30-Day Preparedness Challenge: Day 6

djalley 10Sep2019

Welcome to the Keep and Bear, LLC 30 Day Preparedness Challenge! We are on Day 6. If you are just joining us, please go to the intro post to learn more.

The purpose of this ‘challenge’ is to provide a paced and measured plan to fulfill some basic family preparedness needs. These needs are real-world, and applicable to the average family.

The below headings are the main survival priorities.

Positive Mental Attitude

In the Day 1 post, the task was to pick a book relating to positive mental attitude. To expand on that, it can be a book on success or mental improvement, such as the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (a great resource), but it can also be about developing mental tenacity. If you haven’t already, google “books on positive mental attitude” or “books on success” and pick one you are interested in.

TASK: Read at least one chapter in your PMA book.

Air

No tasks for Air today!

Shelter

Yesterday we did an assessment of our skill set AND we started a common home repair book. For much of the remainder of the course, we are going to walk through many different home repairs, and populate our home repair book.

Please do NOT skip hardcopying this. The whole idea is to have a set of notes to work from in case power is out or data services are down.

TASK: Gather EVERY owners manual you have for every appliance and device. Start a library area for these. Whether an old file cabinet, a dedicated book shelf, etc. One place to go to. Arrange them in a way that benefits you.

TASK: Google and download softcopies of these manuals as well.

We start home repair items tomorrow. These manuals are the baseline materials used in troubleshooting and repair.

Hydration

We are going for 1 gallon of potable water per person per day for up to 7 days. That means with a family of 4, we need 28 gallons. This is a bare-bones amount suitable for average exertion in temperate weather. If you’re dealing with high exertion and hot weather, double the requirement.

TASK: Clean and fill at least two 2-liter bottles.

As a heads up, we will be filling two 2-liter bottles each weeknight for the entire challenge. If you would rather knock this out in one fell swoop, go for it!

Nutrition

Yes, we’ve been at this for a whole work week now, and today is the last day! Have you been taking notes? Assess your family’s eating habits. What has short shelf lives (like bread)? What has longer shelf lives (like boxed mac n cheese)? What has nearly indefinite shelf lives (like dehydrated foods, canned goods, or dry goods)?

TASK: Continue putting together a list of typical meals and their ingredients that consist of short, long, and indefinite shelf life items. Identify completed recipes that use at least long-life ingredients.

We’re going shopping tomorrow so ensure you’re keeping up with this!

Rescue/Mitigation/Repair

While we are sheltering at home, getting home can be very important. Furthermore, being able to find a family member who may be stranded is also important. Yesterday, we made maps to and from our workplaces and home’, and started really paying attention to our route. We’re going to keep that up.

TASK: On your normal way to work (Route 1), observe the route for natural hazards such as low areas, high traffic intersections, and other known issues. Also, observe for potential resources such as hardware stores, bike shops (if your vehicle becomes inoperative and it’s a long commute), water sources, and shelter areas. Note them on your maps.

Training

The rescue section and shelter section are also the training for today!

30-Day Preparedness Challenge: Day 5

djalley 10Sep2019

Welcome to the Keep and Bear, LLC 30 Day Preparedness Challenge! We are on Day 5. If you are just joining us, please go to the intro post to learn more.

The purpose of this ‘challenge’ is to provide a paced and measured plan to fulfill some basic family preparedness needs. These needs are real-world, and applicable to the average family.

The below headings are the main survival priorities.

Positive Mental Attitude

In the Day 1 post, the task was to pick a book relating to positive mental attitude. To expand on that, it can be a book on success or mental improvement, such as the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (a great resource), but it can also be about developing mental tenacity. If you haven’t already, google “books on positive mental attitude” or “books on success” and pick one you are interested in.

TASK: Read at least one chapter in your PMA book.

Air

No tasks for Air today!

Shelter

Yesterday we googled a list of common household repairs and took an honest assessment of if we’d be able to do them or not. Today, we’re going to pick one that we are reasonably sure about and check our assessment.

TASK: Take one home repair project you know you can do and “walk through it” step by step. Ensure your assessment of your skills was correct.

TASK: Print this repair process and add it to a Home Repair notebook. Add notes that apply to your specific make/model/situation.

This will be a common task going forth, with each day understanding a new home repair item.

