Category Archives: Preparedness
A proper training mentality
I was pointed to this article, “On Being a Beast“. If you come to my blog for gun and self-defense stuff, you should read this. If you come to my blog for weightlifting stuff, you should read this. If you come to my blog period, you should read this.
The article may come primarily from the realm of strength training, but the message applies to any sort of training. The writer, Johnny Pain, talks about a conversation he was having with a friend about why they train. A question:
What if you were being sentenced in six weeks for a crime that you did not commit? (Or fuck it, what if you did commit it, I’m not one to judge).
How would you spend the next forty-five days? Think about it.
And all you gun folks reading this, oh yes, it could happen to you even if the situation was totally righteous. How would you spend the next 45 days?
Well, if it were me, I’d want to be the meanest, toughest, nastiest, most beast-like human being that I could be.
The concerns over training minutia would go out the window. Arguments over percentages or head and eye position on the squat would seem rightfully retarded. All that would matter is building a body that was strong and capable. Times to completion of various arbitrary tasks would be of little importance, as would one-rep maxes performed for other people’s benefit.
Things like biceps peak, body composition, quad sweep, or whether or not you could do a particular parlor trick on the rings would be unthinkable notions pushed aside by ever-present knowledge that your mind would be tested the most, but that your body could be called on to do very serious things. These tasks could be life or death, not win or lose. The stakes could be rectal integrity or death, not bragging rights on an internet forum.
You’d have to be strong, you’d have to be quick, and you’d have to have a decent set of lungs on you.
Quite the sound point. You get put into such a high pressure situation, and suddenly you gain great focus. You gain a greater insight into what really matters, and how most of the stuff we deal with in life doesn’t matter.
I know I get caught up in the details. I know I start to worry about all these sorts of minutia all the time. It’s just how I am. But one good lesson I’m learning right now is to just shut up and squat. The Wendler program I’m on right now? I’ve been analyzing too much, thinking about too much. I realized I was thinking way too much about it, and going back to the BBB template works better. Sure I still think about some details, like I am worrying about my knee angle because I’m concerned about the stresses it’s feeling since I don’t care to blow out my knee, but that’s different from just worrying about how good I look in the mirror.
There are situations in life where being an absolute beast could be very beneficial. Whether or not you plan on getting jammed up in the next few months, give some thought to the idea that you have one life and one shot at doing it right. We make decisions in finance and other realms based on long term payoff and relevancy, why not in why we train?
Don’t be the fat, beer bellied guy at the gun show who carries three cocked and locked 1911 .45’s and shit talks the 9mm round who loses his teenage daughter from choking because he didn’t possess basic first aid skills which would be much more likely needed in life than his 24 rounds of 230 grain hardball, or who can’t run to save his four year-old son from the drunk driver barreling down his street.
Get your basics down. Build your body up into that of a beast, a predator’s body, not a butter soft, tasty piece of food chain. It may very well all be in vain, and I hope to God that it is for your sake.
This is why I’m training to be strong. Oh sure I’m working to shed some body fat, but that’s because the fat is mostly useless. It doesn’t add anything useful, it doesn’t help me. I am not working my “chest” today because what’s the point of big pecs and big arms if I can’t do anything useful with them? I want to be strong(er) because that’s useful.
Preparing for the worst is never a bad thing. Be ready for anything. Prepare in the manner that gives you the most bang for your buck.
Oddly, some people think it is a bad thing… or at least, that you’re paranoid or have something to be afraid of. No, it’s just about being prepared because life can and does throw you curve balls, and you’ll never see them coming. It’s why we have insurance. It’s why we have smoke detectors. It’s why we wear seat belts. It’s why some of us choose to prepare ourselves physical and mentally for a confrontation we hope never comes, but we’ll be ready to meet it when it comes.
So when you train, train like you mean it. Focus on what’s really important. Yes, you’ll get caught up in minutia, but always be aware that you can, aware when you do, and willing to step back and refocus when it happens. Reading this article gave me a kick in the pants. Maybe it did for you as well.
Like this:
I’ve wasted how much of my life?!?
I just learned the Ian Knot.
How much of my life have I wasted tying shoes the “standard” way?
If you don’t know what the Ian Knot is, watch:
Youngest is still struggling with shoelace tying. Understandable because he rarely wears shoes with laces, so far too often when he wears those shoes we don’t have the time to teach him properly. Couple that with the fact that knots are useful, and I’ve been on a kick to get the kiddos to learn a bunch of basic knots (Oldest fights it and refuses to learn… then every time I see him struggling to tie something up, I remind him how much easier things would be if he’d listen to his old man once in a while and learn proper knots). All the basic ones they teach in Boy Scouts: square knot, two half-hitches, taught-line hitch, bowline, sheet bend, clove hitch, etc..
