Comfort Items

“Some parents say it is toy guns that make boys warlike. But give a boy a rubber duck and he will seize its neck like the butt of a pistol and shout "Bang!"”- George F. Will

Today I recommend reading Barter Goods -- A Woman's Perspective on http://www.survivalblog.com/. The author points out that most preparedness advice comes “from thoughtful and hardy men” who focus on fire, food, guns, and basic survival. The author doffs her “hard hat” to these men but feels that something is missing, a woman’s touch regarding items that will “improved quality of life”. She then goes on to list useful items for children of various ages and for adults.

Infants & Toddlers: baby formula mix, chew toys (i.e. teething rings), pull toys

Ages 4-9: Crayons and coloring books, hard candies, fluffy-clutch-comfort toys (like a teddy bear)

Ages 10-13: look for brain & drain items for mental stimulation and to use up the tons of energy they have. Brainy books & puzzles & card games; physical toys like Frisbees, boomerangs, Nerf ball, jump rope. Girls may enjoy a simple cosmetic kit or sewing kit.

Ages 14-17: this age group wants to be treated as adults so assign tasks to them that require some thought and/or some physical prowess like foraging or child care. Provide them with some of the trappings of adulthood like a pocketknife, multi-tool, cosmetics or a purse. Teens want privacy that a small tent of their own could provide.

Seniors: Denture cream, magnifying glasses, packets of facial tissues, hand creams, bucket hats, cold packs, heat packs, compact chess and checker sets, large print puzzle books (don’t forget the pencils), over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications, Ben-Gay, Vick's Vap-O-Rub, hard candies, and sunglasses.

Bottom Line
Being forced out of your home is stressful regardless of whether you end up at a hotel, the woods or a Red Cross shelter. Kids will be frightened and their discomfort will result in fighting and crying which in turn raises the stress level of the parents. Plan now to have comfort items on hand to keep everyone occupied and entertained. It can still pay to stock up even if you don’t have kids. You can trade comfort items with desperate parents or just gift them something to calm a crying child.

Toothpaste

“Money in the bank is like toothpaste in the tube. Easy to take out, hard to put back.”- Earl Wilson

I love the Google auto-complete feature. When you start typing a search, Google shows you similar searches that others have entered. And I’m often amazed to find that others have searched for some of the odd topics I think up like “Alternative Uses for Toothpaste”.

About this time of year I get Poison Ivy rashes on my arms. Since I’m not the outdoors type, I suspect it comes from my cat that sleeps next to me. The cat wanders around our backyard jungle and oil from Poison Ivy plants stick to his fur and rubs onto my bed sheet or arm. So today my wrist breaks out at work and I’m super-itchy. I look at my desk drawer and see only aspirin and toothpaste. So what the heck, I tried rubbing some toothpaste on my skin. And it worked. No itch and it held up well even with my watch band rubbing against it.

So, back to Google. What else can be done with toothpaste?

• Remove scuff marks from your favorite pair of leather shoes
• Clean Piano Keys (they used to be ivory teeth after all)
• Clean the rubber part of sneakers
• Clean sinks
• Clean your iron (does anyone iron anymore?)
• Remove crayon marks from walls
• Make your diamond ring sparkle (not just for sparking smiles?)
• Shine chrome or silver
• Shine your nails
• Clean your metal watchband with toothbrush and paste. Be careful not to get the watch wet.
• Defog mirrors, goggles and glasses with a toothpaste rub
• Stick posters on walls (instead of tape apply a bit of paste to each corner)
• Fill nails holes in walls
• Remove the itch from insect bites and bee strings (yes, I was right! Stops the itch by drying out the skin)
• Remove odors from hands (wash your hands in a little paste)
• Remove stains from clothes (like ink or lipstick)
• Remove pimples (use a little dab at night for acne. But only once a week to avoid leathery skin)
• Fill scratches on CDs (??? – this one I’ve got to try. We often get CDs from the libraries that are too scratched to play. Perhaps this is just an urban legend?)

Bottom Line

I’ve not tried these so I can only pass on what I’ve found on the Internet. Use common sense. Also use cheap, white, simple toothpaste. It is the fine grit you want for cleaning which you won’t get in a gel paste.