Hydration

We are going for 1 gallon of potable water per person per day for up to 7 days. That means with a family of 4, we need 28 gallons. This is a bare-bones amount suitable for average exertion in temperate weather. If you’re dealing with high exertion and hot weather, double the requirement.

TASK: Clean and fill at least two 2-liter bottles.

As a heads up, we will be filling two 2-liter bottles each weeknight for the entire challenge. If you would rather knock this out in one fell swoop, go for it!

Nutrition

Assess your family’s eating habits. What has short shelf lives (like bread)? What has longer shelf lives (like boxed mac n cheese)? What has nearly indefinite shelf lives (like dehydrated foods, canned goods, or dry goods)?

TASK: Continue putting together a list of typical meals and their ingredients that consist of short, long, and indefinite shelf life items. Identify completed recipes that use at least long-life ingredients.

We’re going shopping on Saturday so ensure you’re keeping up with this!

Rescue/Mitigation/Repair

While we are sheltering at home, getting home can be very important. Furthermore, being able to find a family member who may be stranded is also important. Yesterday, we made maps to and from our workplaces and home’, and started really paying attention to our route. We’re going to keep that up.

TASK: On your normal way to work (Route 1), observe the route for natural hazards such as low areas, high traffic intersections, and other known issues. Also, observe for potential resources such as hardware stores, bike shops (if your vehicle becomes inoperative and it’s a long commute), water sources, and shelter areas. Note them on your maps.

Training

The rescue section and shelter section are also the training for today!

30-Day Preparedness Challenge: Day 4

djalley 03Sep2019

Welcome to the Keep and Bear, LLC 30 Day Preparedness Challenge! We are on Day 4. If you are just joining us, please go to the intro post to learn more.

The purpose of this ‘challenge’ is to provide a paced and measured plan to fulfill some basic family preparedness needs. These needs are real-world, and applicable to the average family.

The below headings are the main survival priorities.

Positive Mental Attitude

In the Day 1 post, the task was to pick a book relating to positive mental attitude. To expand on that, it can be a book on success or mental improvement, such as the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (a great resource), but it can also be about developing mental tenacity. If you haven’t already, google “books on positive mental attitude” or “books on success” and pick one you are interested in.

TASK: Read at least one chapter in your PMA book.

Air

No tasks for Air today!

Shelter

Remember, we are most concerned with Shelter At Home. But in some conditions, we will need to fortify and repair the home so it can continue to shelter us.

The past couple days we assessed our tools and made a list of what we needed against a general list. We also assessed what actions we might need to take in an emergency and assessed ‘consumables’ like wood and hardware. We then ensured these items were in our tool list.

Today, we are going to hold off a bit on adding to our shopping list and do an honest assessment of ourselves and our skills to accomplish these things. Keyword: Honest.

TASK: Google the terms “simple woodworking project”, “simple home electrical repairs”, and “simple plumbing repairs”. Look at the terminology, the steps, and the tools needed. Honestly assess if you could do these or not.

For woodworking, here’s an interesting page:
https://cutthewood.com/inspiration/cool-woodworking-projects#woodworkers-workbench

For electrical repairs, here’s a good page:
https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/repair/how-to-do-home-electrical-repairs.htm

And for plumbing:
https://www.familyhandyman.com/plumbing/the-top-10-plumbing-fixes/

Take a look at the articles and do an honest assessment of your skills. Could you do some of these repairs? Could you do them without internet or youtube? If you find your skills lacking in some of these, it might not be a bad idea to watch a few videos on how to do things, and even start a small library of printouts for the more common ones.

Hydration

We are going for 1 gallon of potable water per person per day for up to 7 days. That means with a family of 4, we need 28 gallons. This is a bare-bones amount suitable for average exertion in temperate weather. If you’re dealing with high exertion and hot weather, double the requirement.

TASK: Clean and fill at least two 2-liter bottles.

As a heads up, we will be filling two 2-liter bottles each weeknight for the entire challenge. If you would rather knock this out in one fell swoop, go for it!

Nutrition

Assess your family’s eating habits. What has short shelf lives (like bread)? What has longer shelf lives (like boxed mac n cheese)? What has nearly indefinite shelf lives (like dehydrated foods, canned goods, or dry goods)?

