Sometimes there will be an incident that will make someone question the degree of their preps. Over the past month, there have been a couple of events here on the farm that made me do just that.

I thought my first aid supplies were decent enough to handle most minor emergencies. That was until one of my dogs was run over by a car, and another dog came home with a deep gash in his shoulder. My first aid supplies were based on farm accidents, like when my leg was cut with a chainsaw.

Beau (short for Beauregard), the dog that was run over, suffered a broken leg, which was X-rayed, set, and splinted at the vet’s office. The wrapping around the splint was replaced a couple of times over the past three weeks. As I write this, he is halfway to the six-week mark. Replacing the wrappings helped me find gaps in my first aid supplies. I need a better selection of gauze in the stockpile.

Ellis came home Sunday with a gash in his shoulder. The injury was not life-threatening, and bleeding had stopped on its own. The injury was in the front of his shoulder. It looked as if he’d had something cornered, like a small pig, and it had charged Ellis.

While bandaging Ellis, I noticed there was a size gap between my largest self-adhesive band-aids and the bandages. So I need to get some smaller bandages and maybe some larger band-aids.

Then there are the gauze rolls. I need a better selection in size and length of gauze.

Something else I need are butterfly stitches. I usually use superglue or something like duct tape to seal a wound, but on Ellis, I felt neither were appropriate.

What does all this mean?

It means my dogs getting injured was a learning experience. The accidents put my first aid preps to the test, gaps were spotted, and they will be filled.

However, it’s not just first aid.

Power outages can be used to test various prepping plans.

Guests can provide an idea about using your home as a bug out location. Where will everyone sleep? How will meals be prepared?

Take your prepping plans, put them to a test, observe, and fill in the gaps.