"Be Prepared" & "Do a Good Turn Daily"

I'll be away for three days to teach a group of students and teachers
how to solder up their own photovoltaic panels. I got the solar cells
from a company called MLSolar on the west coast. I picked this company
because they were the first one that actually had a human answer the
phone. The delivery was earlier than expected and the product was
the right price. I got 500 pretabbed 3" x 6" grade "B" cells for $1 each.

In my earlier blogs I talked about bug out bags, learning skills that you
need to be a survivor in a short or long-term area or nation-wide
'problem'. I was thinking of how I began to get into this mind-set and
remembered the things I learned from being in the Boy Scouts. Being
prepared isn't taught as much of a lesson these days...I've been called
a hoarder(sp?) or survival nut. NO, no, no! Because tied with that
preparedness is charity. Would I share enough of my food and other
gear to endanger the long term survival of my family? Probably not.
But we do have enough to share with friends, relatives and neighbors, if
they'd be willing to take it.

Storing a year's worth of food is cheap if you buy basics in bulk...fifty pounds
of dry navy beans cost me something like $22 the last time I bought them.
Rolled oats were $15 for 50 pounds. I vacuum bag the big bags into
smaller packages. My worry is that neither of these foods are 'instant' and
if you don't know what to do with wheat berries to make them edible then
I just wasted my charity. The same with giving someone a spare solar
panel; unless you give them the knowledge and explain the limitations then
your 'good turn' is useless.

I think that is why I still educate people. We may be soldering up solar panels,
but the kids and teachers will also get a presentation on how the entire system
works and what it will be good for.

My daughter, Lisa, doesn't like to eat fish. However, when our friend brought
over a dish of freshly caught pike she tried it and stated that she would eat it
if she had to...that is a big survival step! I believe most people would NOT eat
what I gave them in an emergency unless I had also cooked it...and then maybe
they wouldn't eat it because it wasn't like Macdonalds...I hope not.

Start to gather the skills, tools and attitude to be a survivor...what do you have
to lose? Just a couple of extra boxes or cans of food every time you go shopping
will allow you to build a few weeks of 'emergency rations' fairly quickly. You can
buy a butane fueled camping stove for under $20..it takes up hardly any room
but will allow you to cook if the power is down. LED flashlights make batteries
last a long time...they are available at the dollar stores...for a dollar! Buy extras!
Remember you can be generous!