Might as well start with shoelaces.
And yes, while the rest of the household knows how to tie laces the old fashioned way, we’re all going to learn the Ian knot. Well, we’ve mostly got it… doesn’t take long. But mastering it so we can tie it super fast will just take practice.
So what are some other useful knots?
Figure 8 knot is simple, and good to know about as a stopper.
Lark’s Head is another simple one, useful too.
I read about the Trucker’s Knot and think that would be useful to learn. I don’t know it myself.
Of course there’s the basic overhand knot, but you tend to learn that one as you do other knots.
It’s good to learn about the granny knot… just so you can recognize it, since you’ll probably tie it a bunch while learning the square knot.
What are some other essential knots to know?
EDC for Kids updated
I’ve updated my EDC for Kids post with input and feedback I’ve received from folks.
Thanx, y’all!
Fenix E05
Following up on my Every Day Carry for Kids, I decided upon a flashlight for them.
The Fenix E05.
As you can see, the flashlight is very small, not much larger than the AAA battery that powers it.
But let’s back up. It’s important to understand that there are hundreds of models of flashlights on the market. So why pick one over the other? Well for me, right now it’s about context applicability. What’s going to be the best and right flashlight for the need and situation? In this case, the need is for an EDC flashlight that my kids can use. If you go back to my original post on the topic, some considerations include being small, being inexpensive, but also being useful. Looking at all the flashlights out there, the E05 fit MY desired needs the best.
So again you can see, it’s small. It’s intended as a keychain flashlight and certainly fits that bill.
It’s relatively inexpensive. It cost me $20, but since I received some Amazon gift cards for Christmas, it didn’t cost me anything. 
Still, $20 is reasonable in my book for what I’m getting. Sure you can buy really small cheap LED lights for even less money, but I haven’t seen the performance be on par with this. And performance is kinda what matters most.
So on the performance front, some simple stats:
- 27 max lumens
- About a 3 hour runtime (I’ve read you can get up to 5 with lithium batteries)
- Claims a 24 meter throw distance
- Waterproof and impact resistant, tho of course within reason.
27 lumens out of such a tiny package. Wow! Take a look:
Not the best picture, but hopefully representative. The big feature of this particular light is the lens. It works to cast more of a floodlight than a spotlight. That certainly held true. While of course there’s a more intense beam in the middle, even that is fairly wide. Then beyond that a great deal of light is cast. It really lights up an area. You can see a LOT. That hallway is 7 yards from where I stood to the end wall. I even threw the light around some longer portions of the house and while the beam didn’t make it seem like daylight, it was sure enough to see what’s going on, both in terms of the reach of the light and the spread.
In tight quarters, I didn’t find the light to be difficult to read with either. No intense beam reflecting back into my eyes. Of course, if you hold the light really close to the page, sure it hurts your eyes, but whereas some other lights with more focused beams I can’t even hold the paper away from my eyes and avoid the reflection, here you can easily find a comfortable distance. Another bonus of the construction is the flat base, so you can stand the light upright like a candle to light up a room. There is only the 1 light setting (simple on or off), and it’s activated by twisting the lens/head of the light.
So this performance is the big reason I chose this light over others. For example, I had thought about the Fenix E01. I didn’t think the performance was as good, not bright enough, not wide enough. The battery life of the E01 is far superior, but that’s the trade-off. I figured that my kids could easily change a AAA battery if needed, and even with only “3 hours” of runtime, that should be more than ample for anything they’d need the light for. I think the LD15 would be better in a lot of respects, but it’s also a $40 light. SureFire doesn’t really have any lights that fit this form factor. Streamlight has the MicroStream, but it didn’t quite work for me (from what I could read online).
Maybe I’ve just spoiled my kids on good flashlights, or maybe I just want them to be able to have useful light. A little dinky squeeze light on a keychain that barely casts enough light to find the key hole? What’s the point? I want to be sure my kids can SEE something — especially danger (be it a person, or just that hole in the ground they wouldn’t want to trip on) — well in advance. That means both distance and width of beam, as well as brightness, to see as much as possible. There are always tradeoffs, but I think the Fenix E05 balances things out pretty well.
Like this:
Every Day Carry for kids
My kids are all old enough to start carrying some things on their person on a regular basis.