Eyeglass Repair

“Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones” – proverb
“People who live in glass houses don't have much of a sex life” - Tom Best

As a person who wears glasses, I liked the article Simple Survival Tools - Eyeglass Repair Kit. If my glasses broke I would be blind as a bat and very useless in a disaster.

My recommendation
Buy one or more eyeglass repair kits. These sell for a buck or two and are often sold at checkout registers at grocery stores, Wal-Mart, etc. Keep one in your go kit, one in your car glove compartment, one in your purse, etc. Make sure a kit is always available. It will supply you with rubber bands and screws to hold your glasses together.
The article also gives ideas for using safety pins, duct tape, glue and other emergency measures.

Bottom Line
Since some eyeglass problems may be “unfixable”, like a broken or badly scratched lens, it is a good idea to have an emergency backup pair. It could be your old prescription that may be blurry but better than nothing. My wife & I take advantage of sales at Sears when they sell glasses and frames for $100 total. You won’t get anything fancy, no tinting, no progressives, but they will work. I got a pair of bifocals this way and am wearing them now. My progressive lens got scratched while I was unemployed so I switched to the emergency backup pair instead of spending money for a new pair at $300 or so. It took me several days to get used to the bifocal lines but now I never notice the lines. Now that I have a job again I’ll buy progressives but I can wait for another sale.

The Art of Fire Starting

Buttercup: "That's the fire swamp! We'll never survive!"
Wesley: "Nonsense! You're only saying that because no one ever has.”
-The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Sometimes you just have to start a fire without matches. Perhaps your single engine plane goes down while you’re flying over the Alaskan wilderness or you lose your backpack in a tussle with a bear. Or it can be as undramatic as an extremely windy or wet day which render your matches virtually useless.

For detailed descriptions of the methods below check out 9 Ways To Start a Fire Without Matches

Friction Based Fire Making

• The Hand Drill fire method is not for the faint of heart. It’s probably the most difficult of all the non-match based methods. It requires bone dry wood, tireless hands, and gritty determination. It can take 15 minutes or more to build up enough heat.
• With the Fire Plough technique you cut a groove in a plank and rub a sturdy stick up and down the grove to create enough heat to ignite some tinder.
• The Bow Drill is a variant of the Hand Drill. The spindle stick is attached to a bow like device for faster and easier spinning. It is harder to set-up but easier to create the spark.
  Flint and Steel It’s always a good idea to carry around a good flint and steel set with you on a camping trip. They will work when wet.

Lens Methods

• On a sunny day you can focus the energy of the sun with a magnifying glass, eyeglasses, or binocular lenses. You can intensify the beam by adding some water to the lens. Angle the lens towards the sun in order to focus the beam into as small an area as possible. Put your tinder nest under this hot spot to ignite.
  Note: reading lens or far sighted eye glasses will work. Near sighted lens won't focus light in a point.
• You can create emergency lenses from a water filled balloon or condom. Keep the size small so you can manipulate the water lens to be as round as possible. The focal length is very short, you'll need to put the lens just 1 to 2 inches from the tinder.
• You can also carve a lens from clear ice with a knife. The ice must be perfectly clear, about 2 inches thick in the center with tapering edges. Polish the surface of your ice lens with the heat from your hands.
• Coke can lens. Polish the bottom of a soda can with chocolate, toothpaste, or ash to make it super shiny. Tilt the bottom of the can towards the sun and place your tinder about one inch away to light it.

Batteries and Steel Wool

• You can ignite steel wool but stretching it out and then connecting it to both ends of a battery. A 9-volt battery works well for this.
• Another battery solution: if you are in a broken down car your car's battery and or alternator can make a ton of hot sparks by causing an arc. Even a “dead” car battery will spark.

Bottom Line

Creating a spark, while vital, does not a fire make. You also need tinder that will ignite easily and hold the flame long enough for you to pile on small twigs to grow the fire. Excellent natural choices for tinder include tree sap, dry leaves, grass, pine cones, moss, and fungus. Man-made tinder includes charcloth or other fire starter products that you should carry in your survival kit. One survivalist recommends coating cotton balls with some petroleum jelly. Another person recommends soaking your tinder with an alcohol based bug repellent or hand cleanser to help it light. Dryer lint makes good tinder and I'm told you can light snack food like Cheetos and pringles chips.