20 pound limit

First, I'd like to say hello to any alphabet agencies monitoring this blog. It's just the harmless mullings of an old broad, so enjoy!

I just finished packing a box for my nephew who is deployed. Based on what I know about his specialty, I doubt he's in a warm bed every night. So what do you send someone who probably humps all he has for a couple weeks at a time, given the 20 lb limit of international priority mail?

There are a few sure bets: Mrs Field's cookies (individually wrapped), dental floss, Hall's cough drops, baby wipes, protein bars, new toothbrush.  What else, given that he probably has the very basics?

I know he's not in the tropics, so I found an alpaca watch cap at the local farmer's market. It's about the same color as I imagine the dirt to be over there, so it went in the box along with felted alpaca boot insoles and a pair of socks. I hope the cigars were OK, too.  That pushed the $$ limit, but the box had a little space and weight left.  I put the munchables in a couple of rodent-proof cookie tins, in case his FOB has a rodent problem.

Being a basic worrier, I also assembled a pocket EDC for him from a small black mesh bag with a zipper. It's about 4 X 6 inches, no real depth, to fit in a trouser pocket. It has 2 mylar blankets, a firesteel, a chapstick, a tool card (with knife, compass, magnifying glass, etc.), small carabiner flashlight (LED)  and small protein bar.

In a couple months, I'll send another box, max weight 20 lbs. Max budget is around $100.  Any ideas or suggestions from those of you with experience 'over there?' Box may get there as Spring begins, or a little before.  Thanks!

Useful Trash

This article has a good start on reuse of those pesky empty pill bottles. I find most of mine have about 10% of the space filled, the rest is air. I combine the left-overs of the same medication at month end and either reuse or recycle the bottles. Some of his ideas are new to me -- like a sewing kit. I'll work on one of those soon in lieu of the little hotel kit in my BoB.

Here are some of my favorite uses, most of which are for reducing clutter or adding a layer of water resistance to whatever is inside:

LIGHTERS: 3 of the BIC mini-lighters will fit in one, reducing the potential for accidental discharge of the butane.

CAN OPENERS: I carry 6 of the larger P51 can openers (3 for me, 3 to trade/give away) in one of these bottles in my BoB and another in my car kit.

FIRESTEEL: KMart has those caps that are child proof if used one way and not if turned upside down.  The Upside-down mode makes the bottle just long enough to fit a small firesteel.

MAGAZINES: A medium size bottle (usually for bigger pills) holds 3 magazines for my small pistol. There may be a size that will hold rounds or magazines for your small pistol. Obviously not your first source of a replacement mag in a pinch.

WATER Purification: See below

KMart (yes, I love my KMart Pharmacy) occasionally has colored tops. I usually ask for red or blue ones. RED (or pink) for anything related to fire (matches, lighter, firesteel) and BLUE for anything related to water purification (tablets, small vial of 10% iodine solution, wad of clean muslin or coffee filters). That makes these important provisions even easier to spot when your are cold or setting up for cooking.

So why these used bottles and not just some little ziplocks? The pill bottles are less likely to be crushed in a tight pack, or to be damaged by the content -- like the can openers punching holes and falling out of the bags. The caps are more reliable than a zip lock top, especially if your hands and the plastic bag are cold. The filled bottles are relatively small, but are large enough not to become part of the lint, dust and crud that collects in the bottom of your pack.

Needless to say, I don't recycle many of these pill bottles anymore.

Wishing you all a peaceful Christmas

From our family to you and yours, may your day be filled with joy and the love of  Christ at this Christmas.

Cuppa Joe

For some of us, it's a treat.  For the rest it's a necessity. Coffee.  Whether hot or cold, it serves a purpose.  Comfort, caffeine or confection, it's part of the American story. Studies are showing that it's for good reason, as well.  Yup, medicinal value just puts the frosting on the cup.

So how to cope when a cup may be hard to come by?  How about roasting your own stored green beans?  I looked for a 'deal' on canned beans for several years. The few places I found were no bargain, often $20 a pound or more.  Not very frugal, for sure.  But now, Costco has begun to carry the green beans at a great price. They sell them at $90 for a 22.5 pound case, delivered, here:

http://www.costco.com/Rainforest-Alliance-Green-Unroasted-Arabica-Coffee-6-x-3.75lb-Cans.product.100054969.html

In case you don't feel like doing the math, that's $4 a pound.

Why store green coffee?  Mostly because you need to really be on top of rotation for roasted coffee, even if not ground. Given your conditions, you may need to rotate every few months. Not so much with green coffee. The beans, especially canned, can last a decade.

