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And Then What? Preparing for the Long Emergency
Lowell - April 30, 2021 What if instead of a brief emergency, you and your neighbors are in one that lasts months or years?
Without reliable access to food, water, electricity? Couldn’t leave your home without risking it being ransacked while you were gone?
This is already a constant reality for homeless folks. In Seattle where I live, there’s on the order of 10,000 folks currently experiencing homelessness.
How does our approach to preparedness change for an emergency that is both (a) long and (b) already happening for lots of people?
Having the right gear for your household, and having the right skills, is a great starting point. “Put on your own mask before assisting others.” But if lots of neighbors are already in a continuous state of emergency, I think this becomes an imbalanced approach very quickly, because it doesn’t tap into the opportunity for people power, and I also just don’t want to live in a world where I’m personally getting by OK but my neighbors are struggling *hard*.
For the past year+, I’ve been trying to “prepare for the already continuous emergency” by working with my neighbors to support my unhoused neighbors. My buddy and I created the Homeless Organizing Community Seattle Facebook group so that folks interested in this work could get connected and join forces. We created this Patreon to fund supply purchases, such as ice packs so folks without electricity can keep their food cold, and propane so folks can cook and stay warm, and batteries so folks can still see when the sun goes down.
Lately, I’ve been trying to transition from focusing on buying supplies myself to supporting folks with my labor, such as helping to build a community food garden next to my buddies who live in an RV, and helping to build a home beneath a freeway. I figure labor is more sustainable/scalable than funds (lots of folks don’t have spare cash, but do have spare time) and also working together contributes a lot to creating a prepared community.
We’ve been collection some of the lessons we learn into a document called Practical Advice For Addressing Needs With Your Neighbors.
Read MoreHow to barter
UbiqueContributor - April 29, 2021 The word barter is thought to have it’s origin from an Old French word barater which means ‘deceive’.
The origin of the word should have been my first clue as to why I am terrible at bartering. I mean I am really, really bad at it.
Deception is not in my repertory. I found an item online one time and called the seller. The conversation went something like this:
Seller: “Hello.”
Me: “Hi, you have a tea pot for sale?”
Seller: “Yes, it’s still for sale.”
Me: “Great. I don’t want to buy it. I just called to tell you that I have one like it and you are not charging enough for it. You’ve underpriced it by about a hundred dollars. It’s a collector’s item. I thought you should know.”
Seller: “Thank you.”
On another day, in an antique store I begged my friend to barter on my behalf. He told me no and that I must learn. I tried to tell him I have no aptitude for bartering, but he stood his ground.
I approached the store owner. “Would you accept eighty dollars for that picture over there?”
The store owner was stone faced as he said “No.” It was a hard, flat “no” without even the hint of maybe you could try again in his tone.
I paid full price for my picture and watched in awe as my friend put his items on the counter and then proceeded to coax a smile from the stone faced owner and a reduction on every single item he bought.
Dejected, I consoled myself by thinking of all the things I am good at, but as a highly competitive person, that wasn’t good enough. I resolved that some day, I too, would be able to barter like a pro.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Canada, my “not yet met” husband was the King of garage sale wheeling and dealing.
Do you know that he was actually paid to take an item? All he said was “who would pay a dollar to buy this thing?” The lady running the sale said “I’ll give you two dollars to take it with you.” He found out later that she would have gone as high as five dollars.
He walked away with a taxidermy frog. The frog had it’s hands tacked to a bongo drum and sported a sombrero emblazoned with Tijuana perched jauntily on it’s head. He was posed behind the bongo drum as if he would burst into song if the taxidermist hadn’t sewn his mouth shut.
Although Senor Frog is long gone, he spoke wistfully of it tonight when we discussed the concept of bartering. “It was such a great conversation piece.” I swear there was a tear in his eye.
Ay Caramba!
He is also the only person I know who jacked up the price on every item at his garage sale because sales were slow. He figured, people aren’t buying because my prices are too low and they aren’t perceiving value or quality. So, he doubled the price of everything!
He sold everything and made out like a bandit. Barater, indeed.
Most preppers at some point bring up barter. We want to have the skills or goods to barter for other items we might need.
I think it is an important skill to have. So, I wanted to learn how does one barter effectively?
The first article I found was titled “6 Major Disadvantages of the Barter System.” I was hopeful, perhaps I wouldn’t have barter, after all.
The article is about microeconomics and how it’s hard find someone who has a cow to barter with your horse. It really becomes a problem when you only want to pay four sheep for someone’s horse. They want five sheep. If only you could divide a sheep, you could have made a deal at four and one half sheep for that horse.
I read through it but still didn’t know how to barter and I had a major headache.
Here’s the link for it if anyone likes microeconomics served with a side of order of headache.
https://www.microeconomicsnotes.com/barter-system/6-major-disadvantages-of-the-barter-system/1198
Then I found this website and thought I might just have a chance of learning how to do this properly.
https://homesteadhow-to.com/bartering-effectively/
I am still not there yet. The last article gave me hope but I wondered if anyone here could share about how they learned to barter successfully?
Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for successful bartering?
I have a feeling I’m going to need all the help I can get and there is no way I’m sending my husband to barter. One Senor Frog is enough.
Read MoreBest/lightest body armor & carrier
Cady - April 28, 2021 Suggestions based on personal experience? I found this article https://theprepared.com/self-defense/reviews/best-bulletproof-body-armor/ but some of the links are broken. For context, I’m a relatively small woman with a physical disability so I’d prefer to carry as little weight as possible while being as safe as possible (yeah I know there’s a tradeoff). And for more context, I’m planning to participate in street actions this fall/winter and am worried about shooters. So bonus points for helmet recs, too! Otherwise I’m going out there in my bike helmet. Thanks!
Read MorePhilosophical approaches to chronic pain management for medical prepping
Bob - April 27, 2021 https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210423/Researchers-investigate-how-philosophical-approaches-can-change-the-understanding-of-pain.aspx
Good afternoon,
Above article is focused on professional health care providers treating patients.
