Posted on 08/24/2013 5:52:29 AM PDT by Kartographer
You can have all equipment ready for SHTF, ammo, weapon, gear… you can even be perfectly good trained in lot of different skills and fields and still when SHTF you can end up dead in the first days just because you what i call „refuse to believe“ whats happening.
It is that state of mind when man simple do not want (or not able) to comprehend new situation.
It can be one quick life threatening situation like folks attacking your home and you just waited few seconds too long to shoot some attacker, and then you are dead, end of the story. Or it can be whole process of failing to recognize new world around you and new rules (or absence of rules) and then again you just not doing correct things for the situation, and again you end up dead.
Example would be that when SHTF you are trying desperately to have and use power generator and light all rooms in your houses just because it mean normal life for you. And that normal life is gone, and trying to bring it back in that situation usually means more troubles.
Holding onto all comforts and behavior you are used to can be dangerous.
To make long story short, what I am trying to say is that you may be trained and equip like SEAL member and still you can be killed easily from some 70 years old dude, with even older rifle just because you were surprised when SHTF with amount of destruction and violence and you did not seen that old dude coming (or being so evil).
(Excerpt) Read more at shtfschool.com ...
My ‘pink mittens’ is a steaming mug of Earl Grey Tea. I just purchased several boxes in anticipation of what is now at the door.
I agree! Lots to think about and digest on a personal level.
He is Bosnian - English is second language - he is a paramedic.
If power went off when it is dark outside, what is the first thing to do so you don't freeze and do nothing, wasting valuable time? First thing to do is get rid of the dark. I have a battery lantern on the floor next to my chair. If power goes off when dark, reach down and grab lantern, punch button, and get rid of dark.
Next thing to do is security. Make sure house is secure from anyone coming in - make sure doors front and back are locked and extra security turned on. For me, that is battery powered vibration alarm on front window and front door is secure with heavy duty BuddyBar under door knob so door can't be kicked open, plus activate movement alarm under door. Make sure battery motion alarm is activated for backyard and activate vibration alarm on back glass door. Then, check defense weapons making sure they are ready to use and close at hand.
From there, I put “comfort” together. If water is out, hang water filled camp showers at kitchen sink and bathroom sinks and in shower. Now, I have running water when there is no running water. Running water is valuable to keep up morale.
I continue like this until preps are ready to use - this is the new normal. It's as close to normal as I can get using substitutes for what was lost.
The other thing I do is mental practice. Develop a situation in my mind and mentally practice the first thing to do and next steps in that situation. If such a situation happens, I know what to do quickly.
We are going to talk about coping after an earthquake or power outage at the next Oath Keeper’s meeting in September. I want to talk about water, because people don’t realized how important it is, and how hard it can be to acquire. And, it think I’ll read this article, too.
WaterBob, 100 gallons of your good water in food grade container in your bathtub with pump to get it out when you want it. Cheapest price at “Cheaper Than Dirt” on the web.
Plastic kiddie pools to put out to gather rain water.
Insert in downspout to divert rain water into 55 gal. water barrel. Put an inset in every downspout and have water barrel for each one. Purify it with a Berkey.
Big Berkey to purify any water, even water in a ditch. Use regular coffee filters to get out as much dirt as possible, then run that water through a Berkey and there is pure water.
Water from trees: Tie plastic bags on limbs of trees and condensation will drip water into plastic bag.
Locate any public swimming pool around you. Take kids wagon with empty containers and get water from that swimming pool and run it through a Berkey. If you have a car to get there, won't need wagon to carry the containers.
A Freeper back in April posted about getting emergency water when in a town. An office building or other buildings, mainly large ones, have an enclosed faucet on the side or back of the building so workers on the landscaping can get to water. It requires a Sillcock key to access that water.
I got a four way one (need four way to make sure have one that fits that building faucet lock) on Amazon and it's $5.93. If that is in your car, you will always be able to get water in a town. If water goes off, there will still be water in that pipe due to gravity in the building. That water could get you back home if you are caught in an emergency while not at home. Put the key in the car and put a water container in the car. Maybe a collapsible water container would be a good one to have in the car.
Here is the link to the key I got:
Good article. Of course, it all depends on what the SHTF case is. Earthquake, CWII, anarchy, and how widely distributed.
The civil war began very early on the kansas and missouri border. So there may very well be signs. I do expect that if the Financial system implodes, the us dollar is no longer the global currency that it is today, that things in the cities will be very bad, if people no longer get the benefits they are used to, and are actually starving.
People in rural cities and the surrounding areas/farms are more likely to be able to react in a way that is conducive to survival. I sort of grew up in 2 cultures. One was modern the other was not. Doing without modern conveniences is no big deal to me.
