intro and other stuff
Hey there! I found the community through a search on alternative power (motive power) flashlights and rechargers - there seem to be a few in the first entries. My LJ is a mirror of the blog I write for a non-profit (the Off Grid Diary, for Wildseed Land Trust/Wildseed Enterprises), and the webstore sells composting toilets, rechargeable generators, motive power flashlights, emergency radios and other take-it-off-the-grid stuff as we get distributors (this is NOT a plug for the webstore, please don't throw me out!) I'm one of the quiet paranoiacs that have had recurring dreams all my life of the world suddenly shifting to constant, ongoing severe weather, and I've always wondered if/when it would start to happen - this year seems to be a good heads-up. Anyway, in work and in volunteerism, I'm very focused on wildland and wildlife preservation, but shifting a lifestyle off-grid has a lot in common with emergency planning (then again, so does learning wilderness camping and attending SCA events). Until recently, my entire adult life was lived in cheap apartments in cities and suburbs - that's where the jobs are, after all. So I learned my survival skills from the tried and true method of always running out of stuff at the wrong time while camping, and more recently, in planning for 8+ hours of gridlock, possibly culminating in hiking home through 45 miles of potentially hostile territory, either from a weather disaster, or from some sort of urban nightmare of toxic gas, snipers, exploding fiery bridge-burning tractor-trailer pileups, or panic-rush crowds trying to buy the last damned DVD player on Black Friday at Walmart (i.e., I commuted into and out of DC).
Never again. Wait, where was I? Oh yeah. . .
At any rate, due to the horrible necessity of having to make a living, I still go into and out of the danger zone weekly, and one of my hobbies is planning (ok, hoping) for a week or month or two confined to my home without electricity or running water in any type of weather. So I stockpile food, sort and harvest edible weeds, study medical emergency situations, and sort my books.
I found and ordered a nifty little gadget that is the same as the squeeze-grip flashlight only it recharges your cell phone. Anyone else use these? Mine's backordered. I backordered one of the foot-pedal rechargers, too, so next year whenever it is available I can report back as to whether it recharges the emergency backup indoor generator batteries I have. Still looking for a diesel or kerosene generator that was converted to corn oil, since I refuse to use gas anywhere but in my car. My car is my backup-battery recharger in the wintertime (summer has enough sun to work with everything else).
*waves, and hopes to have passed the sane-LJer test*
Never again. Wait, where was I? Oh yeah. . .
At any rate, due to the horrible necessity of having to make a living, I still go into and out of the danger zone weekly, and one of my hobbies is planning (ok, hoping) for a week or month or two confined to my home without electricity or running water in any type of weather. So I stockpile food, sort and harvest edible weeds, study medical emergency situations, and sort my books.
I found and ordered a nifty little gadget that is the same as the squeeze-grip flashlight only it recharges your cell phone. Anyone else use these? Mine's backordered. I backordered one of the foot-pedal rechargers, too, so next year whenever it is available I can report back as to whether it recharges the emergency backup indoor generator batteries I have. Still looking for a diesel or kerosene generator that was converted to corn oil, since I refuse to use gas anywhere but in my car. My car is my backup-battery recharger in the wintertime (summer has enough sun to work with everything else).
*waves, and hopes to have passed the sane-LJer test*