It is realistic enough for a serious prepper to review the mentioned principles in the article with the view of personally approaching them.
For example, reflect on your personal:
– “experience, concerns, expectations,..”
– “socio-cultural priorities”
– “stigmatization in society”
How one perceives oneself determines much. Working on chronic pain, like much else, takes time. It has been accomplished. I’ve had enough changed expectations that it’s just a routine matter. It’s the same with my changed – and abily to continue changing – socio-cultural priorities.
Philosophical approaches got a “bad rap” for some time. There’s a reason they are returning. They can work and already have for some to include this scribe here.
Read MoreMunicipal blackouts; Factor this into preparations
Bob - April 25, 2021 https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/japan-says-seek-short-powerful-state-emergency-tokyo-osaka-elsewhere-2021-04-22/
Good morning,
The article’s title is clear enough. Contemplate the narratives:
“We will be asking for illuminations and neon signs to be turned off,” … “It will be dark at night … … the initiative would discourage people from going out at night”. One benefit of studying WWII history – reading and talking with WWII era folks – allows for understanding blackouts and consequences.
Definitely factor this blackout scenerio into preparedness.
My area is the opposite of Tokyo and other huge cities but we’ve had experience with power faulures. A certain traffic light going out of service at night is a common crash scene.
My area is a 24/7 work schedule type of social environment. Some will stay at workplace until daylight. Safety governs.
Read MoreWhat do you carry with you every day? and how?
matthew.Contributor - April 25, 2021 Something I’ve always struggled with is every-day carry of preps. Sure I have a few key items that live in my pockets, and a few more that live in my computer bag/briefcase, but beyond that I struggle to bring myself to carry more. This is largely because I just don’t like the burden of an off-body carry bag or pack, and sometimes when I do carry a pack I forget it places.
I’d love to know what people carry with them every day, and how they carry it. My list includes:
On body (in pockets): Full size multi-tool. Micro multi-tool and micro flashlight attached to key ring. Cash, cards, and ID in wallet. Leatherman Croc in wallet. Burta Beeswax (never without!). And of course my phone. In laptop bag (which is always with me while I’m work): Water bottle. Basic might-need meds (ibuprofen, cold meds, etc). Mini flashlight. Phone charger. Protein bar. Hand Sanitizer. KN-95 mask. Folding knife. A few assorted band-aids. (This is all in addition to my computer and work-related items that need to be in there).I see lots of room for improvement, so I’d love to hear others’ thoughts and ideas. And perhaps more importantly, how you are carrying every day!
Read MoreThe use of our senses in survival and preparedness
UbiqueContributor - April 25, 2021 Rene Descartes wrote: “The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent never to trust wholly those who have deceived us even once.”
A careful hunter knows to double check what he sees in his sights before he pulls the trigger. His vision relays movement, form, and color to a buck fevered brain. Moose! He takes a breath and double checks what he thinks he has seen and discovers it is actually another person walking in the woods.
“Better to miss the shot, then kill a person,” he thinks.
This happened to someone I know who used to guide and teach people to hunt. He used it as an example of how even a seasoned hunter is capable of making a mistake and that mistakes are not an option when you could kill a person and not what you are hunting.
This incident is an example of what Descartes wrote about our senses and deception. Our senses work both ways. They help us perceive the present while also being capable of misinforming us at the same time.
We have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch that gather information about our environment. This information is then interpreted by our brain.
Our understanding of this information is based on the lessons from our previous experience and information that comes from a combination of each of our senses.
This process produces information to which we respond almost automatically. Like other animals, this sensory information is significant to our survival.
Sense dominance varies between animals. Hunters recognize this in their prey.
Each sense provides different information, with our dominant sense being sight. Hearing is our most sensitive sense because of the range upon which it operates.
Smell and taste are the oldest of our senses and are needed for avoiding danger, mating and feeding.
Age and illness can blunt taste and smell. Loss of smell affects appetite rendering food less appealing. This is a contributing factor to poor nutrition in the aged.
When we prepare for emergencies or disasters, our senses and how they work to protect us should be considered.
For example, is it better to use scented products for personal care over unscented during an emergency?
If you are trapped, perhaps the smell of your deodorant or cologne might reach the olfactory senses of the rescuers faster?
Or is it dangerous to use scented products if you are hiding from a predator during a crisis and he can smell you?
Smell alerts us to the presence of others, tells us if food is bad or if food is cooking on some campfire miles away or simmering on the stove of the house next door.
In a disaster the smell of our food or the food next door can draw a human or animal predator to our position.
Our garbage can also leave a smell that might attract unwanted visitors including rodents. It is a big issue in surviving long term disasters especially in an urban area.
It is better to plan for this problem before a disaster happens. Consider the food debris left inside a can or which foods smell up the garbage the fastest.
How do you rinse a can if water is being rationed?
Do you use a can crusher to compact garbage and then seal the remains before disposal? How do you eliminate garbage when there may not be services and discretion is necessary?
Sight is critical for nonverbal communication. If you are approached by someone, what they communicate can guide your decision to trust them or not. Think of how that can apply to navigating a long duration crisis.
Sight is how we navigate, hunt and survey the world around us. We can see the sky take on a greenish cast before a tornado. We can see that our vegetables are ready to harvest.
If our vision is or became impaired during a crisis, how can we plan ahead for that when constructing our preparedness? Are night vision tools something to include in our preps to help us see in the dark?
Does our security preparedness include the ability to black out our home? Have we checked in the evening to see how far away a single candle or light can illuminate our home? Can we reduce our visibility or disappear from the sight and attention of predators in a crisis?
Taste is a digestive aid and is part of the way we can determine if something is good to eat. Consider the SAS instructions for all the steps used to determine if something is safe to eat in the wild.
Hearing is part of how we communicate with other people and our environment, especially at night when our vision doesn’t work as well.