I searched around for topics of “every day carry” (EDC) for kids. There’s not a lot out there. So time to brainstorm.
Updated: I’ve received a lot of traffic due to Unc posting this (thanx!). Due to the feedback received, I wanted to update this post from the feedback. Updates will be marked accordingly.
Some criteria.
It can’t be much. Kids forget things. Kids lose things. Plus, kids are small(er). Thus, they cannot haul around as much weight, nor do they have enough pocket real estate. It needs to fit into pockets, because the boys don’t like wearing belts and the girl’s fashion sense either leads to no belts or non-functional-but-decorative belts. Yes yes, change clothing to suit the lifestyle, but let’s first get them more into the lifestyle.
Small. Light. Essential. Quality stuff, but not too expensive to replace because again, kids will forget/lose things. We must accept they are working to build good habits, and in doing so will fail at times. I don’t want the failure to be too costly to recover from.
And note, this is purely stuff to carry on-person. If we started talking about backpacks (e.g. for school), you can start to carry a lot more such as a small first aid kit, a little food, a water purifier, maybe a space blanket. I’m not going there, tho perhaps Daughter could with her purse. Nor is this about full on “bug-out” types of gear. I’m trying to keep this limited to on-person carry: pockets, and perhaps belt. Every day stuff, every day needs. Focused scope.
So with that in mind, here’s what I can think of:
- Keychain/ring.
- I’d say to keep this simple, just a split-ring with keys on it. Less space wasted that way, especially if functional stuff gets hung off it. Of course, things like the housekey go on it.
- Small flashlight.
- Perhaps that can hang off the keyring. Fenix would fit the bill here. Maybe E05, E11, E15, LD15. Updated: I decided upon the Fenix E05.
- Small knife or multitool.
- I’d say a multitool, Leatherman. Micra as a baseline. But I’d entertain a Squirt PS4 or one of the Style (Style, Style CS, Style PS) models if that better suited a particular child.
- Updated: I settled on the Micra. After reviewing all styles with the Kiddos, we all agreed that the Micra would fit their “every day” needs best. YMMV.
- I don’t really want a pure knife, because it’s not as versatile as having a multitool. And while some of the kiddos have traditional swiss-army-style pocket knives, I don’t like those since the blades typically don’t lock.
- Note: my kids are homeschooled and so the (home)school policy is you will be proficient with tools, including knives, and yes the School Board and Principal expect you to have on on your person at all times. If your child attends school where knives aren’t permitted, well… I found this thing, the “Quirky Switch” that allows you to make a “custom multitool”, however, reviews aren’t that great (no personal experience). I see Leatherman made a “no knife” Fuse (made. Retired on their website, but apparently you can buy it online tho I reckon on a dwindling basis). But I bet no matter what, ”zero tolerance” policies will probably get any sort of useful tool taken away by school admins. YMMV.
- I’d say a multitool, Leatherman. Micra as a baseline. But I’d entertain a Squirt PS4 or one of the Style (Style, Style CS, Style PS) models if that better suited a particular child.
- Little bit of cash, like a $20.
- This is not money to spend, it’s money in case of emergency.
- Cloth handkerchief.
- Youngest is prone to nosebleeds during the dry winter, so this grew out of a need for him to have a means to contend with it. But I could see all manner of usefulness for all the children to carry one.
- Mobile phone.
- My kids don’t have mobile phones because of lack of need. But certainly this is a useful tool to have. I could consider getting them something like a small GoPhone or other pre-paid phone to get them used to carrying a phone AND to self-impose a limit on what they can do with it. Emergencies-only.
- Updated: There’s always the argument to have an old, unused, no-plan, but charged phone, since 911 is required to work from any mobile phone. There’s truth in that and it’s better than nothing (tho many old phones are kinda bulky). But consider that all calls a child may need to make may not be to solely 911.
- Updated: lighter or other fire starter.
- This was suggested by numerous people, and of course, the ability to carry a fire-starter varies from person to person. If your kids go to public schools, I’m sure there will be zero tolerance for such items. If my kids do this, I’m not sure what would be best tho: lighter, matches, magnesium fire starter? Have to think about this one in terms of what’s right for OUR needs.
- Updated: timepiece.
- Wrist watch. Keychain watch/clock. It could even be the mobile phone. Whatever works for you, but some way to tell time.
- Updated: Paracord bracelet.
- And knowledge of knots and lashings.
- This is certainly a useful idea. The difficulty may be in getting the kids to wear it. Either boys may not want a bracelet, or the girl will want something more fashionable.
