THROWBACK THURSDAY: It's Alive with The Next Generation

You've just joined the Prepper Broadcasting Network, where we promote self reliance and independence. The views and opinions expressed are strictly those of the host or their guests visited us in the interacted chat room at prepper broadcasting dot com. Hello everyone, and welcome to the Next Generation Show, where we delve deeper into the little things in life. Here we explore the lost art of fatherhood, parenthood, and fundamental preparedness for the world. Today, I'm your host, Ryan Buford, along with my co host, Young Master Colin Say, Hey, Buddy, hey, and today we are broadcasting from the heart of the Pacific Northwest. Thanks for joining us. There's not a moment to lose, so let's get started. For those of you listening on blog talk radio, we ask that you switch over to Prepperbroadcasting dot com, where you'll find the best audio and an amazing chat room experience. I'm in there along with Colin, and I encourage you to join us along with the others like minded listeners. Don't forget if you don't have access to a computer or you have problems with internet connection at the moment, you can always call in to listen live at three four seven to zero two zero two two eight, then press one if you'd like to speak with us live on air. Just remember that this is a family friendly show. I actually I do enjoy listening on occasion while I'm driving down the road, So it's a great option for those of you who are interested in listening live but can't quite get to a computer. Today's going to be a fun show, so let's have fun with it, and don't hesitate to call in and share with us, you know, some of your own experiences. This is an all ages welcome show. Just keep it PG for the listening audience, you know, and we'd love to hear your feedback on that note, comments, show ideas, anything of that nature. Reach out to us if you get a chance. You can reach me at Prepper Broadcasting on the Next Generation show page. We also have a Facebook page, me, we Twitter, You can reach me via email at Prepperdad at mail dot com, and we've recently been doing a little bit more on our Instagram page. Colin's been helping out with that, so if you want to find us on Instagram, you can check out our link on the show page or get a hold of us and we'll send you whatever contact information you need. And with that, let's get started with the show. Today's show topic is It's Alive. It's Alive, bringing life to the mechanical monsters among us. So, keeping in the theme of this month of monsters as we approach Halloween, I thought it'd be a good time to merge two ideas, one being you know, scary monsters, and two being the seasonal opportunities that we have to take advantage on, you know, skills training and you know, some of the things that we need to do around the house and home that can be used to help our own kids down the road. Might be wondering what kind of a monster would be you know, related to doing this kind of stuff, And you know, I think the one of the things that I came up with was this idea of Frankenstein. Now I'm sure most of you know what Frankenstein was all about, you know, as a the cliff note version is that there was a crazed scientist who creates a beast of a man out of like his miscellaneous parts and it was all put together from these different bodies and sewn up well. He turned out to be a really you know, hideous monster of sorts and the scientist was able to bring him to life with this massive supernatural electric shock. And then as soon as that happened, of course that's where this it's alive. It's alive. He gets excited because he created this monster and you know, with the intent of the intent of bringing you know, something to life that was previously dead or made from dead parts or whatever it may have been. Now the story goes on that this living monster goes through and terrorizes the town in search of another grotesque being just like him, you know, trying to get something familiar that. He could be like. And there is this huge conflict about, you know, what was right or wrong, whether the mad scientists created this monster that he could no longer control, and the monster itself, having a mind of itself and a heart of its own, who's battling internally with you know, what's what's right and what's wrong. And you know, what kind of an identity someone can have when they're nothing but a mixed match or mismatched jumble of parts. Well, the idea has a lot of different themes and threads and it and despite the various endings across all the different variations of you know, Frankenstein, whether it's from the Adams Family or black and white classic movies or comedy parodies or whatever it may be. There's all sorts of different endings. But at the heart of this tale is the idea that a person can bring something to life by combining the parts that are otherwise incompatible. And it seems like a stretch, right, I mean, it's like, it doesn't make sense how you can have, you know, different sized parts and make them fit properly. And it seems like a stretch. But maybe not so much with some of the way the medical science has developed since this book, since this story came out, you know, in the I want to say that early eighteen hundreds, and we've since been able to allow body parts to be swapped out, you know, as only as they're compatible with blood type and you know, with you know, when it comes to like what do you call it being a donor, you know, and how being a donor has allowed body parts to be swapped out physically to help others live longer. But it's not exactly the same. It's not the same as taking a bunch of dead body parts and bringing them to live to life. And that's the part of this tale. That really stands out and holds true as a source of