Updates: Long, Hot Summer Edition
My apologies for the slow pace of new posts recently, but its been a bear of a summer. The good news is business is up in the wake of inflation news and the Dow upheavals, but it makes it harder to fit everything else in! Also, I’ve spent 5 days working on the water project this month, as we do our best to practice what we preach. Again, that’s a good thing; however, some days the changes in velocity of SurvivalClub activities makes for some very long days (We went from taking a year to plan the project to now having all hands on deck for as many days as possible to implement it!)
Still, busy is good. Some other bits of news:
- We finally got the ‘Light and Fire‘ section of Discount Mylar Bags up and running with a couple of cool products! The candle lanterns are an excellent, cheap and portable way to always have some light on hand (#5 on the list of things one must have to be prepared). The kit comes with the very cool pop-up Lantern, 4 9-hour candles and a carry sack. They also have a hook and chain, so we have taken to hanging ours on a nail on the porch. It puts off just enough light to have a good conversation, but not as much as our regular outside lights which attracts a gazillion bugs.
- Also in the section are a Light My Fire Firesteel, the premier brand in the category, and supercool storm-proof matches. I usually recommend a standard Bic Lighter
for most folks fire needs, but if you’re in the woods or going on what could be an extended excursion, Firesteel can’t be beat for ability to throw sparks (and it also has an emergency whistle on it as well). The matches on the other hand, are something I would heartily recommend everyone get a set of. We made a silly 30-second spot on Youtube about the matches, which really do burn under water! They come in a gasketed waterproof container with an extra striking surface and would be a great addition to any 72-hour kit. In general, lighters don’t work well when wet, so having storm-proof matches on hand can really come in handy in certain conditions.
- In our ‘Gear’ section (just one item for now) is a 1-Liter ClipCap Aluminum Water Bottle. It’s cap allows it to attach to almost anything. We keep one on the stroller when we take the dogs for a walk (don’t ask), and I like them better for hiking because I often lose my Nalgenes because the drink pockets mesh on my backpack is too light to keep them securely attached. If you’ve watched any Survivorman, you also know that Aluminum bottles are great to boil water or (in a pinch) soup in if you needed to purify some for any reason.
- We’re pulling the trigger on the trailer purchase I mentioned last month and will be taking our first trip with it in late September (our In-Laws will be staying at our house for any burglar types), going up to see our families in Connecticut. We’ll be taking 95 up to New England starting in Virginia, so anyone who wants to save some shipping on a big order, let me know and if we travel through your town we’ll be glad to stop!=)
- We are still working with UPS trying to figure out why the rate structure on our contract is not actually working with our shipping account; that’s why we haven’t had the smaller sets of Gamma Seal lids available yet.
- I am having a lot of fun spending a few minutes a day on our Facebook page. We gave away a $50 gift certificate to the store at 50 friends and $100 at 100 friends. We’ll do the same every time we hit another hundred friends (200, 300, etc) up to 1000; if we ever hit the 1000 friend milestone I promise to do something special to celebrate the occasion!! So if you use Facebook and haven’t yet, please Like us! (You can also find us by searching ‘Advice and Beans’ on Facebook)
That’s all for now, stay safe and prepared everyone!