- Updated: compass
- Knowledge of how you find your way, if you get lost, is certainly useful. Use a compass. Read a map.
- A counter to this may be modern smartphones, with their GPS functionality.
- Updated identification
- Some means for the child to identify themselves and things about themselves, such as perhaps medical conditions.
- Could also be a means for someone to contact YOU about the child. When my kids were younger, we’d go to SeaWorld and I’d slip my business card into their sock/shoe so if we did get separated they would know to give that card to an adult so I could be contacted.
- Updated: a weapon?
- Stun gun? Pepper Spray? Other things? This is an area I’m not going to touch, not in this context. There are too many legal issues, public school issues, and kid-specific issues here that I’m just not going to go there. I’m not saying kids should be defenseless and at the mercy of criminals and predators, but this is one area you’ll have to investigate on your own.
That’s what I came up with.
Of course I know, this is gear discussion. They need to know how to use the gear. How to handle emergency situations. All those good things. Fret not, that’s all here. I am purely interested right now in a “gear for kids” discussion.
What would you add? Remove? Change?
Updated: As you can see, a lot of useful stuff was added.
Realize, this is not a definitive list nor Bible on what to do. You have to do what is right for you and your situation. As well, all of these things? That’s a lot. Can your 8 year old really haul around all those things? Can they remember them all? Not lose them all? Maybe, maybe not; every child is different. You have to pick and choose what’s right for YOU and YOUR child and YOUR situation. This list is mainly here to have some information and discussion on the matter.
Clearing the backlog
I’ve had a bunch of links backing up in my queue, things I wanted to post about. Just going to clear them all in one fell swoop. It’s a smorgasbord.
“What’s Behind The Shocking Collapse in Violent Crime” (h/t LowTechCombat)
A look at the most recent FBI crime statistics, and how violent crime is actually dropping in the US — despite what the media portrays. One possible reason they overlook is the growth of firearm ownership and concealed carry by law-abiding citizens.
TxDPS – Winter Storm Preparedness (h/t TxDPS)
A few simple checklists of things to help you prepare for winter storms. Be it supplies worth having in your car, to dealing with the aftermath of a storm, to helping the elderly.
“13 things a man should keep in his car” (h/t ArtOfManliness)
Going with the above winter storm lists, here’s 13 more things that are just good to have in your car all year round. I’ll take odds with #3 – MagLite was a great old standby but flashlight technology has evolved. Look at SureFire or Streamlight (or even Fenix); for a car flashlight I would want it to run on CR123A’s, because those batteries can sit around for years and still maintain power. I’d also look for a model that can either be somehow attached to say a hat brim so you can work hands free (need both hands to change a tire) and/or that can be rested on the ground and used like a lantern/candle to again shine light hands-free.
Read the comments for more suggestions. Certainly a lot of what you keep in your car will depends upon your needs, your particular car, where you are in the world, and how and where you’ll be traveling.
“Top 10 Secret Features in Mac OS X Lion” (h/t maczter)
I still haven’t upgraded all my machines to Lion, at this point mostly from inertia. But I have upgraded one primary dev machine and am growing to like it. Still, it has some quirks and issues, and this is a nice list of things to help make it a bit more manageable.
“Laws over BB gun use could affect your child’s Christmas“ (h/t NRANews)
While BB guns technically aren’t guns, they certainly can do some damage. You should still treat them like firearms, using them responsibly, adhering to all proper gun safety rules, and using them as a great way to introduce kids to firearms in a safe and responsible manner. The respect and responsibility starts here.
Uncle Bug
Looks like Unc is curious about bug-out-bags too.
Yes, this is really a bookmark for me so I can come back to it later and see what people commented on his site.
Updated: Unc’s part 2: what to put in it. Again, not a bookmark.
Lessons from Tiger Valley’s latest Bug Out Drill
I’ve wanted to take training classes at Tiger Valley for some time now. The only reason I haven’t is due to scheduling, but someday that will change.
Meantime, I subscribe to their newsletter, and their October 2011 issue had a recap of their recent “bug out drill”. Unfortunately that issue doesn’t appear to be online. However, because I’ve been recently concerned with the notion of “bug out”, creating bags, and so on, I thought the list of observations from the Tiger Valley drill were useful and applicable:
- Don’t throw your $1000 rifle over an 8 foot wall. Yes, some rifles survived it, but if your rifle didn’t it could cost you your life in a real situation. Your weapon is your life.
