WELCOME TO OUR WEEKLY EDITION FOR FRIDAY AUGUST 14th, 2020

 

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 look around your little world and see no reason why your normal “grid” of water, food, shelter, first aid/hygiene, power, finance or police/fire or other protection could ever be disrupted for even a day, then we are not going to persuade you to prep

We are here for the Average Ann and Andy who for whatever reason have decided they want to do some kind of level of prepping, but don’t know where to start, and are getting buried under a ton of BS by those who want to sell them everything in the world.

We sell no products, we have no sponsors and we don’t make a dime from this. So we can be as honest as we can and show you that prepping does NOT take a lot of time, space, money or effort. It fact, in many ways it can be fun. You may enjoy gardening, or find making your own jerky or pickles of interest.

So let’s kick things off once more for all those who want to prep and need to get ideas on how to start.

 

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PREPPER AND A SURVIVALIST?

A prepper preps to keep things normal until the normal comes back.

 A survivalist makes ready to keep things normal until a new normal can be established because the old one isn’t coming back.

 

 THE BASICS:  PART I

            If you are the Average Ann or Andy, you go to some kind of job, make some level of money (probably never enough LOL!) from which you pay for the means to live. (That is your water, food, shelter, etc.)

These “means” come to you by various providers (utility companies, grocery stores, etc.) who in turn are the end points on a long chain of those who grow, gather, or otherwise create what you need. This is assisted by a banking system to keep things running, medical systems to take care of health, and protection for it all from police and fire departments.

            In short, this is your “grid”. While some wish to willingly live “off the grid”, and I say more power to them, most folks, including us here, don’t. I like my a/c, heat, running water, etc. But while I don’t want to live “off the grid” I DO want to live when the grid goes off.

            That is what I see as the main goal of prepping, to be able to maintain some kind of average, normal life if all or some of the normal grid is gone for some period of time.

            While what knocks you off the grid is important, I feel TOO much emphasis has been placed on the more “doomsday” events and such things as “zombies”, or political beliefs and not enough on the more common and likely probabilities. After all , a tornado, hurricane or flood doesn’t care if you are a redneck, wear a white collar or in a blue state.

            Let’s start with a look around your world using what we call the “seven sisters of survival”.   These are water, food, shelter, medical, power, money and security.

To start off, you need water. How do you get it normally? In most cases, the average person gets their water from some water company through the faucet. This can be affected by water main breaks, or some kind of contamination. Currently the entire area of Flint, Mich. has a contaminated water supply. This has also happened in a number of places caused by chemical spills or runoff into reservoirs. So what do you do if they announce you can’t drink the water for an unknown time?

Now let’s talk food. This is more complex because you not only need the food itself, but the means to keep it fresh and to cook it. That also means you have to be able to get to a store that has food and use money or cards to purchase what you need. Ever see a store stripped because of an oncoming storm?  How much food do you have right now? How much is non-perishable? How do you cook it?  Are you “married to the microwave”?

Shelter can vary with each person, from an apartment in a complex in a major city to a house on land in the country. If your shelter is damaged, can you make it livable for the moment by use of tarps, ropes and other means?   Do you have temporary shelter you can set up, or another place to go? All it takes is a chemical spill, gas leak or major fire to cause you to leave your home. Are you ready to dash or dig in to stay?

Medical covers a host of areas, including basic sanitation. What do you do if you can’t use the toilet; wash your dishes, or clothes? What medications you need? What if you are injured by the event? Do you have a first aid kit? Do you know how to use it? Don’t count on EMT’s as there may be no way to reach them or them to get to you and they may be dealing with more serious cases. Can you handle your medical needs right now?

Power generally covers electricity but may in some cases include gas of some form. This is your light and refrigeration and probably your heating and a/c along with how you cook food. It is one of the most important and at the same time the most vulnerable. No, you don’t need some terrorist act to take the electrical grid down; simply a bad storm of some kind can do it. In some cases a car hitting a pole can knock out power for hours. Can you stay warm in winter, or protect your food in the freezer in summer if the power goes out?  Will you able to cook or even eat without it? Do you even have one working flashlight you can find?