The Costco beans are environmentally friendly and come with roasting directions on each can. We roasted some and the recipe works! I'd add that if you use a cast iron skillet like we did, keep the coffee 1 layer deep until you improve your expertise.  We'll try the old-fashioned popcorn popper next.

For grinding, we used a Kyocera ceramic hand grinder. It was great. In addition to being non-electric and adjustable, you can screw the grinder on to any regular size Mason or Ball jar.  If you break the nice jar it comes with, you are not out of business!.

Apologies

I'm not ignoring this blog, just out of gas for right now.  In the mean time, if you remember the cool walking stick from here, you can now order one from this great guy. They come in 3 heights, mostly based on how tall you are.

Planning for a Frugal Halloween

Here's a formula for a frugal Halloween that I've practiced for years. Only lately have I seen how it also dovetails with preparedness. Let me explain:  We are part-time residents of a subdivision with 1/8th acre lots less than 10 miles north of the US-Mex border. We're here for Halloween each year.  For us, it consists of between 60 and 80 children coming to the door, of which 20% are local kids and 80% who have come up from Mexico for the event. This creates two concerns for me: having enough and having the treats do no harm.

First step in my method is deciding how much I want to spend PER CHILD.  I aim for not more than 25 cents.  At 80 children, that would cost me $20.  I head to Big Lot and go first to the gum rack. I look for their 4 packs for $1 of sugarless gum. In a good year, that's most of what I give out, though I will usually get one package of other treats for children too small to chew gum.

This year, I was not so lucky.  I was only able to cover 20 kids with the 4/$1 gum.  So on to other treats.  I read labels and decided on some Nabisco multipacks. each contained 12 bags of low-fat crackers and cookies for a unit cost of around 22 cents each. 

How does this tie in with preparedness, other than the frugal part? Back to the variability in the number of children who come to the door.  If I plan for 80 and only 60 arrive, I will have left overs.  I plan to give out the cookie/cracker bags first. If I have chewing gum left over at the end, it goes in my preparedness stash.

Some day, if things are not great around us, what (other than a long, hot shower) could be more refreshing than a stick of nice, minty gum?

What are your trigger points?

By now you should have at least a vague idea what you will do when an emergency situation happens. Power goes off for more than 6 hours, natural gas is shut off for days due to high demand and you're on the wrong end of the service denial, you name it.  Pack up for Grandma's, hunker down in place, or whatever. 

There are other kinds of emergencies that have less obvious starts and ends. For example, what if the EBT card problem had continued beyond a few hours? Do you live in a community that may have seen riots or looting? What is your plan for that?

We had a forest fire 3 years ago, and my employer expected employees who were evacuated from their homes to continue to come to work. They would let you have a few hours to get settled in your new location, but after that, get to work. Do you have a contingency plan that includes work clothes and commuting to the job? What about child care if your kid's school is closed but your employer wants you there?

How will you know when and where to go in the case of a longer or progressive emergency? Will you wait for authorities to tell you to go and fight it out with the crowds, or have you identified your triggers to leave?  Here are a few examples:

1. Electrical outage: If it is widespread and has been continuing for more than 4 hours, is that time to activate your contingency plan? Should you start sooner, knowing ATM's and most gas pumps won't be working?

2. Riots: If there is civil unrest or riots in larger cities back east, and it seems to be spreading, when do you activate your emergency plan?

3. Volcanic eruption: Remember the Mount Saint Helen's eruption in 1981? A lot of people died because they didn't believe it could blow, and then it did. There were lots of warning signs, but even the regional officials were lax in defining exclusion areas because they didn't understand the power of the volcano. Don't become a Dave Johnson or Harry Truman. For those of you along the west coast, Alaska and Hawaii, if it starts to rumble, get out. Don't wait for the big plume to shoot up, as it probably will be too late to leave by then.  Getting boiled in hot ash like the folks in Pompeii is a lousy way to go.

4. Currency Restrictions or Bank Holiday: It has happened in other countries in the last year or so, does your preparedness plan work in this type of situation? If so, what specific measures will you phase in to keep your cash-on-hand from dwindling too soon?  No spending by any family members without parental approval? Quick trip to the grocery and gas station to top off as soon as you hear about the closures or restrictions?

Knowing what your trigger points are, what you need on-hand for them and what specific actions you and yours need to take when they occur, could transform your emergency experience from a nightmare to an inconvenience.  Planning that includes trigger points and appropriate actions to take when they occur may also save your lives.