Tag Archives: hygiene

Shower

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One of the things that drove me absolutely nuts about The Walking Dead was how these people are running around in the summer, in Georgia, wearing the same clothes day after day, getting covered in sweat, dirt, and entrails…..and no one seems to develop an infection or skin ailment. And the notion that somehow, after the zombie apocalypse, soap would be unavailable seems terribly unlikely. After any disaster, of any size, I would bet folding money that if you went into ten abandoned houses at random, you’d find the remains of a bar of soap in at least half…in the bathtub , by the sink, under the sink, in the basement by the laundry sink, etc., etc.

Ignoring the health benefits of keeping a certain level of hygiene active, there’s a morale component as well. And let’s not even think about what your sleeping bag must be like after several days of sweating and getting dirty without a shower. But more than anything else, taking a freaking bath or shower once in a while, with a bar of soap, goes a long way towards keeping you from having all sorts of Middle Ages-era issues.

I mention this because when I had the hole-digging weekend a few weeks ago, it was dang hot out there and the sweat and grime were freely flowing. Now, I could have, I suppose, stood down there by the creek, lathered up, and scooped up water from the creek to rinse off. But…I’m a First Worlder with a job, a CostCo card, and an aversion to cold water bathing. So...I did this.

Having learned my lesson about not testing gear before the actual need, I set it up yesterday in my yard to see how it all came together. The propane hookup is pretty straightforward – screw it onto your barbecue bomb, open the valve, an you’re off to the races. The water output was even more straightforward – connect the hose with the showerhead on the end using the quick connector. The water input, on the other hand, was a different story.

The heater comes with a variety of fittings to accommodate a variety of inputs. The primary two inputs are either a garden hose, which is assuming a pressurized delivery of water, or the included 12v pump which has a draw hose suitable for jerry cans, buckets, etc. This does, however, mean you’ll need to have access to a 12v battery.

I hooked everything up and while it all worked, the water flow from the included 12v pump was, in my opinion, rather anemic. It would work, but it was akin to a kitchen sink sprayer on ‘medium’ setting. So the solution, in my opinion, was to either develop a pressurized water system or get a better pump.

As usual, when presented with a problem, I gave it some thought for a while and then moved on to other tasks. But I’ve learned that when I do that, theres a part of my brain that, unconsciously, keeps working on the problem even while I’m unaware of it. And, hours, or days later, even though I dont think I was thinking about the problem at all, a ‘eureka’ moment will pop out of nowhere and give me an answer.

I need a more powerful water delivery system, right? What if there was a powered water pumping system that was more powerful than the supplied pump, didn’t require hauling around a heavy battery, and was already within my logistics network? And then it popped into my head…use my Milwaukee transfer pump. It operates off the M18 batteries that I’m already using to power my StarLink, chainsaw, Sawzall, drills, lights, and other goodies. And, best of all, I already had a couple six-foot lengths of hose with garden hose fittings on either end so I pretty much had everything I needed on hand.

Slapped a battery in the transfer pump, hooked one side to the heater, hooked a draw hose to the other side, dropped the hose into a jerry can, and srted the pump. Sure enough, the heater fired up and a much more powerful flow of steaming hot water came out of the shower head. Success!.

I’m rather pleased with myself with this discovery. The streamlined logistics of using the M18 transfer pump is not an inconsequential thing. I already take it up there to fill containers from the creek, and everything I have runs off the M18 batteries, so I’m not bringing anything up there in this regard that I was not already bringing.

And, of course, I get to clean myself up at the end of the day and be daisy fresh for when I crawl into my sleeping bag.

More of the same

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Approximately 37 months ago, I stocked up on soap. As the supply started to dwindle, I figured it was time to bump it up. Here’s an interesting note – I purchased it from the same place as I did three years ago. But..instead of 100 bars for $40, I now get 80 for that same amount. Put another way, my cost went up by 25%. Sure, it could have been a simple change in wholesalers or something but in this economy…:::waggles hand::: ..who knows?

Regardless, I’ve enough soap for the next several years at current usage rates. As Forrest Gump would say, “One less thing to worry about.”

As I mentioned in that earlier post, soap seems to ossify over time. I vacuum sealed the soap to keep it from doing what it does and that seemed to work just fine.  So…empirical data for the win.

I should also mention, while I’m on the subject of long-term toiletries, that about ten or twelve years ago I bought out a closeout of toothpaste. Still using it and it seems to work just fine.

Yeah, we’re going to sink into a 1970’s -style era of inflation and, possibly, unemployment on our way to Third Worldism but, by Crom, I’m gonna be the cleanest, best smelling insurrectionist at the revolution.

The paper chase

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Toilet humour is always good for a blog post. Today’s episode comes from Friend Of The Blog ™, Tam, over at View From The Porch where she recounts an episode of what happens when natures call is delayed by overpackaged designer toilet paper.

Here’s the money shot: “Just before I had to declare an emergency and kiss my socks goodbye…..”

Hysterical.

RTWT.

Meanwhile, everyone knows that women go through toilet paper like Germans through Poland. It’s exponential. Two women do not use twice as much TP as one. There’s a logarithmic (bodily) function somewhere in there.

I bring it up because toilet paper is one of those semi-serious things we survivalists rally around. Right after ‘who has the most guns’ and ‘how much ammo is enough’ comes the ‘how much toilet paper do you store’. I have the space to store a goodly amount, so I keep about 200 rolls on hand. That should cover me for a good while unless I develop a sudden interest in Mexican food or drink a Giardia cocktail.

