Be Prepared

I’ve never been the superstitious sort. I don’t sidestep cracks in the sidewalk, I don’t go out of my way to avoid crossing paths with a black cat, and I don’t throw salt across my left shoulder every time I knock the salt shaker over. I think that God made a logical, orderly world and that while it contains mysteries and wonders I cannot even begin to fathom, superstitious rituals won’t do anything to alter the course of events that come before me on a daily basis.

With the exception of one thing - anytime I am near the water.

Now, I don’t indulge in many of those maritime superstitions of old. I don’t think a woman on a boat is bad luck. Nor do I think it’s an omen of death if the ship’s bell rings without human assistance. I don’t necessarily think that red-heads should be barred from the Navy (so long as they allow others to greet them first, since it’s bad luck if they speak before you do...).

I did do myself a double whammy, however, when I stepped onto the pontoon boat left foot first on that balmy Friday afternoon as we launched for a weekend trip on the Tombigbee River. Starting a trip on a Friday or stepping left foot first onto the boat are both no-no’s if you take your nautical superstitions to heart.

I happen to think I tempted Fate with the wimpy first-aid kit I brought.

We should have quit the moment the rear axle of the trailer dropped off the end of the loading ramp. The river was down a bit and we had to go further down the ramp to get the boat adequately into the water. It was about 3 pm, and we spent the next four or five hours trying to get that trailer unhung. And while no casualties ensued from this incident, it was very clearly an omen and one I should have taken seriously.

We found a nice little place on the river to anchor up to, and my husband tied us securely so that the wake from passing barges wouldn’t batter us all over the place. However, being a relative newcomer to jaunts on the river and a blushing new bride, I knew nothing of the actual physics that occurred when a barge passed by. I won’t go into the gory details (nor will I discuss my waving off my husband’s attempts to warn me), but let’s just say that a cheap porta-potty (read that a wobbly campstool with a toilet seat) and barges don’t mix. I also despise the air horns those barges have.

The next day we set off to do what we came to do... fish. My husband loves to run trout lines, so we set up two of them across the river. I sat cutting up liver while he baited hooks and dropped the lines in the water. Just as he prepared to drop one hook, a fish struck down the line. The hook he was about to let go of went in underneath his thumbnail and came out the other side.

The problem was, my husband was holding the main line, and when that fish struck, it was jerked from his hands. The current took our boat and set us adrift and I didn’t react soon enough to stop us. My poor husband had to pull us back to the trout line by that leader that had the hook in his thumb, all the while the fish that was caught thrashed downstream and the current keep trying to pull us in the opposite direction.

The few Band-Aids and antibiotic ointment I had were no match for that hook in his thumb. When he once again had a grip on the main line, he cut the barb off and pulled the rest of it out before going downstream, finding the fish (a huge needle nose gar) and knocking it upside the head with a boat paddle. He was bleeding like a stuck hog and I had nothing to clean it up with.

Had that been the last of it, it wouldn’t have become such a memorable weekend for us. However, it wasn’t. He cut a horrible gash in his foot on something that was in the river (and by that time, there was nothing left of the Band-Aids and ointment), he got something in his eye that took him forever to get out, he burned himself when he picked up a pot from the campfire and the potholder slipped out of his hand, and it just seemed one medical situation after another kept cropping up. The poor man was really snakebit that weekend! Before that weekend was over, his thumb was throbbing, his foot was aching, his hand burned, and his head was pounding from pain. (However, he had come to have fun, and by golly, he wasn’t leaving before he had some fun.)

How our marriage survived those two and a half days, I’ll never know. But I know that I never went out on a camping, fishing, or hunting trip afterward without adequate medical supplies. I also know that a lot has changed in what’s available in medical kits since that weekend 30 years ago.

That’s why I’m so excited about the Mountain Series Fundamental Medical Kit that Solutions From Science has begun to carry. There are a variety of kits out there on the market that are little more than a few Band-Aids, a couple of packs of antibiotic ointment, and a lollipop. This one is hands down one of the best ones I’ve seen available.

The Mountain Series Fundamental Medical Kit is full of useful product. It doesn’t matter whether you’re bugging out, camping, fishing, or just keeping it in the house for your general purpose medical kit, it contains the stuff you need and will use the most.

The Mountain Series Fundamental Medical Kit contains the following:

• Bandage Materials (bandage strips, gauze, and dressings)
• Bleeding Supplies (trauma pads, gloves, and instructions)
• Blister/Burn Supplies (Lidocaine, burn gel, and precut moleskin)
• Wound Care (antiseptic, povidone iodine, tape, antibiotic ointment, and more)
• CPR face shield
• Duct Tape
• Fracture/Sprain Supplies (elastic bandages, a splint, and instructions)
• Instruments (EMT shears, safety pins, forceps, and thermometer
• Medication (acetaminophen, antihistamine, ibuprofen and aspirin)
• Comprehensive guide to wilderness and travel medicine

This kit is comprehensive enough for nearly all situations. While I am the klutz in the family and can fall into a stump hole in a brand new parking lot, my husband is the one that prefers bodily injury. It doesn’t matter if I need an elastic bandage for my sprained ankle or a bleeding trauma kit for my wonderfully active husband, everything is right within reach with the Mountain Series Fundamental Medical Kit and really, no home should be without one.

Not only is the price for the Mountain Series Fundamental Medical Kit more than reasonable for the supplies you get, it all comes in a lightweight, waterproof, compact, compartmentalized carrying case to keep everything neatly organized. So whether you’re bugging out or going on a trip, it’s grab and go, and you have everything you need.

While I don’t believe that the universe is going to step in and bop me upside the head because I fail to follow some superstitious ritual, I do believe that it’s imprudent to live as if nothing bad will ever happen. Preparation is at the heart of all that we’re trying to learn, and medical care is certainly one of those issues that we need to be ready for in the preparation community.

>>>Click here to order your Mountain Series Fundamental Medical Kit today<<<