TASK: Continue putting together a list of typical meals and their ingredients that consist of short, long, and indefinite shelf life items. Identify completed recipes that use at least long-life ingredients.

We’re going shopping on Saturday so ensure you’re keeping up with this!

Rescue/Mitigation/Repair

While we are sheltering at home, getting home can be very important. Furthermore, being able to find a family member who may be stranded is also important. Yesterday, we made maps to and from our workplaces and home’, and started really paying attention to our route. We’re going to keep that up.

TASK: On your normal way to work (Route 1), observe the route for natural hazards such as low areas, high traffic intersections, and other known issues. Also, observe for potential resources such as hardware stores, bike shops (if your vehicle becomes inoperative and it’s a long commute), water sources, and shelter areas. Note them on your maps.

Training

The rescue section and shelter section are also the training for today!

30-Day Preparedness Challenge: Day 3

djalley 02Sep2019

Welcome to the Keep and Bear, LLC 30 Day Preparedness Challenge! We are on Day 3. If you are just joining us, please go to the intro post to learn more.

The purpose of this ‘challenge’ is to provide a paced and measured plan to fulfill some basic family preparedness needs. These needs are real-world, and applicable to the average family.

The below headings are the main survival priorities.

Positive Mental Attitude

In the Day 1 post, the task was to pick a book relating to positive mental attitude. To expand on that, it can be a book on success or mental improvement, such as the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (a great resource), but it can also be about developing mental tenacity. If you haven’t already, google “books on positive mental attitude” or “books on success” and pick one you are interested in.

TASK: Read at least one chapter in your PMA book.

Air

No tasks for Air today!

Shelter

Remember, we are most concerned with Shelter At Home. But in some conditions, we will need to fortify and repair the home so it can continue to shelter us.

With our tools assessed (but not yet ordered, it’s just on your To-Do list), we need materials. The average homeowner should have a reasonable supply of 2×4’s, a few sheets of plywood, and a supply of screws and nails. Look over the stuff you have laying around. Could you board some windows, make some repairs, rig something up?

TASK: Assess the threats you face (hurricanes, tornados, etc) that would affect your home and the steps you want to mitigate them. If it’s boarding up windows, start accumulating the plywood or other materials to do so. Figure out how they will attach to the house, and what hardware you will need to do so. Use FB Marketplace, Craigslist, or other used sources to get these materials cheaply.

Pro tip: Carpenter’s screws that use a Torx bit rather than a Phillips head are far easier to work with and do not strip out like a Phillips screw does.

Hydration

We are going for 1 gallon of potable water per person per day for up to 7 days. That means with a family of 4, we need 28 gallons. This is a bare-bones amount suitable for average exertion in temperate weather. If you’re dealing with high exertion and hot weather, double the requirement.

TASK: Clean and fill at least two 2-liter bottles.

As a heads up, we will be filling two 2-liter bottles each weeknight for the entire challenge. If you would rather knock this out in one fell swoop, go for it!

Nutrition

Assess your family’s eating habits. What has short shelf lives (like bread)? What has longer shelf lives (like boxed mac n cheese)? What has nearly indefinite shelf lives (like dehydrated foods, canned goods, or dry goods)?

TASK: Continue putting together a list of typical meals and their ingredients that consist of short, long, and indefinite shelf life items. Identify completed recipes that use at least long-life ingredients.

Rescue/Mitigation/Repair

While we are sheltering at home, getting home can be very important. Furthermore, being able to find a family member who may be stranded is also important.

For today’s task, we’re going to develop a set of maps that the family references. If you have the means, DeLorme atlases are excellent, but it is just as easy to print (yes, hardcopy!) maps these days.

Print one set of maps for home, and one for each driving-age person or vehicle.

First, identify where your home is, as well as workplaces and all other frequently visited places (such as your kids’ school, daycares, family friends, etc). DO NOT MARK THESE ON YOUR MAPS, rather, mark a major intersection near them. If the maps fall into the wrong hands in an emergency, you don’t necessarily want to give the locations of an obviously well-prepared family away.

In math, when a value is shifted, the ‘prime’ symbol is used. so value X would become X’. With the tick after. We’ll use that nomenclature here.

