Episode 37: A silly, dumb prepper fail by Salty & Spice

spk_0:   0:00
Hello, everybody.

spk_1:   0:01
Hello, everybody.

spk_0:   0:03
Is it despite

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this is salty. And you know what I got going on? I gotta l boo paste into literally. I'm driving down this twisty, curvy, dangerous road. One hand on the wheel, one hand with a big L paste into my forehead. You know why? Because we are waited today proper. We had a proper fail. We fail. We're not worthy of being preppers because we failed on something absolutely stupid.

spk_0:   0:36
Something that we thought we had covered.

spk_1:   0:39
It was okay. To be fair, it's not a total prepper fail because we are back driving down the road. We're driving down the road. Well, let's let's just x cried. What happened? We were out of the place doing a lot of fun stuff. I e cleaning up broken sticks and trees where we had slaughtered the trees out of the place in an effort to clean up the areas that we need for mowing purposes. And then we had to go out, clean up all the debris from where the big flail thing through the debris so we could mount.

spk_0:   1:18
The flail thing is when I called the toothpick maker of doom in my recent post on improvements its place

spk_1:   1:25
right now. So let me preface this by saying part of this fail is mine, and part of this fail is spices. The first part of the fail happened yesterday when she went to find her car keys and could not find them. She couldn't find her car key. The third car we drive is one of those modern ish cars that has the funky five thingy. And they're hideously expensive, like $200 to get a new key made. It's ridiculous, but that's what it is. So this car has to Well, she has one. I have one. I put tiles on them so we can always find me a little tiles. The next part of the prepper fail is I just redid my phone two days ago in the tile app had not been reinstalled, so I couldn't. Before I left, I couldn't find my tile. Now, when I get around to it and we actually add some time, I'm gonna reinstall the Thai lap and then we'll find the damn key. But so So we're driving with one key, which means we have to be very careful who were out of the place not to lose our key falling along now. So what do I do? I leave the key in the car, but I leave the windows rolled down. I want more. No, yesterday I'm not lacking My only key in the car

spk_0:   2:49
proper fail not total human moronic More moron going on here.

spk_1:   2:53
So we're I mean, the places out middle of nowhere.

spk_0:   2:55
Some of you may not know about the place. It's tze our neighbors are coyotes.

spk_1:   3:01
Yeah, um anyway, so I left the keys in the car. Unfortunately, I left him in the ignition, which they it wasn't turned on or anything. But I've only had this car a couple weeks and I learned something about it today. It will drain the battery if you leave the keys in the ignition. Not even bothering turning on. I did not know that.

spk_0:   3:23
I didn't know any cars did that. I didn't

spk_1:   3:25
know it did, but this one does. So dead battery like Oh, okay. Spice was out there mowing. She was This is the last mo of the year. So she was basically running the lawn more until it ran out of gas. Could you run it dry so that you know we're not bad Gas is really helped us for storing gas. And so I click, Click, click, click. All right, fine. Goingto go into my blue crate Blue crate sits in the back of the car and my blue crate as my winter safety stuff. It has my auto my car charger thingy for jump starting the battery. It has everything that you need to

spk_0:   4:13
get home bag

spk_1:   4:14
to get home back everything that you need for the situation. Except for my blue crate. Didn't have my charger thinking I have no idea where it is, but it is not in this car.

spk_0:   4:28
It must have gotten misplaced when we swapped from the old guard of the new car, right by which

spk_1:   4:32
was a wake up a week. So I did not go through my checklist, which I have That's my failed. I did not double check and verify that I had all of my preps in my car. So we are 40 miles from home. Beautiful Sunday after a gorgeous day Couldn't be better. 70 something degrees. Nice breeze. Ah, beautiful day,

spk_0:   4:58
guys. If you're gonna be stranded, do it on a day like this

spk_1:   5:01
at my cap. Right? And, you know, we're at the cabin. So drinking an ice cold, frosty one. But not, unfortunately, an alcoholic thing. Because I don't drink and drive. That's a firmer. You talk about a prepper? Failed drinking the driving. I don't think you could have a bigger, proper field with drinking the driving. So anyway, what do we owe? What do we owe? Do we have anything at the place that runs on 12 volts? That I could jump off? No, we don't. We don't have it. We're gonna buy a four wheeler, but we don't have one. So I thought maybe I'll walk over to the neighbors, see if they could jump is down the road a ways. But so here, let me get out the jumper cables. They're

spk_0:   5:48
not in there

spk_1:   5:48
either. So I'm driving around without a lithium battery starter, which I always carry almost. And heavy duty, good quality jumper cables, which I always carry. And I'm not carrying either one of them. There goes the l's going back place to my head again. How's that for? I mean, I know better the point. What's the point of this? The point is you can know better and still do dumb things, and I did a dumb thing. It was a fail flat out. Now it was the total fail because we do have Triple A.

