Warning! Your Survival Guy’s on a Boil Water Advisory

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Aren’t you glad you’re not me? Your Survival Guy’s in a boil water advisory. It’s not great. I’ll let you decide how a boil water advisory might run through your family. I’ll just say I live with teenagers and leave it at that. But there’s a silver lining here (and later on in this piece) so stick around and read on.

Yesterday, while Your Survival Guy (YSG) was on the phone (I forget if it was with you) I got a text from home “no water pressure.” Now this isn’t something YSG can solve from his desk. But, rest assured, the despair felt by the rest of my family was going to be felt by me come hell or high water.

After reading the text I immediately thought the absolute worst scenario: “What if this was my fault?” What if I forgot to turn off a water spigot or something little like that?” That would be a worst case scenario. To my relief, it turns out this was a city of Newport issue. A water main had burst. I was off the hook.

With replenished confidence I fell back to my level of training and went to 7-Eleven which truly is a lifesaver. The gentleman behind the counter asked why I needed so much water. I told him about the boil water situation and he said another guy that looked just like me (what’s that look? Frazzled?) was doing the same thing. It’s amazing how fast life changes and word gets around.

OK, it wasn’t my intention to write about a boil water emergency this morning. Instead, I was planning on writing about how fast life changes and the importance of taking care of the little things, like batteries, for example. Over the weekend (I do this every year) I changed the batteries on all of my safes. They weren’t dead. But imagine if they were in the heat of the moment? Not good. It’s the little stuff that matters in this big bad world.

You can’t turn the tv on without hearing real bad stuff about Covid or something Biden signed. It’s a bit depressing. We start thinking about another pandemic, the destruction of the dollar, a stock market crash, and other black swan events. All real possibilities. But what about that little AAA battery, straining with all its might, holding it all together?

Often times the big stuff can be managed with some thoughtful planning, stock market insurance, and common sense.  But wouldn’t it be a shame if it’s the little stuff that wipes you out? Remember when a rogue sniper shot up the power substation in Metcalf, California? That ended up causing temporary EMP like problems for locals.

What are the little things you can do to improve your survivability? Why aren’t you and I reading more about strengthening our immune system, exercise, or overall mental and physical well-being? You know you’re hearing it from us in Dick Young’s Safe America series and you’ll continue to hear more. We’re in this together. Unless, of course, you’re avoiding the blame for a boil water emergency. Then it’s every man for himself. Sorry.

Action Line: Be bold. Stick with us. We’ll remind you how to focus on the little things. Because when you do, a lot of good things can and will happen. Email this to someone you care about more than a little bitty.