What “I’ll just go to your house if it happens” means to me
Have you ever been talking with somebody about prepping, possibly trying to convince them to get on it and they fire back with, "well why can't I just go to your house when ______ happens?". This type of comment frustrates me to no end. Especially when I'm speaking with persons known to be a little more libertarian or those with a better financial situation than me. But nonetheless this is our world and we have a decision to make.
Say the ZA does come and friend/family/co-worker/random whoever is knocking on your door, do you let them in? Depending on your morals/ethics/faith/preferences you can choose what you will. I'm not here to sway you one way or another but you'll get my opinion soon enough. The point is, if you choose to say yes, how many more? And when it's all said and done, did you prep enough for ________ number of people?
The point is that we can only prep so much and support so many as our resources will realistically allow. Maybe you have a good income, great, stock up. Maybe you have a good harvest every year with your farm or garden, awesome! But eventually you're going to have to put a number on it. A number that quantifies a finite ability to support an amount of people and more than likely for a finite amount of time.
I recently had a discussion about building a long term storm kit with family and how much food was needed. I always start with 30 days of food for your household (two to five people, this time it was two) as its usually immediately financially feasible. But there are always "what if's" to throw their way if they don't get to it first. This time, the person I was speaking with figured it out before I needed to interject the idea. So it started, "What if my son and his wife come? I think they would" and I replied that he would divide the number in half, meaning they now have 15 days, then of course the inevitable, "I think my wife's friend and husband would come, they have a child" Ok, again divide in half plus a child at half the consumption rate of an adult, that's the original 30 day supply for two divided by 4.5 now, you're now at just under seven days of food. So you can see that with just a few additional people our supply of food/water/etc. is diminished rapidly.
Now, my opinion is as grey as can be and I certainly don't want to be the bad guy, but I would not be honest if I said I'd be taking in all who come, even family. I believe in charity and giving, but I also believe in stewardship and personal responsibility. The decision to turn people away would depend greatly on the severity of the event and how quickly we can reasonably expect aid and rebuilding. I actually plan to prep for "give aways" just for this reason. A few bags of rice or five gallon buckets of whatever consumables from a big box bulk store would be great to give somebody who you can't take in, but feel is in need of the charity. Unfortunately, the cruel, ugly fact of life is that we cannot fix the broken world by ourselves and in a post-event situation you may be endangering yourself or your family by doing so.
So now I ask you, how are you effected by the "I'll just come to you's" and what will you do when they come knocking, begging to come in?
How to build a Storm Readiness Kit
Here's an argument for the government sheeple that proclaim all is well if a weather event comes, because FEMA is there to help us! Well, not really. You see, even FEMA has asked that all families have enough food, water, and medicine on hand for three days (link at bottom of article).
Here in Florida we face a strong chance of being effected by hurricanes, storm surges, and the near daily onslaught of late summer thunderstorms that can sometimes kick up winds near 55 mph without notice blowing down trees and flooding streets. I'm sure the same or similar holds true in one way or another for other areas of the country. So for instances where the power goes out for a few hours or a few days, the water main breaks, or trees come down on your car, you could use a simple collection of supplies to make yourself a little more comfortable.
A Storm Kit does not have to be as readily portable as a 72 hour kit or Bug Out Bag and can be in a stocked bunker if you so choose as the goal is to pass the time as comfortably as possible in your own home and minimize damage if you can. However, if you plan on using a vehicle to bug out it might be a good idea to keep a small portion of this kit in rubbermade bins or something similar so that they can be carried to the vehicle by an able-bodied adult to compliment your Bug Out Gear.
Your basics in any kit will always include food, water, and medicine/first aid. While we assemble portable BOBs we place a premium on weight savings and prefer to carry dehydrated goods and limit actual water carry in favor of filtration devices. In your Storm Kit weight and space will not be such as issue. So make sure to have plenty of ready-to-go foods that do not need complex preparations and gallon jugs of potable water. That way your time can be spent on repairing any damage to your home, keeping the kids calm, or assisting in clean up.
