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

    GETTING OUT DRIVING          PLANNING: PART V             After an event, a vehicle offers a number of positives from the amount of people and equipment it can carry to how fast it can get you to your safe haven. The negatives, however, have to be recognized and expected.             First the vehicle has to be gotten to. Rubble, fire or downed power lines may prevent this. Know how to open your garage door without power. (You can open one with an extension cord that runs to an inverter plugged into a car’s cigarette lighter, or if possible, manually.)             Then it has to be operational, having suffered no effects to prevent it from working, or being put back into operation quickly.             Next...

    GETTING OUT WALKING      PLANNING – PART IV             No matter how good of a safe haven your home is, your prepping should include a plan to quickly “bug out” (Get out of Dodge/ GOOD). This is because a number of after effects of an EVENT could negatively affect you. AN EMP or other power outage could cause the transformer down the street to blow and set fire to a neighbor’s house.             In the worst case you won’t have your vehicle due to any number of reasons.   This means a pack on your back and whatever else that you can grab and go with in the shortest time possible. Pre-packing will be of great help here. For some, a bicycle may be of use, but remember roads may be blocked or dangerous. The faster you can get away the better.             If you are going from wo...

    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...