fear. You know that, the idea of the unknown and what it takes to bring something to life once it's been past its life cycle. Well, personally, I know exactly what this feels like. And while it has nothing to do with bringing dead people to live and taking their parts and combining them together, it actually goes back to some time that I spent shortly after high school, when I attempted a massive project, or in my mind, what felt like it was a massive project, by deciding that I was going to revive a Volkswagen Beetle. Now, for those of you out there, he might be starting to laugh and snicker a little bit, But for me, this is kind of a neat experiment. Up until this time, I had never really I mean, I had had some exposure to things like, you know, lawnmowers and cars, and I knew how to check the oil, but you know, I didn't really spend a whole lot of time changing it or doing anything, and I could maintain on a very basic level. But in my pursuit of this Volkswagen, it had a little bit of history to it. For those of you who don't know, my great uncle was an author and he wrote a story that was turned into a film by Walt Disney, And for those of you who know, it was called The Lovebug. So my great uncle, Gordon bufferd wrote this story sold it to Disney, and you know, it's this story of the Lovebug, who was a vehicle that had a heart of his own basically, and you know that he went on and this machine had a life and heart and mind of its own in a way. And I wanted to resurrect that idea and have my own Herbie. So I went through and I found a Volkswagen Beetle online and I bought it. I didn't think I was going to get it. I want it on an auction actually, And what it was was a shell, a complete shell, and all the parts for a working motor which had been taken out, disassembled and thrown into a couple of thirty gallon gallon toats in the back seat. The challenge at the time was getting it from Arizona to where I lived here in the Pacific Northwest. At least that's what I thought the challenge would be. Then when I actually once I actually got it to my garage, I realized that the work had only just begun. So I realized that with all this mixed match parts and pieces and jumble of things, that I really had no idea what I was doing. And it really put to test my ability to you know, know and understand the different parts of a motor and the systems that create what. We have to drive around on a regular basis. And I had another vehicle, so I would drive that around regularly and work on this on the side. And as I was on the side, I you know, on the side when I was working on this, you know, I realized that I was going to have to start over from scratch and cobble it together and do my best. So I slammed everything I could on there, bolted on what I thought looked right, and I went to start it and I wouldn't start. So I've done all this work and done all this put all this effort into it, and it was a total failure. Well, I figured maybe there was something that I had done wrong. So we took it apart and we disassembled the entire motor, do it an entire teardown, and we cobble it together from scratch, fixed a couple of things tweaked a few, you know, different parts to put some better versions on and try and you know, swap down gaskets and did things that would be a little bit more true to form on making this motor work. And eventually, after we got the timing and the fuel and the ignition and all the parts working in the way that they were supposed to and it would turn freely by hand, I was able to go up to the ignition and then turned the key and wait for that characteristic Volkswagen cough coughhhhah. And as this monster started to rage to life, I kind of thought to myself, Yes, it's alive. It's alive. And I had that moment to myself where you know what, I felt a little bit like a mad scientist because I had finally been able to accomplish this thing that before where you're just a monster of a challenge for one and also just a mess of parts that I didn't know what to do with. And one of the greatest things that I learned was that one machine, even in the same brand, has components that change over time, and sometimes these components change and aren't compatible. And some of the things that I had changed were because of incompatible. You know, little minute details like I found out that I had two casehabs that were from completely different motors. One was from a bus and one was from a Volkswagen. They were from the same year, but there was a slight enough difference to where once I slammed it all together, even though it looked okay, nothing worked. So that's why something like this is important because for me, I waited, in my opinion, a bit too long to learn how these basics of motor skills are important, but I learned them. Nonetheless, it's never too late or too early to learn the basics of mechanical monster resurrection on your own home front. And excuse me. On today's show, Colin and I will be going over the importance of getting kids into thinking about and acting upon mechanical preparedness. Here we are with Halloween approaching, so let's get started and have some fun with prepping. But first, before we ramp up the ten thousand megawatt Tesla coil in the backyard, Colin, can you share your fun fact of the week? Yo yo yo fello listeners, I'm like, oh, so the Next Generation show is Colin Beaufort speaking with my father and the host of the show, Ryan and today talking about the importance of mechanical upkeep. But before we get too far into that, I'd like to quickly cover the Craft Calin Fun Fact of the Week. For those of you who aren't aware of the Craft Colin Fun Fact of the Week, it's a segment on our show that gives you a fun tidbit of information of something that's usually related to the show