Next is light, if you like candles or open flames in the fireplace, great! Just remember that they are serious fire hazards and in a worse case scenario, Fire Resuce will already be plenty busy. If you go this route please remember a fire extinguisher or three. You should have one on hand anyways, but as a reminder, get one! Flashlights are of course an awesome tool and are portable. I prefer Petzl LED headlamps for hands free use and low power draw. I also prefer ones that can strobe for signaling and have selectable brightness settings such as my E41 Tikka. In any case, have plenty of batteries on hand. We use all AAA flashlights in our storm kit so that we only have one kind of battery to stock up on. It is best to buy quality lights as those wally-world specials usually have low-output and high power draw. To add, the bulbs are junk that will break with one drop. I'll do a review of my headlamp soon.
This may sound ridiculous but in a Storm Kit having some luxury items on hand is a necessity, especially if you have children. If you have kids don't forget a few simple entertainment items for them. Some board games or stack of UNO cards won't be space hogs when we're talking about several bins of preps. Children are extremely perceptive as you already know and will sense your stress level. Help to comfort them by engaging them in fun activities to create a sense of normalcy. It's also a great idea to include items you use as vices to help keep yourself off edge. If you smoke or dip, make sure a bit of tobacco is packed away somewhere. A few Hostess cakes are also a great idea for those with a regular sweet tooth.
If you have medicines that must be kept cold get a small cooler that fits on a shelf of your fridge/freezer . Hopefully you have a freezer capable of making ice. If you do, keep it active. If you don't make sure to keep a few bags of steamed veggies instead. When the power goes out dump some of your ice into the cooler, put your meds inside the cooler and stick it at the bottom of the freezer (or fridge if it can't be frozen). This will keep your meds good and cold after the fridge/freezer has raised to room temp. Your freezer should stay cool for 24-48 hours after lights out if the door is closed. This should be plenty of time but then again, I can remember 4-5 days of lights out for some "small" storms. So better safe than sorry. You can adjust this method for the fridge if meds can't be frozen.
Note: Some people think the cooler-in-freezer method works like a pot-in-pot cooler and thus, the interior of the cooler will be significantly colder than the freezer. This isn't so. Assuming the freezer is running, the cooler will only be as cold as the ambient air in the freezer. There is no evaporative effect because of the moisture being removed in the cooling process. If you want to understand the process search How a Freezer works on e-how.
If your budget and HOA (if you have one) should allow, invest in a simple propane grill and an extra tank of propane. It may not fit into a bin or be easily transported but its usable in the best of times and is a lifesaver for meal preparation should you get tired of Chef Boyardee or know the meat in your freezer will go bad if not cooked now. Not to mention that a hot meal is a great morale booster. Just make sure to get two tanks with one full tank always at the ready. Rotate the tanks and get the empty refilled ASAP. Of course there are many iterations of this idea, Coleman/camp stoves, charcoal grilles, fire pits, etc. and all of them are viable options. But you'll need to think about which one you'll get more value from.
I will assume that if you're riding out a storm at home that clean clothes will be available, but suffice to say, you should keep some hand-wash type detergent available and a bit of cordage for hang drying. This way should you by chance run out of clean clothing, you have options. If you plan to assist in clean up you will need some rough use clothing similar to what you may wear in the bush, or maybe just a good set of old jeans and a long sleeve cotton shirt. Think of what you see landscapers wearing, 'cause that's essentially what you'll be doing.
Note: Keep a few 2"x4"s about four feet long in closets near entrance/exit doors. If security becomes an issue wedge the wood under the door handle and a nail in the floor. Of course your windows and sliding glass doors are potential weaknesses but this method is great for a cheap and easy kick-proof door.
An often overlooked portion of kit is tools. Not just a Gerber multi or some screwdrivers but things to clear tree hazards and dig a quick latrine (if the water main breaks). A pair of work gloves, a two handled axe, a saw, machete and shovel can be had for less than $100 at any hardware store and should be more than ready for this kind of use. I wouldn't consider your camp hatchet and e-tool a good fit for heavy clearing work so if you have the cash and see the need, jump on it.