spk_0:   6:30
That's our plan B

spk_1:   6:31
is always our plan B. No way have the premium Triple A plan. What that means is we get up to four toes and or slash starts per year. We use only use any of them occasionally. Add years Ato And every once in a while you know bad things happen. So we do have that as an option. Thea other thing about the Triple A is three of those toes could be up to 100 miles of the fourth toe could be up to 200 miles 200 miles if you're not more than 200 miles from home. Knowing that you could get home even if it's in the front seat of a tow truck is a really big sink, because the stuff can hit the fan for you personally and not be a big national. So we always have that. The thing about it, too, is Triple eight. Well, really, I we've been customer for this for many many years and they'll go way out of line over, over the the over the top to find you help because we they called us and they say, Well, where are you and that we gave that? We gave them the 911 address because we did get a 911 address for the place just simply because I think like this. And if we did need to call an ambulance, it's sure be nice that I could find the place. Also, when we have contractors come in, it really makes them much for easy to find us because we have the big blue number out in front of where the driveway starts. Could. You can't tell that you're there except for we have a big blue number of the driveway and usually we have a gate closed. We give him the address and from the cell phone because we are in self what we do have cell phone service at a place with one

spk_0:   8:28
conflict, some brands. Yeah,

spk_1:   8:30
I will buy. Here's my Here's my plug for us Cellular. I don't like us cellular. I think they're pretty credit company, but I think all cell phone company They're pretty Kredi, but they have a lot better neural networks that anybody else does. I found this to be Yeah, threw up most of the country.

spk_0:   8:49
I was pretty isolated out there without before I got my new phone. He

spk_1:   8:53
was on variety. I'm coming in. They just It did one of the reasons I wanted to switch her from horizon to sailors because that tower. So anyway, long story short, that's Ah, They were able to look around and like, Okay, well, I found somebody in this bigger city, but it's going to be 90 minutes before they get there. Okay, Ignore the town name. Where are addresses? Because we're nowhere near that town. It's just a very rural area. That's where the mail's delivered. But we're nowhere near that down. It's not the same county we're in. It's not. I mean,

spk_0:   9:37
we're at the end of every line. It's really a phone line. There we are,

spk_1:   9:43
you know, I mean, literally. I'll tell you how far far off the end of line is this is fair. We were contacting the local utility company. It talked about getting power to the place. And they're like, Yeah, I know where you are. We've got a power line not too far from there, and so we can put that in. It is gonna cost you. I think, he said $3500 against that pole, which is away discounted price because they have to, because it's part of all hard law that they dio. But still, that's That's most like a charge, he says. But I got to be clear. I'm talking to the superintendent. It's a local utility. I got to be clear with you. That is the end of the line. You are it. You are. You will be the last place on the end of life. You will be the first lose power and you will be the last to get it back. And I'm like, Could, you know, fair enough? I don't mind. That means that's fine.

spk_0:   10:46
Somebody's gonna be a little onion.

spk_1:   10:48
That tells me I'd better be prepared.

spk_0:   10:50
Our backup heat source is not gonna be powered by electric ones. Once we have a heat source, that's not a fire pit.

spk_1:   10:57
So the person that Triple A she's like, let me let me look, keep looking around, maybe find somebody somebody closer so they found out a, uh, mom and pop type guy who was at a town. But how far is is that town from us? 15 30 miles. But it's a small town, but he has a truck. So he came out, put his machine on it started right up. I mean, it just battery run down that big a deal. And anyway, I am. That's where we were.

