Peanut in a Hurricane!

J

jamesbeat

Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Messages
314
We live on Long Island, and when we found out that we were directly in the path of hurricane Irene, we decided to start making preparations.

Every member of my family (my wife, my 9 year old boy, my 11 month old daughter and myself) had a backpack with essentials (well my daughter had a diaper bag :))
We each had a flashlight, several fully charged Li ion cells, bandana, whistle, lighter, and other related stuff, and of course a knife.

I had my Kabar and my Kershaw Ram, my wife had my Kershaw skyline and CRKT Mo' skeeter.

In case I got separated from my bag, I had a lighter, flashlight, bandana, and obviously my little peanut :D

There was a lot to do. We live on the top floor of a house, and careful planning revealed that there was nowhere in the house that wasn't in direct view of a window. There is also a large tree poised above our bedroom.
My wife manages a drugstore owned by a great guy. We asked for and received his permission to hole up there instead.
We traded our tenuous apartment for a huge concrete bunker with steel shutters over the windows and plenty of areas of retreat and escape routes.

Leaving home meant a lot of work and planning. I needed a knife more times than I can remember, but I never had to delve into a bag to get one- my peanut was always there in my pocket.

It cut through rope, string, food, cardboard boxes (to make temporary beds) trimmed the bases of candles, you name it.
I even whittled a piece of wood to make a device to operate the shutters in case of fire.

As it turned out, Irene lost most of her fury by the time she reached us. We had a whale of a time camping in the drugstore, playing board games, and listening to the wind howling outside.

When we made our way back home the next day, there were tree limbs everywhere, but no major damage.

One of our trees had a branch hanging off, and I finished the job with my peanut :)

I had plenty of knives on me throughout the whole thing, but never needed to touch them.

My peanut is now blunt as a butterknife and has some scratches on the blade, but I'm going to give the little fellow the spa treatment right now, it's certainly earned it...

Incidentally, I was so proud of my 9 year old kid.
We told him to gather stuff together for entertainment. He got books, video games, and board games and put them in his backpack.
I also noticed that he had slipped his Case yellow CV peanut in there too. He was given the knife by a forum member and cherishes it.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Them Peanuts are amazingly capable aren't they.:) I know I never stress about carrying one. And it's good to hear you are safe and fine from Irene.

Dale
 
Great tale of your adventures and how you used your knife through it all. You never really know the importance of a pocket knife until u need it. Glad to hear all is well with you and the family.
 
What a great story.

About forty years from now your nine year old will be posting up that story and telling everyone about how his dad took care of the whole family during Irene. And how he accomplished all those chores with his peanut.

Then he will show a pic of the little yellow CV Peanut that he has had all his life which was given to him as a present from a BF forumite........Fantastic!
 
jamesbeat said:
I needed a knife more times than I can remember, but I never had to delve into a bag to get one- my peanut was always there in my pocket.

It cut through rope, string, food, cardboard boxes (to make temporary beds) trimmed the bases of candles, you name it.
I even whittled a piece of wood to make a device to operate the shutters in case of fire.
Click to expand...

Nice testimony to the power of a small, sharp blade. :thumbup: Hail the peanut! :D

On a more serious note, I'm glad to hear you all made it through okay.

-- Mark
 
Yeah, we were pretty lucky that the worst was over by the time we were hit.
Normally I would have been quite excited about a hurricane, but the excitement turns to fear when you have kids to worry about, especially a helpless baby.
The only way to mitigate that fear is to have a good plan, and a backup plan, (and a backup of the backup plan...) and good, reliable equipment.
I definitely count the peanut amongst that equipment.
Irene may have been weak when she got to us, but she taught my wife and I the importance of having a bug out bag and a plan, because although we had the luxury of a few day's notice this time, we may not next time.
We're putting together a small portable survival bag for permanent storage, and it's going to include a few peanuts.


Every time I use my peanut, I gain a little more respect for it.
'Capable' is a very good description of this knife pattern!
The one I've been carrying is a lowly Rough Rider, but it is proving to be astonishingly strong and reliable.
I thought I was pushing it removing that branch from the tree, but I shouldn't have worried.
 
Good going, James.