- If it didn’t work for you the first time, repeating the event is likely only to have the same outcome. Try something different. What else do I have in my pack that I might accomplish the same goal with?
- I can save money in lots of places but shoes aren’t one of them.
- Weight can kill your ability to perform. Evaluate and condense.
- Technique is as valuable as brute strength. If you have proper technique you don’t have to muscle your way over and obstacle. Muscles give out, techniques don’t.
- Have a medical kit that is complete.
- In years past we have asked competitors to show that they can purify water. We would typically see coffee filters or at best iodine tablets. This year we made up some phony pond water and told them they had to drink the water they purified. Some had the tablets but nothing to purify the water in. It’s not a good idea to contaminate your hydration system with dirty pond water. Some had systems that required four hours for the tablets to take effect. That’s just what I want when I’m dehydrated.
- Get a zero and know where it is at all distances you will shoot. We had some good groups but some were out of the “A” zone.
- Train for the uncomfortable event. Practicing what you do well won’t help you in a real situation that doesn’t come easy. Practice what you don’t do well.
Some of these things may not apply to your concept of bug-out, but there’s still wisdom to be taken here.
Flashlight blogging – Fenix LD15
In our “bug out bag” prep, a natural thing to want to have is a flashlight.
I settled on the Fenix LD15.
Why?
- I went with Fenix because they have a good reputation. No, it’s not a SureFire nor a Streamlight, but they use the Cree LED’s and Fenix gives you about the best bang-for-your-buck these days. Since I’m making BOB’s for 5 people, cost is a large consideration: I just can’t afford 5 SureFire’s and all the other “5′s of things” that will be needed for all the bags.
- Size/weight. I’m no guru at making BOB’s, but my thinking is having an “essentials bag” (in addition to some other bags). This is THE bag you grab if you can’t grab anything else, so it needs to hold all the essentials. IMHO, a flashlight is an essential. Leaning back to my backpacking days in Boy Scouts, size/weight of everything matters… a cubic inch saved here, an ounce saved there, it all adds up. So I wanted something on the smaller side. The LD15 isn’t much larger than a AA battery.
- AA battery. I hum-hawed for a while about what sort of battery to deal with. I admit bias towards the CR123′s because the LONG shelf life, which I think is important for a BOB since you have no idea when you’ll need things. Plus they are a good power source. However, they aren’t as common; a good grocery/drugstore might have them, but compared to AA’s? What is more ubiquitous than AA? So if things go really pear-shaped and resources are hard to come by, AA’s have the best chance of being found (in stores, in trade with other people, etc.). Furthermore, it’s likely there will be other things in my bag that need batteries, so being able to standardize on something is good, and AA’s should fill the bill. Fenix is all about the AA.
- I did look into things in terms of storage life. Quality AA alkalines or even AA lithiums should hold charge and be workable. A BOB can’t be made then shoved in the closet and ignored, you need to go through it at least once a year for any food or medical or whatever stuff. So, batteries are just part of that. IMHO, get some high quality ones, then eventually rotate them out and put fresh ones in the bag and use the old ones in the Wii remote, the TV remotes, and other such non-important things. No big deal.
That was my thinking really before I did much shopping and product investigation. My wonder was if Fenix would have something that worked for me. Would there be enough lumens? Could I get dual mode, for high output but also very low so I could do things like read and not blind myself? Will it last long enough (at least on the low setting, I accept high will drain it quickly)? And so on.
I believe I saw LA Police Gear selling the E11 on clearance, so I Googled for more information. That actually seemed like it might fit the bill, but many were comparing it to the LD15, so well… sure the E11 is cheaper (see point 1 above), but if the LD15 offers something more, go for it.
Obviously, I opted for the LD15 over the E11. A few reasons:
- The E11′s low setting was reported as actually kinda high (in terms of lumens/brightness). I can’t find reference to it now, but some people reported thinking it was too high. I don’t need that. Even my SureFire EL2 on low can be a little blinding if it reflects on what I’m reading just right.
- The E11′s switch is a tailcap clicker, which is acceptable to me. But the LD15 has a flat base so you can stand it upright like a candle. I thought that might be useful in the given context.
I did look at the rest of Fenix’s offerings. They have a lot of compelling flashlights that I think are good for EDC (Every Day Carry), such as on your keychain (I think the E15 could make the perfect keychain flashlight. I was rather impressed and think Fenix is a great way to introduce people to the world of better flashlights: performance is good, price is low. But nothing else really seemed to fit the bill as nice as the LD15 would. Remember, I’m buying for a specific context and reason.
