes and triple antibiotic. Her finger was washed down, wiped with the pad, and a knuckle bandaid was adapted to the injured fingertip. I was given low marks for my sink-side manner, but earned an "Okay" score in how well I cleaned, applied ointment and pressed the 'wings' of the band aid down. I guess nurses are as hard to please as other professionals when having work done on them. 

The injury happens to be on the non-dominant hand, so while it is a bother to have a fingertip cut, it certainly could have been worse.

Recap And Takeaway

• Personal relationships with local businesses can pay off with that extra bit of knowledge Amazon can't supply when searching for items in a non-traditional way -- like color as the priority.
• Nothing was purchased this week -- I bought the knife last week. 
• While the Spyderco LadyBug 3 can be purchased at a lower price than what I paid, supporting local businesses when they do the hard work is only fair.

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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 by 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.