Active New Top (30 days) Compact Card The Prepared staff in the news with down to earth prepping philosophy Bob - March 29, 2021 https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Can-Texas-leaders-learn-anything-from-preppers-16042090.php John Stokes, John Ramey and Tom Radar in news. The John Ramey philosophy is exacting: “modern preppers” = the older term “daily life”. Dr Sarah Avery is a “low impact” prepper. This means, from my inference, don’t spend time preparing to survive an overhead nuclear explosion. Just work on the basic, daily life, stuff. Read More 12 12 Color-changing sutures detects infection Bob - March 29, 2021 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/high-schooler-invented-color-changing-sutures-detect-infection-180977345/ A high school student invented a suture that changes colors to detect infection. Article has some illustrations. Current methods to determine infection require a smart phone. Article explains. I’m an avid practioner of the KISS doctrine – Keep It Simple, Stupid ! – Many do not have smart phone PLUS in realistic, worst case scenarios, phone service just not be available. Am hoping she gets the needed patent. Read More 12 3 News Maggot bucket, a source of unlimited and free protein for your chickens Gideon ParkerStaff - March 29, 2021 In the the fictional Survivalist / Going Home book series the main character makes something called a maggot bucket to feed his chickens after an EMP goes off and sends everyone into a SHTF scenario. The idea of a maggot bucket is that you drill holes in the bottom of a plastic bucket and suspend it in the air above your chicken coup. You then place your meat and other kitchen scraps in the bucket and it will attract flies who will plant their eggs in it. The eggs will hatch and maggots will be worming their way around in the scraps. Those maggots will eventually fall out of the holes of the plastic bucket and be laying on the ground for your chickens to come pick off. Voilà! Self feeding high protein chicken feed. This protein will then make it’s way to a more nutritious egg for us. That’s the idea… But does this work? Have any of you with chickens made something like this before? Would this work? I don’t think it would smell any worse or be more gross than a compost pile would be, but might not want it right out your back window. The wife and I are hoping to have chickens someday and don’t want to buy all this grain feed for them, so we are thinking about what else we can do to feed the chickens and keep them healthy. This probably won’t replace their feed, but could supplement it. Picture of chickens, just cause they’re cute. UPDATE: I will not be doing this as a way to feed my future chickens. I’m sure glad I brought up the idea before implementing it. Read all of the great comments below for why. Read More 10 14 Do you have any winter clothing recommendations? Robert LarsonContributor - March 29, 2021 Colorado got dumped on this weekend. The above picture is what we got over night and are expecting about 7-8 more inches today. I spent an hour out there and came in soaked! I learned that my leather hiking boots need another layer of Otter Wax to waterproof them further, my Carhartt jacket just soaks in all the snow and is not water resistant at all, and my cheap-o ski gloves must have lost all of their factory DWR coating. This could be VERY dangerous if I had to bug out and relied on these clothes, so I’m grateful that I could learn this lesson now when times are good. What winter clothing recommendations do you have? Boots, coat, gloves (especially gloves), pants, hat, etc… Other things I learned: I had learned somewhere that applying car wax to your shovel will make it slick and prevent snow and ice buildup in the scoop. This is something I’ll be doing as soon as things melt down, because I had to keep chipping away built up snow inside the shovel scoop and it was very inefficient. I’m also going to buy 1-2 more shovels as a backup. If my shovel were to break right now, I would be out of luck and it would be very difficult to dig out my car without one. Put your wiper blades up to prevent them from icing to the windshield Put gallon zipper bags on the side view mirrors. You just slip them off, don’t have any ice buildup and don’t have to scrape them risking damaging the little motor behind the glass. I have a large push broom that I use to brush off my car. I wrap it in a microfiber towel to prevent the plastic bristles from scratching the paint. I can clean a car in like 3 swipes compared to the little handheld brush that I keep in my car which would take forever. -Be Prepared- Read More 12 12 Gear How to read expiration dates Bigwig - March 28, 2021 Since the pandemic started, I began to pay more attention to expiration dates. However, some items don’t have an expiration date but have recommended lifespans, like disinfecting wipes and motor oil. Also, some items like soap and shampoo may not have an expiration date, but I’d like to use the older product first. I’ve started looking at the date codes of the product. Most of the date codes are some form of Julian Date, which includes the year and a 3-digit number representing the day of the year. For example, for 20030, the first two digits ’20’ represent the year 2020 and the last three digits ‘030’ represent the 30th day of the year, which would be January 30. To simplify things, I’ve been using the Julian Date converter at http://longpelaexpertise.com/toolsJulian.php and putting a sticker with the date on the items. Has anyone else been rotating items with no expiration date? Read More 12 17 Advice Fire and ice – Lessons learned through a wildfire evacuation and an epic ice storm Barb LeeContributor - March 28, 2021 In less than six months we’ve had both. It clarified a lot of questions about how to prepare for what scenario. Last summer we were involved in a wildfire evacuation. Fortunately we had plenty of time to pack (two people, two horses, a dog and a cat) before we got the call to leave, and we packed very well, I think. I drew up an inventory of what we need to have “staged” in the event of another wildfire evacuation, but I need to seriously tweak that list before the coming fire season. They attempted to funnel virtually an entire large county onto two lane roads to go…somewhere. We burned a half tank of gas in the truck, idling at ONE stoplight. Our Cars never go lower than half tank, and the truck has two tanks. But we should have taken another can of gas because of the insane traffic jams. And where to go? To the West, mountains on fire, to the east, mountains on fire, north and south, very hard to know where to go with horses. We