I've had a few people chuckle at me for my EDC stuff....that is until it hits the oscillating cooling unit.....and like Martin's experience.....they usually look in our direction.....it does turn out to be a great opportunity to do some impromtu 'teaching'.

were in Chicago land area were all is perfect and the sun never cloudy ,i have family that laughs at my preparedness. so far me and my wife are the focus of the jokes talked at the dinner table that i don't go there anymore. solution move , old friends that were leaches now Gone. holidays forget them my family no longer into the circle of jokes. now its quiet no jokes no leaches not bad. still thinking of moving out of IL altogether but that another tale.

Ya know I always thought that I did this for myself and my family. I have had people make fun of me like we were in grade school. I work in an honorable profession, pay my bills and serve my fellow man. When they start making fun of me for being prepared, I arrogantly look at them and say that the reason I have done so well for myself is because I am prepared. I not only prepare for any minor daily emergency, major catastrophy but for daily life as well. It is a mind set. I am not fanatical about it but when things go wrong, I feel that by practicing preparedness for the big things the everyday stuff is not as scary. Ya I have been acused of being a chicken little or a boy scout. I am ok with it... Really.

Not true! There ARE the occasional males produced that have a blissfully short life of fornicating - with the queen no less. Boo-ya, bragging rights. Then they die. Got to love the hymenoptera.

Not quite accused. My dad likes to joke that I want a disaster to happen so I can use my supplies. My girlfriend thinks I'm a bit over the top, but as she grew up in rural Wisconsin, she's not too surprised that I carry things. In fact, she thinks my car needs more tools. it's the house she thinks is a bit overdone, but she bears it well and rarely comments.

On a side note, I went to a bonfire up here yesterday ("here" being rural Alaska). No one blinked twice that I had a LM and a sheath knife on my belt, even though only one other person was carrying a leatherman. Both were used more than I thought. The amazing thing? Nearly all of them are transplants from the Lower 48. People can learn.