spk_0:   11:33
So, takeaways. I've got some takeaways from this takeaways because, you know, everybody fails from time to time. Best you learn something from it. Uh, you really gotta watch things. Don't creep away from you. Because if you don't pay attention to the details, you can think you're covered and you're not. We thought we had a jumper in the car. We didn't think we were doing this stupid thing, but we thought it was in the blue box. And it wasn't so Things can creep away on you if you're not careful and continue to maintain attention on it. Second point backup plans are a good thing. Our plan B worked way also had, like, a Plan C. And we had plenty of food, plenty of fresh water, plenty of warmth we weren't suffering it all

spk_1:   12:28
cold drinks. We have plenty of food. Sons of food we had, actually, I think boy level with a bag of groceries that didn't make it a house with a bunch of with a bunch of bars that we bought to do a on article, actually,

spk_0:   12:46
also an emergency food stash at the cabin that I put out there because I go out there sometimes on weeknights and had foreseen it sits in a place where if we get a really heavy rain, I might not be able to get out the next day. And if we get a surprise snowstorm and the roads are icy, I might not be able to get out the next day. I leave a few days worth food stashed out there as well. A couple days worth three daysworth I've got in my car, You know, in case something bad happens and I end up staying longer than I intend to.

spk_1:   13:16
I was wondering the other day when we I noticed that, uh, jar of peanut butter open in the rack. Well, I was like, Did we really go through with that basket? I remember buying us one jar and Peter. Trader Joe's wanna try it like, Wow, Did we really go through the peanut butter that fast? I hadn't been eating much. Turned out it was sitting in the car in the back of a car in a bag. That's where were those up

spk_0:   13:46
Salty has an unlimited amount of attention when it comes to jars of peanut butter.

spk_1:   13:50
I know that I go on point when it comes to feed about her. Peanut butter is my, but I can't have much of it because really, really high him, uh, condensed calories. But here's the other side of this. We also you would call us tree huggers if you haven't seen what we did to the place those trees. But we carry our own bags into the grocery store, which not only saved US money, it saves us from having to deal with thousands of thousands of plastic bags. So, unfortunately, sometimes that leaves one of those bags in the back of a car full of stuff, which isn't normally bad. But if you happen to misplace a dictator of cottage cheese Oh,

spk_0:   14:39
nothing. We've done that twice. My poor

spk_1:   14:42
truck. Oh, it that smelled it. Get out I mean, I literally had a shampoo. Oh, dio do this. If

spk_0:   14:52
it ever seems like a good idea to you. Well, I'm just gonna take a little longer getting home than I expected. What? Me Put this cottage cheese in my insulated boot liner that I've got in the back of the car to keep it nice and cool till I get home Because I always carry its Don't do that.

spk_1:   15:06
I was very insulated boots in the winter, because crap, You know, you always carry with good winter clothing, but don't stick with you. Don't want me. Oh, that liner woo we did got disposed a Ooh

spk_0:   15:25
hoo! Last take away. It's a This is a big one because I've read some on accident analysis and how crises buildup. And this is one of the things they keep coming back to all the time. It's not one thing that gets you when you have these major disasters. It's unless it is somebody intentionally doing evil. The major disasters are almost always not one event. It's Siri's of small things unimportant by themselves that come together in a Siri's. And it sounds like it would be really improbable except all the times when the stars don't line in that particular way you never even noticed. You only notice when the stars to align. You're like, Wow, that seems really improbable. But it will happen if you don't watch the details. So in our case, it was Hey, new car. We don't know. It drains the battery when you leave the key in it. Hey, I can't find my key today. Hey, we don't have we just nuke the phone and we can't use our usual method to locate the lost keys. I don't lose my keys very often anyway. That's rare in

spk_1:   16:40
itself. I'm the first in the reason we put the tile.

spk_0:   16:45
And, uh hey, we put the emergency stuff back in the car, but we forgot to check to make sure the battery jump kit was in there. No, it was just Ah, whole series of things. Anyone, any set of five of which by themselves would have been unimportant, but one, all six of them happened at once. All of a sudden, you got a situation that you need help getting out of, so it's in the details

spk_1:   17:15
now I know also better Proper. I know that this car has a serious flaw in it. As a prepper, I get that it does. I'm in the process of trying to change that. This is one of those cars that did not come with a spare tire. Theyjust didn't build what they put in this goofy pump thing air pump thing, which, if you're tired, your side ball rips out, doesn't help you darb it. There's no Jack in this car. There's no, uh, it's just a stupid givi air Pop.