My little pocket slicer got used a lot the day before. Cute a lot of jute twine lashing down the outdoor chairs and table on the back deck. Tied off the furled table umbrellas, and trimmed the duct tape that went on the windows. The morning after, used the peanut to cut off the wet twine and then used lengths of the scavenged twine to tie up the bundles of sticks for kindling this winter. There were sticks everywhere, blown off trees. Some downed tree limbs, but tons of sticks. Okay, they'll be nice and dry by winter to use in the Cabellas free standing fire gizmo on the patio. Only knife I used this weekend was my damascus peanut. Did do some cutting with my Fiskars/Gerber sliding blade saw, on larger downed limbs.

Carl.
 
Well, that was a great story, tale. I hope you Americans have never to do anything with such increddible things like such a hurricane. But I think, you will have to, if you all want or not.

We here in Europe are not jelaous because of such danger coming from the ocean.

I hope it was the last extreme storm for you guys.

We here in Germany can not hear very much about what´s going on in America. How the people are doing.

I´ll carry my peanut tomorrow when I go on for duty.

Kind regards
Andi
 
Well ironically, I am not actually American!
Well, I consider myself to be American now I suppose, but I am from England.
I haven't lived here long enough to have experienced any other natural disasters, but I think that gave me a fresh outlook on it.
There was a lot of complacency around here, with people just burying their heads in the sand.
There was a lot of panic buying in the last few hours when they all stopped laughing and realised that this thing was really happening.
People stopped giving me the 'Survivorman' jokes too.
If Irene hadn't lost power (which was a surprise to the met people) then I think there would have been a few tragedies around here.

Carl, you old geezers (and I mean that most affectionately sir) have a lot to teach us whippersnappers.
The item that I found most useful apart from my peanut was the bandana I have carried since reading your posts.
I don't wear a bandana, but I found it useful for the following:
Tied around my head to keep the sweat out of my eyes while working to secure things, as the humidity was ridiculous and the slightest effort makes you sweat from every pore.
Given to each family member to be moistened in water and used as a dust mask in case of structural damage.
Used as a blindfold to help us sleep, as the drugstore lights remain on at night.
Used as a handkerchief because I'm allergic to dust and was moving a lot of dusty stuff around!

With a peanut, a bandana, and an LED flashlight, I now feel like I would be ready for anything :D
 
Last edited:
Yeah, jamesbeat!

I believe that. I would think just the same. As you know from "good-old-europe" there it is a middle-heavy-desaster when a big thunderstorm is gonna come with storm, flashes and hail and heavy rain. But such things are heavily to believe from a living room in the Bavarian-Austrian border.

Kind regards
Andi
 
jamesbeat said:
Carl, you old geezers (and I mean that most affectionately sir) have a lot to teach us whippersnappers.
The item that I found most useful apart from my peanut was the bandana I have carried since reading your posts.
I don't wear a bandana, but I found it useful for:
Tied around my head to keep the sweat out of my eyes while working to secure things, as the humidity was ridiculous and the slightest effort makes you sweat from every pore.
Given to each family member to be moistened in water and used as a dust mask in case of structural damage.
Used as a blindfold to help us sleep, as the drugstore lights remain on at night.
Used as a handkerchief because I'm allergic to dust and was moving a lot of dusty stuff around!

With a peanut, a bandana, and an LED flashlight, I now feel like I would be ready for anything :D
Click to expand...

I can't take any credit for any wisdom. I had a couple of great mentors as a boy, and most of what I do and know now, comes from them. Between dad and Mr. Van, I got learn't pretty well.

Dad was a fanatic on always keeping a sharp knife, small pen light, and two bandanas in his pockets. Back in those days we didn't have the compact but bright LED';s we have now, but he kept one of those chrome Ever Ready two AAA cell penlights in a pocket. 1950's tech. Two bandanas because you may have to use one, and that gives you one in reserve for just in case stuff.

I guess most young folks today just have a cell phone.

Carl.
 