stayed with friends who could have been called to evacuate themselves. Fortunately we weren’t directly affected by the fire. Many others lost everything when they were told to evacuate when the flames were licking at their doors. The evacuation was historic, it’s never happened here before. I think the authorities made horrible decisions. The cops were racing up and down the jammed road, but there wasn’t a single cruiser directing traffic at the clogged stoplight. Looting was rampant during the evacuation. A lot of people just decided to make a stand. We came home days before the all clear. Everything pointed to some unprecedented idiocy among the authorities. In February we had an epic ice storm (Oregon, not Texas) that had about 250,000 power customers without electricity. We were out for 8 days, and 12 days without phone or internet. THAT emergency we handled with flying colors. But we learned a tremendous amount about streamlining our daily existence. We learned that we could run most essentials on a gas sipping 2000 watt Honda Generator. We learned that refrigerators are useless, because they warm up too quickly and cool down too slowly. I was able to fill three ice chests with ice that fell from the trees, covered them with heavy horse blankets and they long outlasted the power failure. The freezer remained solidly frozen (it’s in an unheated building), running the generator about 4 hours am and pm. We used less than five gallons of gas during the 8 day outage. I took enough food out for three days’ meals at a time to avoid opening it unnecessarily. We are going to put additional rigid insulation around the outside of the freezer. Normally, our water comes from a 320 ft deep well. We have never had a generator large enough to operate it, but we just bought one, based on recommendations from the blog here. Of course, everyone’s out of stock so we have to wait for it. But the biggest message was that we can run nearly everything that’s really essential with the small generator, while the big generator guzzles gas (or propane) at a much higher rate. Score for the small generator. During this outage we relied on the 3000 gallon rainwater tank and the 120v pump that delivers the water. This works great for an emergency outage in our rainy winter, but would only last about 100 days without rain. Hence the big generator. Plus our expectation is that we will soon begin to experience California style deliberate blackouts as Oregon dismantles its energy producing infrastructure and becomes more susceptible to wildfire. In 41 years of living here, we’ve never experienced either emergency scenario before. It was enlightening, exhausting, and educational. It has also eroded our sense of complacency, if we are guilty of that. In terms of food, we’re trying to draw down the freezer and have more shelf stable food, but it’s a balancing act between what takes up space (canned) versus what takes up resources (as in water for rehydrating dried food, particularly pasta/rice/beans, and fuel for long cooking time of beans). That’s a real balancing act I need to address. We ate like normal people in both situations, not deprived, but canned goods take up a lot of space for evacuating (heh, how about hundred pound bales of hay!) Anyway, I’m rambling, sorry. It’s been an eventful six or so months! Read More 16 29 Scenarios Storing water outside? Rich DCContributor - March 28, 2021 Are there any tips, tricks, or rules of thumb for storing water outside (in barrels, etc) or is it best avoided when possible? Some of my thoughts/questions: If you opt for a rain-barrel collection system, where its not perfectly sealed from the outside and water-overflow might be a concern, is there any way to avoid various gross things from growing in a rain barrel? If storing in a sealed container, are there containers/materials that are more freeze-tolerant? Should you avoid filling an outdoor container to 100% to give ‘freeze’ expansion somewhere to go? Is freeze expansion so problematic that you can only do outdoor storage in more temperate environments, or empty your outdoor water storage prior to the freezing points in winter? Are underground (below the freeze line) storage solutions/cisterns viable in suburban environments, or is this more for homestead type operations, where you have a few acres at your disposal and fewer code enforcement agencies to worry about? To clarify, my use case here is secondary water storage and/or replenishment (with possible need for filtering?). I’m also curious if this might be useful for small scale garden applications – especially in a scenario where public water isn’t always turned off but potentially intermittent/less reliable. Read More 16 4 Generators? Jonnie PekelnyContributor - March 28, 2021 I’ve been trying to get my head around generators. (Disclaimer: I am almost entirely ignorant abut electricity and am not very handy). The immediate need that’s driving my need for a generator is that I need an off-the-grid backup for running my CPAP machine. For those of you who don’t know about CPAP, it treats sleep apnea. No CPAP no good sleep. That’s bad in an emergency. My CPAP machine is rather power hungry and I’ll have to buy a sizeable capacity lithium battery to run it for one night. But then I will need to recharge it. As I understand the best way to recharge it is with a generator. But here’s where I get stuck. A generator seems tricky and dangerous. * It can’t run inside. It has to be 20 feet away from the house but my outside property is very small and also on a hill and also exposed so that the generator could be easily seen and and maybe stolen outside. Even if not stolen I don’t know where I would place it to be 20 feet away from the house and how I would keep it secure on a slope. * It requires gas or propane, which also has to be stored outside, also somewhat visible and possibly easily stolen and also explosive. Do I want to keep an explosive gas right near my house? How do I store it safely? I already have this problem with the little propane canisters I keep for my camping stove. I’ve opted to store those in my basement, which I’m not supposed to do technically, because I don’t know where else to put them safely. * And if I’m camping (which is my secondary reason to want an off-grid solution for my CPAP) do I bring a bunch of gas or propane with me on my camping trip to feed the generator? I also don’t know how long a generator takes to recharge a battery to capacity. I would really appreciate guidance from someone who is competent about generators. Read More 16 33 ticks, why do they exist? pint of beer - March 28, 2021 i was going to attach a picture of a tick, but