topic. Some of you might have already known and had no clue, So without any further ado, let's get right into it. Today's Craft Calling Fun The fact of the week is powered lawnmower has caused sixty eight thousand injuries every year. And although this isn't the most fun fun fact we've had, it is probable that these sixty eight thousand injuries were caused by lack of mechanical upkeep. So that's a I don't know, I'm just not that fit. That's actually a really good fact and that ties in really well with what we're going to be talking about today, Buddy. And another thing, I would just like to apologize because I think I might be coming on with the cold, so sorry if my voice sounds a little bit funny. That's okay, it's starting to get deeper than mine, so I'm gonna have to try and keep that in mind. But no, if you gotta if you've got to go, that's fine. Well well no, I'm all right, I just yeah, yeah. So first off, you know, now that we're we're taught, we you know, we're gonna getting into some of the mechanical portions of the show and the importance of maintenance and motors in our everyday lives. And in order to get started, I want to at least share with the folks in the chat room a link that I've found on It's basically it's just internet or internal combustion engine information and one of the hearts of how do I Let me back up a minute, So, when you have a mechanical system, you need to think of it like a system, just like the systems in our body. You know, you have the endocrine system and the cardiovascular system and the nervous system and all these different systems that work together. And when they work together, you as a human are able to move and function and think and breathe and live your normal lives. Well, when it comes to a mechanical system, there are certain factors that are involved that need to be paid attention to. Obviously, ignition is a thing that everybody hopes for. It's that moment when you realize it's alive. It's alive, I was able to get it to go or whatever. And sometimes it's a matter of just pulling a cord. Sometimes it's a matter of pulling a key. Back in the day, it was a matter of flipping a propeller or turning a crank on the front of a motor, and anymore, it's become so simple that the idea of pushing a button and making something go has dumbed most people down to even think about how these systems work and why it's important. So the first portion of that these systems that work together is the ignition, and that ignition triangle has to do with fuel, spark, and timing. When you have all three of those in harmony, you'll get ignition. And it's important to understand why that. You know why that system is and why that works, because when you go to diagnose problems, by eliminating whichever one of those things is going wrong, you can find out which one is stopping the ignition. And we'll get into that later. Because there were some you know, there are some examples that I wanted to give you on when we wound up doing that to to fix in our own law more problems. I'd also like to drop. I'm gonna drop a link in the chat room. This is kind of a neat graphic from Wikipedia, and this is a four stroke engine image. And basically this image is a real simplified version of how internal combustion engines work and the way the pistons work, which if you know how a heart work, heart works, and the blood valves and chambers inside your heart and how everything moves inside, you'll find that it's actually very similar. You know, air flows in just like blood folds in. It gets compressed and then it after the explosion pushes the piston down, exhaust goes out, and then the piston performs work. And this constant cycle is very similar to our own Carreo mascular system. So ignition is really at the heart of your machine. Beyond that, one of the other things is oil. The oil is obviously the life blood and you have to keep it clean. And there's I've heard stories of folks that you know, have rolled into a you know, a service or maintenance type situation where they go and to get because they think they're they're hearing a funny noise out of their car, and the technician pulls out their dipstick from the car, not from the person, and it's bone dry, and they're, you know, and they're wondering why, you know, when the last time they had their oil changed or field was and they've never done it ever before, you know, barely even open the hood. A big part of that is, you know, when you are fearful of something that you don't understand, very few people will take the time to learn how it works well. Oil is a life blood, is something that needs to be kept clean and and on a routine, needs to be changed out so that all the parts are lubricated properly. In the engine of the seas. Beyond that, you have the spark. And if you can think of a spark as like the heartbeat, and when you have fouled plugs, those plugs will create a blockage similar to your your what do you call the uh, the bronchy No, not the bronchi anyways, the large arteries and veins that supply blood to your heart. You know, if there's blockages basically in your own body system. Fouled plugs are a similar version. If they get caked with stuff, they don't spark properly and they don't allow the proper firing to happen. So in addition to that, you have all your meaning you're moving parts. And this is where it gets dangerous because you know, obviously, when you have motor running, you've got an internal set of moving parts, but that motor is designed to usually turn something, which in turn turns something else. And this interrelated systems, whether it's a lawnmower or snowblower or you know, your own car. The idea that something rotates and generates power and work essentially is something that needs to be carefully maintained and watched out