08 December 2010

Well, I'm back at it!

Well, after my academy training, wife being sick, birth of a new baby, and the baby having surgery, I'm back to prepping!

Over the last month, I bought my American Harvest Gardenmaster Dehydrator, and a Dual Band ham radio, that's capable of a huge range of frequencies.  It will also broadcast on FRS frequencies, and pick up  Weather Radio. 

I've also been picking up LED replacement bulbs, I put the first one in my Maglite, but since then I've been putting them in my old army angle head flashlights.  These little beauties turn old, dim lights into bright lights with HOURS of battery life, and thousands of hours of bulb life.


I've also been picking up Life Gear Glowsitck lights for our bugout bags...  These are neat little units.  They work as a glow stick, flashing glowsitck, a white light, and have a built in whistle and lanyard...  I also found a cheaper version at the dollar store that doesn't have the white light, that will work great as a marker or emergency light.  I suppose if i keep buying stuff for bug out bags, I'll have to build the bugout bags!


Found a great deal on a Midlands Weather Radio.  Have a buddy that picked some up in the states for $30, and sold me one.  They're almost $100 bucks up here, which is highway robbery...

However, this is a great little unit.  It has the standard weather radio alert, but also has SAME technology.  It can alert you of weather or other emergencies in your area, using a unique code to your neighbourhood.  It also has a battery backup, external antenna jack, and a output for a visual alert, that will flash to let you know of an emergency alert.

I took a part time job, and a good portion of that money will go towards preparedness... And today was my first payday!

So, I bought something that made me feel a lot better about our current living situation.  We are in a rental, and there's a crappy ancient heater.  We don't have a fireplace or a woodstove, and it can get awful cold in Alberta, and living literally right on a lake puts us right in the path of a really cold wind some days.

So I did some research, and most preppers seem to think the Mr. Heater Big Buddy is a good choice as a propane backup heater.  I know many people recommend kerosene heaters, but i firmly beleive that in the short term, propane will be much easier to get.  And the Big Buddy uses 1lb bottles (either 1 or 2), but can also tie into 1 or 2 20 lb cylinders.  So with those options, I can use camping bottles, or the bottles that everyone has on their back deck for BBQing...  (I have 4 of those...)  The unit also has a tip sensor, and a low oxygen sensor, so it can be used inside.  Also, there's a neat little gadget, Mr Heater F276172 1-Pound Disposable Propane Tank Refill Adapter that you can use to refill your 1 lb bottles from a 20 lb bottle.

I hooked up the Big Buddy tonight when i got it home, and man, does it kick out heat.  If we had a heat outage, and covered the windows, and the unused rooms, we could definitely keep the main floor warm enough to survive.

Last but not least, one of my other prepper-esque pals has a buddy who is a baker.  He's promised me a moderately unlimited supply of clean food grade 5 gallon pails.  SOOOO....  I can finally start my bulk food storage!


Well, I know it's been a long time since my last post, but hopefully I haven't lost ALL of my 3 or 4 followers, and I'll get some good comments!  And remember, get your friends to follow my meager blog.  If I feel like I'm letting my followers down, maybe I'll concentrate on writing some interesting useful posts!