Mark HOME’ on the map, as well as WORK1′, WORK2′, etc. There are lots of businesses and it may be hard for someone to anticipate where you’re at. For schools, do NOT use school’, just use generic waypoint names, such as WAYPOINT’, and have a nearby main intersection marked.

On the map, draw out your normal route to that location. Label it SPOUSE1ROUTE 1, SPOUSE2ROUTE1, or some such.

TASK: On your normal way to work (Route 1), observe the route for natural hazards such as low areas, high traffic intersections, and other known issues. Also, observe for potential resources such as hardware stores, bike shops (if your vehicle becomes inoperative and it’s a long commute), water sources, and shelter areas. Note them on your maps.

Training

The rescue section is also the training for today!

30-Day Preparedness Challenge: Day 2

djalley 01Sep2019

Welcome to the Keep and Bear, LLC 30 Day Preparedness Challenge! We are on Day 2. If you are just joining us, please go to the intro post to learn more.

The purpose of this ‘challenge’ is to provide a paced and measured plan to fulfill some basic family preparedness needs. These needs are real-world, and applicable to the average family.

The below headings are the main survival priorities.

Positive Mental Attitude

In the Day 1 post, the task was to pick a book relating to positive mental attitude. To expand on that, it can be a book on success or mental improvement, such as the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (a great resource), but it can also be about developing mental tenacity. If you haven’t already, google “books on positive mental attitude” or “books on success” and pick one you are interested in.

TASK: Read at least one chapter in your PMA book.

Air

In the Day 1 post, the task was to determine if your inventories included at least a decent dust/particulate mask for you and your family. There was also a reference to a decent explanation on different masks and qualities.

TASK: Determine the threat conditions you face near your home and work. Determine the most appropriate masks for your needs. Determine their durations. Put getting them on your To-Do list.

Shelter

Remember, we are most concerned with Shelter At Home. But in some conditions, we will need to fortify and repair the home so it can continue to shelter us. Most people have a basic tool kit, but if you do not, it is now time to assess what you do have and fill in what you don’t.

Here is an excellent home set of tools to start out:
https://www.sears.com/craftsman-450-piece-mechanic-s-tool-set/p-A010318153?plpSellerId=Sears&prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

In addition to this set, you should have:

  • Hammers
  • Rubber Mallet
  • Crowbar
  • Hatchet
  • Pipe Wrench
  • Power drill (cordless)
  • Circular Saw
  • Tape Measure
  • Pliers set with side cutters
  • Utility Knife
  • Stud finder
  • Wood glue
  • Super glue
  • Duct tape
  • Oil filter wrench
  • Saw horses
  • Clamps

TASK: Assess your tool needs, including any specialty or odd tools needed for your situation. Compare this list to your tool inventory. Identify all gaps and add getting the needed tools to your To-Do list.

An example of an odd tool… I have a utility tractor. It occasionally requires the engine bolts tightened to the frame. It takes a 19mm wrench to do so. Once identified, this required tool was obtained. I have several tractor implements that have even larger bolts. Once identified, a 3/4″ drive bar wrench was needed with sockets of the appropriate size. These are in addition to the kit above.

Hydration

We are going for 1 gallon of potable water per person per day for up to 7 days. That means with a family of 4, we need 28 gallons. This is a bare-bones amount suitable for average exertion in temperate weather. If you’re dealing with high exertion and hot weather, double the requirement.

On Day 1, we started saving/sourcing 2-liter bottles. These are excellent containers because they are relatively sturdy, tolerate stacking, and are a very effective quantity vs weight physical characteristic. Ideally the 2-liter bottles were used for water originally. If they were used for soda, ensure they are cleaned very thoroughly as sugar can allow growth of things we’d rather not drink. Don’t forget cleaning the cap and the cap threading.

TASK: Find a place you will be storing your water supplies. It should be dark, and ideally cool.

TASK: Clean and fill at least two 2-liter bottles.

As a heads up, we will be filling two 2-liter bottles each weeknight for the entire challenge. If you would rather knock this out in one fell swoop, go for it!

NOTE: To disinfect water, 4 drops per 2-liter bottle is the correct ratio, however, adding bleach to the water now (to store it) does no real good. Bleach will remain effective as a disinfectant for about 24 hours in water. If you are uncertain about your storage water purity, add bleach to the water before you use it, not as you store it.