for so that you don't have things like all those injuries that Colin was talking about earlier. So let's see, Colin, do you do you have any questions? I want to add anything before I move on? Not wait, your buggy came from Arizona. Yeah I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, that was kind of I mean, and you can find uh, well, you know that kind of brings us into this next section a little bit. You can find you know car parts or part vehicles or you know, a lot and more parts and a lot more components all over the place. And you don't need to go across state lines to find something that can be used to be brought back to life, but it is important to find something if you're working with them, you know, your the idea of parts vehicle that's close to where you live. And we're going to get into this part next, which is the power of redundancy. So if we stick with small motors, you generally have your you know, there's a couple of different standbys, your Bridge and Stratton to come to Yabaha, Kalasaki, Predator motors. On each of these, you know, whether you've got a Craftsman or something you got from Harbor Freight or you know Walmart or you know, all these different manufacturers might slap their name on a motor or you know, a lawnmower or device Nobler or whatever it may be, but the heart of that piece of equipment is actually built into these four giants of motors, I guess you could say. And each motor has its own varied configuration, different component sizes, and they're all generally proprietary. Unfortunately, that means that none of these things can be interchanged with each other. And this is where redundancy comes into play and can be very important because you know the ones that how do I say this? So, like say you pick a brand like Briggs and Stratton that's your favorite. If you want to go with that, fine, go with it. But the most important thing to do is keep in mind which of these are going to be able to sustain you across platforms. And what I mean by that is which machines have the ability to tackle your tasks around the house. So, for example, we get a lot of snow up here, so I've got a snowblower and I also have you know, during the like this time of year, I've got to get out there and get the rototiller going because the garden has died. I got to get everything tilled up for next year so that the soil can recharge over the winter. I also have a couple of lawnmres and a couple of ATVs. When you start adding up all your different toys and components and things that you use just to maintain your place, a lot of times it makes sense to combine brands. And what I mean by that is, so, say you've got, like, for example, my rototiller has Brigs and Stratton motor in it. My lawnmower also has a Briggs and Stratton motor in it, and having complimentary parts and pieces can be very helpful. My snowblower has it to come to motor in it, so in a pinch, I wouldn't be able to use components from my rototiller to fill in the gap should my snowblower fail me in the winter time. You kind of see where I'm going with this, the idea that you can have parts that are interchangeable between brands. As you start to combine things and get more and more what do you call it toys? I guess you want to say, it's very important to be mindful of the redundancy of those pieces of equipment. It doesn't matter which brand you choose, just work toward picking the set that's available locally for parts and limit the differences between those devices. Now, having multiple devices or motors or whatever you've got working with it definitely helps having matching motors. So we've got two lawnmowers that we use to maintain our property, and Colin, do you remember this summer when the one just died on you while you were riding. Now, yeah, it was there's just a line that wasn't connected or something. This oil starts spouting oil. Yeah, it just died. Yeah. So right in the middle of doing our normal routine maintenance, there was a failure in one of the components, and we were able to identify the problem by chasing down or realizing that it wasn't the spark, it wasn't the fuel, and it wasn't the ignition, but for some reason it wouldn't it wouldn't hold oil. So we wound up finding a part that was actually leaking really bad. And since we had a second motor, yeah just second motor, second mower that was identical, we were able to pull a part off of one, replace it with the one that was broken, and keep going. Then you might think to yourself, well, that's not that big of a deal. You're just mowing the lawn. And of course, but if you're in a situation where you need that component, like maybe, for example, if it was the four wheeler and the four wheeler was being used to plow the driveway, or you needed that four wheeler to be able to get out of maybe a mud puddle or something like that, or help tow a vehicle if one of them fails. Having a little bit extra parts on hand from another vehicle will definitely help in those situations. And then with that you also want to keep in mind how accessible the replacement parts are based on what's around you. Now you can take this to extend it beyond into things like, you know, your own bug out vehicles for example, because let's say so, for example, I've got a I've got a truck that I use on the side. It's not my daily driver. I usually keep it on hand for emergencies, like you know, if the snow gets too deep, or if I got to get a lot of people too are from a location quickly. And it's got full little drive and all the toys and gadgets and stuff on it. But one of the reasons I chose this vehicle is because in driving around, I noticed how many other vehicles exactly like it there are. And this it's like a I'm gonna say it was like a mid mid to late nineties Dodge pick up. And for