Cool and wet is the forecast, with rain throughout the day.\u00a0 If so I’ll work on inside stuff.\u00a0\u00a0 There is plenty of it.<\/p>\n
Yesterday I did some errands, the biggest of which was getting a large 3d printer out of my friend’s workspace.\u00a0 It was an inkjet and powder type, and we weren’t going to be able to run it anyway, so when the original purchaser called with his sob story, I agreed to get it back to him.\u00a0 That generosity led to a bunch of messing around and time wasted.<\/p>\n
Eating donuts for lunch took me out for a bit over an hour too.\u00a0 Then off to pick up some auction stuff, mainly PPEs.\u00a0\u00a0 N95s in very battered packaging are showing back up in the auctions, a box at a time, and are selling for reasonable amounts, $1-$2 per mask.\u00a0 I’m set for a while yet, so I’m buying respirator cartridges if the price is right.\u00a0 Gloves and eye pro too.\u00a0\u00a0 In austere conditions protecting what you’ve got is more important than trying to heal afterward.<\/p>\n
Throughout a long career working with my hands, I haven’t been that big on wearing gloves for ordinary work.\u00a0\u00a0 That is changed now.\u00a0 The molded grippy rubber coated stretch fabric gloves give a high degree of dexterity, while still giving cushioning and cut protection.\u00a0 I wear them for any job where I’m touching metal and can cut or nick myself.\u00a0 There are so many choices now, that you can find a glove engineered for whatever task you are faced with.\u00a0 I still have some goatskin leather ‘drivers’ for jobs like swinging an ax or sledge hammer, but for everything else, there’s probably a better choice.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The anti-vibration gloves made a HUGE difference in my comfort while running the pressure washer all day.<\/p>\n
Eye pro should be a no-brainer.\u00a0 I have clear, amber and grey tints with and without ‘reader’ or ‘cheater’ lenses in the bottom, yellow for high contrast, and goggle types for chemical use.\u00a0 I’ve got mesh shields for chainsawing and clear shields for metal and wood working.\u00a0 I’ve got lots of spares, and lots of cleaning solution and wipes.\u00a0 I think I can check gloves and eye pro off my list for a while.<\/p>\n
That is one of the main ways I approach prepping.\u00a0 In addition to ordinary stacking, I’ll focus on a specific area ‘while the getting is good’.\u00a0 Usually I keep acquiring the items for a bit too long.\u00a0 It’s been that way with storage batteries and gloves and eye pro for the last couple of months.\u00a0 The stuff was on my list, and it came available, so I’ve been a buyer.\u00a0 I prefer that method to trying to fill the list at a particular time.\u00a0 I save a bunch of money by waiting for it to come to me, but it does take longer.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, being me, I had stuff in all those categories, just not as much.\u00a0 Enough to meet an initial or short term need, but not ‘bulk’.\u00a0 Now I’ve got some depth to the shelf.\u00a0\u00a0 I will keep looking for batteries and charge controllers, and I wouldn’t say no to cheap solar panels.<\/p>\n
Whatever your list looks like, start filling in gaps.\u00a0 Get something in each category,then start building depth.\u00a0 Food, water, shelter, defense, health and hygiene, comms, education and reference, entertainment and morale, any other that suits you.\u00a0 Evaluate what you already have, you might be surprised, then build on that.<\/p>\n
Keep stacking.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
nick <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cool and wet is the forecast, with rain throughout the day.\u00a0 If so I’ll work on inside stuff.\u00a0\u00a0 There is plenty of it.<\/p>\n
Yesterday I did some errands, the biggest of which was getting a large 3d printer out of my friend’s workspace.\u00a0 It was an inkjet and powder type, and we weren’t going to be able to run it anyway, so when the original purchaser called with his sob story, I agreed to get it back to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n