Additionally, if you’d rather buy purpose-made storage containers for water, go for it. It’s a bit out of budget for this exercise, but there can be distinct advantages.

Nutrition

Assess your family’s eating habits. What has short shelf lives (like bread)? What has longer shelf lives (like boxed mac n cheese)? What has nearly indefinite shelf lives (like dehydrated foods, canned goods, or dry goods)?

TASK: Start putting together a list of typical meals and their ingredients that consist of short, long, and indefinite shelf life items. Identify completed recipes that use at least long-life ingredients.

Rescue/Mitigation/Repair

A flashlight in every room, and on you. That’s the goal. There should literally be a small flashlight in easy reach in every location you spend time. Your dad chair? Flashlight in the coffee table next to it. Computer desk? Flashlight on it. Bed? Flashlight in the night stand. Car? Flashlight in the center console or the door tray.

In addition to these flashlights, carry one. Tactical flashlights are cool-guy gear. Get one.

TASK: Collect all the flashlights you have in your junk drawers and put them in useful places that are near the areas you actually dwell. Find a smallish one and keep it on you.

Lastly, have one “high capacity” flashlight, or better, two. These are the lights that will have reasonable brightness for a good long while.

TASK: Have at least one long duration flashlight. Your small lights have one job: Get you to your big light.

TASK: Make a recurring schedule in your To-Do list to replace flashlight batteries at least 1/year.

Training

Yes, we have to learn stuff. Your training should include:

  • Basic home repairs
  • Basic automotive repair
  • Basic equipment repairs (chainsaws, tractors, tools, etc).
  • Navigation
  • First Aid
  • Self defense
  • Communications
  • Adverse condition and tactical driving
  • Home skills (sewing, food preparation/preservation)

TASK: Assess your skillset in the above areas and identify if any are missing. Based on your skills, research what you most need extra training in. Enroll in at least one of those training subjects.

SHAMELESS PLUG: Emergency preparedness planning is a very important skill set. Keep and Bear, LLC offers training in developing plans. Do it!
http://keepandbearllc.com/product/28sep2019-emergency-preparedness-1/

30-Day Preparedness Challenge: Day 1

djalley 01Sep2019

Welcome to the Keep and Bear, LLC 30 Day Preparedness Challenge! The purpose of this ‘challenge’ is to provide a paced and measured plan to fulfill some basic family preparedness needs. These needs are real-world, and applicable to the average family..

NOTE: This challenge is running in September 2019. References to weekdays (Sunday, Monday,…) are accurate for this year. If you are referring to this, post-challenge, or running it on your own afterwards, the weekdays may be off somewhat. It was designed to be started on a Sunday, for people who tend to work Monday through Friday. Adjust accordingly!

The scope of this challenge is to provide for the basic family of four for 7 days. We have 30 days to accomplish this but there are multiple considerations. For each task, the goal will be stated (for instance, for hydration we want 1 gallon of water for each family member for 7 days stored up. That’s 28 gallons total) and you may scale it accordingly (if you have 8 family members you’ll need to double it!).

In addition to basic needs, there will be ideas for emergency response and items for simply more resilient living. You will NOT be able to survive a nuclear winter or the zombie apocalypse from this 30-day challenge, but you will be well on your way to being better able to handle what life throws at you.

As far as costs, we have tried to keep this minimal and focus on what can be done cheaply. In some cases, cost cannot be avoided, but in some cases, the costs can be offset. Time investment is also something we’ve tried to minimize where we can. We have a month. If we can devote just 1/2 hour a day to that, we have 15 hours of preparedness forethought devoted to keeping our families safe.

Below is a list of typical survival priorities and a couple other categories we are going to explore. In each of them, we’ll have tasks through the month to accomplish. Not every category will have something allocated to it that day.

TASK: Download a quality task/to-do app. One that has scheduled events, recurring events, and subtasks. Microsoft To-Do is a great app for this purpose, and runs on your smartphone and syncs with your computer. Download it, and use it.

Positive Mental Attitude

A positive mental attitude is the first and most important survival priority there is. Only the will to survive will cause further action. A drowning person can continue to fight for survival, even without air. Eventually his body may give out, but lack of survival should never be because one “gave up”.

TASK: Buy, download, or otherwise obtain a book related to positive mental attitude. For me, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People was a great book about getting things done, prioritization, and, well, becoming more effective.