those of you out there, I'm sure, I mean the body style of those vehicles really hadn't changed much for that one decade or so, And there's a lot of old vehicles out there, and it's really easy to pass them on the highway and see that they're still running. Not only that they're accessible. So if one person didn't maintain theirs properly, it becomes a really great opportunity for you to obtain parts and secondary components in case you should fail. Now, you know, just reading in the chat room, g Man's saying that you know, new vehicles and this is one of the reasons why I chose this older vehicle is because of its ability to be fixed. But g Man says that you know, new vehicles are such that you know, if you want to do a simple fix, you have to have a mechanic with the right skills and usually specialized tools. And now you know, comparing something like that to my Volkswagon, for example, which was designed for anybody to fix, it makes it really hard to drop in and really buy into a new vehicle when it makes it so difficult to replace. And this is why, and just like GMN says, this is why prepping is so important to learn these skills, remember them, and when technology or the government and the rest are not there. You can take care of yourself. And oh and Jay Fergie, that's great to hear. You know, I'm glad you're in the chatroom tonight. I hope you're feeling better. Jay Ferg says she had to help replace the shocks and now she's working on the pitting. So you know, the ability for you to incorporate others into this kind of activity is exactly what the heart of this show is about. Today. Let's we're at the bottom of the hour, so let's take a quick break and when we get back, we will wrap up the some of the the tools that you can use to breathe life into your own beasts in your garage, and wrap up with the pint SI's proper pint sized Prepper project of the week. So take it away. Ultimate wood burning collapsible survival and camping stove just got better designed for the prepper, survivalist or weekend adventurer. The under six Elite and the new under two point two Elite survival stoves by survival Stoveworks dot Com can cook meals in under six minutes. 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Thanks for staying with us, staying tuned, and don't forget to keep our sponsors in mind on your path to our preparedness. Also, one quick reminder for tomorrow night, don't miss out on Behind the Headlines with Alan Getz. We've got great shows every night this week, so don't miss out. Or if you'd like, you can subscribe to the newsletter on the Prepper Broadcasting Show page and get show previews in your email MOKSAD by heading to Prepperbroadcasting dot com and signing up. So we've been talking about breathing life into the monsters in your garage, and let's see I am. The next section is breathing life into that brainless beast in your garage. I know I'm not talking about your kids. This is where all the magic really comes together in three parts education, trial and error, and experimentation. So on the education side, when it comes to kids, showing your kids how to do stuff by doing it with them is the best way to transfer these skills and this basic level of knowledge. Some of the ways you can do this is by simply asking for help with tools. At any age, a kid can be trained or at least educated on what tools do what what The difference is between a soccket wrench and a monkey wrench, or a claw a hammer and a finish hammer, or a brad nailer and a roofing nailer, and some of these minute differences can make a big, you know, impact on their lives later on down the road. There was a guy that I used to work with, and he he had a side business restoring cars, and he spent a lot of time in the garage and he was a very proud, you know, a self proclaimed gearhead, and we always we spent a lot of time on the road together, and he was explaining to me how his own son, at you know, four years old, was able to tell the difference between not only metric but standard socket sizes and pull whatever tools he needed out of a toolbox while he was you know, buried under a car or whatever. And just having a little helper at your side can make a big difference. And it's actually a great way to you know, not only build a relationship, but build an understanding toward tools and equipment. And it's a great way to help them understand the differences between these tools. Yeah, like Pappy, and Pappy's joining us in the chat. Pappy, thanks for joining us, he says he he likes finding broken motors mowers on the side of the road and tearing them, tearing them down. And that's that's kind of what we're getting into here. You're jumping the gun a little bit, but I'm glad you introduced that because this thing, well with the next portion of our show is trial and error. You know, as a parent, especially today, it's really easy to get caught up in the idea that you're not allowed to mess up you're not allowed to make mistakes. And when it comes to mechanics and machines and engines or whatever you're working on, whether it's components or you know, the different you know, like like Jay Fergie working on her shocks or you know, sharpening blades or whatever it may be. Whenever you get involved in doing these things, it's okay to mess things up. Like g Man says, he always loved to figure out what was wrong and fix things. And you know, you've got to be willing to learn by breaking things and trying to fix it or waiting for you know, if something does get broken, tearing it apart, let your kids see you and get involved in fixing it to whatever standards it can be. And of course that comes you know, the number one rule in the shop, right, if it breaks, fix it. You know, learning to do this is a dominant way to tell the difference between