1.Separating my gear into labeled boxes; cooking/water, packs, etc.
2. buying a battery pack to charge phones
3. finess walk
4. locating a portable NOAA weather radio for travel
5. hitting end of season sales for Summer gear and deals
6. doing tech upgrades/monthly backups

light rain as the tropical storm approaches, I'm on the southeast quadrant so expect a lot more... picked up a HF inverter generator last week to back up my 3500W Honda, and made up a suicide cord for it... charged all the Eneloops last week, and currently charging the 18v batteries for the Ridgid cordless drill... topped off the extra gasoline cans, but having a hard time finding bulk kerosene

Please destroy the suicide cord. They're exceptionally dangerous, both to you and to linemen. Please either use extension cords or have an electrician install a transfer switch.

Interesting...
So the options for
destroying a male-to-male cable are:

turn into extension cord with a sex change (male-to-female)

or recycle after castrating (cut off one male)


hmm, $150 of code legal hardware for a diyEasy Generator to Home Hook Up
...
and maybe double or triple to have an electrician do the wiring (says homewyse/homeadvisor)

the transfer switch is already installed...

Excellent! What do you need a suicide cord for then?

Bought some solar lights today - nice yard lights with either motion detection or 'on at dark.'

I participated in a two week long excavation requiring us to camp out, giving me a chance to use some of my "stuff." Things that worked - most of my Goal Zero gear,especially their Mini Lighthouse lantern,our latrine setup which used a five gallon bucket and plastic bags with gel packs, my rechargeable batteries (mostly Eneloops), and fingerless belay gloves (allows dexterity while protecting against blisters).

What didn't work so well were my solar showers, mostly because we got back to camp just at dusk and they were a bit cool. It was just easier to swab off with wipe cloths and call it clean. I also learned that nothing beats tortilla chips and salsa for a first course (together with beer) at the end of a long, dusty day....

Like we say in a companion thread, you gotta get out and use this stuff from time to time.

Fall is upon us. The temps are dropping, the rain is falling and it's getting chilly at night. I added some warm weather gear to our adventure kits today: chemical hand warmers, thermal watch caps, wool socks, fleece jackets and wool mittens. Double checked and changed all the batteries today too.

EDIT: I just beefed up all our fire kits too. More cotton, birch bark, jute twine, pine pitch and fatwood for all, along with a fresh regular sized BIC. We're also making DIY flint strikers this weekend, so char cloth and a Altoid's type tin being added to all as well.

Plastic bags and gel packs?? I'm curious!!