That last similar thread has 121 posts, so it's probably time to start one for the new month.

All I've done is get a load of firewood put into the shed while it was still dry, and give out some large butternut squashes to friends. There's no way I'll eat 53 of them!

Sue

I've been increasing my dry stores (grits, rice, legumes, pasta, etc) and canned meats (chicken, roast beef, dried beef, dried shrimp).

Picked up a few pieces of survival gear including 2 day hiking packs, inventoried BoB's and camping gear.

I am still updating my Home Emergency Binder (per Blast's TOC and added more sections.

Made some repairs to the home 20 (roof leaks, rehabbing of DD1's bathroom and bedroom). Made some progress straightening out my garage. Unfortunately, while waiting for some projects to be completed, The garage progress is limited.

We managed to get some survival training for my 13 year old nephew accomplished.

I replaced the space blankets with Heat Sheets and updated the fire making equipment in the PSK.

Winterized the BOBs, vehicle kits and kids packs and added another set of MREs (with heaters) for everyone.

Noticed a pile of junk on the side of the road and grabbed a gas can, garden hose and couple of old propane tanks, which I exchanged for new ones.

Picked up a heavy wool blanket, a box of candles and an old washboard at a garage sale for $10.

Added more non-perishables, water, batteries and non Rx meds to the stores.

Cheered when my husband finally got the pick-up running again.

Conducted a family family drill. Changed the batteries in all the detectors and emergency lights, then tested them. Checked all FAKs.

Found out which local drug store supplies free KI pills and ordered the family ration, which I'll pick up this week.

I ordered a Maxpedition Jumbo and a medium rolly-poly (both OD) for EDC.

Purchased some more dehydrated food for the BOB.

Updated equipment in my truck to include winter gear.

Collecting lint for my fire making kits.

Added winter gear to my Yukon. Had the vehicle serviced for winter use.
Filled all my propane tanks (20-40 pounders) added some fire wood to my wood pile.
Bought some dry grains, grits and canned goods for my larder. Bought 2 country hams and a slab of bacon that do not to be refrigerated.
Bought a case of Chunky Soup.
Bought a Savage 24 in .22lr/.410 to supplement my Springfield M-6.
Did fall maintenence on firearms.
Bid on fishing equipment on ebay, ends a few days.
Bought a AMK SOL kit.

"Collecting lint for my fire making kits."

Ah, doing the laundry, eh?

Sue

Ah, so true.

I find the greatest amounts of lint will always be found on towboats because the deckies are usually too lazy to clean the lint trap before OR after using.

When I first get on the boat, I can usually find a compressed cupful of lint in the dryer trap!! Who's afraid of boats catching on fire?????? I AM!!!!!!

don't the deckies realize that it's a good idea to keep the water on the outside of the ship?

Winterized our Bug Out RV.

Continued to process fireword. Some day I will have it all chopped and stacked.

I only have 6 more of these to go....



Notice the dog 90lb dog near the stump for perspective.

Aquired two ten man ration packs.
Found 100 AA batteries.
backed up my hard drive and transferred any bits and pieces I may need to a removable drive.
drained outside tap.
Put away a jerrican of petrol.
Put away two jerricans of water.

Thats a great find! Was some business discarding them?

I got more bottled water, spare bulbs and batteries for the flourescent lantern I've got, more AA batteries, and duct tape.

I've also scrounged up two of those huge Red Cross emergency kits for an insanely cheap price, took out the stuff I didn't need (my neighbor's kid loved the crayons and the little AAA radio), and kept the things that could come in handy. I now have a buttload of chemical lightsticks, some decent work gloves, a ton of space blankets, and some good plastic sheets too.

I also stocked up on some canned goods, some really good Hillside self-heating canned foods, and today I bought a Light My Fire spork just for the hell of it.

Found the same way as item one

"I love it when useful items fall of the truck together like that."

Speaking of which, has anyone ever seen the movie My Left Foot?

Sue

It is DD1's favorite movie and a major inspiration in/of her life!!!!!

A local wind storm overnight and earlier today has knocked out power for 200,000 people. Luckily for us, the lights blinked a couple of times, but the power stayed up. We lost cable TV + cable internet for a few hours, cell phone lines were dropping a lot more then normal.

The hydro company is telling people to break out the candles and sleeping bags and other supplies as power will not be fully restored until tomorrow at the earliest. It will be dark in a 1/2 hour or so and tonight's temperature will be around 42F.

All this got my attention to so I decided to recharge all the batteries, rotate water, check the pantry and noticed that a few food items needed to be topped up. Made a trip to the local grocery store for these items and managed to spend about $60.00 more then I should of...

Once home, the rest of the batteries were fully charged. Did a count and found that we have 18 AA rechargeable, 6 AAA rechargeable and 48 AA non-rechargeable batteries. The rechargeable batteries are normally used for cameras, flashlights, mp3 players, portable radios and will have to rationed when the time comes when there is no power.

