In Praise of One Baltimore Mother

If you've been watching TV, you have probably seen the riots in Baltimore.  If you've been keeping up with social media, you've probably seen the one mother in the entire riot-plagued area of Baltimore stepping up and being a parent (not discounting the parents who quietly and calmly protested with their children in this same city).

My general response when I hear of riots on TV==whether by urban blacks or drunk college kids--is meh.  A bunch of idiots making their entire demographic look bad.  Glad I don't live there.  Glad I'm well armed in the event that such a thing ever did happen where I live.  So it was no wonder that this lady who saw her kid acting up, and no doubt putting his own life in danger, captured the country's attention when she did what any responsible parent would do.

And that is what is often missing in today's world where people act like fools and there is no one to correct them and teach them that there is a proper way to do things (and reach your objective) and an improper way to do things (and possibly end up dead or in jail).  This goes for everything from kids who bully and riot to kids who find a gun and don't have the knowledge/skills to know what to do with it.  On a slightly unrelated note and even more surprising, if that's possible, was a recent movie I watched on Netflix (Food Inc or Fed Up, can't remember which one) in which a group of elementary kids couldn't even name a bunch of common vegetables and had no idea where they came from (other than the grocery store).

I know that parenting is a hard job (and that the best parents can have idiot children despite their best efforts) but it is even more imperative in this day and age that parents make the effort to teach their kids well.  Back (way way back) in the day, the only influence kids had came from their peers, family, and neighbors.  Communities had collective values and everyone pretty much toed the line.  These days kids can be influenced by anyone--from their friend's parents who think it is cool to host a party for teenagers, with alcohol, then post about it on Instagram, to ISIS recruiters who (somehow) make jihad look enticing.

I know that there are many more factors against parents (and that the good old days weren't always so good no matter how rosy the glasses) these days but the basics of parenting haven't changed:

• spend time with your kids (not just driving time to and from school but actually doing things with them and talking to them)
• keep your kids busy and occupied (a busy kid has less time to get in trouble)
• know what is going on in your kid's life (no, checking their cell phone from time to time is not spying, it's being a responsible parent)
• have high standards and high expectations for them (in manners, morals, behavior, education, etc) and hold them to these
• know where they are and who their friends are (easier said than done sometimes)
• give them as many learning opportunities as possible (this can be any kind, from volunteering in a soup kitchen to planting a garden or going to the zoo.  Kids who have a broad-based education are often more confident and do better in school)
• build up their self esteem (not in the 'everyone who shows up gets a trophy' way but by praising what they do well and correcting things that they don't do well)
• model the behavior you want your kids to emulate (when the kids were young we attempted to model the kind of behavior we wanted them to follow--and were marginally disappointed that they still, on occasion, sometimes more often, acted like idiot teenagers, but somewhere along they way they grew up and became really good parents to their own kids)

If more parents went out of their way to do the right thing when it counts, the world (and Baltimore this evening) would be a better place to be.

10 Medical Prep Tips for the Elderly

Having dealt with the elderly and their medical care as well as aging myself, here are some medical prep tips I've learned over the years, useful whether you are teetering on the brink of elderly-ness yourself or taking care of someone who is:

1. Balance and strength exercises--everything from bowling and yoga to walking and bicycling--will go a long way towards keeping older people from falling (which is the leading cause of injury and death for those over 65).
2. Eating a nutritious, well-balanced, mostly plant diet will similarly usher you into old age without many of the old age maladies that affect a large segment of the elderly population (obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc).
3. Get your eyes and ears checked on a regular basis (you often don't realize you are losing your sight and hearing since these things happen so gradually.  You don't want to be the one driving over the neighbor's garbage can--or cat!--because you can't see as well as you used to and you don't want to be the one always saying "what? what?" because everyone's speech is garbled...to you anyway).
4. Regularly check your medications for side affects and drug interactions (it's often the SO or caretaker who will notice these things since the side affects can often be cognitive glitches or "odd"symptoms).  Doctors tend to prescribe medications for every single ailment (I saw one lady at the pharmacy last week picking up no less that 30 prescriptions!), unfortunately this often leads to drug interactions or side affects which are then attributed to "being old" or "having a senior moment" when it is really due to some of the meds they are taking.
5. Become more safety conscious.  When you are 20 years old and climb up to your roof to make a quick repair you will (probably) bounce if you fall off.  If you do this when you are 65 you will probably break into a bunch of small pieces.  Ditto for balancing on the top step of a ladder on a few toes when setting the star atop the Christmas tree or skipping over the third stair because it is wobbly and about to fall through.  The things we did at 25 because our strength, youth, and invincibility allowed us to defy the laws of physics (like racing cars, doing stupid human tricks to impress our friends, etc) are not as forgiving as we get older.
6. Stay active socially.  Many people dream of the day they will retire.  There is even a segment of the population planning for financial independence/retirement at the ripe old age of 30 or 40.  The thing no one tells you about retirement, however, is that when there are absolutely no demands on your presence or time, you need to make up things to do to stay active or you will wither away in front of your TV in short order.  By keeping active you will be less likely to become socially isolated, depressed, and physically ill.
7. Prep for the end even if (you hope) the end will be in the far distant future.  Do all of the regular stuff (have a Will, Medical Power of Attorney, and secure retirement income) as well as have contingency plans for long-term care (where will this be at? how will you pay for it?), a plan for what will happen if you can no longer drive safely, a plan for what would happen if your SO should pre-decease you, etc.
8. Plan for other common disasters that could affect you (how would you evacuate from a disaster area if you no longer drive and can't walk far? how will you get your prescriptions or oxygen tank filled if these services are wiped away in your town? do you have a stockpile of food and water at home in case you are ill temporarily and can't get to the store?).
9. Trim your decades of personal possessions down to a minimal amount while you are still able to do this yourself (your kids/next of kin will thank you for this) and rather than willing items to your descendants consider giving them these things when you are still alive (which will alleviate a great deal of hate and discontent amongst family members).
10. Enjoy your old age.  By the time you become old, you have earned the right to: do as you please, date as you please, let others worry about things you had always kept a tight reign on (lest the world fall off its axis), spend your money as you please, and generally let others take up the slack while you enjoy your later years.