was creeped out by just the image of it and couldn’t keep looking at them. this is one of my fears of camping, bugging out, and just being out in the woods. nasty lil blood suckers, why do they even exist? bird’s probably aren’t getting much nutrition off of them. i think they are just around to be a creepy pest and to keep me out of the woods. to the point now, what can people do to prevent ticks? both the day hiker and the person bugging out in a tent in the middle of no where for months? what are the dangers of getting bit by one besides the fact that they are creepy as h***? if, heaven forbid, someone were to get bit by one of these abominations, how do you remove it? i’ve heard you have to do it just right or the head breaks off and stays connected to you. gosh! can you tell i don’t like ticks? Read More 7 9 Advice Learn how to persevere during a crisis before the crisis happens UbiqueContributor - March 27, 2021 “TOO WEAK!” The dojo walls echoed the screams of our instructor. We were in formation, row upon row of exhausted, sweat soaked students. He stalked up and down the rows, and around the perimeter of the class, his eagle eye catching every imperfect punch or kick. The worst offense was not to train hard enough. If one person was lax, everyone was punished. The penalties were double knee jumps or pushups or both. “DOUBLE KNEE JUMPS NOW! ONE, TWO, ONE, TWO!” The count was rapid and relentless. We soared in the stifling heat, strained to send our bodies upward, and drew our knees up into our chests. As soon as our feet hit the floor, the rapid pace of his count drove us back up again. Over and over we repeated the movement in the sweltering heat of the dojo. It was situated in an old building without air conditioning and we trained upstairs. The heat of the hot summer day rose to where we trained and combined with the thermal energy that radiated from our bodies. Thirty seconds of double knee jumps at his pace was brutal. Sixty seconds was an indication that our instructor was really annoyed with the lazy offender in class. No one complained because the double knee jumps were better than the bamboo rod that used to be administered for not training hard enough. Regular training consisted of warm-up, calisthenics and flexibility. We rotated through an assortment of skills: kicks, punches, patterns, sparring, and heavy bag training. In almost every class, his corrections would rise above the thunder of feet hitting the dojo floor or the kiyups yelled in unison. “HAAAHHH!” The kiyups rose from deep in our bellies and up, and tightened our solar plexus as the sound blasted out of our mouths. One of our instructor’s preferred verbal admonishments was to stop the class and tell us “What will you do in a fight for your lives? Are you going to tell your opponent that you are tired and need to take a break? Do you think your opponent will stop? NO! TOO WEAK! NOW TRAIN HARDER!” His point was simple: learn to push beyond what you think you can do because it can save your life or someone else’s life someday. I pushed myself through many limits during my training. Even my experience with “runners’ wall” during my running days was nothing like what I learned in that class. I experienced what it meant to literally drop during a heavy bag workout. While I was being dragged off the floor and checked for cardiac by a fellow student who happened to be a physician, my thoughts were to get back in there and keep going. I chose knuckle push ups over the other type of push up allowed for women because they strengthened my wrists. My preferred sparring partners were men. Sparring with taller men taught me to become fast and proficient with my kicks. I learned to overcome their longer limbs by getting in close past that radius. I favored sparring partners who listened to me when I told them to forget you’re sparring with a female. I wanted to desensitize myself to the image of a larger and more powerful male coming at me and overcome that difference in combat. Beneath my gi (uniform) was a road map of bruises from torn muscles and sparring. Not every student pushed that hard. I chose to push hard and train hard at the dojo and at home. Tenacity or perseverance is something we can develop by challenging ourselves to continue in the face of adversity. It is an asset for a prepper. It is a trait that we can rely upon in times of crisis, and if resources are stretched thin, it becomes a very important asset. Tenacity can make the difference between survival and death. Think about why some people give up just before they succeed. Just before they overcome a problem, some people stop trying, stop fighting and they just give up. You don’t have to be a martial artist to learn tenacity. Push yourself every day to do better, to carry on when you are tired, to complete the task when you’re overwhelmed and frustrated. Just keep going. Don’t give up. Don’t wait until there is a crisis to develop this trait. You can practice and learn tenacity each and every day. Don’t be the one who gives up just before the finish line, or before the battle is won, or before the crisis is over. Persevere and survive. Read More 9 10 The prepping items that we regret buying and why UbiqueContributor - March 26, 2021 Remember the nifty prepping gadget or shiny “gotta have it” object begging to be added to our prep items. Like crows, we swooped in and snatched it up and carried it off, only to discover it was garbage. It wasn’t well made and broke after we used it 3 times. It didn’t do all the wonderful things it was supposed to do. It was a pain in the neck to use and more aggrevation that it was worth. That regrettable prep item purchase was recycled, thrown out, buried in the backyard or gifted to an unsuspecting relative. So come on now, ‘fess up. We’ve all done it. What was the worst prep related item that you ever purchased and why? Read More 11 39 Advice Intuition, Nature and Prepping UbiqueContributor - March 26, 2021 This morning, I thought of how many times I have used intuition and nature as part of how I prep. Intuition can be considered the ability to understand or know something immediately, without conscious reasoning. I was raised in a family of intuitive people, which made it difficult to get away with anything as a child. Their abilities went beyond parental instinct. I was taught to pay attention to my intuition and use my instincts for the ability to do something about what my intuition noticed. I thought everyone’s family was like my family and never considered it unusual, until as an adult outside my family unit, I acted upon my instincts. That was when other people noticed and I found out we didn’t quite