On my grand parents farm, as well as their home in a very small town(so small the one street was chat)we had an outhouse, and no running water. We had no well, and hauled water to drink from a neighbor’s well.
However we had a cistern, and used that for washing. We also knew how to make that water potable if we had to. We did have electricity and box fans. During the heat waves we sometimes took the bed outside and slept under the stars.
We did not have any trouble keeping clean. A cup of water from the tea kettle with a little cooler added into a basin, combined with a bar of soap was called a “spit bath” and was required before retiring for the night, especially for the feet. Frequent handwashing during the day and before eating was also necessary.
During the summer we had showers out doors only used about a gallon of water daily at the most. During the winter we had the Saturday night bath in a galvinised tub set up in the middle of the kitchen with sheets hung up for privacy. No TV, no computer, and no phones-which were all dumb anyway.
We had a chamber pot with lid which Granny emptied every morning. Gardens, milk cows, pigs, wild edibles provided more than enough food. Frequent outages of electricity when we used oil lamps and hung wash rags around the nect to counter act the heat.
Clothes washed by hand or on wringer washer in town. Well, you get the picture. And the neighbors were the same. Some had more modern convenience than others.
I can go back, and am fairly prepared to do so. I have some stores of stuff in case of bad weather or earthquakes. But mostly I have brushed up on old time skills. How to provide for me and mine if there should be a long term disaster when goods might not be available at any price.
Remember the price controls of the Nixon/Carter years and the gasoline lines at filling stations? Skills are available to learn, and most you can practice now.
I started growing my own food, mostly to provide good quality food without unknown pesticide residue or E coli on my lettuce and stuff. I used to can, now I am doing it again to brush up my skills and stock my pantry at the same time.
I have books that tell how to make soap, make your own yeast, smoke hogs etc. Looking at statistics for my state, lots of folks are gardening and doing things to provide more for families.
We live in a socially conservative area with lots of Christians, Evangelicals, and Catholics. I expect less trouble here than we would get elsewhere. Most people do have guns and the guys have a tradition of skipping school to go hunting.
I always have extra seeds. If SHTF I will plant extra to share with neighbors, and also give them extra seeds to use for their own gardens. We don’t destroy dandelions in our yard or any other edibles. So there’s lots of forage just on our property, that many people won’t even know about.
We don’t expect to be bombed out of the 21st century, since we have nothing important around us, and no strategic transportation routes. We prepare first for the most likely scenarios, and then for the unexpected. Que Sera Sera. What will be will be, but we will be as prepared as possible.
It won’t be a walk in the park, but our ancestors survived trips in covered wagons, raids by indians, and civil war to name a few. Americans in the Red States will survive, I have no doubt.
I want to get one of those keys. Other than that, as I live wherever I can park in my 1973 Winnebago, I was thinking more along the lines of how to take a shower with a spray bottle/ today’s rinse water is tomorrow’s wash water is flush water the day after that kind of stuff.
“take a shower with a spray bottle”
I’d get a camp shower as it has a small shower head on the end of the tube and a cut off valve to stop the flow. Get wet with the shower, cut it off, apply soap and scrub. Turn shower back on to rinse. Yes, you could save the water used and use it again for whatever.
You can also put the camp shower in the sun and have hot water. It gets so hot, check the water before you shower or wash dishes using it, you could burn yourself.
All so true Marcella, and in addition, we have a well. Got a little bucket that can be used to bring up water. Have never needed to use it in spite of days of power outages, but might need to some day and it was less than 30 bucks.
Hubby has skills to rewire well pump to generator to fill holding tank. This will not take long. Hot water heater has lots of extra water. We keep some water on hand for drinking.
When electricity goes out, we go ahead and fill up additional pitchers of water, before someone forgets and flushes the toilets. We are on areator/septic tank. We have bedside portable john from medical supply that we used when Dad was sick.
We have water in barrels from roof runoff, and are setting up a swimming pool. We have the supplies, filters, and know how to turn this all potable. Mostly we keep it for reserve against drought to use to water the garden. When the swimming pool is full we will have more than 4000 gallons available, that will be renewed every time it rains.
Shelter, Water, Food, Security, Hygiene. These are the big five. Just pretend you are transported back in time to the 1600’s. How did they live? We have more stuff today to make survival possible, but even if we didn’t we can survive. Give some thought to long term survival and replacement of those preps everyone has or is stocking. When it is gone-what then?
All we need is skills, prayer and ATTITUDE. DON NOT DESPAIR our ancestors survived without any modern conveniences. We are all capable of living through tough times. PREPERATION makes it easy. SKILLS are just as important as preps, so don’t forget the skills.