The Website/Blog Update

In the interest of saving time and making my life less complicated, I have decided to move everything from the website over to this blog.  Eventually the web address will be pointed to this blog (eventually.  When I get all of the particulars taken care of).  You can still find all of the information from the website here--from blog posts (scroll down) to the Daily Insight links (click on the link in the sidebar) to a bunch of useful survival links (ditto, in the sidebar).  Hopefully this will make updating everything faster and easier and much less complicated (like keeping the website from being hacked.  Repeatedly).  Thanks for following along...

10 Knives You Need

For some reason, when ever I glance at the knife rack it looks like they keep multiplying.  I know it isn't me so I will blame it on the spouse.  For my own purposes, I could buy these ten knives and be set for life:

1. Kitchen use--a good paring knife.  Many jobs around the kitchen can be taken care of with a small, sturdy knife such as this.
2. Kitchen use--a good chef's knife.  The general taskmaster in the kitchen is a chef's knife which you will find yourself using for just about everything.
3. Kitchen knife--a good serrated edge knife.  For those items that won't work with the aforementioned knives (bread, tomatoes, etc), a classic serrated knife will do the trick.
4. Shop use--a utility knife.  You definitely need a specialized knife for those home improvement and outdoor projects.  For this, you need a sturdy utility knife.
5. Everyday carry--a pocket knife.  I've carried a pocket knife everyday for decades.  It's small, unobtrusive, and sharp enough to perform surgery with.  In reality it opens a lot of boxes, takes tags off things, and does small fix-it jobs with the attached implements.
6. Self defense--a folding knife.  Easy to deploy, sharp, sturdy...when seconds count, you want a self defense knife you can count on.
7. Tactical use--a fixed blade knife.  This is just an example of the kind of knife you want to use in a tactical situation.  Fixed blade, grippy handle, full-ish tang, quillion, etc.
8. Hunting--a folding buck knife.  When field dressing an animal, you want a knife that can gut and skin with creature with ease such as a knife like this.
9. Big jobs--machete.  While you probably won't need one of these in the city, they are exceedingly useful in the jungle.
10. Specialty knife.  Depending on what you most often do with a knife, you may want to purchase a knife made especially for this purpose such as a cleaver (chopping meat), fillet knife (filleting fish), or oyster knife.

And seven more things...

1. Learn how to care for your knives which means learning how to sharpen them and how to keep them clean.
2. Know what the knife laws are where you are at.  Some of the above knives could be considered illegal in some jurisdictions.
3. Behave responsibly with your knives.  Like a gun, don't pull it out to threaten someone unless you fully intend to use it (and deal with the legal repercussions).
4. Learn how to use your knives.  Each type of knife requires a certain set of skills and a great deal of practice.
5. Keep your knives secure--out of the hands of kids and away from those who would think nothing of swiping an unattended knife.
6. Buy high quality knives.  Yes, there really is a massive difference between a $20 chef knife and a $150 chef knife (and well worth the cost IMHO).
7. Buy knives that work for you.  There is, of course, much debate about the "best" knives==Kershaw, SOG, Cold Steel--but just like guns, you want the best knife that will work for you not the best knife based on name recognition.

10 Ways to Get Out in the Wilderness

It's spring (unless you are in Colorado) and time to get out into the wilderness and commune with nature (or in the case of most of us, practice your wilderness survival skills).  Here's how:

1. Visit a National Park during free entry days.  BTW this weekend is one of those.
2. Better yet, buy an annual pass and hit up the parks often (you will recoup the costs within a few visits).  These are an even better deal if you are a senior, a military member, disabled, or a park volunteer.
3. Find a free place to camp with this comprehensive website.
4. Find a local hiking group and go with them.  Examples for my local area here, here, and here.
5. Check out your local parks and see if they offer free guided hikes.  Examples for my local area here and here.
6. Go hiking on your own or with friends (find trails here).
7. If you can't get out of the city very often, consider urban hiking.
8. Or go with a walking group that focuses their walks in rural areas (examples here, here, and here).
9. Partake in a microadventure.
10. Set one of those lifetime bucket list goals and achieve it.  Examples here.

A Week of News...Are You Ready for These Real-Life Disasters?

We've covered a lot of preparedness topics over the past month.  And wouldn't you know...just this week, the news provides a bunch of real-life examples of how this knowledge could be useful...

• Right here in my own city, a crazed man jumps on a car as it is driving down the street (some tactical driving skills would have been useful in this case).
• A huge warehouse goes up in flames (residents were told to shelter in place, others chose to evacuate).
• There was a huge massacre at a Kenya university (even though it didn't happen here, it could have)
• There was a huge brawl at a casino (fortunately it didn't happen in my city).
• And flash floods in Kentucky
• As well as tornadoes

These are just a few examples that show the importance of being prepared for anything.