follow the norm. For example, I would get a sudden mental flash that a friend was in trouble and call them. The conversation went something like this: Me: “Are you okay?” Friend: “No, I’m not…wait a minute, how did you know?” The friend was particularly surprised because I had called her at 3 a.m.. I had awoken out of a dead sleep to respond. I was surprised also. That was the point when I realized that not everyone paid attention to their intuition or used their instincts. This is not to say that I always got it right. It took some years for me to understand how to focus some of that intuition on protecting myself. I was also taught to pay attention to nature and be mindful of the physical world around me by using all my senses. It was the smell of snow, of the shift in the air when Spring had really arrived. It was about observing how animals behaved in different seasons. Were the squirrels out longer gathering food? How heavy was the moss on the trees that year? Were the horses suddenly running because a storm was coming or was it something else? Nature has a way of telling us things if we pay attention.There have been many times when I make decisions to do something prep related that can appear spontaneous, but are actually driven by intuition and nature combined. For example, regardless of the weather forecast, I can decide to go immediately to do a grocery shop rather than wait for the planned for time and day. This has happened in fall and spring stock up times. There have been many storms I have avoided by simply following that intuition and paying attention to what I sensed in nature and not the weather forecast. When I lived in the city and could frequent thrift stores more easily, I did the same thing, a sudden decision to go because I had that flash of intuition that told me go now. Sure enough, I would find an item I had been searching for and needed for my preps. Now in a rural area, it works the same way for online shopping. I can be in the middle of baking bread, stop cold and check online for an item I have been searching for and there it is, on sale. I use intuition alone for dealing with safety and security issues. Again, I can awaken out of a sleep to check security cameras and there are people on the street or in the back lane. I don’t think I’m the only one who does this. I have a theory that we all have the ability to be intuitive, but many people are not taught to pay attention to their intuition and nature as I was taught. So, this morning my curiosity leads me to ask whether anyone else uses their intuition as part of how they prep, and if so, how? I also wonder if anyone else understands what I mean about reading the signs in nature and if so, how does that affect how you prep? Read More 13 12 Advice NWS weather forecast model upgraded Bob - March 25, 2021 https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2021/03/25/607109.htm Our complaints were heard and acted on ! The National Weather Service was using a model that did not work – especially when compared to the European model. Above link tells of the change. Traditionally, the US model for hurricanes measures only wind speed. This misses the bigger danger: flooding. Our loss of life is not coming from the wind but from the water. Read More 13 3 How we can teach children and youth prepping skills UbiqueContributor - March 25, 2021 “They should teach this in the schools.” I have read that comment referring to prepping skills repeatedly, or some variation of it, in various threads and have said the same thing myself. Emergency preparedness doesn’t appear to be taught in school. Note: Please say so if you know that it is, because I would like to know how that community got it into the curriculum. If it isn’t taught in school, then that leaves the parents and the home environment as the place where preparedness is taught. In an ideal world, prepping would be taught at school and at home. If we think of prepping as a lifestyle, then it follows that children and youth at home would grow up with that mind set and philosophy. It is possible that as they emerge into adulthood, they might reject that lifestyle. They might also return to a prepping lifestyle eventually. Regardless of whether they reject it or not, at least as adults they would have roots in prepping and develop some basic skills and knowledge. There are exceptions where some parents are not suitable in the role of teacher. A parent who doesn’t recognize their limitation and unsuitability as a teacher can destroy their child’s love of learning. Every child or youth learns in different ways. Some children are “hands on” learners, others lean more toward self-teaching, while others like to observe and learn. To be an effective teacher, a parent must understand this and adapt their teaching style to suit the child. A frustrated child will soon grow to hate learning if it becomes associated with unpleasantness and stress rather than the joy of learning and discovery. I am not a fan of “everybody’s a winner” methodology used in some schools. Children need to understand that they will make mistakes and that is another feature of learning. It also prepares them for how things will work once they are employed or self-employed. If the parents are not suitable to teach and they know it, then what? Fortunately, there is a broad base of substitute teachers who can work with the family’s philosophy of prepping and help out. Other family members, prepping friends, groups such as Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, survival skill courses, for example. There are family farms who open their farms to people who want to take a vacation and participate in a working family farm. Most of us keep our prepping low key, but it is still possible to have a neighbour, family or friends outside the prepping community to teach your child how to fish, hunt, sew, bake bread, garden, animal husbandry, first aid, and financial skills, without disclosing that these skills are about prepping. You could call them life skills or wanting your child involved in the environment and understanding where their food comes from. Frankly, after the walloping big lesson Covid-19 has taught the world, I don’t think too many people would even question a parent wanting their child to learn those skills. This morning I am wondering who here is teaching their prepping skills to their children or grandchildren and if so, what has your experience been as a teacher of these skills and lifestyle? Was the experience always successful or did you learn things along the way? Have some of your children rejected the prepping lifestyle? If so, do you know why? Outside of volunteering, what