Well, you may not have invented it, but you were wise enough to continue the practice after being taught it, and you passed it on to me. There's credit for you in there somewhere :D

Flashlight tech has improved dramatically, but the concept is the same.
I don't know if I really qualify as 'young' anymore (35) but I do also carry a cellphone, and it was useful.
I got a hurricane tracking app that allowed me to keep updated, and of course I could get the news websites too.
Helped avoid as many surprises as possible!

I suppose a lot of people use their phone as a flashlight too...

It's amazing though, how useful a small sharp piece of steel, and a square of cloth really are.
I guess that is why the general wisdom of having these two items about ones person (in one form or another) goes back hundreds of years.
The best part is that a peanut and a bandana are almost unnoticeable in your pocket until you need them.
I'd be really annoyed if I lost my cellphone (or the battery died) but I think I'd actually panic if I didn't have my peanut when I needed it :D
 
One other bit of peanut wisdom, or what led me to carry the traditional style of knife I carried. My dad once told me not to ever carry anything that I would be embarased or ashamed of if it fell out of your pocket in public. A peanut, like a mini copper head, Vic classic, pen, mini trapper, is small enough not to be intimidating, but actually called cute by some, including women. But it's enough to get most jobs done, if sharp.:thumbup:

You never know what circumstances will conspire to trip you up.

Carl.
 
Sure whanna get a peanut from your post. Great post. Just one word of advice though- in the future, if the shizzou really does hit the fan. I don't care how fortified that drug store is. If the lights and elec are out and there is some catastrophe-your going to have every ragged oxy head in a 20 mile radius rushing for that store to take everything inside. You live in the Tri-state. We live in moderately civil times here on the NE (for the most part that is) - what about what just happened in LI at a small drug store a few months ago- on a normal day. Just makes you think. What happens when all hell lets loose. Earthquake last week-flooding now. I think you and your family would have been in more danger from people wanting to get inside a drug store, then whatever the catastrophe is. Just my .02. Dont get me wrong- grab all the Cippro, Benadryl, pain killers, bandages, iodine to protect your family- but get the F outa there ASAP in the future if something really bad ever happens and the situation becomes worse then what it was.
 
That did occur to me.
The steel ahutters would take some equipment to breach though.
It's not out of the realm of possibility that an enterprising drug addict could have brought along a portable angle grinder, but there is a fire exit out back, hidden within the complex of the strip mall building.
From the drugstore, we could have exited through to the pizza place, an empty store, and a laundromat before leaving the building via the back entrance.

If the weather had been calm enough for someone to attempt to break in, it would have been calm enough for us to leave them to it.

And if that idea didn't work?
Well, I'm no hero, but I did bring Mr. Mosberg along for the ride, and I would have not hesitated to protect my family.
 
Last edited:
jamesbeat said:
And if that idea didn't work?
Well, I'm no hero, but I did bring Mr. Mosberg along for the ride, and I would have not hesitated to protect my family.
Click to expand...

Now ya talking! Peanuts 'n Pumpguns............Goodnight Irene.:D
 
Great story,thanks for sharing it!!It's because of Carl that I carry my Peanut and bandana every day.I'm never under knifed because of it either.-Jim
 
One slight caveat/second thought ..... I grew up in south Florida, where preparing for and enduring hurricanes is a way of life. Ever since Andrew shredded Miami, I rethought the concept of a survival or "bug out" bag. I knew more than one survivor of Andrew whose roof blew off during the storm; one guy rode out the rest of the storm literally hugging his toilet base. So, given the fact that -- in a severe hurricane -- your house could be blown apart, since then I've paid as much attention to what's on my person (Leatherman on belt, flashlight, lighter, second knife, and various other survival type items) as I have to the contents of my BOB. YMMV.

-- Mark
 
Last edited:
Absolutely, and that's the main reason why I am so happy at the way my peanut performed, as long as I'm wearing pants, I have a peanut (and a handkerchief/bandana and a flashlight)
 
jamesbeat said:
Absolutely, and that's the main reason why I am so happy at the way my peanut performed, as long as I'm wearing pants, I have a peanut (and a handkerchief/bandana and a flashlight)
Click to expand...

Add a Sear's 4-way keychain screw driver and a P-38, and you'll be good to go. A tiny bottle of hand sanitizer don't weigh much either!:D

Carl.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top