Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I got an email from someone the other day asking my opinion about an eBay auction. A fella was auctioning off a 5-pack of WaterGel. What is water gel? Its a dressing designed for burns. Its ninety-some-odd percent water and provides thermal relief, acts as a heat sink, is sterile, etc, etc. Anyway, I told the guy that they were definitely nice to have and he went ahead and bid (and won) the auction. I mention this because I checked out the sellers other auctions and figured I would share this with you, my viewing public. Apparently this seller deals in lotsa medical gear…much of it a bit too specialized for my needs, but there are some nice deals (100 4×4 J&J sponges for $15, etc, etc.) So, heres the link to the sellers auctions and he has an eBay store as well.

While Im on the subject of eBay, I really should point out that if youre looking for some of the harder-to-find preparedness items eBay is an outstanding place to search. Surplus military radios, police radios, old scanners that still receive 'blocked' frequencies, air filters, combat boots, seismic intrusion detectors, body armour, radiological instruments (which still needs to be calibrated, usually), solar panels, charge controllers, etc, etc, etc. Its all there. Sometimes, depending on the level of obscurity (such as the item mentioned in the first paragraph of this post) you can a very good deal on something that not only is hard to find but would be pretty expensive if you did find it. I search militaria:surplus alot looking for things like TM/FM's, ALICE gear, etc, etc and have been pretty pleased so far. Heck, a few months back there was a house in the middle of small-town middle-of-nowhere Montana for $13,000. Instant retreat. Come to think of it, eBay is also where the girlfriend and I found the radio relay bunker that was ALMOST perfect for us. (You can read about that elsewhere.)

At about this point someone is going to chime in about how eBay is full of scammers, ripoff artists and I-sent-money-and-never-got-anything. *shrug* First off, I wouldnt buy anything off eBay that was 'big ticket' ($500+) without some assurances or other way of making sure I didnt get screwed. Secondly, Ive gotten stiffed once on eBay in the last seven years and fortunately that was for a lousy $13. Like alot of things in this world, dont risk more than youre willing to lose. Obviously, you want to go with a seller who has some seriously high positive feedback.

eBay isnt without risk. Nor is it without headache. eBay and PayPal are hideously, rabidly, fanatically anti-gun…but theres more to preparedness than guns and gunstuff and eBay seems to have a good selection of those things. Before anyone says 'But I found ______ cheaper at….',  I am not saying eBay is the cheapest source of anything..its an auction site so prices are, to say the least, variable.  Im simply saying that for hard-to-find stuff and the occasional incredible bargain eBay is a pretty good place to go.
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The Wisdom gun show produced a couple interesting items a few weeks ago. Most notable was the spools of two-strand commo wire. This stuff is handy in several levels. It comes packaged in a donut-shaped spool that is carried in a canvas carrier with sling attachments. This means you basically tie one end to whatever object is at your starting point and as you walk/run the wire plays out behind you…thus you can lay down wire pretty much as fast as you can run. Whats the wire for? Well, its nominal use is for field phones. However, any task/device that calls for two strand wire would be served by this stuff. A few that spring to mind – my seismic intrusion detectors, remote detonated devices, field expedient antanae, etc, etc. The rolls come in various lengths. I've seen them in 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 mile. I picked up a couple new spools of this stuff and will be trying to get some more.  I paid about $10 for each spool and I'd say its worth it…never know when youre going to need to run a half-mile of wire for an observation post or an early warning system.
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As was pointed out by someone on my friends list, a Washington DC cop died during a training exercise from, of all things, drinking too much water. The short version is that if you drink too much water in too short a time it alters your body chemistry in a way that can prove fatal. The solution, it seems, is to obviously not drink gallons of water at once and to, if possible, drink something other than plain water…something with the salts, sugars, electrolytes, etc that make up your body's fluids. So, to me, the answer is Gatorade mix. Lotsa Gatorade mix. When I go out in the sticks I usually have a CamelBak that holds at least 100 oz. of water. I also carry a small bottle of Gatorade mix. Why not mix them together in the Camelbak? Well, I could but I really prefer to only use water in the CamelBak in order to keep cleaning and residual tastes/odors to a minimum. Also, it would leave me no source of regular water for other uses (cooking, etc). If I want to drink something other than water, I squeeze some water out of the Camelbak into a collapsible one-liter bottle, add some Gatorade, and mix well. If youre going to go this route, carry more Gatorade than you think you'll need…esp. since you may be topping off your tank with water you purify from streams and creeks. Its also worth pointing out that if you go for a more chemical-based approach to water purification, Gatorade and other drink mixes do a decent job of making the water taste less 'chemical'-y.