are some ways we can lead by example and encourage prepping? Are we noticing the opportunity to teach when it happens? Can you think of other ways we can teach prepping skills? Read More 10 8 AdviceSkills Peaches in the spring RedneckContributor - March 24, 2021 Sometimes prepping is beautiful. A big part of my prepping are my perennials. I grow all sorts, mostly apples but also pears, Asian persimmons, pecans, blueberries, blackberries, muscadine grapes, jujubi, asparagus… and peaches which are blooming now. IMO, few things are as beautiful and taste so great when ripened on the tree. Was spraying the orchard & roses today and just had to take some pictures. Read More 12 36 Mitigation: How to reduce the cause, impact and severity of disasters around your home UbiqueContributor - March 23, 2021 I read through some FEMA information this morning about the four phases of the emergency management cycle. The four phases are: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. I considered some of the projects that have been done around my home and property over the years that have mitigated disasters or the effects of one. The trees on my property were in terrible shape when we moved in. Most of them were planted close to the house and planted too close to each other. Some of the trees were dying and partly rotted and others had huge branches over the top of the roof of the house. We get can get high winds and tornadoes and I was very concerned about the potential for how my home and a neighbour’s home could be damaged by such an event. Trees have a life cycle and it is important to know that when selecting them for your property, especially a town or city lot. Watch also for roots systems that can infiltrate sewer lines. Tree branches over a roof or close to a roof are not good for a variety of reasons. Branches that actually touch the roof can destroy your shingles. The branches can become too close when they are heavy with ice, snow or moisture and then sag lower and touch the roof. Squirrels and other critters are fun to watch from a distance, but give them a tree branch close enough to your home and they will scurry up that branch and find a way into your attic. Squirrels are amazing high wire acrobats and can jump 15 feet (some sources say more or less), so that needs to be considered when pruning back branches or planting. Aside from damage to the home, squirrels can carry diseases. Some of the more common diseases they carry are tularaemia, typhus, plague and ringworm which can be transmitted through a bite or other forms of direct contact with infected squirrels. I called in a tree service and had all the trees removed. High wind, tornado and potential for rodent damage mitigated. Next, there was the issue of poorly graded property. We can get heavy rains, more so now in recent years with “once in a 100, (insert years – it keeps changing) events.” During a heavy rain, I discovered water pouring into one of the basement windows. I had both basement windows replaced with properly installed window wells around them. I then installed window well covers. I noticed after the heavy rain exactly where the water was pooling on the property. The next project to tackle was the issue of our poorly graded residential lot. Residential lot grading is shaping and grading the land to direct surface runoff away from your home in a way that doesn’t affect neighbouring properties. . Aside from standing water and flooding, improperly graded residential lots can cause foundation settlement or damage and basement dampness. Dampness is not good for prep storage. Here is a link for an overview of lot grading. Each community will have their own rules. Where I live, no permit was necessary. However, some communities require a permit. Residential drainage After 5 truck loads of soil, and becoming very acquainted with my landscape rake, the lot was correctly sloped and graded. Swales and drainage channels were the final component to ensure that rain water and moisture from melting snow drained away from the house. The water now flows to the street and back lane via grade and drainage channels on each side of the lot. I also had larger drainage pipe from the gutters installed to allow for better and more rapid flow of water during storms and heavy rains. No more overflowing gutters. Risk of flooding and water infiltration around the home and property now mitigated. After the water table rose due to heavy rains, I had my plumber install a sump pit and pump to move water away from below the foundation and ease hydrostatic pressure. There are other methods, but this was recommended as a good first line of defence and it has worked very well over the years. At the same time, I also had a sewer back flow valve installed on my sewer line. Our town has the storm drains tied into the sanitary sewer system. This is not the correct way to do it and not all communities may be built that way. It is wise to check especially in older rural towns with municipal sewer and water. If however, your sewer lines back up for any reason, this valve is well worth having in place. One woman I knew with heavy rains in another town, had over four feet of sewage in her basement. Her massive, fully stocked chest freezer was floating. During heavy rains, some homes in town had flooded basements. Many people were trying to hide the fact that their homes were being flooded. Instead of correctly pumping the water out of their basement and away from their property, they were pumping into their basement storm drains. The problem is that when so many of them did that, they overloaded the sewer lines causing sewage to flow back into basements. My basement stayed clean and dry. Installing that sewer back flow valve on my home has paid for itself many times over. We have had many heavy rain years and I don’t have to worry about sewage backing up into my basement. Preps safe and sound and potential for disaster mitigated. Those are a few of the steps I have taken over the years to practice hazard mitigation. What kind of steps or projects have you done to mitigate disaster causes, impact or severity around your homes? Are there still projects you want to do to reduce the effects of a disaster? Read More 12 35 AdviceSkills How to prep and recognize all or nothing thinking UbiqueContributor - March 23, 2021 In my ten year journey to learn to manage PTSD symptoms, I encountered some terrific therapists. Mary Ellen was a warm, caring person capable of the most deadpan delivery of practical and common sense advice. I was stuck in a forty year old memory. A person had attempted to murder me three different ways in one night. We were trying to work through