What did you do today to prep?

[The Heretic]

I think of motion activated lights as cheap night vision. They tell me if something is out there - if I am watching.

If I am sitting here in my living room I sometimes catch a reflection that the light on the side of my house has activated - it did that last night. I grabbed a flashlight and a handgun and went out to investigate.

Looked around for about five minutes and saw nothing. I had just decided to go back inside when I heard a slight noise behind me and turned around - there about five feet from me was the neighbors dog. Scared the crap out of me.

This is a friendly dog that my neighbor lets run loose all over the place. She often comes over and begs for a doggy biscuit (my way of making friends with her as she is very skittish and afraid of people she doesn't know so she barks at them).

Anyway, every time the lights have gone on it has been a dog - as far as I know.

The one downside is that the lights are battery powered, so I can't easily turn them off when I am outside, but their primary usage is to light up my driveway area when I am outside. This is mostly for the winter when it is dark when I leave for work and get home. I am going to put up some surveillance cams too though.

 

[U201492]

My house in Port Orchard had- past tense- a really nice dual floodlamp motion detector lighting system. However it had some operational problems- any wind (being broken or otherwise) would set it off. Second- adjusting the sensitivity required the use of a ladder and much patience. Third, the house is located right under a street lamp- so why?

So instead of using motion activated lights I turned the problem on it's head; I wanted some light for my Mom (She's 88 years old) but didn't want to bury cables and all that happy crap. So I purchased a case of those solar stick in the ground lights but cheated first- I charged up each of those batteries first so they'd have a good running start THEN rely on the solar to keep them running. Got about 2 years worth of use out of them before the batt's died- but it did show proof of concept.

In case of TEOTWAWKI a few cases of those lights laying around might come in handy,,,,figure signage for land mines, and lighted paths fields of fire at night,,,this could be handy!

 

[The Heretic]

The newer and better motion detectors use several different kinds of motion detection together as each type has its pros and cons, by using two or more together they reduce false positives.

I live out in the boonies. No street lights here. Very little ambient light.

 

[JackThompson]

So we were target shooting with out 22's this weekend and my 16 year old son may have popped a rabbit wandering through the field of fire.

It saddened me to waste possibly perfectly good meat, because I don't know what to look for in a healthy rabbit.

I know they carry horrendous lung diseases on their skin that can become a respiratory disease when transferred to humans, and I know they can carry kidney spot diseases.

Anybody know a good resource for processing varmints and small animals. (Squirrel, Rabbit, Porcupine etc)

 

[U201492]

I know they carry horrendous lung diseases on their skin that can become a respiratory disease when transferred to humans, and I know they can carry kidney spot diseases.

Anybody know a good resource for processing varmints and small animals. (Squirrel, Rabbit, Porcupine etc)

You're not going to believe this- but Youtube is your #1 source, Jack, No foolin'. They showed how to skin a squirrel in 1 minute! I was like "FFFFFFFuuuuussshhhhh!" Break the tail, slice below the tail parallel to the back bone, clear it, pull it, and viola! Skinned. US Army E&E (escape and evasion) manual tells how to skin a rabbit and to mentally prepare yourself- "The fur is there because the rabbits hot- you're doing him a favor by helping to remove his sweater" for the squemish.

and

There's others but you get the gist of it.

Then I was kicking the idea of getting one of these: http://www.walmart.com/ip/FoodSaver-Vacuum-Sealer/16652298

 

[JackThompson]

Thanks Trailtrader I'll check those out

We bought a food saver last year. It really helps to store food. I bought a bunch of bulk stuff like Flour, Sugar, Salt and Beans in 25-60lb bags. This allowed me to break those down into 1-2lb vacuum sealed bags so I can open what I need without letting the rest spoil.

 

[salmonriverjohn]

Sooo, in the past couple of weekends I have finally built the much insistent wife the greenhouse she kept nagging about, only better!

