Issue #004
The gas in your shed has been sitting since March
Plus the phone number your kids should know by heart, and a twenty minute screwdriver job.
Sunday, August 2, 2026 · SHTF Preparedness
August is the month the calendar stops being polite. Heat, storms, and fire season all land at once, so today we cover three things that keep working when the power does not.
3 Skills
1. Date the can, burn the oldest first
Gasoline goes stale. Buy stabilizer, add it when you fill the can, and write the fill date on masking tape on the side. Every three months, pour the oldest can into your car or mower and refill it fresh. Store cans in a detached shed or garage, off concrete, away from water heaters and pilot lights. Never run a generator or burn charcoal inside. Put a carbon monoxide alarm on every sleeping floor.
2. One number everyone knows by heart
Local lines jam first. Pick one relative two states away and make them the family switchboard. Everyone calls that number and reports where they are. Write it on an index card with a meeting spot and put a card in every wallet, backpack, and glovebox. Have the kids say it back until it is memory. Text first. Short messages slip through when calls will not. Keep two radios charged and agree on one channel.
3. Three inch screws and a light that stays on
Most doors fail at the frame, not the lock. Swap the short strike plate screws for three inch screws that bite into the stud behind the trim. Do the hinges too. Drop a cut broom handle in the track of every sliding door. Add a motion light over the back door and trim the shrubs under the windows. Then get two neighbors’ cell numbers and make sure they have yours.
2 Threats On The Radar
1. The August night that never cools
The danger in August is the night that never cools. Bodies need a break from heat, and when the low stays warm they do not get one. Pick one room, close its blinds by mid morning, and run a fan across a bowl of ice. Drink before you feel thirsty. Check on an older neighbor twice a day. Know which library or store near you stays cool and open.
2. The cone is not the storm
The forecast cone shows where the center might go. Wind, water, and power loss reach far outside it. Set your trigger now. When a watch posts for your county, fill both vehicle tanks, pull cash, refill prescriptions, and photograph every room and the serial numbers on your appliances. Pick your inland route and a place to land. West of the Rockies, run the same trigger for wildfire and smoke.
The Drill
Twenty minutes, one screwdriver, before dinner
Do this today, before you eat. Take a screwdriver to your front and back doors. Pull one screw from each strike plate and each top hinge. If they are shorter than three inches, drive in three inch screws and snug them into the stud. Then write your out-of-state contact number on four index cards and put one in every wallet and glovebox. Under an hour, start to finish.
Ready beats lucky. Rise.
- Survival Rise
P.S. Tomorrow: the pantry item most people skip until the shelves are empty. Forward this to the neighbor whose number you just saved.