the fear and nightmares I still had of that incident. One session, Mary Ellen asked me “How old were you when it happened?” I answered “Around nineteen or twenty-years old.” “How old was he?” “He was thirty-eight years old?”I answered. “Okay, so today, that makes him, what, seventy-eight years old, right?” “Well, yeah,” I answered. “Do you think you could take him today?” Mary Ellen asked. The light bulb went off, or should I say “on” in my head. “Hell, yeah!” I shouted. “You bet I could take him now.” Mary Ellen showed me that I was stuck in the past, while the years had rolled by. The man who terrorized my sleep and had caused me so much fear of ever encountering him again, had aged, as had I. My thoughts and thinking had kept me trapped in time. Some effects of the trauma still remains, but the image of him as he attacked me that night is gone. I tell you this because it is an example of how our thinking can change everything. This is very important in prepping and when were are coping with a crisis. It is also important in the aftermath of a crisis. How we think and what we think can keep us “stuck.” Mary Ellen used to call me out on “all or nothing” thinking. It is also referred to as thinking in “black and white” terms. “You’re doing it again,” she would tell me. She taught me to catch and correct thinking that considers only two options, one or the other, and doesn’t see the shades of grey in situations. It is a very limiting way to think. All or nothing thinking involves thinking in absolute terms: never, ever, always. It can also happen when we place “either or” limits on our thinking. For example, my bug out shelter will be either here or there. If we limit ourselves to those two choices, then we might miss a better option. When we are stressed it becomes easy to panic and begin to limit our options through all or nothing thinking. We may think I can or I can’t do something instead of I can try to do it or I can succeed if I do it this way. All or nothing thinking doesn’t allow for that and focuses on the negative. If we think in terms of options, rather than “either or,” we can overcome all or nothing thinking. We can substitute “and” for “either or”. I can do this and I can try this as well. Our preparedness and reactions can be shaped by decisions made upon a wider spectrum of choices. There will be many times in our prepping lives where the ability to see and evaluate a wider scope of options will be important, if not, crucial to our plans. In a crisis, our ability to recognize the limitations of all or nothing thinking may help us survive by alerting us to change this type of self-limiting thinking, expand our options and make a better choice. Read More 13 14 Advice Are you new to preparedness? Ask whatever you want here! Robert LarsonContributor - March 23, 2021 In some of the other forums that i’ve been apart of over the years, I’ve been more of a lurker than a contributor because I was so new to the hobby and didn’t want to feel like the annoying new kid who has a million basic questions. But I want to offer my expertise here (anyone else can chime in too!) and make this a safe place where everyone and anyone (even seasoned veterans) can ask any question about preparedness no matter how basic, small, or noobish it may be. Your question might not be that big of a question to make a whole new forum thread about, but you can ask it here. I find a lot of joy and satisfaction helping others and sharing what I know, so please ask away 🙂 -Be Prepared- Read More 15 38 In some of the other forums that i’ve been apart of over the years, I’ve been more of a lurker than a contributor because I was so new to the hobby and didn’t want to feel like the annoying new kid who has a million basic questions. Steps to take to solve a problem UbiqueContributor - March 23, 2021 Coping with a disaster in real time requires response. If we have prepped wisely, then our responses will be appropriate. However, there may be times during a disaster when we are called upon to solve problems that may arise. Even with good preps in place, a disaster may demand much physical and intense labour. We may be forced to push ourselves physically and there is no time to eat, drink or rest. It is possible to become sleep deprived, hungry, dehydrated, injured, ill, or incredibly stressed. Imagine that scenario and then imagine problems cropping up and the need to solve them. There are different methods for teaching problem solving steps. I prefer these steps and wanted to share them with you: Step 1: Identify and define the problem. It isn’t possible to solve a problem if you don’t clearly understand the problem. You need to be able to correctly identify the problem first. Step 2: Brainstorm possible solutions. A brainstorm is simply jotting down any possible solutions that appear reasonable and come to mind. If you do this as a group or family, everyone calls out their suggestions, without stopping to critique or comment upon them. Just keep the momentum going and list the ideas. Step 3: Consider and evaluate the list of possible solutions. Now is the time for discussion if in a group or family or reflection if you are along and doing this. Step 4: Select a possible solution to try. Try the solution. Step 5: Evaluate the solution. Did it solve the problem? Step 6: If the problem is not solved, repeat Step 4. Go back through the list of possible solutions and select another one to try. Step 7: If you try all the possible solutions and the problem is not solved, then a) Go back and review how you identified the problem. Perhaps the problem is not accurately or fully defined. If you discover this has happened, adjust the definition of the problem and repeat the steps. Or b) Accept that the problem may not be solvable at this time. There may be problems that occur during a crisis that are not solvable at that particular point in time. Consider that the problem may be solvable at a different time and then try again later. Read More 9 11 What is your Get Home Plan? UbiqueContributor - March 22, 2021 The issue of bugging out is a much discussed topic. We focus on what gear to put in our BOBs and then load into our BOV. Has anyone made a Get Home Plan, or even considered it? What if you or your family are separated? Do you each know how to work a Get Home Plan? Do your children know? I’m not planning BO, but am prepping for that option just in case. What I haven’t done is make a Get Home Plan and that is now on my get ‘er done list. Read More 11 20 Advice Prepare for a disaster and know the risks UbiqueContributor - March 21, 2021 I posted yesterday about a case of a nasty emergent syndrome that is in New