Toilet paper is one of those things that is usually briefly touched on in survivalist fiction but almost never addressed in movies or TV. I’ve seen exactly one toilet paper reference in eight years of The Walking Dead. (Specifically, the episode where Bob The Alkie is introduced. He’s sitting on top of a truck trailer with a roll of TP sitting next to him. The implication being that he took a dump on the undead below him.)

Like .22 ammo, there’s just really no just-as-ggod-as substitutes. Leaves, phonebooks, small furry animals, paper towels, and anything else semi-disposable just don’t seem to do the trick.

I suppose you could go the way of the Third Worlders and make sure to use one specific hand for eating and the other for…….. but I didnt make these efforts and sacrifices so I can live like a Third Worlder.

My experience has been that toilet paper has only three natural enemies – women, mice, and moisture. Storing it in a waterproof container handles the moisture, storing it off the ground usually keeps themice from nesting in it, and buying the discount brands usually keeps the Gyno-Americans out of it.For travel, whether planned or unplanned, the usual thing is to just grab a roll, squash it flat, and shove it in a ziploc bag. That has a certain utilitarian quality is simple and effective. Turns out there are special ‘travel packs’ of toilet paper and you really can’t underestimate their utility. I usually just throw a couple of those pocket packs of Kleenex in my bag and use those if necessary…its convenient, cheap, multipurpose, and available.

Back in the old days, MRE’s used to give you actual toilet paper and it was worth saving the extras from your MRE pack for later use since it was packaged pretty well. Modern MRE’s give you these little blue individual squares that I cannot fathom were ordered by anyone who has ever had to take a dump out in the field.

Moral of the story? Well, first off, toilet paper is cheap and a definite nice-to-have… dont put a dozen rolls in the hallway closet and think you’re done. Go to CostCo and get a couple of the big 30-packs. Second, keep a half dozen in the bathroom. Without getting too..rude…go sit yourself on the toilet and figure out what your maximum reach is from there. Keep the a half dozen rolls within that reach. No brainer. And, finally, if you’re going through any crisis that requires you to whittle down your stock of end-of-the-world TP you’re also in a crisis where personal hygiene just took a boost in importance – so make damn sure to wash your hands and use hand sanitizer afterwards. Your stash of TP goes a lot further when you don’t have to deal with cholera and dysentery.

Soap

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Despite what you see on The Walking Dead, decent hygiene can make a big difference in a crisis. Ignore, for a moment, no one wants to be squeezed into a pickup truck with six sweaty guys in multicam who smell like the towel bin of an NFL locker room. Think about this, after a long day of sweating, getting dirty, possibly getting some bodily fluids of all sortsa flavors sprayed on you, and the infrequent application of bugspray/sunblock, etc, you wind up getting a decent size cut or abrasion  on you. In TWD our sweaty, grungy heroes carry on effortlessly. In the real world, you’re setting yourself up for all sorts of nasty infection-y badness.

Preparedness is about prevention. You’re stopping problems before they happen. You know how in the winter season we’re all told to wash our hands frequently to prevent catching colds? We all agree that’s a good idea. Well, a shower or some other form of bathing, with soap, on a daily (or more frequent) basis is just as good.

Soap is awesome stuff but it’s a mild pain in the butt to store. I like to use Ivory soap because I can use on my skin, in my hair, and even to clean clothes. It’s sort of a Swiss army knife of soap. Problem is, it is fabulously hydroscopic. Don’t believe me? Go grab a paper-wrapped bar of Ivory soap and peel the wrapper off. I guarantee you the wrapper will be damp, moist, or adhere to the soap in a manner suggesting a high moisture content. And if you leave soap exposed to air too long…it turns into a rock. (Which seems counterintuitive since you would think that if it absorbs moisture it would turn to mush.)

I mention it because while I like Ivory soap, I hate paying for it. Surprisingly, I found a deal on Amazon for 100 bars for $40. (Requires that Yuppie Survivalist luxury – Amazon Prime) Well, a hundred bars oughtta last me a while. So, I ordered ’em up and they arrived today.

thumbnailSo now that they’re here, and we’ve established that they fossilize after long enough time exposed to air, what do we do? Stop exposing them to air. Break the vacuum sealer out of storage and repackage things.

thumbnail2This is one of those situations where a vacuum sealer is great for a task other than storing food. Seriously, if you think they’re just good for putting food away and not much else, you really need to think more creatively. Go get one. You’ll never regret it.

A few years ago I came across a slightly better deal at my local grocery store. Three bars for a buck. I wound up picking up all they had and I packaged them the same way I’m packaging these. I finally used up the last ones last month and they stored just fine, I suppose it’s possible that with enough hot water and scrubbing, the dessicated bars of soap might work, but why take chances?

thumbnailSo, I’m set for the next couple years on soap and can keep myself clean and smelling awesome after a long day of looting burned out police cars, manning roadblocks, and fending off zombies. Or, more likely, I’ve simply knocked off one of many things on my logistical checklist for the next several years.

thumbnail4But, point is, if you’re going to store large amounts of things like food, ammo, toilet paper, and batteries you should also go just as deep on the personal hygiene stuff as well. Being stuck in Katrinaville (Or San Juan, I suppose) is no time for skin infections, bad teeth, conjunctivitis, ear infections, and that sorta thing. Floss, toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, deodorant, washcloth,  toothbrush, talc, a comb, razors (Ivory works for shaving foam), and some hand sanitizer will give you pretty much everything you need to prevent the kinda funk that knocks your efficiency down when you need it the most.