Money makes the system work. It is a means of exchange. Today, however, most stores need card systems up and running to be able to sell you anything if you have no cash on hand, even if they have their registers operating off some emergency generator. Also small stores and shops may operate more on a cash basis. Many of us have little cash on hand however. What about you? What’s in your home, piggy bank, or pocket?

Security refers somewhat to the police, but also to your personal situation. Where do you live and work? Is it a good or bad area? How far are you from bad areas? How are your passive   (locks, doors, windows) security measures? What are you moral feelings about defending your home and family when the police can’t be called or may be too overwhelmed to help you? What could you do, or use to protect yourself? (This includes blocking doors with furniture, or having pepper spray)

So now, what will you do and how are you affected if you lose your power for an hour, your water for a day, your entire grid for a week?

While there are NO “one size fits all” answers, there are basic guidelines we will go over as we explore as many of the aspects we can. We will look at these subjects from the standpoint of the Average Ann and Andy, plain folks who don’t have a lot of money, land or time, people who go to work each day and may have to face events away from home.

It can seem overwhelming and it isn’t simple, but it’s nothing the average person can’t deal with. If you want to put an ace up your sleeve in case of an emergency, if you want to try to have a fighting chance if things go wrong, we will try to help you all we can with what we have learned and what others have shared with us.

 

 

 THE BASICS: PART II

WHEN IT’S PERSONAL

Official type emergency handbooks and such from FEMA, the Red Cross, and other such sources use general guidelines for most situations. They also concentrate the most on natural disasters, and stick to the common basics.

Some “survival and prepper” sites stick to country/worldwide, Level III “apocalyptic” type events such as solar flares, EMP’s, epidemics, economic, governmental, or general societal collapse, and the old standard, zombies. 

You, however, should take a look at your own personal situation and try to access the threats to you and your loved ones. True, many of those listed above could affect you, but there are some others that are more likely for your area.

As far as the natural disasters, I live in an area that has very little chance of a major earthquake. With my home here at the foot of the mountain, the terrain makes a tornado much less likely, but still reasonably possible. I am also sufficiently high up from the valley below so that the direct effects from the river flooding could not reach me.

But, I am in the “snow belt”. Ice storms can bring down lines here. Artic cold, like we had this winter, can affect the normal grid in dangerous ways. Snow can reach blizzard levels, blocking roads and taking down lines. It also causes icy roads, which can lead to crashes taking down power lines that may take days to fix due to the bad weather.

We also can see lines come down from summer storms, or the side effects of hurricanes or tropical storms. Heavy rains could affect the reservoirs with their run off. Also, with the forest only a hundred yards or so from our front door a wild fire could be a threat.

Then there are the man made threats. There is a nuclear plant some 30 miles or so away from us that could cause us to evacuate. We are generally on the flight path to a fair sized airport. A crash could start fires that could burn up the neighborhood or the forest.

You should also keep in mind about getting caught in the secondary effects of an event. This is what we call RAGE, the Relative Area of Grid Effects. Simply put, you could be in between the area, such as with us, the flooded out valley below, and where the grid is operating normally.  In turn, this could cause your personal “grid” to be affected from annoyance level to a major problem.

What causes the event is important towards what you need to be able to deal with it. But, the general rule of thumb is to be able to be cut off from the grid and exist on your own little island until things get back to normal.

So look around and think about the kind of threats that are specific for your area in order of most to least likely. Next up we will talk about threats you can see coming (floods, etc.) and those that come out of nowhere (water main breaks, loss of electricity, etc.).

Later we’ll talk of what to do if you are at work when things get bad, because as the average Ann and Andy knows there is always that boss who says that there is no problem and you can come to work and you can’t afford to lose the job.

 

PLANNING:  PART I          SURVIVING THE EVENT

 

            Whether it is natural or man-made, you have to survive the initial event or it is game over. In many cases, however, survival comes down to sheer luck or God’s grace, whichever you believe in. A tornado may make a direct hit on you, an earthquake could drop the building on you, or an airliner could come down on you. In short, you might just be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

            There are ways to put the odds in your favor. An easy way is to know where to run to in the building you work in where it would be safer in during an earthquake or tornado, or at the least the closest thing to duck under (desk, etc.). Standing by a large window won’t cut it, but may cut you. Knowing escape routes in case of fire, or other emergencies will also help.

