Posted on 04/04/2010 9:06:40 PM PDT by ChocChipCookie
In modern America, that is absolutely true.
Please add me to your survival preparedness ping list.
Your site and Survial Blog are the two sites that I check routinely. Thanks for keeping me thinking and prepping.
There are companies that make natural gas house valves that shut themselves off if they sense leaking gas. Local codes may require it to be installed by a licensed plumber.
Having stuff handy in case of earthquake would also be useful in case of fire.
It would be a good idea to have no breakable glass en route to an exit. Windows can be tempered glass (which if it does break, becomes small rounded fragments rather than long knifelike shards). Pictures for wall hanging or desk display can be reframed with plastic fronts. Mirrors should be kept away from the door. Etc.
It might make sense in a particularly quakey area, and similar preparations can help in case of a surprise tornado or fire.
Most people fail to acknowledge that disasters happen everyday for a variety of reasons and do not prepare for what is actually an eventuality.
I am not talking end of world stuff here but fires, floods, mud slides, earthquakes, regional society breakdowns occur everyday in the United States and elsewhere.
To be unprepared for that eventuality just doesn’t make sense.
For those who feel they are prepared because the read something and put a kit together and call it a day, well, you have not thought this thing through.
Great you got started but are you analyzing your level of preparedness and improving?
Most don’t.
What happens if the disaster lasts more than 72 hours or your supplies have exceeded the expiration date? Well, you are back to square one and in danger of becoming a zombie, either reliant on the government who is ill prepared to deal with your unique requirements or you will become a looter and a possible casualty of someone who is more prepared and willing to defend their life or the lives of their loved ones.
Be responsible for your life and lay in stores for your unique needs. No one knows better than you what those are.
If you aren’t willing to acknowledge that life happens and prepare for a regional disaster then shame on you and don’t come running to the rest of us, as if we thought to lay in stores to bail you out. We didn’t.
When you shop by two or three of a thing you use regularly and set in a rotation. Place the items you just bought in the back of similar items and use them in order.
A just in time delivery system goes out the door when disaster happens and I have seen all too many times and been involved in them far to often.
When the electricity was unavailable in our neighborhood for the four days, I had plenty of candles, flashlights, batteries, food, water, etc.
I also have plenty of medical supplies.
My neighbors had nothing but what was in their fridge. No lights, no candles, no coal or extra propane and they lost their food.
Thing is when they tried to buy more at typical store there was no electricity and no way for the merchants to fulfill an order.
Think ahead. Life is going to happen.
Think tornadoes in Oklahoma.
Think floods in Oklahoma or even in Calfornia.
Think earthquakes. We just had a 7.2 in southern California and I hope there is little loss of life but there will be loss of life to infrastructure not being able to deploy with no electricity.
I have even been in snowstorms and found myself well prepared, at least for my needs and mentality. Sleeping bags and tarps can make a disaster seem like camping if you think it through.
now you are a lucky man! LoL
You live in heaven? LOL
The nice thing about most canned and sealed food is that its health life goes far beyond its sell-by date. (Cans should be checked for corrosion and swelling periodically.) Unused batteries will last much longer than their sell-by date if kept in a freezer.
Do you have a banjo? Is it tuned? /s LOL
Funny. I just tested some food that passed the best if used by date. I looked up botulism and found it kills less 100 people per year.
I inspected the can, looked fine, opened it and ate it.
Except for how salty is was there was no problem, other than it tasted terrible because of the salt. LOL
in regards to batteries I have several LED flashlights as they last longer on a charge.
I also have about 100 chem lights and I don’t know how many candles.
a few wind up lights with radios as well.
I have had occasion to use them and my friend who had standard light quickly ran out of light and batteries.
I had plenty of batteries and a back up of rechargeables with a solar charge for charging little things like cell phones, GPS, batteries, etc.
I will be viable much longer than others and I have no interest in sharing as that would make me a target or put me in the position of being a leader over those who would not take my lead or command. to which I would say “you have to leave the island”.
Oh yeah, for red necks: keep a banjo tuner on hand and its batteries in the freezer. Don’t want a duel to suffer from discordant tuning.
Short of killing, botulinus toxin can paralyze. That would suck. I thought it was well known that boiling for 20 minutes will destroy botulinus toxin, but I don’t want to be the one who dares to open that swelled can.
The fairly cheap solar chargers are something most people don't think about. I have several, one dedicated to keeping the batteries on my bass boat on trickle charge during the winter. They work great.
LOL
Totally agree that being paralyzed would suck. I did check and even listened for an abberant sound as I opened it.
But given that I was not in a survival mode and the cure could be had, I opened it for the experiment.
Still it would have sucked to be in recovery for two weeks.
I survived though. LOL
I have two chargers. A small for backwoods hiking and a larger one, that could be used for hiking and would be annoying to pack around but it does work and I will have it available should the need arise.
Setting up an automobile or a truck with a large power inverter and, if necessary, an upgraded alternator, will help in a pinch even if you have no room for a generator. It will need to be hard wired to the battery for more than about a couple hundred watts. If you’re expecting it to keep a refrigerator or freezer going, test it first as starting their compressors needs much more power than running them once started.
If bootlegging a generator into your house through something like a welder or stove outlet, be considerate of linemen who don’t like to get electrocuted; turn the main house breaker off first and duct tape over the handle. (Also you aren’t trying to run the entire neighborhood that way.) The pole pig will gladly step your generator back up to the several thousand volts that are used for local distribution.
bttt
bttt
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