quality construction and flat out junk. And once you have something that breaks, whether it's a motor or a you know, a fan blade or whatever might be, you really start to realize. And even toys, i mean your kids toys is a huge way to explain to them quality of things. And when you go to try and fix something, and you realize by going to the store or the manufacturer that they've built it in a way to where it's designed not only to break, but it's designed to where you can't fix it you really it helps to be able to put that together and avoid junk pop metal, junk plastics, and foreign goods. This is one of my big pet peeves is not being able to buy locally because I always prefer to buy American made products, and I prefer to be able to show the difference between the two. You know, what's quality steel, what's quality plastic, What's something that's really going to feel good in your hands versus something that you may not feel confident in using in a dire situation. So when you go to buy your equipment, one of the things you keep in mind, and one of the things to help coach your kids on is looking for how well something can be maintained before you buy it, so you know, in addition to this education side, it's between teaching them how to use the tools, knowing how to do the trial and error side, and finally it's the experimentation take it apart, put it back together. Of course, if you break it you buy it. So, you know, the the more care you take into taking something apart, even if it's only to see how it works, the more you'll learn by being able to put it back together and maintain it in the future. This doesn't mean to go through and go into your brand new stash of equipment and you know, tear apart your lawnmower. But if you've got an old more like Papy was saying or ng Man, you know, taking these apart and exploring how they work a lot of way ways you can find. It's a great way to find different uses for some of these tools. You know, to repurpose the motor for something else. You know, you might be able to use it to lift water, or you might be able to use it to create some other form of work. You might even find a better way to design a specific product. So let's see. I think that's probably good enough on breathing life into those beasts. I think, I mean, I really want people to understand that it's okay to mess up and take chances in getting into some of your equipment in your gear. But you know, I have known to not be the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to certain forms of mechanics. So one of the things that I try to instill in you know, my own life, and Collin's life, and my family's life is getting sharper, getting sharper with your skills, and literally getting sharper with your skills on how to sharpen. You know, a lot of the tools that we use are designed for cutting or shearing or you know, moving material, performing that work that nobody really wants to do by hand. You know, whether it's a rotary cutter, chain saw, or whatever, snowblower, they're only as effective as the blades that they turn, and so it's really important to learn how to sharpen blades, learn how to sharpen your saws, even your hand saws, and learn how to sharpen your chain saw teeth. It's really to take on this challenge, and this in itself is a great experience that you can share with your kids by showing them, you know, this is the proper way to sharpen a chainsaw, this is the proper way to sharpen a handsaw. And by showing the difference between you know, a round file, a bump file, and a triangular file can really make a big difference on what tool that they grab when they go to do this on themselves. And in the end, maintaining sharper teeth on your saws and your cutting tools and maintaining sharper blades will help make sure that your machines cut faster, perform better, look cleaner, and in the end you'll save time and money. Plus if you know how to sharpen, it's a very valuable skill MH in doing and knowing how to sharpen something. You can take a look at something that appears to be broken down, but with a little bit of elbow grease can be sharpened and brought back to life in any way that you know that someone else might overlook it. So I don't Colin uh, Now you've got a little lawn mowing business on the side, and that will kind of take us into the fine size prepper project of the week. But before we do that, did you do you wanna do you have any questions or did you want to say anything about you know, the the education, trial and error or experimentation side of. This, not particularly It all makes sense. When all this stuff is things that that we do a lot together, and it's it's not really mind blowing information. It's not say anything that's gonna really, you know, take your kid to the next level, but it's definitely the type of thing to where, in comparison to the kids who don't know or understand, your own ability to do this will reshape their lives when it comes to being stranded on the stuck on the side of the road. And that kind of brings me to my last point before we get into the project. Is this idea of an overall inherent value. So when you have let's say that you've got a brand new fifty thousand or one hundred thousand dollars car, or maybe a ten thousand dollars side by side or whatever it is, and you go out there and it doesn't start, what is that piece of equipment worth all of a sudden, that thousand dollars beater or two thousand dollars beater that you've got stashed back in the back that you might have worked on once or twice and you know or that maybe you know what inside now that cheap hunk or jont has a whole new level of value. But that value is only there if you have taken the time to learn the skills required to maintain it and to change out parts to make it work, to