            On the harder side is moving to safer areas of the country. With jobs and the economy, this is a luxury few can afford, but it should be considered if possible. No area is immune, but some areas, such as the one I live in, have a less than 10% chance of tornado and earthquake, and zero chance of flooding. There are still other risks, but they are generally less than most areas. Unfortunately, this area has a very bad economy.

            While living and working in a major city area can offer more and better paying jobs, the costs are usually more, and they stand higher risks of being targets for terrorists, and for urban unrest, riot, looting and disruption, especially if anything disrupts the normal grid for any period of time.

            There is also a lot of information available on simple basic prepping, once you separate the BS and hype. I had a prepper friend over for lunch today and they brought me a prepping book published in 1977 that did NOT have anything on guns or camo outfits, but plenty of information on stocking your pantry.  (I checked and the book, The Beginner’s Guide to Family Preparedness, is available on EBay for about $5.00 used. I also recommend Kathy Harrison’s book Just in Case)                                                 

            The choice is yours.

 

THE 3 OPTIONS      PLANNING – PART II

 

            You have now survived whatever the event was. If you have not been scooped up by the authorities, such as police or National Guard, and still have freedom of action you have three basic options from here.

1.)   GET BACK   Also called Boogie Back, Bounce Back or Return to Home (RTH) this means to get back home from where you are at, be it work, school, shopping , or in the worst case, on vacation. This is where having a pre-packed bag of some sort will be a life saver.

 

2.)   GET OUT    Also called Get Out of Dodge (GOOD) or a “bug out”, this is where you can’t safely stay where you are. This may have been part of your plan, or have been forced upon you by the situation. You may have to try and get from work to your home to shelter there as planned, or once there, get your gear and head to your safe haven. You may have your GO kits together or may have to go with what you have.

 

 

3.)   STAY PUT   Also called “hunkering down” or “Sheltering in Place” (SIP), this might mean your home, a safe haven you have gotten to, or the job site, shopping center or school where you are at. In the last case, hopefully you have some kind of basic items with you.

 

We will examine the different aspects of each of these options, and as always, are open to new ideas and suggestions.

 

GET BACK      PLANNING - PART III

 

            You are at work and survive when an event hits, but you need to get to your safe haven, whether it is your home, or another location.

            First, you should have planned a route to get you out of the business area of town and into the countryside as fast as possible, especially avoiding any known bad areas. This may NOT be the route you take to work as highways may be destroyed or blocked. Plan a number of alternate routes.

            Second, get out of the area as FAST as you can. Within an hour the “bad folk” are going to come slithering out to loot and rob.

            Third, have some basic gear you can grab and go with.  A backpack would be nice, but many jobs either forbid such items for security reasons or have little place to securely stow them. You can keep one in the car trunk, but you can’t count on getting to the car. The alternative is a “lunch bag” kit. Get a good sized, but harmless looking bag with extra pockets on it to carry a “last ditch” kit which would hold various sized, heavy duty Ziploc bags or a roll up water bag or two with water purification tablets (water) energy bars (food) a mini flashlight, a disposable lighter,  a small pocket knife, , a mini first aid kit, a  small cloth carrying bag or a fold up back pack, a poncho and a Mylar foil blanket(shelter). You can keep packs of tissues and mints in your desk drawer, and have a Para cord bracelet, a P-38 mini can opener and pepper spray ( where legal) on your key ring. Fill you Ziploc or water bags with water before leaving and put them in your cloth bag or folding back pack to carry. (An example of such a bag is one I got at Home Depot for $1.)

NOW HIT THE ROAD, JACK AND DON’T LOOK BACK

 

If you like what you read here, help us reach others. We ask you please to share what we offer if you think others will benefit from it.

Thank You,

Poor Richard and Mama Donna.