You and I have compared how it was in the old days with parents and grandparents. I have prepared to go midway back to those times. That is one reason why I didn’t go to generators as I knew fuel would run out - that is too modern to last. So, I went to solar panel (sun has a reputation for always being there as fuel) and rechargeable batteries to last for at least more than a year. If all that goes down, I have enough jar candles to last a year. Will always have fuel for the rocket stove after I run out of a year’s worth of canned heat for heating/cooking.
With the long term food I have stored, the growing of veggies on my deck, (thanks to you, Johnny, and others on the gardening thread) will get done and extend the long term food, for which I figure also more than a year. Using the heirloom seeds from plants I plant, will assure seeds forever if I keep those plants growing.
I have done this over a number of years, it didn’t get done all in a day. I made prepping mistakes over the years and learned not to do that again.
And don’t forget the NSA, now you’re both screwed. :-)
I have one due to husband being sick.
I fretted over storing gobs of toilet paper because I don't have the room for it. Gave myself a pat on the back for thinking of flushable wet potty wipes instead of toilet paper. Have enough for four people for a year in a not big box - think it was around $40-50 for all of those. That is better for cleaning than just toilet paper.
Heat a little water, put into can, add some cooler water till temp and water level is right. Clean face first: wet hands and soap and lather up, use washrag to rinse. Then lather up and do rest of body using hands or wash rag.
Then use the watering can to rinse off. You can attach it to the shower stall and tip it to stand under the sprinkling water. Or you can get a significant other to help rinse you off.
I have had no trouble just picking it up and using it with out it being attached. I have also used it on my grandkids during power outages.
The water collected in the tub you are standing in may be used for many purposes. For sanitary reasons it should be used within 24 hours. Use it to flush toilets, water the garden, or even wash clothes.
When I first got married and had no money for laundromat and no money to buy a washer. I used my big water bath canner. Filled it with water,bleach,and detergent on top of the clothes, and brought the water to boiling.
Let it simmer a while, then dumped it into the sink. Used a plunger I kept just for the wash and plunged every thing, and then sloshed each piece up and down and scrubbed spots if any before wringing it out by hand and putting in the other side of the sink for rinsing. Then I rinsed everything twice, and hung them outside on the line. Freshest laundry ever.
Put dishpans in the sink(s) and you can capture all your wash/rinse water for further use in flushing etc. The boiling hot soapy water will be useful for mopping and save some elbow grease as it's very hot. Rinse the floor with a little vinegar water-you’ll have pretty sanitary conditions without a bunch of non available chemical cleaners.
Don't use the bleach water to water your plants. However, you can dilute it enough to use to wash off the leaves and kinda cure fungus on the plant.
If you have more than one batch of laundry you can use the rinse water to replenish the wash water, and add a little more detergent and bleach. If you are washing darks or colored clothes, the bleach used should be slim to none, and keep in mind that boiling will take out the color so adjust the temps and bleach accordingly.
Yep it is. Still sometimes you just need a lot of toilet paper first if you get my drift.LOL We don’t have enough toilet paper even with the wipes.
I do have some directions somewhere for how to make paper out of flax.......LOL
“And don’t forget the NSA, now you’re both screwed. :-)”
I have given that much thought. The only way to stay under wraps is to never talk to anyone, even your neighbor or your other friends, and never send an email and never post anything to anyone on the net, never buy anything on the net, etc..
That is Hitler’s Germany. By God, I refuse to live like that under Gestapo Hussein’s tyranny. I do believe, at some point, citizens will rise up and take back this country from that SOB/POS Muslim. I pray to God and even the NSA can’t stop that unless they kill me.
Yep me too. We have two generators due to hubby’s construction work. I have been reading about kits to convert them to ethanol, which can be manufactured at home like they did during the great depression and WWII.
Right now there’s bunch of government red tape involved so that the average citizen can’t make it without violating some law or regulation that would have the ATF beseiging your house, but SHTF maybe everyone will do it and have ethanol for burning lamps and other equipment. Or maybe some will do it, and sell it or barter it. All depends on what goes down and how long it lasts.
Solar is not so great in Missouri. Various spots are good for wind or water power, but nothing that is 100% for all seasons and weather. Whatever system needs pretty good storage and battery backup.
Speaking of batteries, that’s a good time for you to post the info on D batteries so people know what to buy for those portable fans, in case they missed it before.
“Speaking of batteries, that’s a good time for you to post the info on D batteries so people know what to buy for those portable fans, in case they missed it before.”
I finally saved that info./article on computer since I had to keep writing it so much.
I’ll find it and put it on here.
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