make it function. That these skills that you learn and that you can teach will help years after they've been learned, as long as the principles are well established and conveyed, and you know, for example, say you're stuck on the side of the road, you know, ten years from now, if you're riding with someone who has no idea what their car is doing, or why it's making the sound it's making, or why it's doing what it's doing, you might have a little bit more information on your side because of something that you were shown when you were, you know, a kid. So it's it's definitely important to keep these in mind, even as simple as they are, to get going on them now, to introduce some of these mechanical side of things into your kid's lives. It's also good. It's a great way to establish the value of an object and how it's directly linked to the effort that you put into it. Not necessarily on the shine on the outside. It's what's inside those mechanical parts that make a big difference. So keep in mind what parts make up your motors and motorized equipment. In your household and treat them with respect and in turn they'll return a favor by always being there in times of need. And take the time to learn your own gear, learn how to take apart your equipment, learn how to put them back together, and include kids on that that act, even as simple as it may seem. So you know, with that, Colin, I think that's a good way to go into the pint sized Prepper project of the week. So, and I mentioned that you've got your own lawnmowing business on the side, and as part of that, obviously this lawnmowing tool is something that you know helps you make a little extra money on the side, You've got a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit and having that machine available and ready, we'll make the difference on whether or not you get that next job. So, with all the talk of mechanical monsters and the way you know this the sense of ability to bring something to life or keep it moving, I thought it'd be it would make sense for me to force Colin to change the oil and his mower and explain the maintenance aspect for those of you out there in internet radio land. Colin, do you want to go ahead and explain you know what you did and what you found, and you know what you learned in the process. Uh yeah, I mean, well what I learned was I don't think we've done a whole lot to our mow rather than sharpened the blades, because seeing like the air filter and the oil that it all seemed pretty dirty. But I just started at the top with the handles by like the pivot points on either side where that pull down thing, I don't know what it is, you like pull it down and rip the cord. Yeah, And I just oiled that with some like pv WD forty. And then I went down to the engine part and started by unplugging the spark plug to prevent any like injuries or explosions or electrocutions or anything like that. Yep. And then and then I started with the filter. So I took the filter cover off, and the filter itself was nasty. It was disgusting. Why it was because there was just like a bunch of fuzz and it was pretty much black. And for the sake of saving money, I didn't buy a new one because you can either just rinse it off or buy an one from you know, your brand of lawnmower like craftsmen. We have a craftsman. So I took it out and then rinsed it off, got all the big chunks of stuff off and let it air drive for a while. And in the meantime I wipe down the area that the filter the air filter sits on or sits in, like the cover and the inside and stuff like that. And then once it was done air drying, I put it back in and moved onto the oil, which was very simple. And I do want to say about the air filter, it's important to see or remember which way you put it in or took it out. But yeah, then I moved on to the oil. And it's as simple as just tipping it over and dumping the oil out through the spout. And you can do it from the bottom, but either way you're gonna have to tip it over. So I figure I just dump it out from the spout thing where you put the oil in. And then to prevent any gas links gas leaks when you tip it over, you can take like a plastic bag and put it over the gas hole part. You take the gas cap off and then put a plastic bag over the top and put the cat back on and then it's just like a temporary thing for the time being that you dump the oil out and then it creates kind of like a temporary gas ket sort of thing. It's yeah, and then you move onto the dipstick and you want to set it somewhere where it's clean. You don't want to put it in dirt or anything and tip them all over. And then you just you don't want the oil to get anywhere, so put it in a tub or something. And what you can do with the oil when you're done is put it in a gallon and then take it to like our recycling recycling place and they can recycle that. As told from one of the videos, I watch a couple of other tune up videos that I watched, and it does take a while for the gas to I mean not the gas, but the oil to drain out. So while it's on its side, you can scrape off the grass and stuff that gets stuck on the bottom. And then once it's done, you just take it back over, take your gasket off thing, your gasket thing off of the gas. And another thing you could do is the mower tire and you just take the mower off and get all the gunky stuff. Sometimes there's gears if there's a second lever on the handle to push it, so it's easy get a push, or if they're just threads, you just wipe it off. And then lastly you just wipe the entire mower down to get any leaves or dry grass out of the nooks and crannies to prevent any future problems things like that. So, I mean, it's just a minor tune up. But I didn't mention anything about putting oil back in simply because we're not going to