Air

We obviously need air to survive, and lack of it will cause death very quickly. What can we do to ensure air quality? Should we have SCUBA tanks on hand?

Our end goal will be to simply have reasonable buffer in case of chemical leaks or other airborne threats.

TASK: Determine if your inventory includes a decent dust/particulate mask for you and your family. At least one for each family member, but more is better. Learn about the ratings here. If your home inventory does not include them, add getting them to your To-Do list.

Shelter

For the most part, this challenge will be a shelter-in-home and get-to-home oriented activity. Making bug out bags and the like can be expensive. Let’s do one thing at a time, and since most emergency situations are best weathered shelter-in-home, lets handle the highest probability case first.

Our end goal here will be to ensure we have a means to maintain and repair our home, and plans against common threat events (fire, tornado, etc.)

TASK: On your To-Do app, create a recurring 6 month task to change batteries in your smoke alarms. Create an annually recurring task to inspect your fire extinguishers.

Hydration

How much is enough? We are going for 1 gallon of potable water per person per day for up to 7 days. That means with a family of 4, we need 28 gallons. This is a bare-bones amount suitable for average exertion in temperate weather. If you’re dealing with high exertion and hot weather, double the requirement.

The above was just drinking water. “Gray water”, or water that you can use as a tool (such as doing dishes, adding to toilets to flush, bathe, etc) is an additional requirement and should be accumulated as well, in at least equal quantities.

TASK: Start saving 2-liter bottles. If you buy soda, save them. If you have friends that have them, get them. 2-liter bottles are EXCELLENT water storage containers. Easily enough water for most personal tasks, and small enough to keep weight down.

TASK: Determine your family’s water needs. 28 gallons is the goal for a family of 4. That’s close to 53 2-liter bottles.

Nutrition

Nutrition is not as much a concern in the short term since the body can go many days without food. However, from a preparedness standpoint, extra exertion in an emergency requires more fuel to remain functional.

Additionally, food represents a comfort, a normalcy. In the coming month we’re going to prepare for food stores. These should not be MREs or other survival foods that your family wont even recognize as food. It should be stuff they already know and like, and we’ll simply have to identify what can keep for a longer time.

As always, food supplies should be rotated. If we stock up on Mac N Cheese, don’t just set the emergency boxes aside, eat them! Just have more in inventory to accommodate a 7 day consumption rate.

Rescue/Mitigation/Repair

This is where the cool-guy/gal gear goes. Gear is fun. We like gear. We’re going to get to gear up a bit. Some of this we will talk about in other sections, but a lot of it here, too.

Some other things will be to ensure we’re prepared for events. Do you know multiple ways home? Do you know the resources and risks along those ways? Should you? Yup.

TASK: Determine if each family member has a sturdy pair of work gloves. If not, get them some. In an emergency, there’ll be more things to do, and some of the items will have less familiarity. More injury likelihood is present. Protect your hands. Establish a place to store these gloves and keep them stored there.

Training

Wait what… I have to learn stuff? Yup. You don’t get to buy gear without having to learn the gear. We’ll also talk about stuff you should already know. Like First Aid.

Wrap Up

Each day we’ll have a wrap up. Where we’re at and where we still need to get to. What we spent in time and dollars. Hopefully you’ll hit our FB page to discuss!

September is Emergency Preparedness Month

djalley 15Aug2019

For the month of September, we will be posting on our Facebook page as well as on our website a DAILY STEP you can take in the month of September to make your family better equipped to handle common issues the typical Michigan family will take. In these daily steps, we will strive to do a few things:

  • Keep costs low. Ideally we will be under $100/week.
  • Keep time commitment low. Ideally we will be under 30 min/day.
  • Concentration on survival priorities of shelter, hydration, nutrition, and rescue/recovery/mitigation.

If you’re interested in participating, we would LOVE to hear from you and your experiences both along the way and after. Email us at info@keepandbearllc.com and tell us you’re IN. If you prefer to review and participate without letting us know all about it, that’s OK as well! Follow along and we hope you improve your situation.

To begin with, try to save about $200 in August to help lessen the financial burden. Try to allocate some time each day, and try to schedule some weekend time to “catch up” on things you might have missed through the week.