What are you gonna do? (Vanity)

Bad Company

[bad company]

Well, what are you gonna do? We have seen two natural disasters hit this country and lets face it, too many people are patheticaly unprepared to take care of themselves, much less their families in anything outside of anything but the most basic domestic conditions.q

What are you gonna do? Have you assesed possible emergency situations that may arise in your life? Do you even know what dangers might befall you? How far do you live from the nearest Nuclear plant? How close are you to the rail road tracks? Someone makes a mistake and you've got just a few minutes to get yourself together.

What are you gonna do? Do you live in tornado alley, as I do? Hurricanes? Earthquakes? Blizzards? These are when, not if situations.Can you keep your family alive? People in New Orleans went a week or more before getting help. How long can you go before wondering where FEMA is?

What are you gonna do? How many empty hotels do you think there are in Texas right now? Beyond driving away from the danger (the ones that are at least competent enough to do that) what then?

What are you gonna do? I wonder what the store shelves look like along the evacuation path. Bet the store employees aren't looking foreward to stock day right now. There's probably not a can of dinty moore beef stew to be had in all the state of texas right now.

What are you gonna do? Dinty moore beef stew is pretty rancid tasting cold. How are you going to get the can open. Please tell me that you can at least get the can open.

What are you gonna do? Lows for Dallas texas are going to be in the 60's this week. Little rain and that's going to be a bit chilly. What are you gonna do?

What are you gonna do?

[WestVirginiaRebel]

"I'm gonna block the hurricane with my 24-inch pythons, man!"

[mylife]

Radio, water, drygoods, light, fire, guns and clothing/bedding ready here.

And a car

[softwarecreator]

Now all you need is a song to go with it, something like "ghostbusters" and your night is set.

Actually there's a song from Alice Cooper called Teenage Lament '74 that has the phrase "What are you a gonna do? Tell you what I'm a gonna do" and that's stuck in there now.  =)

[softwarecreator]

How about you?  What preparations have you made.  I know Kansas gets some pretty mean tornadoes.  Have you experienced them or another emergency?  What suggestions do you have?  

[bad company]

I keep a case of MRE's and 5 gallons of potable water at all times

You know that if you drain it out a little every once and a while, your hot water tank is a good source of backup water. I'll save you the hassle though. Before you drain it, get one of those caps for a garden hose. The spigots on water heaters are real cheap and will leak.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

LOL

[trubluolyguy]

You know that if you drain it out a little every once and a while, your hot water tank is a good source of backup water. I'll save you the hassle though. Before you drain it, get one of those caps for a garden hose. The spigots on water heaters are real cheap and will leak.

---

I live in a rental, was planning on beating feet for Mom and Dad's place out in the country, they have 4 acres. One way in one way out. They have an entire room of canned veggies and two six foot tall freezers full of Deer, Elk and Salmon. They use electricity off the county grid but Dad just got a windmill with battery storage....I'd say as a family, we're gonna be alright.

[kenth]

Looks like bad Phil Collins' lyrics.

[LucyT]

Check out this freepers homepage for a long list of things you can do to help yourself be prepared for any emergency.

http://www.freerepublic.com/~appalachiandweller/

[softwarecreator]

Looks like bad Phil Collins' lyrics.

There's some good ones?

[softwarecreator]

Great, now I switched songs.  It's gonna be a long nite.  It'll be hard to explain to the wife why I keep waking her up by whistling the little guitar riff in that song.

[softwarecreator]

I knew I'd be accused of that! I can still hear the whole song

Hahaha ... me too!

Like I said, it's gonna be a looong nite.  =)

[Jagdgewehr]

When the time came to make do when people didn't know what to do or where to go, I had it relatively easy. This was because:

1) I don't live in congested areas of the county.

2) I didn't evacuate via crowded roadways until I was beyond the traffic jams (thanks to a 1978 Dodge Power Wagon and 40 gallons of gas).

3) I had ample food and water along with other implements of basic survival.

4) Once I returned home, It took 2 weeks for the electricity to come back on. No problem. Just for the enjoyment of it all, we sometimes like to live partially "off the grid." We don't depend on nonelectric appliances and techniques on a daily basis but could rely on them if necessary.

In short, my family tries to be as self sufficient as possible. Even though we enjoy the modern conveniences, we also live knowing that we can't rely upon them for our survival.

[mylife]

I was just lookin at you in forum
Your one angry fellow

I understand your ideas about self sufficiency; but you never expressed them on this thread about self sufficiency.

[mylife]

L0l now im bablin

Sheesh. Im off for bed

[bad company]

My BOB consists of the following;

3 old medicine bottles filled with rice
1 old medicine bottle filled with navy beans
1 bottle boullion cubes
1 can vegetable beef soup
1 can spam
1 can mandarin oranges
3 foil packages flavored tuna
1 foil package ground beef
2 cans potted meat
1 zip-lock bag with salt and pepper packets (like you get at wendys)
2qt canteen
1 kit water purifying tablets (25 quarts)
2 handkercheifs
1 pair socks
1 pair gloves
1 can sterno
2 lighters
1 fishing kit (line, hooks, weights)
1 skinning knife
1 mauser bayonette
1 sharpening stone
1 mess kit (pan and top plate only)
1 pencil sharpener
1 magnesium and flint
4 chemical hand warmers
1 compass
1 box .38+p hollowpoint (50 rounds)
1 bone saw blade(added key rings at both ends for a compact saw)
1 medicine bottle filled with cotton balls saturated with vaseline
2 MREs
1 mini flashlight
4 extra batteries
1 foil package dog food (beef and cheese)
1 U.S.Army poncho
1 jacket liner
1 long johns bottom
20' poly rope
1 bag hard candy

---

That is the contents of my bug out bag. (since Katrina I've had to cut and paste that several times) It comes along with me on any trip. I doubt it weighs 30lbs. If I had to scramble out of here fast, that and a shotgun come with me no matter what.

---

More time to prep? now you're talking. I've got two rubbermaid containers full of supplies (mostly food ang cooking) I've got about 40 galons of water set back, not including the hot water heater. Staying put, the most likely danger is tornado. Good solid basement. Hot water heater is down there and supplies are about 20 feet from the stairs. (figuring it's easier to take them down rather than up if I need to leave)


Two 4X4s that are both set up to pull my $200 pop-up camper. It's not much, but it will beat the heck out of sleeping on the ground.

Both trucks have their own emergency kits. Full size spares. Real jacks. Real tire irons(4way). Sockets. wrenches. Tire plug kit. Air compressor. Spare parts.

I've still got a few things to tidy up, like better preps in the camper, but in most cases I'm improving my comfort level now.

[NYTexan]

You are right on!