be using our mower anymore. So it just didn't make sense to me to put oil back in the mower and then let it sit all winter. Oh so we'll just have to make sure to put oil in first time next year. Yeah, well, you know, and if you're if you know you're gonna be leaving it that way, that's fine. But this does bring up a good point. I mean, some of the skills and the mindset that you need to be able to carry on when you're doing this is that you know you for example, with a lawnmower, if you leave it low on fuel or low on oil, that's okay during the wintertime, but you'll need to make sure that when springtime comes around and you want to fire that baby back up, that you refill all the fluids and make sure that they've got good new fluid, because you don't want fuel sitting there all year round. It's to the motor and it can go bad and it could actually damage some of the components inside. And kind of like what we were talking before on those systems and how critical they are to making sure that you know it's it's working properly and the oils you know, through the system and like that, and just getting getting involved with taking on a simple maintenance task like that is is really important, and it's one of the most basic ways that you can introduce your own kids to mechanical preparedness. Now for added difficulty, kind of like Papy was saying, you can resonate. You can resurrect your own dilapidated mower and revive it with your kids. You know, you can get them cheap and fix them up off the side of the road road, and you know you have a much greater reward than a new shining machine that you know, just costs money because it's new. You know, heck, the must the rustier, the better go ahead and clean it up, and you know, instill those values now while you can. And if you want share some of your builds with us, I would we wouldn't mind seeing them here. You know, some of the skills and and ideas that are learned or encouraged here are that this is a even this little task is a kid friendly way to demonstrate the meaningful mechanical skills in life that are very very important to some of the things that we use every day maintenance and how some of these pieces of equipment have their own life systems. It also helps establish the effectiveness of you know, having equipment at the ready when you need it. And in some ways it's a great way to just get them involved and learn new vocabulary, like you know how to you know what the difference between some of the tools are and an air filter and where it goes and how it works and why it's important. So with that, let's move on to the final takeaway for today's show. Sometimes the scary monsters around us are as simple as something we don't understand. Maybe it's politics, maybe it's food or financial security. Just like any mysterious monster out there in the ether, mechanical savvy is something that can be either feared or conquered. What happens when that motor doesn't start when it's supposed to. It doesn't take much to understand these systems, but you have to be willing to get a little dirty and teaching some of these basic skills are as easy as playing legos, putting parts together, taking things apart, and repeating the whole process this. We've come a long way as a nation and as a species, with mechanical advantages way above what we had years and decades and centuries and eons ago. But even now without understanding how these things work, what difference is there between being someone who is, you know, in today's modern era, working on a piece of a machine that no one else knows how to use. When things do. Break down. Without understanding how things work, how can we rely on our own abilities when they break down? And trust me, they will break down. Are you prepared to make the fixes needed at a critical time? Are your kids prepared to understand the importance of these things and what they need to do to be mindful of them. Don't wait until you or they are stuck on the side of the road without power or whatever piece of equipment is working to perform basic tasks due to poor maintenance, junk parts, or cheap equipment. Teach your skills, your kids the skills, and make it fun, meaningful, and accessible. These little nudges today will make a big difference down the road when your kids open the hood and face a challenge head on instead of a scary monster that they are powerless to defeat. Lastly, in case you missed it, on last week's show, we had a special on Zombies Attack, which was one where we discussed the CDC comic book on Zombies and how they were able to ride out the zombie pop culture wave to spread a basic message of preparedness. It was a neat little tool, and if you missed it, check out our show on the show page. If you missed any of our shows, you can always check out previous episodes on the show page or on your favorite streaming service. But while you're there, be sure to leave us a five star review so that we can get more listeners and a greater following down the road. Next week, get ready for more monster skills that you can use to teach basic preparedness skills during the Halloween season. You won't want to miss out, so be sure to join us next time. That's it for today, everyone. Thanks for joining us on the Next Generation Show, and don't forget to tune in next Sunday, where we explore another aspect of the little things in life that make all the difference in the world. This is your host, Ryan Buford and your co host Colin reminding you to stay informed, get involved, and be prepared. Have a great night, everybody, and make it a great week. Today's broadcast has come to you through the courtesy of the Prepper Broadcasting Network. See our hosts, show schedules, and archive programs and more at Prepper broadcasting dot com. Thanks for listening.