I bought an air mattress under the same parameters that you are asking. Occasional use for guests, great option for an emergency, queen sized, and built-in pump. I landed on getting one from Costco because of their lifetime warranty. Costco previously replaced an old air mattress that had the seams wear out, so I can vouch that they stand behind their word. They currently have two models for sale at Costco. The brand I bought was Aerobed. It doesn’t look like they currently sell that brand at Costco anymore, and I can’t find the exact model that I bought there being sold on Amazon or at Bed Bath and Beyond, the other sellers of Aerobed. Unfortunately I won’t be able to tell you an exact model to buy, but I’ve enjoyed Aerobed’s quality.

It looks like you put a lot of love and care into your cabin/shed. That’s a project I would like to work on in the future. Looking forward to watching the show on Sunday!

Maybe that’s why bottled water has an expiration date? Higher amounts of bacteria, probably no chlorine inside, and clear plastic that allows for sunlight and growth?

That’s where I’m coming from as well. Store water the best I can, have filter backups if something went wrong with that stored water, and having some reliable short term sources is comforting.

Without having sidewalls on the carport, it should be more resistant to high winds. It does look great! How deep and beefy are those stakes that you tied off those lines to? If they aren’t that great upgrading to some beefy spiral stakes would make that thing immovable

I agree with hikermor here. Camo has it’s place for the military, certain types of hunting, and extremely rare times where you need to hide from people, but the most likely situation you are going to be in will require you to have bright color clothing. Now if they had a jacket that was camo on one side and reversible to hunter orange on the other, that would be a versatile piece of gear to have. If I were to select a camo option from one of the above, that Sitka one on the end is my favorite.

You’re an avid forager? …. checks username …. username checks out.  Those sound like fair assumptions and were thoughts I had when checking out the site.  Thanks for the link Robert, I am going to see if I can find any near me and see if I can update and  improve the listings of the locations I go to.

I do like how AA and AAA batteries can be bought everywhere and easily replaced where a custom lithium-ion battery that is going out needs to be ordered online and takes multiple days to get to you if you can even find it.

That looks like a quality radio, and after that modification makes it work even better!

The shade of a carport can provide many benefits to your car and you can test this by parking directly in the sun and then the next day parking in the shade of a tree and comparing how hot it is when you go and get in that car. The shade automatically is 10-15 degrees cooler than in the direct sun, but that is even magnified more with cars probably because they act like a green house and the air inside is heated from the direct sun. The carport will also protect the paint of your car from sun damage like this:  it will protect the plastics in your car from dulling over time and it prevents plastic headlights from yellowing and oxidizing: People can receive minor burns from touching hot metal or plastic like on a steering wheel that has been sitting in direct sun. Your car will probably be bird pooped on less which is acidic and eats away at the paint as well. And in the winter, it will keep snow off your vehicle making it easier to get out in the morning without having to scrape off your car. When looking for a carport, look for one with sturdy poles that can be secured down against high winds. Get one from a company that sells replaceable canopies if yours gets ripped or damaged from the UV light itself. This can save you from needing to buy the entire frame again.

Very nice! Something I learned is about oiling the handle and how that is preferred to a varnish. Makes sense when you think about it.

I’ve heard that some solar setups which are connected to the grid, are turned off and are inaccessible during a power outage. The fear of leaving it turned on is that your solar panels would be backfeeding the wires and some poor electric company employee working on the lines would get shocked. Kind of pointless in my opinion to have a solar system that can’t even work in an emergency. Definitely look into keeping your solar system off the grid and just powering your house. If only your kitchen is powered by the solar system and batteries, because it is too expensive to power the entire house, then that is better than not having it at all. 

Very sad to see this on the news yesterday. Situational awareness can possibly prevent yourself from being caught up in such a situation. If you see someone acting suspicious and you feel uncomfortable, take the next train or move to another car.  Knowing your exits, having a form of self defense, and like you mentioned having a trauma dressing on hand are other things you can do to be prepared for such events.

Got my second two pack of free covid tests from USPS. Thanks again @July Lewis for the encouragement to get these.

Well in the featured section of this forum there is a book review by another member named brownfox on the Emotional First Aid book. It sounds like the type of book you are looking for.  In the comments of his book review I talk about another book that I am going through now called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life. This book has been helpful in many ways to me from having a more positive outlook on life by picking and choosing the things that I give my energy and time to. 

Thank you for your kind response. I had not heard of the spoon theory before but it does sound the same to the number of f’s you can give in a day.  I look forward to reading the other two articles you shared.

Your comment reminds me of the forum post by that guy who wanted some hard prepping challenges: https://theprepared.com/forum/thread/seeking-ideas-for-prepper-related-challenges-experiments/

So you use the same recipe that is in the picture above with a touch of lemon flavoring? That is very smart to set up a sick room in the guest room.