Posted on 09/04/2015 2:37:11 PM PDT by Kartographer
Real world prep. :)
Not all disasters are group events, this particular one only applies to me. It's good to have the setup and the skills.
/johnny
You, and most folks on this forum, are in the minority of Americans who realize this fact. There is an article out there about one of our illustrious Senators (who was on the finance committee) calling his wife the night before the 2008 financial crisis and desperately telling her to drain each debit card for as much as the ATMs would give her.
Interesting. Did you buy a kit to convert your Generac portable to natural gas.
Interesting. Did you buy a kit to convert your Generac portable to natural gas.
I’ve been concerned lately about preparedness for pets, and I wonder if there have been any threads about this.
I have two cats, who mainly eat dry food. (We give them canned stuff as a treat now and then, but they largely don’t like it. They are rescues, raised from weaning on dry food.) I know that cats can’t live for long on ‘people food’, so I’ve been trying to find out if I can vacuum pack the dry stuff for long-term storage, and how long it will last.
I also have two pigeons and a little sparrow. The sparrow eats dry cat food soaked in water (I’ve fed all my sparrow rescues on this, and they’ve lived phenomenally past their normal lifespans; so even though cat food is a little ‘high test’ for a bird, I’m not changing what has proven to work.)
The pigeons eat a typical pigeon or dove food, which actually comes vacuum packed; and I’m not too worried about the long-term storage of that.
Any thoughts as to how others are handling this would be greatly appreciated.
-JT
That’s so true. Often we have things happen just to us for which the preps are so very good to have. I’m glad that you are still able to manage on your own. You have a great attitude and spirit. Best wishes. Hope you get to feeling better.
Window air conditioners go on sale this time of year and will be cheaper next month. They can save a marriage when power goes down. I have a 3000 watt construction generator which I used for ten days after a hurricane cut power in the midatlantic some years ago. I alternated the fridge and window AC and my wife didn’t leave me.
I’ve been looking at green houses. Don’t know much about them, but here’s a link for starters.
If SHTF bad enough, they are on their own.
They will get turned out before I miss a meal.
Sorry to be harsh about it, but human life counts more than catz.
/johnny
And yet we are sky is falling chickens to many even more than a few FReepers.
An event at my grocery store
A severe storm came through my town last night and it knocked out power in my local grocery store for a bit. This was no big deal, as it has happened before. There was, however, a bigger problem we discovered very quickly: The credit and debit no longer worked, and checks couldn’t be used. Foodstamps and WIC did not work either.
Coincidentally, there was a rush of people in the store at this same time, and the lines began to clog very fast. People in line joked about how anyone ever did this 100 years ago, things like that. Everyone figured the glitch would be ironed out momentarily. Since nothing else worked, those people who were stuck were forced to use the store ATM that would charge them to withdraw money. They weren’t happy but they got in line and started to get the cash they needed.
Until the ATM froze up. Now the fake smiles and annoyed chatter had disappeared and reality struck for a lot of people, they had no way to access their money, they had no way to pay for their food. Those who unloaded their carts were completely stuck and the ones waiting in line didn’t want to give up their spot to go to the bank. People became vocal very quickly.
http://sgtreport.com/2012/06/an-event-at-my-grocery-store/
Well, I think it’s appropriate - and a duty - to at least plan for them, as far as one can. That was the sort of suggestion that I was looking for.
-JT
I’ve gotten a couple people to do some thinking about prepping.
My sister and a friend of mine. We just got to talking about what an economic collapse might entail, and I kind of casually mentioned having enough stuff like toilet paper and some canned goods around would be helpful to get through a few weeks of inconvenience.
After all, I reasoned, a months worth of stuff wouldn’t take up that much space and you can always use it later if you don’t need it right away.
It’d be better than going hungry.
They agreed and were going to look into it.
Nobody is going to be turned into a hard core prepper over night but I figure if you can get them thinking enough to do SOMETHING, they’ll be better off than otherwise.
It isn’t solar or wind, but this is something which is a possible consideration:
http://pedalpowergenerator.com/
Yes I did. Got it from US Carb. Google up their Tri Fuel conversion kit. Installation too about 30 minutes.
L
My brother is executor of my estate, so I gave him permission to walk away from them after making a good-faith effort to find them a home.
Getting the extra time to tie up loose ends has been a blessing in some ways.
Being prepped is about more than just the physical body and Top Ramen. Spiritual preps are more important, IMHO. ;)
/johnny
Under Things Nobody Ever Thinks About:
My prepper philosophy is to think, what did people do before modern conveniences? I do that, with a few modern tweaks whenever possible.
