This post is going to launch what (I hope) will become a recurring series on “micro-preparedness”. Micro-preparedness refers to very small processes that incur little to no time or financial penalty, but that may have a large impact on your overall level of preparedness. Today’s step is going to cover staging your clothing and belongings before you go to bed at night. Continue reading “Micro-Preparedness: Staging Your Clothing”
EDC Flashlight Review: EAGTAC D25A Mark II Clicky
Another month, another flashlight. Today’s light is the EAGTAC D25A Mark II Clicky (I’m told “EAGTAC” is short for “Eagle Tactical”). I’ll tell you right up front, this is not the light for me. That said, it has some real cool features and might be the light for you. I really wanted to make this light work because for every feature it’s missing, something else about it is really cool. Continue reading “EDC Flashlight Review: EAGTAC D25A Mark II Clicky”
My Special Becker BK10 & Sagewood Sheath
The Becker BK-10 “Crewman” is a very common survival/bushcraft knife and there’s nothing special about most of them. I’m sure I’m the one-millionth person to write a blog post about the Becker BK-10, however, mine is a little special. That’s partially why I’m going to write this article; the other part is just because I want to. Continue reading “My Special Becker BK10 & Sagewood Sheath”
Marking and Numbering Magazines
Numbering one’s magazines seems like something that is just common knowledge in the firearms world. I don’t see a lot written about it; I searched and found a couple articles, but it seems there is a gap for this information, so I’m going to talk about it today. Continue reading “Marking and Numbering Magazines”
Survival Cooking: Soda Can/Denatured Alcohol Stove
The soda can stove has always intrigued me. It’s about as cheap as a camping stove can possibly get: it takes about 30 minutes of your time and can be made from two soda cans. Fuel is also cheap; a gallon of denatured alcohol will cost you under $20 at Lowes. Today I’m going to talk about the infinitely accessible soda can stove. Continue reading “Survival Cooking: Soda Can/Denatured Alcohol Stove”
EDC Flashlight Review: Fenix LD12 (2017 Edition)
It’s time for another flashlight review! Today I’m going to be talking about the Fenix LD12 (2017 Edition). I may try the current edition at some point, but I’m really liking this one. This light comes probably as close as any to the ThruNite Archer that started this whole series. Actually, I take that back; it’s better than the ThruNite. I’ve been carrying it for a month now, and it’s the light that makes me want to stop right here and not try anything else. It’s pretty awesome. Continue reading “EDC Flashlight Review: Fenix LD12 (2017 Edition)”
The Joys of Composting, or Start a Damn Compost Pile!
I totally lucked into composting. When I bought my first house, I had a huge pile of leaves in the woods. Since I moved in in summer, I had a ton of grass clippings that had to get dealt with, so they went on the leaf pile. For some reason I turned the grass into the leaves, and some interesting things started happening. I began to see worms out there. The pile would steam sometimes. I probably didn’t know it but I was making compost. Continue reading “The Joys of Composting, or Start a Damn Compost Pile!”
Pictorial Post: Building a Hearth Pad
A few weeks ago I wrote about sustainable, long-term heating and cooling considerations. In the interest of practicing what I preach, I recently had a wood stove installed in our home. I built the hearth and hearth pad for the stove. For the hearth, I used a product called AirStone. Using this stuff requires very little skill. The hearth pad was a bit more involved, however. Below is a more or less step-by-step photo series of my creation. Continue reading “Pictorial Post: Building a Hearth Pad”
Building Rapport With Your Outer Cordon (aka Neighbors)
A human support system is important in day-to-day life and absolutely imperative for surviving any sort of adverse, long-term event. When we first moved into our house, we didn’t know a single person in town. We worked really hard initially to fix that, and we’ve continued to work to maintain it. I think you should, too. This post is going to talk about how to get your neighbors on board with you, and quickly. First, I’ll talk about why you’ll want to do that. Continue reading “Building Rapport With Your Outer Cordon (aka Neighbors)”
EDC Flashlight Review: StreamLight Protac 1L-1AA
OK, I swear this is not a flashlight review site. But flashlights are where my head is these days, and overall that’s probably a pretty good insight into the future ebb and flow of this site. I tend to get fixate on something for a while, go down a huge rabbit hole, but I promise, I’ll come back out of it. Today I’m looking at a competitor to the ThruNite Archer 1A V3 I reviewed a couple weeks ago: the Streamlight ProTac 1L-1AA. Continue reading “EDC Flashlight Review: StreamLight Protac 1L-1AA”