Its a 16x10x8, sort of, as it slants up for drainage towards the,,,, pump house! It not only supplies any water needed but also gave me easy access to the power inside for lighting and heat (if needed) and it was way beyond what she requested. It was all recovered (free) materials except for the screws and 8- 8' 2x2's, and it's done.

Saturday night we picked 300 lbs of tuna from an old friend that went out of pacific city and did well, we bought all but one.
Started quartering and canning yesterday morning and we're down to the last batch today using two canners.
It doesn't get much better than that, yumm!

 

[Quacky88]

You're not going to believe this- but Youtube is your #1 source, Jack, No foolin'. They showed how to skin a squirrel in 1 minute! I was like "FFFFFFFuuuuussshhhhh!" Break the tail, slice below the tail parallel to the back bone, clear it, pull it, and viola! Skinned. US Army E&E (escape and evasion) manual tells how to skin a rabbit and to mentally prepare yourself- "The fur is there because the rabbits hot- you're doing him a favor by helping to remove his sweater" for the squemish.

and

There's others but you get the gist of it.

Then I was kicking the idea of getting one of these: http://www.walmart.com/ip/FoodSaver-Vacuum-Sealer/16652298

Thanks for these vids.... Awesome lesson

 

[The Heretic]

I went to work and worked so I could earn some money to pay down the mortgage on my BOL.

 

[U201492]

I prepped today by ordering an air conditioner- I don't do well in heat.

 

[SHPD_Retired]

Bought a Berkey Water Filter and some Wise packaged food.

 

[U201492]

7 fast and dirty life hacks for emergencies- this is awesome!

 

[Joe13]

Does buying more ammo count?

 

[U201492]

Does buying more ammo count?

Yes, buying more ammo, food, clothing, supplies, soap, toilet paper (don't laugh!) or anything along that line would be in this category.

It occurred to me I have the most unique daily prep that anyone on this Forum will ever have. I have doctors orders to laugh with or at something for a minimum of one hour every day to combat depression from being bipolar. which means I've seen every tv show and movie on "Comedy Central" so many times that I know the dialog far too well.

 

[mjbskwim]

Does buying more ammo count?

Most definitely

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Well, no ammo, but bought a bunch of food and beverage for the storeroom. Included several aerosol insecticides and foggers and some fly tape.

 

[U201492]

OH MAN! This is the ultimate "bug out" stove! http://www.wired.com/2014/01/israeli-soldier-develops-grill-for-recon-missions/ I'm ashamed I didn't think of it first- essentially its a grill made with 3 stakes, a triangular design, and the entire grill is made up of steel cable so you can roll it up tightly which also makes it light! Wish I had the patent on it,,,,

 

[Joe13]

That's a pretty cool idea. I wouldn't mind having one.

 

[RVTECH]

I started breaking down some 20+ year old MREs for the accessory packs in the them. Heck the Tabasco sauce in the little tiny bottles is still in liquid form. The matches light and the wet naps are still wet and that oh so useful amount of TP folded over and wrapped in the brown folder. But I did come across several boxes or trioxane and a bunch of the MRE chemical heaters. I'll throw this all in a zip lock and throw it in the motorhome. good 'junk drawer' stuff that is useable in a 'pinch'

 

[JackThompson]

Finished excavating an old skid road up my mountain, creating a great hiking road and alternative exit point into 5,000 acres of Wayerhauser wilderness.

Spent weeks cutting through the road last summer/fall and cleared about 400 yards. Hired an excavator for 4 hours and cleared another 400 yards...dang!

2 days after I had the road cleared I walked up it and found 2 sets of bear/coyote poo and 2 sets of deer poo. I'm going to put a trail cam up on the road and a salt lick during Non-Hunting season to get the deer used to coming back.

I'll remove it during hunting season of course.

I found a perfect place to build a deer blind too. It will be nice to hopefully fill my tag this year in my own "Front yard"