spk_0:   17:46
Did you check in that? Yeah, I took it for the jumper. Yes. Okay. I was mowing. I didn't I didn't think about that till now. Wait, But some of the tools in there,

spk_1:   18:01
actually, we didn't in this car. There's nothing in there. So did they make an optional kit that fits down into the well, that's for the spare tire of a doughnut spare tire. And this car is getting one. I just haven't been to the place that sells them while the shop is open. You have to go. I'm gonna go to the dealership or one of the local salvage yards. Jaycee or or over Quincy. It's okay. J. C is entire North was everybody in North was renowned. Jay Z is She's like no J c Auto parts in Monroe City, Missouri. Highly recommended. Great place to go if you're This isn't an ad, but I'm just only if you need anything J c has. If they think so. Nationally, they ship things all over the country. So in the Fergie Auto parts of Quincy, Illinois, which is about 100 miles from where we are right now, yes, uh, or less. But they also have a huge salvage yard. So stuff like car Jackson, right size of doughnuts are things. I mean, I could go to the Kia dealership, buy a new one for $225.

spk_0:   19:23
I don't think they probably need to know all this love.

spk_1:   19:27
She's looking at me like you're getting ridiculously for it. I forgot. We're podcasts. Hey, come on, man. I already failed. Come on. You hope

spk_0:   19:43
that should be a real popular podcast cause the most popular posts who have ever put on BB B y our failures.

spk_1:   19:52
So anyway, yeah, well, OK, I may, even if you you know, if you hear that stuff, I decided not to cut any of this out. I make up the kind of the whole spare tire. It's important, though. You should check your spare tire. Do you know it actually has Aaron it? Do

spk_0:   20:09
you have a jack that works? That that happened to be wonder one of those when I was a youth, I had a Oh, yes, I've got a spare tire. Yeah, I've got a Jack. They're flat tire. How do I use this Jack and read the instructions. It uses this handle that I don't have. Oh, that's a problem. So that's on the skills I had never practiced that I should have practiced before I needed it list.

spk_1:   20:38
I got another caveat about this car that actually does apply this car. Whoever had this car before have bought factory Those special walk. Not things that have the special nuts that lacks the wheels on So people can't steal the wheels. Could have mice wheels on it. Do you have the socket that unlocks the wheel in your car so that if you have to have that tire service, the whoever servicing get off your dad young car? Do you have that? We do. It's in the eyes in the back. I've got it in the set. The special tools required to pull these wheels off are in the car.

spk_0:   21:17
If it had been a flat tire by Galley would have been there today.

spk_1:   21:21
Yeah, we couldn't have done anything about it.

spk_0:   21:23
That's right. It didn't have that.

spk_1:   21:24
Probably had to get towed for a flat tire, which is ridiculous, but yeah, that's gotta get fixed. We gotta get that fixed. I'm gonna take care of that. So everybody knew that going in, and, uh, I think we're gonna stick a fork in this. Just wanted to let you know that we're a couple of losers. She hasn't put Theo ups. She

spk_0:   21:46
has asked. You were just busy driving.

spk_1:   21:48
Sorry. I'm not sorry, sir.

spk_0:   21:51
I bet it I You know, I could have double checked that I just when he said put the blue box in, I put the blue box in and it didn't occur to me to check that All the usual pieces we're in there.

spk_1:   22:03
Yeah. Hey, of the winter kit is and I want youto do keep that in mind cause we're gonna have ah, podcast coming up in a new article about what's in our winner, kid, and we're gonna wait till it gets a little closer the winter. But we've got a really good, strong, solid recommendation for what every prepper should have. We got a few things in our kids that you probably don't have in yours. So you might give that a listen Coming up.

spk_0:   22:27
Our focus is just like our summer kit. Except I take the battery operated fan, which I use its place out of my car and put in some pumpkin spice hot tea in my bag because, you know, full look at me like I'm from Mars. Yeah, I was just getting into

spk_1:   22:47
my fault. Kit is actually a little different in the fact that I keep a raincoat are active during normally. Keep them in. Summer is summer rain you get okay. Fall rains can get pretty cold. Spring rains

spk_0:   23:00
keep a wrinkled old.

spk_1:   23:01
So there's that and, uh, we'll leave it at that. I think it's a good show for a complete failure

spk_0:   23:09
called making lemonade. I'm a big believer

spk_1:   23:12
in a plastic fork in this

spk_0:   23:14
thing. Enjoy. Eliminated lady and gentlemen today. Have a good day. Bye bye.