I have some butterfly bandages, but never have used them. They sound like they saved the day for you, so that’s comforting to me that I have some.  Were you able to just sneeze out the fly or how did you get it out of your nose? YUCK!

Do you get enough pressure and flow from a sprayer like that to actually wash off the soap? Like I’ve taken showers at friend’s houses where they had those low flow shower heads and it takes twice as long to get the soap off of you. Brilliant idea though, so simple and cheap. 

Two articles that changed how I build my bug out bag are: Why you should use a priority bag system and ignore BOB vs. INCH – This taught me to not try to put everything and the kitchen sink in my bug out bag, but instead have the core basics for survival in my main pack, and have additional bags/totes that have optional luxuries that would be nice to bring. Bug in vs. bug out: Why your home is always the default choice – This article grounded me in reality that my home is my main base, all my supplies are here, and it’s safe and place I have a right to shelter in, where as many other prepper sites put higher priority on the glam of bugging out at any sign of disaster, roughing it in the woods, and hunting for your food. I’d rather stay where I’m familiar with and avoid a lot of the stress of evacuating unless it is truly necessary. Lots of good stuff on this site that I am still picking my way through, but those are two that really stood out for me with more rational approaches that I haven’t seen anywhere else. I’d love to hear some of the articles that you enjoy as you sift through the site, you know… like once you watch Star Wars you can never truly forget it and watch it again like it’s your first time, you always know that Darth Vader is Luke’s father. So help me live out experiencing this site for the first time again, maybe I’ll pick up on something from new eyes.

That is a smart idea to learn what you use this season and save up for another barrel for next year.  I like that your barrels are black so they should stay warmer and able to function for more of the year. That would be my concern where I live. Perhaps you could install a solar powered chicken bucket water heater so that it never freezes and you are able to keep water all year. But you don’t really have a lot of things to water during the winter and it would just fill up once and not be used. So using it just during the spring-fall sounds like the best strategy.

You did an excellent job with the execution of this project and the write up for all of us.  So far, is there more rain falling on your roof than you are able to use, or can you keep up with what this system produces? I’ll be curious to follow up with you in a few months to see if this meets your needs or you want to expand to another tank. Can you just drill another hole into the side of one tank and connect another one?

Nobody is mentioning the awesome Peep picture at the very top? Fine, I will. It’s awesome!

Wonder if we will experience another early 2020 style of lockdown here in the US. How will it be received compared to the first one?

That was an incredible yet saddening read. Those people went through some horrible things. I’d like to learn more about their lives after the disaster too. Did the accident scar them mentally for the rest of their lives or did it give them strength that whatever life throws at them they can overcome it.

That’s great that your study was driven by your desire to protect your family. Having a strong reason why you are searching forces you to search after the best and most reliable sources.

I’ve been thinking of getting this very small pepper spray for when I go jogging outside.  In this YouTube video https://youtu.be/vlZZpM95u_Y?t=5 it looks to be very easy to use and small to wear, but the amount of sprays and distance is pretty poor. It would only be effective if someone was right in your face grabbing you probably. It’s better than not carrying one though if other models are too bulky or harder to access in a bag or holster.

Where do you buy canned bread? I went to my Kroger grocery store this week and asked if they had any and they thought I was nuts. Luckily they got on the radio and asked all the employees and one employee told her it was a thing but they didn’t have it.

It’s particularly hard when cleaning out possessions when someone dies and letting go of items and “stuff” that remind you of the person. It feels like if you throw away that vase or picture frame that you are throwing away their memory.  What has been helpful to me is to record a video and take pictures of their things so I can still visually look at it and recall those memories. And then if there are some particularly sentimental items, I save 1-2 of them. 

Very well stated. I would like to study psychology more and understand how biases are so deeply ingrained into our psyche. Was it a survival mechanism our ancestors developed or what? I personally have seen some family members SO stuck in their ways and their ideologies that they can’t see something so obvious. It’s like they have horse blinders on and only can see what they want and deny that anything else exists.  I appreciate you disagreeing with me on “trust your gut”. Thinking about it more I would say it is more of use your head. For example, during this past year I talked with a friend who was sharing some obvious covid misinformation. What they were saying was seriously ridiculous. But they weren’t thinking and using their head at all and just was believing all that was told to them by others. Learning to critically think, question what I am told, and know how to sort out facts and fiction is one thing I value about going to college. I do not remember 99% of what I read in those expensive text books, but developing that critical thinking skill is something I will use my entire life.

I like what you say about not trusting the media and relying on your senses and gut based off of what you are seeing. Hey, maybe it’s the best source of media out there and is 100% true, but I like what you said because you are developing the skill of thinking for yourself and being observant of things around you rather than just mindlessly tuning into what someone else says and is telling you how to think, feel, and react. That is a valuable skill to learn.

“Nothing for  the nightstand” <- HA! This made me laugh. I have some large mason jars on a floating shelf that would be good to secure. Your thought process is similar to my initial thoughts.

The ideas and fantasy creations of a few snowball and spread like wildfire until a huge portion of the population believes in it. Never in the history of mankind has information or misinformation been able to spread so quickly. DO NOT be the one to spread misinformation. Stop it dead in it’s tracks if you can and don’t be the cause of hurting others. I’d like to share a couple other pointers that I’ve seen over the past few months of thinking about this topic. MEMES don’t equal factual news. Spend 5 minutes on places like Facebook and Twitter and you will quickly see MEMES (pictures usually with big white letters captioning it) that try and share an idea. Don’t trust these, and even don’t even read them. They are only created to trigger a strong feeling like anger, fear, or outrage. And these easily get likes, comments, and shares. Most of the time they are inaccurate and misleading.   Unfollow family, friends, and ‘influencers’ that tend to share things like this as well. You don’t need any more garbage in your day, you already get enough of that elsewhere. Subscribe or follow nice things that make you happy, are positively educating, and make the world a better place. Trust your gut. Many of these extremist misinformation sources are very obvious by how they get heated up about everything, lead into conspiracy theories, and divide you from others.  If you don’t know if something is true or not, research it and don’t talk about or share it with others until you have fact checked it for yourself. Don’t lead to future panic and distrust. Thank you for bringing up this topic. It is important to be able to verify and know what is true or not. Misleading information could have you bugging out at the incorrect time, teaching you bad ways to take care of your health, or just cause unnecessary stress in your life.

Those Coleman stoves look much sturdier than the kerosene one that Waldog shared. It’s interesting that he is running gasoline as the fuel in each of those. I’d like to know what it smells like and if it releases harmful fumes compared to kerosene or white gas.

I like that. I could use the same kerosene for lighting and also cooking. Thanks for the video.