A twig snapping can signal the presence of another human at night. Bird song that suddenly stops can also signal the same presence during the day.
Hearing can inform us that someone is in distress. It can warn us of an impending disaster as in the thundering sound of a storm or tornado.
Touch can tell us if someone is ill with a fever. It warns us if our environment is too hot or too cold and protects us from overheating and from freezing. It prevents us from picking up a hot pan and burning ourselves.
We are alerted to pain through our sense of touch. If we are examining ourselves or another person for injury during a disaster, think of how touch plays a major role in correct assessment.
I use touch to feel when a cake is done or if my bread dough is kneaded enough.
This is a small sampling of examples of how our five senses become critical components to consider when planning or organizing our preparedness.
A final point about our five senses is to consider the power of our senses to elevate our mood and well being.
How might a crisis impact our psychological well being? Why not prepare and construct a “five sense first aid kit” to bolster well being during a disaster?
Read MoreThe Get Home Bag Guide (GHB, Car Kit)
Lowell - April 24, 2021 Here’s a link to what is currently in my EDC & GHB/CarKit (one tab for each). There’s also a Behaviors tab, and a To-Do tab with finds from the links Gideon shared.
Relevant threads, thanks Gideon!
Car supplies What’s the best get home bag to keep in your car? Winter survival kits, extreme cold weather gear, and winterizing your home and car What preparedness items do you keep in your vehicle? Get home bag for harsh winter conditions BOB plus Get Home Bag?Original title: “Where’s the Get Home Bag / Car Kit article?”
Original post body:
Is there a main article or forum post for this?
I’ve seen bits and pieces mentioned in other articles, but not centralized place for this.
For example, I’ve got a NOCO Boost so that I can jump start my car without another car nearby, and I’ve got resqme window breaker / seat belt cutters zip-tied to each of the four “grab handles”. (The *sheath* is zip tied, so you just pull the tool out of the sheath without having to cut the tie.)
Other stuff: “roadside emergency kit“, bivy, “emergency radio“, poncho, wool socks, liner socks, headlamp, tire inflator, snow scraper
What all do you carry?
Read MorePrepping around the world – How other cultures use their natural resources
UbiqueContributor - April 24, 2021 I like learning about people. I am especially fascinated by how they utilize their natural resources, sometimes in the harshest of environments, in order to survive.
Have you ever wondered how other cultures around the world practice their version of preparedness?
I ask it because, really, that is what is at the very heart of preparedness: our survival wherever we find ourselves.
I’m inviting anyone who wants to join in, to pick a place on the Earth and do a search for how the people who live there use their natural resources to feed, clothe, shelter or defend themselves. How do they survive?
A couple of links and a bit of info about the survival item and resources that are used by the people you researched. It doesn’t have to be a thesis, just quick and fun exploration.
I’m kicking this off with the Eskimo (referred to as Inuit in Canada) folks.
How about the waterproof gut parka made of seal intestines and sewn with dried grass that becomes a waterproof thread. That same grass is used to make socks! How cool is that?
In their culture, wastefulness is considered being disrespectful and their elders use every scrap of their wildlife harvest.
This was something my family also practised for the same reason, so I paused to consider how a culture so far away could be so similar to mine. It would be very easy to hunt or fish with them.
I love how they use their natural resources and I will be considering how I can adapt that thinking to my own environment.
Here are the links, and I really hope you join in. This prepper project could be a lot of fun.
Waterproof Gut Parka with Photos
Clothing made from their natural resources
Okay, who is next?
Read More“Natural Disaster Preparedness Resources”
Bob - April 24, 2021 https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/538710871/natural-disaster-preparedness-resources
Good morning,
The info in above link provided by the Food Marketing Institute. It’s focus is mostly to business and industry – but not exclusively. There is much info in this link that’s useful to the sophisticated prepper. This link has some good sub-links eg “Food Safety in a Disaster or Emergency”.
What is worthwhile to the prepper is knowing that a full freezer provides much longer temperature control than a half-full freezer. This can be called the “win-win” situation. Look for items on sale and get. Already-purchased stuff for when adverse conditions hit, yields lower frozen food costs – along with the safety aspect.
For avid readers that hyperlinked pocket guide … yes, it’s mostly business/industry focused … provides good background info for the private citizen prepper. The page 5 quote got my attention: “Well Begun Is Half Done.” Aristotle.
……
Not mentioned in this link but one of the best restaurant food safety programs I’ve read about is that of Waffle House.
I am now in the mood for a triple hashbrowns smothered in ………………..
Read MoreUnnatural disaster: Methamphetamine violence and crime
UbiqueContributor - April 23, 2021 A family of seven that I knew was on vacation and traveling by car. A semi tractor and trailer came up behind them at a high rate of speed and he wasn’t slowing down. He bore down upon their station wagon. There was no way that the driver of that semi couldn’t have seen the children in the back of that vehicle.
The terrified family was forced to speed through a very dangerous stretch of winding Ontario highway that had been built through the rocky terrain. An accident there was usually bad. The driver finally managed to find a way to egress the highway and got his family out of harms way.
Some years later, I had an opportunity to listen to a former trucker who told me about how he used to carry an attache case full of pills, mostly speed that kept him awake and hurtling down the highway.
As I listened to him, I thought of the family who had almost been run off the highway. It all made sense. That driver had to have been high to do what he did to them.
Fast forward again, a person I know is murdered. I worked with him through an organization where I was his sponsor and helped to guide him. The last time we spoke, he was going back to school. I never heard from him after that and thought it was because he was busy with school and a new chapter in his life. This was not an uncommon event when sponsoring people.
I read the regional news one day and there was a sentencing report briefly noted. For some reason, I thought of my sponsee and ran a search on his name.
Around sixteen months earlier, he had been murdered by a couple of meth heads. Because of how I knew him and the anonymity involved, no one knew to call me. I read the account of his death and cried for days.