Decided to look at the candle stock, there are around 100 candles of varying sizes not including 200+ tea candles.

Question for the forum, how many batteries and candles is "enough" ?

I plan on buying 10 more AA rechargeable and another card of 24 AA non-rechargeable. We have the ability charge them by 110 volt, 12 volt and solar depending on the circumstances.

Does anyone think that this is too many batteries or candles? What do you consider a reasonable amount?

Hi Sherpadog,

If you are going to purchase some additional rechargeable AA batteries, then you may want to get the Sanyo Eneloop type. They really do make a difference when compared to ordinary rechargeable NiMh cells since their self discharge rates are much lower. Typically an ordinary NiMh cell will hold its charge for only a few months. The Eneloop cells will hold their charge for a few years.



AA cells have limited power but are useful for powering flashlights and portable devices such as SW radios etc. If the emergency is home based then portability and the use of AA cells is of secondary importance. Lighting and limited heating using candles could potentially be very dangerous if the candle is not used within a candle lantern. Then of course there is the combustion products from the candle itself. Ventilation now becomes an important consideration especially if dozens of candles are used at the same time. A variable camping gas light may be a worthwhile purchase instead of using candles. They are also useful in providing some limited heating. Again the same ventilation issue arises. If lighting and heating a room for a 4-6 hours during the evening for 3 days is required then a couple of gas lamps with half a dozen 500 gram canisters would be sufficient. The number of AA cells will depend on what number of devices require AA cells and what other methods you are using for powering your lighting. Communications and entertainment systems can be powered from a standard 12V car battery. You can get one of these in the form of a UPS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply .
You could use one to power your wireless cable router and use a portable wireless device to maintain modern communications such as email and web browsing as modern smart phones and wireless PDA devices are becoming increasingly more common in the home.

You could possibly also power a couple of table lamps from the UPS as well if using low energy bulbs such as a replacement Cree LED bulbs for example. http://www.easy-led.com/big_01.php?mod=LB1201SW01P&name=Power&name2=&id=137

"Question for the forum, how many batteries and candles is "enough"?"

When you have a situation, and end up with some left over.

Sue

I think the average tea candle lasts about 4-5 hours and a few can light up an average sized room. Lets say you use 10 a night (thats probably more than needed) and you've got 20 nights worth of light on tea lights alone. AA alkaline batteries used in efficient LED lights can easily last at least a week with moderate daily use, probably a lot more. I think the Gerber Infinity Ultra will give you something like 40 hours of useable light on 1 AA. And there's also glow sticks, which I like to have on hand as an alternative. The Cyalume insdustrial lightsticks will give you at least 5-6 hours of useable light. Don't forget that when your eyes become adapted you only need very dim light to see your way around. When camping I usually wind up using the dimmest light I've got, even an Infinity ultra is too bright. FWIW I really like the Skylight solar light because it's perfect for dark adapted eyes. And of course you could always go for one of the combo crank/solar Freeplay Lights and/or radios. From your setup though it sounds like you're pretty much set.

I found a very handy little light this week -

a Coleman "Micropacker." It has 2 LEDs with reflectors, runs on 3 AAA batteries, and says that charge will run it for "up to 125 hours." It is about 6" tall, very slim (sorry, no digital camera for photos) and has a pop-up loop for hanging. Those 2 LEDs really throw a lot of light, and for only about $8 seems a pretty good buy.

I plan to use one in the home emergency kit, and buy two more, one for the car, and one for the BOB

Is this it?


(From coleman's page at http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/detail.asp?product_id=5319-700&categoryid=1045 for $13.49, and it says it runs on 3 AAs.)

On sale at amazon for $10.88 (http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-MicroPacker-Compact-Battery-Lantern/dp/B000EH0NLK).

That's it! I got mine at Meier (a grocery-and-all-in-one store, like Walmart or Target) and when I checked my receipt, I paid 9.99.

- Bought 6 pair heavy wool socks, brings the total of new and unused still in the package socks to 30+.

- Bought 4 pair of favorite pants to add to emergency inventory.

- Bought 4 more long sleeve synthetic shirts to add to emergency inventory.

- Bought 2 more pair of good winter gloves.

I believe there is now enough clothes for all to go 2 weeks straight without having to do laundry in a worse case situation.

- Canned 32 jars of soup and chili

Stocked up on:

- 20 or so cans of pasta, chic peas, kidney beans.

- 8 lbs dry pasta

- 4 large tubes of toothpaste

- 8 deodorant sticks

- Case of 100 large garbage bags.

- Rotated water

- Reorganized BOB...this never ends.

Thats it for this week...

I bought one of those a while back and put it in the DW's BOB, for the price its ok, I like my River Rock from Target better.

Ordered the P2 body to match my Fenix L1D CE head. Gives me the ability to run 1 AA, 2 AA or CR123.

Made a 1400 mile (round trip) run to visit our gun safe (and take care of some other business), picked up my Ruger 10-22, scope, and a few bricks of ammo. Lotsa stuff to shoot at in the desert...