I think the LD15′s high setting is bright enough, I think the low setting is dim enough tho still quite usable. I don’t mind that the on-off function is performed by twisting the cap — I would NOT want such a thing on a tactical light, but it’s fine here. In fact, any light I’d have in my BOB would have to be able to be disabled by twisting the cap off enough so that the light cannot be activated while sitting in the bag — and leaving me with a dead light. So, twist cap is not a problem at all.
The one thing I wish for is a clip, like on my SureFire E2L, so you could clip the flashlight onto something like a hat brim so you can direct the light where you’re looking and have both hands free. At least the LD15 comes with a basic lanyard.
Here’s a picture of comparison:
On the left, the SureFire E2L Outdoorsman: uses 2 CR123′s, 60 lumens max, 3 lumens low, LED-based, has a clip so you can hang it off things like a hat brim, costs around $185 these days. It’s my EDC flashlight and has proven to be most useful both for tactical needs and the normal every day needs that life brings. Happy investment.
In the middle, the Fenix LD15. And then on the right, a AA battery, for size/scale comparison.
So you can see, the LD15 is only slightly bigger than the AA: just wider because of the thickness of the case, and just longer because of the small tailcap and of course the LED housing.
How about performance? Quite good! I compared it to the E2L and was quite impressed with the light output. On high, the listed lumens of course put the LD15 as brighter, but practically speaking it doesn’t seem “twice as bright”. What was more noticeable was that the beam was wider, not as focused as the E2L. It’s not some floodlight, just not quite as “honed” as the E2L. Frankly, I think that’s acceptable for my context because I’m not wanting this flashlight to necessarily blind someone, I want this light for seeing as much as I can because life went pear-shaped. On low, you could really see how that sort of “beam focus” was useful, because it cast a more widespread light. You put it in low, stand it up on the tailcap like a candle, and we could light up a bedroom with a nice dim glow… enough to see everyone’s faces and what we were doing. Youngest even asked if he could have it as a nightlight. I also thought the low setting was certainly low enough and diffused enough that I could read by.
Truly, I’m impressed to get such performance out of a small package. I don’t know what runtime will be like with something like a quality alkaline or lithium battery will be. Fenix advertises high as 117 lumens for 1 hour 40 minutes, and low as 8 lumens for 39 hours, tested with a 2500mAh Ni-MH battery. They do recommend using a Ni-MH battery for best results, so I am curious how a quality alkaline will perform. Nevertheless, I think it will be suitable for the need.
All in all, I’m pleased with the purchase. I personally wouldn’t use the LD15 as my EDC flashlight, but that’s because my EDC needs are different. I do think this makes a good keychain flashlight for folks that may just want/need a light for those times when they need to manage something quickly in the dark. I also think it will fit the bill for the BOB: small, lightweight, dual modes and each mode is at a very useful level, flat tailcap to stand it like a candle, AA battery, inexpensive (relatively speaking).
Being prepared – bug out bag
If there’s anything this wildfire situation has demonstrated, it’s that I’m not as prepared as I thought I was.
Sure, we have some preparations in place for sitting tight, like if bad weather rolled through, could we sit tight on the homefront with extra water, food and so on. There are certainly some areas here where we could tighten things up, but we’re alright.
But we’re just not as prepared to bail if we have to. We thought we were, we’re not.
Oh sure, we can get it together, but consider the fires. Here’s raw footage from the Bastrop fires showing how fast a fire can spread:
If a fire broke out in the greenbelt behind our house, we have to leave NOW. Can we do that? Well, we can leave, but we’d be almost empty-handed.
I’ve looked into the concept of “bug-out-bags” for a while, but it was something that always got pushed down the priority list because other things took greater priority. But now? No… it can’t be a lower priority any more: it has to be up at the top.
The helpful thing? Wife has bought into the concept. I have to admit, that it’s sometimes hard to get things going in the household when I’m the only one that buys into it. But if Wife buys into it too, that helps the Kiddos buy into it, and so when everyone’s behind it, things have a better chance of getting done and staying a priority. Plus I think the reality of the fires made things more concrete for the kids, because well… they’re kids, they just don’t have the life experience to put things into perspective, but this sure gave them that perspective.
So, we’re going to be picking up our prep efforts in this area. Building bug-out-bags, and just being prepared. Because well… we hope to never need them, but we’ll be so thankful to have them if we do. It’s just like anything in life: the better prepared you are for when something happens — especially something that catches you by surprise — the better off you’ll be.