He had survived a beating as a youth that left him near dead and with permanent disability. He was brain injured. One side of his body was severely impaired. He walked with a pronounced limp.
He was also determined to be better. He was known by his smile and positive nature. What he survived as a youth didn’t beat the goodness out of him.
He lived independently in a rooming house. He opened his door that day because he still trusted the world.
His teacher had to call the police and tell them that the body they found was of a disabled man. He had been beaten so badly that they couldn’t recognize his condition prior to the attack. A male and a female inflicted those injuries.
I remember biker crank in the 60’s. We used to shake our heads at the fools who used that garbage. We called them “tweakers.”
Today, meth has become the new “zombie apocalypse.”
Heroin addicts will try to steal your purse. One of my aunts was accosted and beaten about the head in Vancouver, BC by a couple of heroin addicts, but not so severely that she couldn’t gain control the situation and tell them, “I will give you some money, but you may not have my hand bag.”
This is not the case with meth users. There was a case in Winnipeg MB where a man was abducted off the street at 9:00 p.m., held and tortured for twelve hours. He managed to escape the house where he was being held when his kidnappers left him alone in order to raid his bank account using his information.
There is an extreme level of violence associated with meth use.
Meth users will attack you because they are in a state of psychoses. Their thoughts and emotions have become so impaired that they have lost touch with reality.
Psychosis is characterized by hallucinations and paranoia. This state of mind can be present in paranoid schizophrenia. However, a meth psychosis co-occurs with meth usage and usually abates once the user is withdrawn off the drug. That process can take hours or up to a week, unless there are other underlying conditions involved that have been triggered by the meth usage.
Meth users can become psychotic if they have used a lot of meth or if they are in a withdrawal stage and just about anything in between. They are unstable and unpredictable. There is no way for any of us to know when a meth user is going to break with reality and become psychotic.
As with other reasons for being prepared, I wanted to stay prepared and safe in view of this new threat and that meant educating myself about the threat.
To do that, I first wanted to understand why meth use had become popular again. I read a six-part series in The Oregonian which was a very thorough investigative report on the methamphetamine crisis.
I reviewed Faces of Meth which was started by a member of the Multnomah Country Sheriffs’ office so that I could recognize the physical characteristics of meth users.
I read medical information on how meth affects people so that I could recognize a meth addict faster.
There is not one singular demographic that applies. Meth users can be educated, young or old and from any walk of life.
A person in a meth induced state of psychosis can speak rapidly and ramble from one topic to the next. Their conversation may be very hard to follow. They may be restless, agitated and very jumpy.
They may be up for days and then crash hard. When they are coming down off a meth binge, meth users can be particularly dangerous.
Their beliefs may be very odd or unusual with a paranoid belief that others are out to get them.
They like to take things apart and their yards may be scattered with disassembled items. Inside their homes, they may have dug through walls to “trace” the electrical or to follow some other bizarre train of thought.
Meth users may pick at or scratch at their skin because they feel like there are bugs crawling on them.
Many but not all meth users are thin. They may have sores on their faces or limbs from picking at the skin.
They may have plucked their eyebrows and eyelashes out or sections of their hair. They may have shaved parts of their head or done other bizarre things to their appearance.
Their facial skin becomes prematurely lined and aged in appearance and their eyes take on a “crazed” appearance.
Dental issues are common with many users missing teeth or displaying rotted teeth. It is unknown why jaw deterioration continues in some users long after they have ceased using this drug.
Meth users are extremely hard to take down. Police can deploy their tasers multiple times while grappling with a meth user and it has little to no effect. It takes multiple officers to restrain and control the psychotic meth user and often police are injured in the process.
Medical personnel who must cope with them are also often injured and it is a real problem in hospital emergency wards.
I looked into the existence of meth users in my small town and found that we were not immune. We had them living among us and I wanted to be proactive about protecting myself.
My home security was bumped up to prevent home invasion by fortifying my doors.
My husband and I ran drills over how to react in various situations inside and outside our home, as well as at various times of day, including being awakened. We use each other’s second name as a code word that means 911 now, no questions asked.
I ensured that I had access to items that could be rapidly deployed to inflict a knock out strike. This is one situation where there is no way I am getting in close to someone in combat. I am keeping something between me and them.
Aside from carrying knives, meth users have a preternatural strength borne of their altered state. This meant I had to mentally prepare to use extreme force on someone of any age or gender who might outwardly appear to be physically frail and thin.
I am working on arranging legal access to a gun for protection.
In the case of the man who was abducted at 9:00 p.m. referenced above, Constable Tammy Skrabek, a spokesperson for the Winnipeg police “called the case unique and said the “regular safety messages” police give, like being aware of your surroundings, wouldn’t have made a difference for the victim.”
“In this case, he was paying attention; it was just not expected that these people were going to grab him,” she said.”
I respectfully disagree with Constable Skrabek’s conclusion. I lived in Winnipeg for many years and no one wanders around certain areas on foot and alone at 9:00 p.m. if they possess any situational awareness or common sense. Winnipeg was called “murder capital of Canada” for a reason.
Secondly, situational awareness would have prevented those two men getting anywhere near the victim.
The abductors had to pull up and then pull him in off the street. That meant parking their vehicle and both of them exiting the vehicle. This wasn’t a six person abduction. A person with street smarts who was paying attention to his environment would have been gone as soon as that vehicle angled towards him and before they had a chance to park.
I ramped up my situational awareness whether in my small town or in an urban area over and above my regular vigilance. I watch closely for signs of meth users around me by their appearance and behavior.
I check my yard for any drug paraphernalia.
Meth users were paid to piece shredded documents together so the data could be used or sold in the criminal marketplace. They have the ability to fixate and do this under the influence of meth.
I purchased a new shredder. Now any paper with any information including shipping and receiving is shredded on a high quality shredder that prevents the pieces from being restored. I also shred any medication labels or any prescription bags or information.
