Poor Richard's and Mama Donna's Prepping for Plain Folks

  WHEN THE NEWS CREWS LEAVE             An individual posted on Facebook a while back about how people in Iowa were without power from storms the week before and how this seemed no longer “newsworthy”?   The news crews from the national media had left. The problems hadn’t. Does anyone believe that all the areas affected have their normal grid back? Maybe most have water and sanitation, and the roads are clear enough to get to stores and such that are operating, and maybe even most of the area have electrical power. But some still don’t. It may be a few days or it may be a week or so more before the basics of the grid is back. Meanwhile, people are driving long distances to bring home foods that don’t need refrigeration or a lot of cooking. Do they know what to get? How far do they have to travel to find stores not stripped of goods? Now, after the hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast, you’ll have this happen in a few days. Th...

TELL US HOW IT REALLY WAS If you lost the “grid” during the hurricanes in Florida or the blackouts in California, we’d like to hear from you. Tell us what you lost, how you got through and, especially, how long it took for the different parts of the grid to be restored. How long before you had water, sanitation, food, power, police, fire, medical and any other aspects. Too many people believe that “someone “will be there in two days or so to “take care of them”.   Let’s hear how it really was after the TV crews left.   FROM THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN: THINGS IN COMMON I don’t care if you are a white collar, red neck, or in a blue state, we all have some things in common. Most of us get our water from the tap by way of some water company directly (home owners) or indirectly (renters).   We shop some kind of store, or stores for our food. We are on some kind of sewer system. We rely on some kind of local medical center and ambulances. We get our electricity throug...

  My wife, Mama Donna, doesn't really think of herself as a Prepper, but she possesses a lot of the basic ideas and skills. She can crochet outfits and sweaters, cook up a storm and can scratch bake like you wouldn't believe. She doesn't get into firearms, but she'll let fly with the 12 gauge shotgun or anything else we have if someone breaks in.   But, tell her to put on camo or sleep in a tent, and she'll laugh at you. The idea of her with a combat knife in her hand is like a politician admitting they are wrong. But tell her she needs to help defend her home or get us all to safety, and she'll be there to do all she can in her own way. I introduced her to prepping slowly, starting off by showing her how little things work together to build up our supplies and how we could do it a few dollars at a time. With yard sales, “two can” buying and sales on everything from aspirin to flashlights, we have put together what we have. She saw our water supplies be stoc...

  WE WELCOME ALL OUR NEW READERS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO HAVEN’T PREPPED YET OR MAY HAVE JUST STARTED THINKING ABOUT IT. If you are reading this page for the first time please read our ABOUT section to avoid any confusion. Here’s the short version. If you are looking for babes with guns, camo commandos, zombie hunters, political rants, racial hate ideas, or quasi-religious doomsday stories:   LOOK ELSEWARE!         We put together plain, simple information on how to prep for storms, disasters and other possible threats so the average Ann and Andy can prepare with the least cost in time, space, effort and money.   WE’RE NOT GOING TO SCARE YOU. If you need images of incoming nuclear missiles or some kind of apocalypse (pick your own flavor, there are plenty out there in video games and movies) to get you to think about prepping, I’m sure you can find many sites, pages or whatever who will give you plenty. We don’t. If you can loo...