Brunswick. We prep and cover various gear and necessary for life items like water, food, clothing, and shelter. Has anyone considered the risk factors for the scenarios/disasters for which you prep? If so, have you considered changes to any of those risks and changed how you prep or plan to prep going forward? After what I read yesterday, for how long it took to make this progressive and deadly neurological syndrome public, after an internal memo was leaked and for the additional information that I posted on that thread today, that my prepping is never going to be the same. I am prepping now for risk as well as scenario. I am also prepping for what is not being released to the public and will continue my habit of medical research reading. It is how I got ahead on shoring up preps before Covid-19 was front and center in the media. New and emergent diseases, viruses and syndromes. Contaminated food, water and air. The risk has always been there and just got worse because we aren’t always the first to know. I am prepping accordingly. Read More 9 14 AdviceScenarios Today in history – March 18 – The New London School explosion and why natural gas has added odors OldHouseGirl - March 20, 2021 Today is the anniversary of one of the worse disasters in US history that happened in Texas in 1937. Sadly, most people have never heard of it. It’s the reason you can now smell when there’s a gas leak. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion Read More 8 3 Scenarios Under-counter water filters JRoll - March 19, 2021 Hi All, I’ve been researching under-counter water filters after seeing an ad for Hydroviv. I found several articles on other prepping sites that recommend Epic Smart Shield over the Hydroviv. I’m curious if any folks here have experience with either of these filters and could provide some insight? I’m also open to other filter brands if you have recommendations. Background: I live in the Southeast and am on city water. Thanks! Read More 6 6 AdviceGear Staying entertained during a power outage Jay ValenciaContributor - March 19, 2021 If the power were to go out for a week, I think my family’d be able to survive. Definitely need to think up a good way to cook off grid, but besides that, I think we should be fine. I was watching my kids this week and how they entertained themselves, and hey even my wife and I are guilty of this, we all tend to go to electronics for our entertainment. Phones, tv, video games, radio, podcasts, etc… What are some ways to keep the family entertained during a week long power outage? We have quite the collection of board games, which will help some nights. Read More 10 22 Our well was down for a week. General observations. Thomas GomezStaff - March 18, 2021 I live in a rural part of New Mexico, and our well was recently down for a week. Unbeknownst to us, our pressure tank and buried lines were leaking due to the system’s age and were made worse by the recent spate of cold weather much of the country experienced. We currently share a well with our neighbor, and we both have young children and a pregnant spouse. Save for the well shaft and submersible pump, the whole system was torn out and re-done. General observations Last summer, I installed gutters and five 50-gallon rain barrels. This was a good prep! We used this water to flush toilets. Between my neighbor and I, we used about 70 gallons of water to flush toilets. Though we have 55 gallons of clean, potable water in reserve, we elected to purchase water from the store for drinking, cooking, cleaning, coffee and tea. We went into the City every other day to shower. Over the week, we went through several rolls of paper towels. Paper towels were great for wiping down surfaces and drying off hands and cooking implements. Since we didn’t have hot water, dishes stacked up like crazy. Teflon/non-stick pans were a godsend. To clean them after use, we just added some water, heated it on the stove, then wiped it down with a paper towel. I only cooked with our non-stick pans during the week. To get our well back up cost $7,000. My spouse and I regularly contribute to an emergency/rainy day fund, and we have been planning for a well failure for over a decade. We did not feel a burden, because we were financially prepared. Here is an excellent article about financial prepping. Lack of running water generally destroyed my work efficiency. It is hard to concentrate when coordinating with well crews, plumbers, inspectors, neighbors and setting aside time to drive into the city for showers, food, and provisions. If you have a busy life, expect a major setback on all of your projects. Improvements I want to store 100 gallons of potable, clean, readily accessible water. We are going to add an additional 55-gallon drum of stored water to our preps. I am looking into an on-demand system for hot water and bathing. These systems are used by campers. I will probably write an article about these systems in the future. Since we couldn’t easily do dishes, I am going to add some bio-degradable paper plates and bowls to our preps. Our rain barrels quickly fill up. This year I plan on burying a thousand-gallon tank under my deck and building an overflow system to drain into the storage tank. That would give us a 1,250 gallons of stored water. Since we have a septic tank on our property, I am going to design an outhouse that can be quickly built over one of the septic tank access points. This would save a lot of water since we wouldn’t need to flush toilets. Just build an outhouse with a solar light and a hand washing station, and poo and pee right into the septic tank. Certain well components need a heat source to prevent freezing during the winter. I need to find a solar powered heat source to prevent critical well components from freezing in the event of a grid failure. Buying a Big Berkey counter top water filter ASAP. Overall it was a good experience and gave me some data points in the event of a grid failure or catastrophe. Feel free to share your thoughts below. Read More 14 16 < Prev 1 2 3 … 47 48 49 … 60 61 62 Next > Recently Active News for the week of 2025-09-08 - 6 days agoNews for the week of 2025-09-01 - 2 weeks agoNews for the week of 2025-08-25 - 3 weeks agoNews for the week of 2025-08-18 - 4 weeks agoNews for the week of 2025-08-04 - 1 month ago RULES This forum is heavily moderated to keep things valuable to as many people as possible. Full community policies are here. The basics: 1. Be nice to each other. 2. Stay focused on prepping. 3. Avoid politics, religion, and other arguments. 4. No unfounded conspiracies, fake news, etc. 5. Debate ideas, not people. FILTER Show all Advice Gear Meta News Scenarios Skills