I put new protocols in place for picking up medication after my husband was almost assaulted in the drug store parking lot. They two people involved are confirmed meth users.
I also hold the local police accountable and have used my security cameras to report meth distribution activity at a house in my neighborhood. They are aware of it, but it is being handled through their drug enforcement channels.
Drug enforcement operates on a work your way up the ladder methodology. They catch the small time addicts, get three names, and keep climbing until they get the big fish higher up.
This is understandable, but it does take time, sometime years, for change to trickle back down to the community level. Some drug houses are left to operate for that reason.
In the interim, all of us need to approach the threats associated with meth usage as we do any other threat: we educate and prepare ourselves.
Read MoreUseful prepper gardening book
CR - April 23, 2021 Hi all! Not sure if this is the proper place, but would like to recommend a book I, as a lifelong gardener, have found very handy and prep related. Steve Solomon’s Gardening When It Counts, Growing Food in Hard Times has lots of good tips for food cultivation & for when the garden center isn’t available. I enjoy his slightly grumpy, but very knowledgeable style. It’s a great edition to the prepping library. I included the link for info only. FYI, storing your seeds in the deep freeze in a mason jar keeps them viable years longer. https://www.amazon.com/Gardening-When-Counts-Growing-Mother/dp/086571553X/
Read MoreLearn about scissors and why they are important prepping tools
UbiqueContributor - April 23, 2021 Scissors are an important cutting tool, yet they do not have the appeal that their glamourous cousin, the knife has for people who practice preparedness.
Preppers want the knife or the cutting multi-tool that may have a pair of scissors included somewhere in it as an afterthought.
There are many different kinds of scissors and shears which could be very helpful in an emergency or disaster.
Most people have a pair of household scissors or child friendly blunt nose scissors for crafts. There are many different types of scissors, and each are designed for different tasks. So, let’s take a look at them and why they are important for prepping purposes.
First, dressmaking shears that are made to cut cloth. They usually have a blade between seven and ten inches long. They are a heavier construction, with one end blunted or rounded to avoid snagging the cloth. They are designed to glide flush across the table as you cut the fabric.
If you were in a prolonged crisis, the ability to repair and patch your clothing is going to become very important. You will also need to be able to conserve precious patching materials. They are not a frou-frou item.
Try cutting a precision patch with a knife. Not only will you waste material, but you also run the risk of cutting yourself with a knife that was not designed for the task.
What if the crisis was so prolonged that you actually had to alter, make or remake clothing? This was a real part of survival years ago in hard times.
Fabric shears should only be used for cutting cloth or you will dull the blade and damage the tool.
There are pinking shears that cut a zig zag edge to help prevent cloth from fraying. It is an optional item and might be useful if one were conserving thread. It would be better to learn how to hand sew various stitches including a simple overcast stitch to prevent fraying of the fabric.
If you want to cut paper, then craft scissors will do the task.
Household shears may have a built in bottle opener, fish scaler or other functions that are designed to be used for kitchen tasks.
These are not to be confused with poultry shears which are used for trimming poultry.
Want to cut hair in a crisis? Then you want hair cutting shears to trim hair. There are also moustache scissors, nail scissors, hair clippers and thinning shears designed to tame thick hair.
There are nose hair trimming scissors, but please be careful with them. If you nick that area, you can get a bad infection in the dreaded T-Zone where infections can kill really quickly. There are battery operated nose trimmers also.
I use a good pair of hair cutting shears to cut my husband’s hair and to trim my long hair. You cannot get a good cut or trim without them. I use thinning shears on my bangs, although I wouldn’t call thinning shears a prepping necessity. They are a nice to have item and I won’t look like I have a horse’s forelock in a disaster.
There are also different kinds of medical scissors. Because realistically none of us will be doing ophthalmic or other kinds of surgery, we can skip over those types of medical scissors and focus on what is going to be more realistic for us as lay people.
Trauma shears are designed to cut off clothing rapidly and without snagging the underlying skin of the person in a similar way as fabric shears are constructed. This is a necessary item for medical first aid.
Bandage scissors are used to cut bandages. You can’t use fabric or household shears for this task without losing time and patience in the process, plus the damage to the fabric shears.
Let’s step outside the home and look at the humble scissor and how it is used there.
There are loppers which are a type of shear used to cut large branches. Pruning shears can handle the smaller branches.
Loppers be hand held or be a pole lopper for dealing with heights. This type of shear could become very important to a prepper during a clean up after a storm. They can also be used to trim branches back away from the roof to keep squirrels and other critters out of the attic. Think of the problems that could occur if animals get into your attic during a crisis or disaster.
Hedge trimmers might be very important for the prepper who wants to maintain security during a crisis.
What about metal snips and the importance of them to a prepper?
Metal snips can cut sheet metal and tin snips can cut soft metals like copper and aluminum. The blades can be straight or curved for cutting curves and circles.
Think of the usefulness of metal snips for emergency repairs to a gutter or metal roofing during a crisis.
There are also pipe and duct snips or compound action snips used to cut metal.
There are other types of scissors, but those listed above would be the most likely to be used by most preppers.
Consider what kinds of materials and uses you might have for various types of scissors and shears.
For certain kinds of repairs and maintenance, a knife just won’t cut it.
For photos and more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scissors
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Post-Disaster Family Financial Planning
Bob - April 22, 2021 https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/homeowners-insurance/financial-planning-for-families/
Good evening,
“After the fact” can produce more stress and worries than inventory loses during a disaster.
Above link has some good info. Evaluate whether all those Trader Joe products really necessary. Are there lower cost stores than Bed Bath And Beyond for the sleeping bag pillow ?
Think out this stuff now and put away some of the folding stuff before the beer resupply.
Even thought link is focused to family planning, others can use the same principles.
Read MoreUN’s disaster prevention website
Bob - April 22, 2021 https://www.preventionweb.net/english/professional/maps/v.php?id=67333&cid=185
Good evening,
Prevention Web is a UN website. It is packed with info for preparedness matters.