As found out when the power goes, the TV just doesn't do so good. Sometimes the cell towers work, sometimes they don't. So to keep updated about when the linemen may be out or any relief efforts available you may want to purchase a radio with internal power ability. You'll want something with the weather band but also AM/FM. Battery powered is fine if you plan on stocking the batteries, but crank or solar combined with a battery would be better. Be careful you don't get suckered into a whiz-bang set up from walgreens that will just as soon break as work, do your research and get a good unit. A small unit with solar would be a great piece of kit for the BOB, as well.
Depending on specific types of weather threats you may want to include some pre-fabricated supplies to harden weak areas. In Florida if you have the cash storm shutters are great. If you don't, it would be a good move to measure your windows and cut solid PT board to fit over them. Store in your garage or shed and never worry about that mad rush to home depot again. It'd be even better to leave brackets in place so that you and a buddy or spouse can put up the boards in an hour or so (assuming there's any warning) and not worry about sealing the holes left when you inevitably take the boards down. A roll of duct tape comes in handy if storage space is an issue. Taping a star or asterisk-like pattern on your windows should help with keeping glass from shattering but won't protect anything from impacting the glass in the first place. Moving large pieces of furniture against weak doors and windows is good should debris start flying into the house, but in a worst case scenario can slow rescue crews. If the storm is overhead it is best to seek a hallway or room in the center of the home, preferably with as few windows or doors as possible. There is some debate as to whether windows on the opposite sides of the house should be opened for cross winds and to keep the interior pressure in the house from being susceptible to a vacuum effect, but I have never seen a final word on it from a scientific point of view. You'll need to use your best judgment. Most important is to have a plan of procedures, and yes I know no battle plan survives contact with the enemy, but a plan helps with organization and presence of mind. Keeping one's wits about them is as important as any material prep.
Generators are a great source of debate. The good ones are expensive when things are good and priceless when things are bad. They are targets of theft either way and when running are loud and emit exhaust, thus are usually kept outside where some two-legged predators can hear, smell, and see. They aren't small either and for most people have little to no use when things are good. So please evaluate your possible uses of a generator before putting down $500 for one you may never have need of. If your principle uses of a genny would be charging phones/radios/running a hot plate maybe a good jump box with an inverter might be a better bang for your buck as it should be part of a solid vehicle kit anyways and will run silently.
So as a minimum you should compile a kit with -
1xGallon jug of water per person, per day
Food with atleast 3500 calories per person per day
Can openers and utensils
A good first aid kit with pain relievers, fever reducers, antibiotics (if available), bandages and dressings, scissors and tweezers
A surplus of prescribed meds
A tool kit with all the greatest hits
Light sources - candles, flashlights, batteries
An emergency procedures plan
Optional but highly recommended -
Fire extinguishers
Rubber bins for storage and portability
Weather band radio
Materials for hardening weak areas like doors and windows
A non-electric grill with fuel and starter
Heavy-work tools - saw, axe, machete, work gloves, shovel
Toys/games for kids
Extra clean clothes/work clothes
Generator or power inverter
Copies of important docs - insurance, ID, bank accounts (see Critical Documents Kit)
Toiletries - soap, TP, shaving kit, toothbrush/paste
This list is in no way all-inclusive. You should evaluate your own unique circumstances and identify possible areas of weakness in your preps.
For more information on what FEMA says about the matter, check out this link - www.ready.gov/america/getakit/
Geocaching for situational awareness
Geocaching is a modern day treasure hunt where people will place a "cache" in an area, sometimes in the sticks, sometimes in a neighborhood, and sometimes requiring some stealth. Then they will post the location and a description of the cache on www.Geocaching.com where us seekers can get the info we need to find it. It's a great way to get outdoors, but a little added bonus for us prepper types, it's a fun way to increase our situational awareness. Fun for kids, too!
All you need to get started is computer/internet access and some decent mapping skills, however, it's much easier to navigate via a handheld GPS. Many phones now have GPS functions but make sure they will accept longitude and latitude input as this is how cache locations are recorded. Sign on to www.Geocaching.com and check for caches in any area you choose, there are plenty! In fact, you'll be surprised when you find so many near you. Record the info for the caches you want and head out on the hunt.
While out be careful to observe possible resources that might be of use to you now or post-event. There are plenty of times I end up saying, "oh, I didn't know there was a ________ here." I've found cool hole-in-the-wall shops, parks, gardens, clusters of fruit trees, new routes of travel, you name it. But I wouldn't have known unless I got out caching.
