So what did you learn this week?

Knowing is half the battle.
What did you put away for knowledge this week?
You might run out of food or ammo but you will never run out of what you know, aside from dementia, TBI, ect.

 

Read and reread articles on hydroponics and gardening, trying to organize my greenhouse better for the coming year, trying to figure out how to order power tool parts for myself instead of letting the boss do it as at 80 it looks like I will be out of a job soon and need to be able to stand on my own two feet. Rereading a lot of the older SHTF fiction, each author has his own take on it, and I think it is instructive to ponder the different views.

 

This week I learned two new knots, more features of my HF radio, and started making a huge capacitor from a trashcan. Oh, and that Honda car wiring is whacked!

 

How to melt paracord the Right way

 

Did a refresher course for CPR/AED/LUCAS. Everyone should try to make the time to stop by their local firehouse and ask about these. LUCAS is a automated compression unit, great big step for small fire/rescue companies.

 

Like Tempstar. New knots to try out.

 

I've learned enough this week. Time to let my brain rest.

Huge capacitor? Like to know more about that. I've wondered if a lightning strike could somehow be used to charge a large capacitor. Top of my land is pretty high up. Kicking around the idea of sticking a 55 gallon barrel filled with sand and having a copper wire sticking up through the center. Might make some pretty glass sculptures.

 

I learned that just because it rarely gets below 20 degrees in my area that the last 4 weeks of being at -4 to +15 SUCKS. Did not build or insulate the cabin for below 15 degrees

 

But, LUCAS can't assist me, the non-ems type, in an emergency, right? It's only for EMS personnel, correct or am I missing something? I definitely want an CPR/AED refresher this year, don't think our Fire Houses give them for free and either have to go to Tech College or they have a couple of private schools around here.

 

Well, I have learned quite a lot over the past few weeks...

The first was don't try to drink up the Christmas/New Year Holidays liquor cabinet in one or two nights, talk about a SHTF scenario, it was touch-and-go for a while...Whew!

Second, it is looking like I will need 5 cords of wood instead of 4 to go from October to March as that lodge pole pine burns fast, 6 to be sure.

Third, after a small power outage and the wife spending the entire outage reminding me how much I have spent on preps and even though we had 1500 gallons in the cistern we still didn't have a drop of water handy...well, you get the picture. I got nailed to the cross and it is now on the top of 'Do List' come Spring.

 

I learned that a vacation in HI could get me killed as the place in completely unprepared for just about everything.

 

I learned WAY more than I wanted to know about gender fluid/confused robots. New 2018 resolution: drink coffee BEFORE willy nilly clicking "news" articles.

 

Been wanting to make a true Pemmican recipe of rendered suet, dehydrated red meat and store bought blueberries. Rendered the suet(organ fat) in a slow cooker on low without the lid(you want all water in the fat to evaporate out. Sliced up a nice sized chuck roast and placed in the dehydrator with a tray of blueberries.

The key to make a Pemmican with the longest shelf-life possible is to remove all moisture from the three ingredients. The meat and blueberries took the longest to dehydrate. When I pulverized the meat and blueberries in my blender, you want a nice dry mixture that creates a lot of dust in the blender. I then remelted the suet and mix everything together and poured the mixture into a cup cake pan. After the Pemmican cakes hardened, I removed them and wrapped each on individually in some wax paper and stored them in a 50 cal ammo can. I have 16 Pemmican cakes in storage that I want to check on every few months to check for any spoilage and if none is found, will use in a field prepared hobo stew.

 

Let’s call it re-learned. I welded up a front bumper for a co-worker that had an oops. I still got it! Sort of. I spent almost half of my high school years in the welding class, the other half in weight lifting. Now you know what happened.
This also got me thinking what most of you might already know.
Top 10 Reasons Why Welder/Generators Offer The Best Value for Emergency Generator Power - MillerWelds

 

I'm getting the smoker and smoking process dialed in. I've been using oak for heat and various chips for extra flavor.

I ordered a new pistol for EDC (XDM .45ACP) and picked it up yesterday but it's too large for me to effectively conceal so now I have to turn around and sell it to get something smaller. I don't care for open carry, so...