Another week under our belts or another week swiftly ran through our fingers, depends how you choose to look at it? I swear Dad was right about just about everything. Actually, I can’t think of anything I could tell him he was wrong about right off the top of my head… I know there were a few things but they’re escaping me at the moment… Anyway, I was one of those teenagers that had all the answers! I couldn’t wait to get out of school to get to my job or jobs and make MONEY! Now, I have never been greedy or solely money(cash) driven but I have always liked the freedom that money in your pocket provides… Dad tried to slow me down and I remember being frustrated by it at the time… He told me to just focus on being a kid, there would be plenty of time to work for the rest of my life! I got the, “enjoy life where you are right now”,  speech more times than I could count… You know the one about time going faster and faster each year – yeah right Dad, time goes faster one year than another – sure! We’ll I’ll be a son of gun, its true, Dad was right again…

 

   Sadly, I’ve know this for quite a while, I found out how true it was shortly after High School. It reminds me of that old Eddie Money song – “I Wanna Go Back”… Unfortunately, just like the song continues - ”but I can’t go back, I know…”. Words to live by for those younger readers here! First, listen to Dad – he probably KNOWS what he’s talking about and two live today for what it is because you also, can’t go back and do it all over!

 

 

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Question #1 -     “Do I store the dry goods in their original packages?”

 

 

   I guess the answer to this is – Yes and No… I do store the dry stuff in the original package if its something we tend to use a lot of or will use up in the next 6 months. You probably won’t believe this but I like to buy WAY more of things than we will be using in the next 6 months. This being the case I end up with the need to add an additional step to my storage. What I do to process these dry goods is as follows.

 

   To start with I purchased a box of mylar food storage bags and a couple of hundred oxygen absorbers. We have a LDS regional “bishops storehouse” in our local area. I’m not LDS but was able to get these items direct due to the fact I have a number of friends in their community of believers. If necessary these items can be purchased via the internet from any number of sources.

 

  I then break down the supplies to be stored into equal amounts, such as 18 cups of… This allows me to keep all of these bags of, whatever, uniform. I can’t remember my exact thought process on this other than the desire for uniformity. I would then proceed to fill all the needed mylar bags for that days processing.

 

   Once the bags were all filled I would open the sealed oxygen absorbers and put the appropriate number in to each of these mylars bags. I would then quickly reseal the remain supply of absorbers. It was then just a matter of heat sealing all the mylar bags.

 

  That’s all I really do to process the dry stuff. This should give me a VERY long life expectancy on these goods. Again, I only do this for the true storage foods. This leaves us with a good supply of dry goods to rotate through and these mylar sealed bags for long term storage.

 

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Question #2 -     “Do I have any thoughts or plans for Communications?”

 

 

   Of course, this is an important subject. I just haven’t had time to gather my thoughts adequately to do the post or article I would like to… So, I’m going to give you the very abbreviated version on what we’ve done so far…

 

   First, I’m a HAM – Ha Ha, I knew you’d think that… I mean a HAM radio operator. I should clarify that I am not an expert and have forgotten almost everything I ever knew about radio operation but I do maintain my license and have several radios. As far as I’m aware the HAM radio gear is the best solution to the comms issue, at least for long term SHTF.  Don’t ask for my call sign as this would be a significant breach of OPSEC…

 

   Next, we’ve purchased a supply of MURS radios. I’ll be discussing these radios in particular at another time. These are a souped up version of the typical consumer level family band walky talkys. They’ll be what we use for localized communications. They claim to be good for miles but I haven’t tried to push them that far. They work well around the BOL and also on the Highway while we’re traveling in multiple vehicles.

 

   Lastly, we do have a couple of the low end walky talkys in the family bands. These are alright but never seem to work for long. I have this set, just because I saw them at a real low price… I put them and some rechargeable batteries in an ammo can for a just in case situation. I would probably only use these as give aways or for non security related comms, if I had nothing else!

 

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Question #3 -     “What’s the hunting like in our BOL area?”

 

 

   Sadly, I have to admit to not being a hunter. Wait, let me clarify, I’m not currently a hunter! I haven’t ever had the opportunity to get into this activity. When the opportunity and time allow, I will be changing this status!

 

   I’ll tell you what I do know about the conditions… There is a very large deer population and we have many deer hunters in season. In the nearly 15 years I’ve spent in this particular area I have yet to see any elk but I’m told by the elk hunters that they are here also. We get a mixed bag of bird guys coming through too. I personally haven’t asked them what they’re after but apparently we have at least some bird hunting opportunities. I have only seen one bear myself but have been told by close friends/neighbors that they’re seen regularly by the horseback riders in our area. We have coyotes in abundance, not sure what if any season there is for these guys but it isn’t strictly followed – wink, wink!

 

   I guess that’s all I can really say about the hunting here for now… I do see small game, rabbits, quail, etc. so there will be those to bag in the future as well. I’m looking forward to getting up to speed in this area but it will be awhile before I’ll have the time to dedicate to leaning this new skill…

 

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   Alright, keep the questions coming  – for the new folks that have recently joined us, please email me your questions at prepper@preppernation.com I haven’t reminded you in a while but please don’t keep “Prepper” Nation a secret, tell your friends! Also, please don’t forget to sign up for the email updates!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

 

Prepper