I’ve got the above link to open (I hope !) on the “US Communities With Limited Evacuation Routes”. It was a site hyperlink. Do note that these charts are for planning, prevention and preparedness. It is obligatory to confirm specifics for what you’re working on.
At top horizontal bar are the functional and geographic sections to click on.
One good aspect of site is that they welcome organizational feedback for their chart/report updates.
Read MoreTexas Tax Holiday for Prepping
Josh CentersContributor - April 22, 2021 Texas will be having a sales tax holiday on emergency preparedness supplies from April 24-26. I had never heard of such a thing before, but it’s apparently a thing in Alabama and Florida.
The tax holiday applies to both in-store and online sales, though the state encourages shopping at local retailers. The list of included and excluded items is kind of random. For instance, axes and hatchets are included but chainsaws are not.
We have tax holidays in Tennessee, and I’ve found them to be a mixed blessing. It’s nice not paying our high sales tax, but crowds are usually bad and retailers jack up their prices so you don’t really save money.
However, there are some big-ticket items you could save on. Generators and two-way radios are included in the holiday and those are two items that almost never go on sale, so that might be a good time to invest in those.
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Why personal locator beacon not listed in an EDC prep on this site?
Lowell - April 21, 2021 hi! do y’all know why a personal locator beacon (like this one) isn’t listed on some “EDC prep” on this site?
I recognize that at $300 this is cost prohibitive, but it seems crucial for any situation where I’d need medics but don’t have cell service.
The most “common” example I can think of is that I get into a car accident and need a medic but have no cell service because I’m on some swath of highway without it.
Read MoreHow to stay safe when traveling at home or abroad
UbiqueContributor - April 21, 2021 Long or short journeys, domestic or abroad require preparedness.
Despite the current situation, it is worthwhile to understand how to stay safe when we do travel away from home. It is another aspect of preparedness.
I would like to begin with a story about a former co-worker. Jane back packed her way across Europe with a friend in the 1960’s.
The journey was going well until they arrived in Spain. At the time Spain was under the control of the notorious dictator, Franco.
The train on which they traveled was stopped by the Spanish military. The heavily armed soldiers boarded the train and demanded to see passports. Jane got out her information and although she was afraid, calmly sat and waited.
When the soldiers arrived at their seat, her friend decided to tell the soldiers in very colorful and easily translated expletives what they could do to themselves. They weren’t going to order her around and actually started to rise in her seat as she ranted at them.
Jane had the presence of mind to grab her friend and pull her back down into her seat. She told her “shut up, you’re going to get us killed, give them your passport and not another word.” Then Jane apologized to the soldiers in Spanish for her friend who had misunderstood and to please forgive her.
This regime was ruthless. They could have been dragged off the train and shot. After the train incident, Jane split from traveling with her friend and completed the rest of her journey alone.
Know the person you are traveling with and discuss reactions to situations such as this in advance. You are a guest in someone’s Country and an understanding of the cultural and social mores there will make you a welcome guest who is less likely to get into trouble. You don’t want to get into trouble or land in jail because of someone else.
These are the basics for safe international travel:
Do your research and understand the cultural differences. For example, in Egypt an unmarried female who travels alone is considered a prostitute.
Learn about any hand gestures that may be considered offensive. I believe it is in Thailand or Indonesia where crossing one’s legs and exposing the soles of the shoe or foot is considered very offensive. In Singapore littering can land you a punishment by caning.
Never consume drugs in a foreign Country and watch the rules regarding alcohol. Never get intoxicated. You want to be lucid at all times.
Find out if there is civil unrest in the Country or if tourists are being targeted as was the case in Egypt.
Never leave your luggage unattended. Never agree to carry someone else’s luggage.
Ensure your family or friends back home have a full itinerary of where you will be staying and a copy of your passport, and other identification, including recent photos and bank information.
If something happens to you, they will be able to work with authorities using recent information. If you need help financially, they can deposit money to your bank account. Ensure that they are authorized to handle any banking needs, such as bill payment while you are away. International cell rates can be very high.
Set up agreed upon contact points and times and keep them. This way your family will know if something has gone wrong sooner and what your whereabouts where when you disappeared.
Practice situational awareness especially when traveling.
Women are frequently targeted at airports and kidnaped. Human trafficking is a very real danger. Ensure that the people you interact with, including taxi drivers are who they purport to be. It is safer to use your hotel shuttle service as transport from the airport to your hotel.
In your hotel, ensure that the door is locked and bolted with security lock while in your room. Check the room thoroughly upon possession of it to ensure no on is lurking and also to ensure that nothing illegal was left behind. Never open the door to anyone who is not expected. It takes seconds to call the main desk and confirm who is at your door and why.
If you intend to visit tourist areas, be aware that is also the place where criminals will congregate. Predators go where the prey is located.
If you choose to go to Amsterdam’s red light district, be aware that tourists can have very bad experiences there. There are people who are criminals who have immigrated to The Netherlands. The problem is that as a tourist, you might think they are tourists. They are not. You may be dealing with one at an ATM and suddenly find yourself surrounded by fifteen more men.
These gangs of thieves rig the ATM so that your cash won’t dispense properly. Then they come behind after you give up and fish your money out. Pick pockets are especially bad in tourist areas. They can work alone or in a tandem. One bumps into you and the other steals your wallet while you are distracted.
Deal with the banks in the daytime in the branch. Ensure you wear a hidden money and passport carrier. A zippered money and passport carrier that sits flat under the waistband of your pants is not easily accessible and stay out of sight. Forget purses. Try to blend in with the locals as much as possible.
Look like you mean business, don’t look like a victim. Tourists very often have a distracted and vague look on their faces because they are preoccupied with the new environment. That is a giveaway and makes you a target.
Jane, the woman in the story who carried on traveling alone finally landed in a small village in Greece only to discover that her American Express traveler’s checks were lost.