Things like toilet paper, paper towels, disposable diapers are modern inventions. In a long term emergency, they WILL run out. Normalcy bias makes us assume we’ll always have these things. When we don’t, hygiene suffers. An inability to safely wipe our butts can be life threatening.
Washable, re-useable cloth backups are imperative, for yourself and for barter. Plus a way to wash and sterilize these cloths.
Wallyworld and Dollar stores sell bundles of terry cloth washcloths, about $4 for a pack of 20. Twenty dollars buys 100, which should last 1 person 2 or 3 weeks, being used in place of toilet paper, although washing should happen every day. I’ve got a few hundred stashed.
When washing, keep separate from those used as regular bath washcloths.
I’ll use the colored ones for bathing and save the plain white ones for t.p. substitutes. Understand, these are backups, not to be used UNLESS the supply of t.p. runs out.
A covered diaper pail placed in the outhouse, to hold the used cloths. The cloths can be washed right in the pail, using clean water and strong bleach, and air dried. More than one diaper pail is a good idea.
I have a old timey galvanized washtub for bathing self and washing clothes.
A clothesline and pins are necessary. If no outdoor clothesline is possible, a foldable wood rack costs about $12—$20. These items are absolutely necessary, lest you drape your clothes on shrubbery to dry. When the grid goes down, your electric dryer will not work.
I’ve purchased a few bundles of cloth diapers, pins, and rubber pants, in case of need, or for barter. Babies don’t wait until a disaster is over to be born. In Katrina, people were looting, killing and getting killed while searching for diapers. In the shelter in Baton Rouge I saw a mother coming in, holding a baby without any diaper, just poopy all over. Normalcy bias: people accustomed to disposable diapers hadn’t even thought of improvising by tying a t-shirt and plastic bag on the child’s bottom.
Bleach is needed to purify drinking water, but also to sterilize cloths and surfaces. Now is a good time to get in practice of making your own bleach by the gallon, using calcium hypochlorite.
Put 25%bleach/75% water in a spray bottle and get in the habit of using it everywhere, especially cooking surfaces. This is a money-saver anyway. Who needs $5 cleaning products that don’t even kill germs?
I’m also weaning myself from paper towels. I keep a few rolls, for now, but don’t even try to stockpile them. Too expensive. Instead, I’m buying bundles of cloth dishcloths, wrapping them in plastic bags, and storing them.
Stackable refillable 1-gallon Ozarka water bottles.
5-gallon Primo water bottles.
Both size bottles are easily transportable to a water source, even if on foot, and once filled, won’t be too heavy to transport back with wagon or wheelbarrow.
Several dolphin water pumps that fit the 5-gallon bottles.
Calcium hypochlorite.
The 5-gallon waters with pumps can be placed where needed, near cooking, washing, bathing areas in the house or camp.
A couple of Coleman solar camp showers. The galvanized tub goes underneath, outside. In winter, the tub comes inside and the water is heated in a kettle in the fireplace.
An Ov-glove (as seen on TV!) is good to grab the hot kettle.
Also, I’ve got at least a dozen hand-crank can openers.
Don’t forget to buy a good whetstone, to keep your knives and tools sharp.
Extra WD-40, gas stabilizer, and tire slime.
There is a 14-gallon gas container ON WHEELS with a hose and pump. Not cheap, but great to have.
I won’t pay $85 for a 30 day prepper bucket. Not enough food to last me 30 days; it’ll be et up in a week. I’ll get a lot more meals /calories for $85 if I fill my own bucket, but it still wouldn’t last 30 days. Think about it. When you buy groceries, does $85 buy 90 meals with coffee? And a bucket with lid?
The 5 gallon paint buckets from hardware stores are food grade plastic, if they are marked HDPE with 2 in a triangle. They only cost $3 or $4. The regular lids only cost a couple dollars more. The special airtight lids are about $10 each and can be ordered online. They fit on the $4 food-grade paint buckets from the hardware store.
Pathmark grocery stores (NJ, PA, DE, MD mostly) got bought by Acme. Everything was heavily discounted, starting at 40% at store in my area. Last 2 days, not much but 80% off. Filled the storage shelves and added some First Aid stuff. Picked up two disposable grills foe a buck each.
Store looks like Venezuela; but surprisingly, plenty of condoms left. Also had to check expiration dates; there was a lot of past due stuff.
I work with very seasoned small engine mechanics and they all agree that Generac is inferior.
Thank you very much.
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