Recent Articles
Episode 34 – Our BOL, Naturopathy, Airline Travel, and Keeping Tabs on Government
Dec 29, 2010 Uncategorized 14 Comments
Bit of a mixed bag of topics in this podcast. I had a work trip, so I was on the road again and finally had some time to talk about a few things that have been important in my modern survivalist life: our new BOL in Nova Scotia, Naturopathy treatment, Airline Travel and Security and Keeping Tabs on Government by taking a look at the bills passing through the House of Commons and the Senate.
There’s a break in the middle of the recording. I got a phone call, so I had to pull over. The train of thought only gets slightly derailed, but then I get back on topic. Hope to have more for you in the New Year!
Show Resources:
Episode 33 – Life’s Most Stressful Events – Divorce
Sep 22, 2010 Family Preparedness 2 Comments
Almost half of marriages in Canada end in divorce. Almost all of those divorces have the same thing cited as a reason – “I’m not happy anymore.” With people using that kind of rationale, it’s easy to see why divorces happen so often and how the situation can become utterly disastrous.
If you’re thinking of getting married, are married, getting divorced or thinking of a divorce – this podcast is for you. If you plan on staying single for the rest of your life, well, then you can’t get divorced can you? This podcast is deeply emotional and personal for me as I have gone through a divorce. Please keep that in mind as you listen. *Warning – I drop the f-bomb once.*
Episode 32 – Life’s Most Stressful Events – Death of a Spouse
Aug 8, 2010 Family Preparedness Leave a comment
These events are the ones that are most likely to happen in your life. They are also the ones that are most likely cause an incredible amount of grief for you and your family. Yet we know that these things are almost inevitable, so we can plan for them and make them less stressful for ourselves. Once we have planned for them, they don’t have to loom in the back of our mind, like a gargoyle waiting to pounce. We can concern ourselves with more enjoyable things.
By preparing, we can dramatically improve the quality of our lives today and in the event that these common life events happen. Today, we talk about being prepared for the passing of a spouse or of ourselves – to ease the burden of our grieving spouse and family by making sure you have wills in place and up to date. This is just an overview to get you thinking.
Resources:
Episode 31 – Save Money Slicing and Saving Sandwich Meats
Jul 22, 2010 Food Production 5 Comments
Using our $5 garage sale meat slicer and our FoodSaver vaccuum sealer, we’ve packaged about 20 pounds (or 10 kilograms) of sandwich meats and saved at least $60 in grocery bills.
I wouldn’t recommend the Rival folding meat slicer we have, but for $5 bucks, it’ll do.
If you add the logic of food prices constantly going up, then it could be even higher savings in the long run. Just think – if bologna goes up from $3.49 for 500 grams to $3.99 for 500 grams, I’ve just saved on the future expense of 50 cents per package PLUS what I saved by buying it bulk and parting it up. Why wouldn’t you do this?
Of course, we’ve now got sandwich meat for pretty much the rest of the year. Should the household income go down, we can make bread cheaply and still have good sandwiches for lunches. Better today, better tomorrow.
Links:
- FoodSaver Canada
- VacSealers.com – FoodSaver style bags in Canada
- Average Canadian Food Prices for 2009
Basic Electricity Storage in a Battery Array
Jul 4, 2010 Energy Leave a comment
Jack Spirko over at TheSurvivalPodcast.com has been talking about making a basic electricity storage system recently. It’s a great, affordable idea that can be really helpful in a pinch. The other great part of this project is that it familiarizes you with almost all the basics of a 12 volt power system. Click here to get the PDF wiring diagram.
From here, it’s a really small step to add solar panels, or a wind turbine to keep the batteries charged. You can see that in the Solar Electricity Generator Wiring article.
Some things to keep in mind:
- Use the appropriate sized wire. There are charts to help you size wire according to volts and amps and such. Find one and use it. If you go with too small a wire diameter, it can result in a fire.
- Use inline fuses between power sources and loads. In the drawing, you’ll see that there is one between the batteries and the inverter. It would not hurt to have one between the charger and the batteries as well.
- Only use a battery charger with charge control. This will prevent the batteries from running down and overcharging. Overcharging can cause a fire.
- Keep the batteries in a well-ventilated area. Most batteries do give off gases that can be explosive and poisonous. NEVER smoke around batteries. One of the gases is hydrogen (extremely explosive) and another one of the gases gets converted into phosgene gas when passing through the cigarette. Phosgene gas kills in amounts of 0.1 parts per million.
I like Schumacher chargers, because they seem really well made and well engineered. Here’s a model that may be suitable for your use. I’ve used it in a couple applications and it only costs about $60. Check out the rest of the site, because they have some great free information there on battery charging and maintenance.