She spoke no Greek, but was able to use the telephone of a kindly Greek couple. Jane called her Dad who arranged the Am Ex check replacement which would be there in about two weeks. Meanwhile, she had no money. The check replacement wasn’t as rapid as she believed.
The kindly Greek couple took pity on Jane and gave her a free room and food in their small room to let hotel while she waited for the money.
Jane was alone and unable to communicate with anyone. She was sitting on her bed, feeling very dejected and then she heard it. It was English! Someone, a male voice was singing “Some Enchanted Evening” quite loudly.
Jane flew through the door overjoyed to have someone to talk with and met the man. She said to him “Oh. You speak English?”
He shook his head and began to sing the song again. It was the only English he knew.
Read MoreGarden planner software
RedneckContributor - April 21, 2021 I’ve found that planning my garden each growing season is easier if I can actually see it to scale. For years I’ve been using Garden Planner 3, which has more features than I could ever use. It is not limited to gardens and can be used to layout most anything. I’ll just bring up a saved plan, do a save as command & then modify that plan. No need to start from scratch each time. Here is my garden plan for this summer.
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FEMA link with loads of available prepper material
Bob - April 21, 2021 https://www.ready.gov/be-informed
Good afternoon,
Spend some time surfing around the above “be-informed” link.
Note the linked Hazard Information sheets eg Flood, Nuclear Explosion.
Note the Family Emergency Communication Plan.
Note the Alerts and Warnings.
You can order their no-cost pubs by working the included link. Haven’t looked at the pub site for some time but this is where you’ll find the studies eg “Hurricane Ike”, “Hurricane Sandy”.
Read MoreA good article for your non-prepper relatives, colleagues, acquaintances, …
Bob - April 20, 2021 ‘Preppers’ Have Their Day over Virus Fears
Good morning,
With the public health saturation of news, above link is a decent, clearly-written article on preparedness and those labeled “preppers”.
Link is ideal to provide your non-prepper contacts with.
If you note any specific names and web sites in article, will reward you with a cyber Clif bar or a bag of baker’s chocolate.
The mentioned VOA Learning English needed for our many public agency PIOs providing public health information.
Read MoreHow far will you go to improve your safety and self reliance?
Bill Masen - April 19, 2021 I’m curious as to just how far or how much effort and sacrifice people will make to improve their prepper quality of life. Just exactly WHAT are YOU willing to do to improve your safety, security and quality of life.
For years my wife and I have been into survivalism and prepping going as far back as the 1980s. We did all the normal things that most people who become preppers do. We realised there was clearly identifiable threats, hazards and risks to us as a family. So we learned skills, cached, stockpiled and developed plans.
BUT we also changed professions to equally increase our quality of life and also to improve our level of readiness. My wife became a Nurse Practitioner, I left the military for the Security industry, Our income rose as did our skills and levels of readiness. YET we were still uncomfortable / unsettled/ unsure .
We invested in skills, we invested in kit and supplies, we changed vehicles, we moved house within our communities, we developed relationships with other preppers. but still the underlying concerns lingered.
We stopped doing conventional social and leisure things like dining out, clubbing, holidaying on beaches etc and started using our free time to develop our skills and knowledge further, learning useful skills and attending convensions in prepping, survival skills, overlanding events, off gridding and homesteading events etc but STILL those fears festered away in the background.
Then we had kids and thats when things started hitting home like a manic jackhammer.
First we realised the overall quality of standard supermarket food was POOR, to much salt, chemicals, preservatives, processing etc especially when it came to feeding the family. We ended up having to source ORGANIC or UNPROCESSED foods to replace what came from the four local supermarkets.
Then we discovered that our kids occasional wheezy chests, chest infections, runny noses, etc was only happening at home, when we went camping the kids were 100% healthy, enlightenment it was AIR POLLUTION in the city ( Mainly vehicular emmissions)
At the same time we were told our kids were INTROVERTED and WITHDRAWN at school and were not learning fast enough. That was odd because when they were not at school they were extroverted, happy, inquisitive, curious and VERY sociable. We discovered that it was not the kids but the SCHOOL (s) they attended (500 primary school kids in one complex) .
Then a neighbour informed us our kids were often bullied verbally and occasionally physically by SOME not all of their schoolmates.
We also could not let them play out unsupervised because of the local trouble making street gangs of feral teens (and preteens) and a total lack of intetrest by the police or council to deal with the non stop vandalism, petty theft, criminal damage, noise and general anti social behaviour found in most urban areas.
Then it finally dawned on us, ALL OF OUR PREPS were for nought when all of us were being ground down by living in a city. Our air and food was a problem as was WHERE we lived, it was a problem with air pollution, crime, poor facilities, overcrowding and a totally ineffective local government and law enforcement system.
This is where I reach the crux of the matter, We finally realised that WHERE we lived was as important as HOW we lived.
We are both only working class people with modest incomes but we had clearly identified that the city was slowly killing ALL of us one tiny bit at a time.
We immediately looked for a quiet more rural community, we found one with a wonderful close knit village school of only 200 primary and junior school kids, who welcomed our kids.
Within 6 week the kids were transformed they LOVED school, they LOVED learning, they absolutely thrived, We found a house we could just about afford it needed loads doing to it but the kids and ourselves loved it. No sirens at night, no gangs, no vandalism. Neighbours looked out for each other, The kids health improved massively.
We found locally produced foods ( both normal and organic) our STRESS levels collapsed.
It took SACRIFICE, My wife had to take a Nursing job on much less money nearer our new home. I had to completely give up my urban security work as I could no longer respond to clients in minutes, I took up a couple of very menial part time jobs to bring in money whilst I also took over running the house. We used up ALL of our savings just to pay the deposit on the house.
Do I have regrets? YES absolutely. I 100% regret that we did not identify it was our ENVIRONMENT that was as much as issue as the global issues that turned us into preppers in the first place.
We gave up just about EVERYTHING to escape the city, careers, money, savings, friends, social groups etc but it was absolutely worth the sacrifice and effort.
