Better Than Bleach

Artical I read at
Survial Topics dot Com

Better than Bleach: Use Calcium Hypochlorite to Disinfect Water

How to Disinfect Water Using Calcium Hypochlorite

Using granular calcium hypochlorite to disinfect water is a two step process.

1. To make a stock of chlorine solution (do not drink this!) dissolve 1 heaping teaspoon (about one-quarter of an ounce) of high-test (78%) granular calcium hypochlorite for each two gallons (eight liters) of water.
2. To disinfect water add one part of the chlorine solution to 100 parts water to be treated.
3. Let the mixture sit for at least one-half hour before drinking.

Be sure to obtain the dry granular calcium hypochlorite since once it is made into a liquid solution it will begin to degrade and eventually become useless as a disinfecting agent. This also means you should make your treated drinking water in small batches, for example enough for a few weeks at a time at most.

Another plus for using calcium hypochlorite to disinfect water for emergency use is that a little goes a very long way. A 1-pound pag of calcium hypochlorite in granular form typically costs only a few $US dollars and can be obtained in any swimming pool supply section of your hardware store or online. This amount will treat up to 10,000 gallons of drinking water, which is enough for a family of four for some six or seven years at a gallon per day per person!

Calcium hypochlorite will store for a long period of time and remain effective as a chemical drinking water treatment. So get rid of the household bleach and buy a can of Calcium hypochlorite for your disaster emergency water disinfection needs. It lasts far longer and treats far more water than the traditional chlorine bleach water disinfection treatment.

Car emergency kit

My sister (the older one) found this on the interwebi and I thought it was very good.

http://offgridsurvival.com/carkit/
Here are some of the top items that any good emergency vehicle kit should contain.
■Cellphone with Backup Cell Charger
■Quality Car Jack
■Tire Chains (great for extra traction in snow, mud & sand)
■Traction Matt (Great for getting unstuck in snow, mud & sand)
■Extra set of Warm Clothing (pants, socks, gloves, hat & rain gear)
■Couple Gallons of water (for drinking & for radiator)
■Tire Pump, Patches & a can of Fix a Flat
■Spare Tire (preferably full size)
■Flares & other Signaling devices
■Flashlights
■First Aid Kit
■Dried or Canned food (remember the can opener)
■Jumper Cables
■Zip Ties
■Spare Hoses & Fan Belts
■Shovel (to dig your way our if you get stuck)
■Oil
■Gas Can (if you can safely hall it on your vehicle)
■Fire Extinguisher
■Antifreeze
■Good Set of tools (wrenches, Vice Grips, screwdrivers, wire cutters, multitool, etc…)
■Duct tape
■Electrical Tape
■Extra Fuses
■Blanket
■Sleeping Bag
■Solar Charger
■Brightly Colored Flag or Reflective Cloth for signaling
■Personal Survival Kit
■Emergency Candles
■Lighter
■Water Bottles & Bucket
■Windshield Scrapper & Brush
■Tow Ropes
■Rags

Generator stuff

My son and I ran the 5.5 kw generator this weekend. It started on the second pull and ran for about 3 hours on a half a gallon of gas. To be fair my load was just an electric fan. My wife the princes did not really like me running the fan since it was cold but my daughter the Queen stole the heater and I dare not go into her room.

The younger of my sisters (I have two and they are both older than me) asked what is paracord good for. So I sent her this list I found on some site.

Uses for 550 Paracord
Because individual strands of 550 paracord can be easily removed and combined into your own configurations, this small rope can be put to a wide variety of survival uses. As a general purpose utility cord 550 can be used for:

Ridgelines for Tarps
Securing Equipment
Shoelaces
Hanging Food from Bears
Vehicle Tie Downs
Sewing Fabric
Repairing Equipment
Making a Fire Bow
Fishing Line
Paracord String for a Bow
Making a Shelter
Fish Gill Nets
Fishing Line
Animal Snares
Clothes Lines
Paracord Lanyards
Anchor Line
Binding
Twine
Animal Restraints
Tooth Floss
Splints
Tourniquet
Paracord Braiding
Other Paracord Crafts

Hard Copies

I have added the Hard Copies Gadget to the blog. I will add to this section pdf files that should be printed and kept in a binder. This information will then be available even if there is a loss of data.

Long time

It has been a while since I have posted. Mainly due to work.

My other sister read my blog and I guess she liked it.

She posted the following letter to me.

Hiya,

I read the latest posts on your blog this morning. Very cool. The movie was hilarious. I'm going to show it to everyone when I wake them up.

I have some comments and questions for you on the food list you made.
I didn't know brown rice went rancid quicker. Thanks for that.
Have you thought to buy water softener salt? It's much cheaper and you get more for your money. It says it's not for consumption, but as far as I'm concerned, salt is salt.

I'm curious, do you know how long peanut butter will store? We love peanut butter. We wanted to grow peanuts, but it's a warm weather crop.

I think that shortening has a longer shelf life than plain oil, but I'm not sure. Also, there are some good survival foods you can make with shortening. But then again, that was in the olden days when people exercised 10 time more than we do now. When you exercise, you burn a lot more fat, and fat was a lifesaver back in the day.

I love pasta, and think it's an awesome way to preserve eggs. Someday I'm going to make some.

Did you know that honey can be stored forever? That it never goes bad? I think that's awesome to know for survival situations. I don't supposed you could have a bee hive in your own backyard .... could you? I think it's too close to the neighbors. By the way, when you have your own hive in Colorado, did you know that you have to leave honey in the hive for the bees to survive the winter? There's a farmer here who takes all the honey and then lets his bees die in the winter because he makes more money that way. Buying another swarm is cheaper for him than leaving the honey for them to eat. Sounds cruel to me.



My answers
Peanut Butter about a year
virgin Olive oil about 2 years
No iodine in water softener salt... but you could use it for consumption if you want its about 98.9% pure
Shortening 2 years

In a survival situation 3600 calories/day may not be enough food.
Good article about that from survival blog http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/01/the_importance_of_calories_in.html

Pasta will last for years.

Honey is very expensive! And yes it will also preserve just about anything put into it.

It may make sense from a $ point of view but bees are dying for no reason so killing them makes little long term sense.

My kind of horror movie

My wife showed me this and I was very amused.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAyJhnrCQFw

Paracord

I have decided in order to build some skills I will learn to make paracord accessories.
I really wanted a paracord belt so instead of buying one. I will make one. I will post photos of my trials as I try and learn this skill.

I also order along with the paracord a new MOLLE bag that I will use for cold weather gear, and a new glock 17 magazine.