Think about your day, you travel the same roads while visiting the same places. Of course you would! You've found the most effective and efficient means of performing your daily tasks. You wouldn't have known about that hidden pond or that new fly-fishing shop because guess what (blasphemy!), not everything is on the internet.
Even if you don't consider Geocaching a valuable situation awareness tool, it's a fun way to get out with your family and explore your world. Log on and try one for yourself, you won't regret it. But be warned, its addicting!
Baby Steps – How to start a preparedness dialogue with your significant other
Over the last four years this modern survivalism kick has grown by leaps and bounds. As more people are realizing the fragility of our food distribution, infrastructure, and witnessing our government's failures to act, survivalism has become less of a paranoid delusion and more of a rational method of risk mitigation. Whether your own journey began as a sportsman looking for wilderness survival tools, or as a political observer understanding that we are never more than 72 hours from civil unrest, we can all see how sensitive our society has become to minor interruptions.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from men and women getting started with prepping is the reluctance of their husbands or wives to get on board with preparedness. They hear the same things from their spouses as they do from the media: "oh, you're just paranoid", "that kind of thing will never happen, this is America", and of course, "I think you're over reacting". As much as you may know their naivete is dangerous, you'll never gain their support without first demonstrating compassion and wisdom. So, hopefully we can give you some communicative tools to help open a positive and productive dialogue with your significant other, so that they may come to understand your concerns and work with you to establish a better level of readiness.
First we must attach a personal investment to the situation. For men approaching women this can usually be done by asking if she would feel better by knowing there is always enough food, water, and medicine for 30 days in the house. The inevitable answer is yes, she would feel relieved. Which will touch upon her emotional needs to be provided for and safe. However, there will be a "but". So you hear her out and then explain how it's a better situation financially because you're going to need the food anyways and you can then wait for good sales to replenish the shelves. Saving money and reducing expenses, which introduces the rational argument. Then volunteer your time to go with her to the supermarket, stating that it can be something you do together which will once again tie into her emotional need for intimacy. Though we may not be winning her over to a fully-stocked homestead in Montana, its a start.
For women approaching men it is always easiest to explain the brass-tax rational side without making him feel disrespected. By involving his instinctual nature to keep his family safe a statement like, "I know you've been looking at ways to reduce our expenses and this will make me feel better. Maybe I can get around to organizing the pantry, too", will play on many areas of great concern to a man. Another way you can get an outdoorsy-type interested is by asking if he has a survival kit in his pack, boat, or tacklebox. Then asking what's in it and why. Men love to "talk shop" and will exude confidence when engaged in conversation where he feels respected. If he doesn't have a kit, tell him you'd feel better if he had one, and you'd like him to put one together for you, too. Once again touching on his need to protect you and making him feel respected for his abilities as a man.
Secondly, survivalism is the wrong word. We first spoke about this subject in the article Defining our cause and Perspective (www.thechristiansurvivalguide.com/2010/05/28/defining-our-cause-and-perspective/). The implication is that we are trying to run off into the woods ala Red Dawn in order to fight off the Russian invasion. Because of our society's inclination to believe such Hollywood non-sense, you must address what you do not mean so that you are not taken for a wannabe Rambo. Explain to your significant other that what you want is a better quality of life brought on by less worries about the "what if's". Plan your preps around your lifestyle and trying to keep that alive for as long as possible, even when Murphy throws some curves your way.
Lastly, use common sense. There is no need to approach your significant other with an argument or hostile tone. "Because I'm the man and I said so" will only cause resentment and bitterness, and due to association, every time you reapproach the subject you will have to overcome that hurdle. Approach your spouse with the heart of a teacher, explaining gently that you have concerns, but also a plan. And that you would like their help in the process.
Your husband or wife may not catch the fever, but that's alright. You'll be started on your baby steps and as we know, every journey begins with a single step. To add, circumstances surrounding us will always be changing. We can point to current events an explain their ability to significantly interrupt your lives if it had hit just a little bit closer and maybe, over time, they will begin to understand the need for preparedness. As always, approach your spouse with love, wisdom, and compassion. If that doesn't work, bribe them with ice cream.