If YOU are thinking about escaping the city then I say to you that we believe the LONG TERM BENEFITS far outweigh any negatives and hope you manage to escape to greener prepper friendlier pastures.
Now 20 years on and I see riots, looting, arson, division, hatred, violence etc consuming not only the US but much of Europe, Africa, south America, Middle East, UK etc as well. Compounded by POLICE/ COURTS and Governments paralised by political correctness and fear of offending assorted sections of society who are simply allowed to get away with mass civil unrest and violent crimes. Many cities are becoming NO GO AREAS not just for decent people but also for Law Enforcement as well.
How much sacrifice are YOU willing to make to protect YOUR families and quality of life?
Read MoreHow to survive and avoid incidents of civil unrest
UbiqueContributor - April 19, 2021 Three friends were hanging out at an amusement park in Vancouver, BC. They decided to leave the park and drive over to the Sea Festival about ten miles away.
They had to park and walk about a mile to get to the festival. As the three of them walked toward the festival, they heard yelling and laughter. They thought that what they had heard was true and that people were having a lot of fun at this festival.
The yelling and laughter drew closer and finally a stream of youths ran past them. Then they saw riot police coming toward them.
Two of them wanted to turn and run away because they were afraid. The other friend told them, “No, don’t move, face toward the police and put your hands in the air.”
The three friends stood facing police, hands in the air.
A riot policeman approached them and before he could say anything, the young man who told his friends to stand still, told the police officer, “We just got here. We don’t know what’s going on.”
The policeman then summoned fellow officers who helped escort the three young men back to their vehicle. They were told what route to take to get out of the area.
They found out that a riot had broken out at the Sea Festival. The laughing and yelling youths who had ran past them were actually rioters who had smashed storefronts and caused a lot of damage.
If the three unsuspecting friends had turned and ran, they would have considered part of the rioting group.
How you react when suddenly confronted with a situation like this can make or break your survival of it.
This was a relatively benign example from an actual incident that took place in Canada in the 1970’s. However, we are not all fluffy little teddy bears up here. In Vancouver BC, the riots after a hockey game are legendary.
Civil unrest and encounters with mobs are a more common threat today, so it is worthwhile to understand the risk and how to prepare for it.
The term “mob mentality” conveys the single minded and unpredictable mind set of a mob. When it overtakes a group of people for any reason, the situation devolves and becomes dangerous rapidly.
The first consideration is not to become exposed to such a threat. Avoidance is the first and most important practice for managing risk.
Don’t go where the trouble is located and that includes online sites.
There are some preparedness people who advocate following the social media of groups who engage in civil unrest. This is a bad suggestion.
You are known by your associations. These groups are heavily monitored by government security and law enforcement agencies.
Your electronic footprint does not want to be stepping anywhere near these kinds of groups. In other words, don’t go dancing in the barnyard, if you don’t want to end up with cow manure on your boots.
It makes better sense to monitor and set an alert through legitimate news media or local civic alert systems.
If you are caught in a mob unawares as the three men in the opening story, then take measures to get out of it as fast as you can.
Don’t resemble the people in the mob. Remove anything that is similar to their clothing, if possible and within reason. For example, if they are all wearing hats, remove your hat or ball cap. You will be less likely to be identified as one of them on security cameras or by law enforcement.
Don’t talk to people in the mob and watch your nonverbal communication.
Stay calm, head down and keep moving at a steady pace. Don’t run or draw attention to yourself. Spawning salmon behavior will be counterproductive and can get you noticed.
Go with the flow and calmly move toward the outer edges of the mob at a steady pace. Avoid any areas or bottlenecks where you could be crushed.
This is where situational awareness can’t be stressed enough. Always know the area that you are in and how to navigate it. You need to know how to exit the mob at the first safe and accessible place.
That could be a side street or an alley. There may be a safe building or even a safe doorway that you can take shelter in. If you take shelter in a building, know where the exits are located in case it becomes an unsafe place in which to shelter.
If you are concerned that you could be crushed or thrown off balance because of a crowd surge, lock your elbows in a bent position and use them to push down on the crowd so that they propel you forward. Stay on your feet.
If you are in your vehicle, you have options. You can turn around if possible and get out of there or make your way to a safer street.
Some advocate to drive forward if there are only a few people in the situation and your vehicle is not a target. I would still turn around and avoid the situation. How do you know hundreds of people aren’t going to come pouring around a corner?
Regardless of the number of people involved, your vehicle could be targeted in an instant. Then you will be faced with the possibility of hitting someone with your vehicle. You may also find your vehicle rendered inoperable because it is suddenly surrounded and damaged. It’s your choice.
If at home during periods of civil unrest, stay away from windows, keep your doors locked. Do not go outside to see what’s going on. Use your security cameras to monitor the situation outside.
Move away from walls where bullets or rocks could penetrate and injure you.
Watch for fires and the smell of smoke. Fires can begin in riots, so keep watch until it is over.
Continue to monitor the situation at home to ensure you are certain that it is over.
Read MoreHow to synthesize/prioritize preparing for scenarios based on likelihood, severity, and other factors?
Lowell - April 18, 2021 Some scenarios must happen, in general, more often than others. I imagine people use CPR more often than they evacuate their home and survive out of their GB/BOB. I imagine people restart their car battery more often than they use a firearm.
Does anyone know of a ranking of preparedness scenarios, ordered by how statistically likely they are to happen?
An additional level would be to factor in eventuality and severity. For example, saving enough funds for when you can no longer work for pay is important, but the “average” person has several years to work towards this. Being able to stop severe bleeding is something you may never need, but is extremely important if you do need it, and doesn’t take as much time or money to prepare for as other things.
And of course there’s the community aspect as well. If I’m built out enough to survive a multi year emergency, but all of my neighbors are food insecure week-to-week and I don’t even have their phone numbers, that seems like a bad prep.
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