The Prepared staff in the news with down to earth prepping philosophy 

Bob - March 29, 2021

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Can-Texas-leaders-learn-anything-from-preppers-16042090.php

John Stokes, John Ramey and Tom Radar in news. The John Ramey philosophy is exacting: “modern preppers” = the older term “daily life”. 

Dr Sarah Avery is a “low impact” prepper. This means, from my inference, don’t spend time preparing to survive an overhead nuclear explosion.  Just work on the basic, daily life, stuff.

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Color-changing sutures detects infection

Bob - March 29, 2021

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/high-schooler-invented-color-changing-sutures-detect-infection-180977345/

A high school student invented a suture that changes colors to detect infection. Article has some illustrations.

Current methods to determine infection require a smart phone.  Article explains.

I’m an avid practioner of the KISS doctrine – Keep It Simple, Stupid ! – Many do not have smart phone PLUS in realistic, worst case scenarios, phone service just not be available.

Am hoping she gets the needed patent.

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News

Maggot bucket, a source of unlimited and free protein for your chickens

Gideon ParkerStaff - March 29, 2021

In the the fictional Survivalist / Going Home book series the main character makes something called a maggot bucket to feed his chickens after an EMP goes off and sends everyone into a SHTF scenario.

The idea of a maggot bucket is that you drill holes in the bottom of a plastic bucket and suspend it in the air above your chicken coup. You then place your meat and other kitchen scraps in the bucket and it will attract flies who will plant their eggs in it. The eggs will hatch and maggots will be worming their way around in the scraps. Those maggots will eventually fall out of the holes of the plastic bucket and be laying on the ground for your chickens to come pick off. Voilà! Self feeding high protein chicken feed. This protein will then make it’s way to a more nutritious egg for us. That’s the idea… But does this work?

Have any of you with chickens made something like this before? Would this work?

I don’t think it would smell any worse or be more gross than a compost pile would be, but might not want it right out your back window.

The wife and I are hoping to have chickens someday and don’t want to buy all this grain feed for them, so we are thinking about what else we can do to feed the chickens and keep them healthy. This probably won’t replace their feed, but could supplement it.

Picture of chickens, just cause they’re cute.

UPDATE: I will not be doing this as a way to feed my future chickens. I’m sure glad I brought up the idea before implementing it. Read all of the great comments below for why.

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Do you have any winter clothing recommendations?

Robert LarsonContributor - March 29, 2021

Colorado got dumped on this weekend. The above picture is what we got over night and are expecting about 7-8 more inches today. 

I spent an hour out there and came in soaked! I learned that my leather hiking boots need another layer of Otter Wax to waterproof them further, my Carhartt jacket just soaks in all the snow and is not water resistant at all, and my cheap-o ski gloves must have lost all of their factory DWR coating. 

This could be VERY dangerous if I had to bug out and relied on these clothes, so I’m grateful that I could learn this lesson now when times are good.

What winter clothing recommendations do you have? Boots, coat, gloves (especially gloves), pants, hat, etc…

Other things I learned:

I had learned somewhere that applying car wax to your shovel will make it slick and prevent snow and ice buildup in the scoop. This is something I’ll be doing as soon as things melt down, because I had to keep chipping away built up snow inside the shovel scoop and it was very inefficient. I’m also going to buy 1-2 more shovels as a backup. If my shovel were to break right now, I would be out of luck and it would be very difficult to dig out my car without one. Put your wiper blades up to prevent them from icing to the windshield Put gallon zipper bags on the side view mirrors. You just slip them off, don’t have any ice buildup and don’t have to scrape them risking damaging the little motor behind the glass. I have a large push broom that I use to brush off my car. I wrap it in a microfiber towel to prevent the plastic bristles from scratching the paint. I can clean a car in like 3 swipes compared to the little handheld brush that I keep in my car which would take forever.

-Be Prepared-

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Gear

How to read expiration dates

Bigwig - March 28, 2021

Since the pandemic started, I began to pay more attention to expiration dates. However, some items don’t have an expiration date but have recommended lifespans, like disinfecting wipes and motor oil. Also, some items like soap and shampoo may not have an expiration date, but I’d like to use the older product first. I’ve started looking at the date codes of the product. Most of the date codes are some form of Julian Date, which includes the year and a 3-digit number representing the day of the year. For example, for 20030, the first two digits ’20’ represent the year 2020 and the last three digits ‘030’ represent the 30th day of the year, which would be January 30. To simplify things, I’ve been using the Julian Date converter at http://longpelaexpertise.com/toolsJulian.php and putting a sticker with the date on the items.

Has anyone else been rotating items with no expiration date?

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Advice

Fire and ice – Lessons learned through a wildfire evacuation and an epic ice storm

Barb LeeContributor - March 28, 2021

In less than six months we’ve had both.  It clarified a lot of questions about how to prepare for what scenario.  Last summer we were involved in a wildfire evacuation.  Fortunately we had plenty of time to pack (two people, two horses, a dog and a cat) before we got the call to leave, and we packed very well, I think.  I drew up an inventory of what we need to have “staged” in the event of another wildfire evacuation, but I need to seriously tweak that list before the coming fire season. 

They attempted to funnel virtually an entire large county onto two lane roads to go…somewhere. We burned a half tank of gas in the truck, idling at ONE stoplight.  Our Cars never go lower than half tank, and the truck has two tanks.  But we should have taken another can of gas because of the insane traffic jams.  And where to go?  To the West, mountains on fire, to the east, mountains on fire, north and south, very hard to know where to go with horses.  We stayed with friends who could have been called to evacuate themselves.  Fortunately we weren’t directly affected by the fire.  Many others lost everything when they were told to evacuate when the flames were licking at their doors.

The evacuation was historic, it’s never happened here before.  I think the authorities made horrible decisions.  The cops were racing up and down the jammed road, but there wasn’t a single cruiser directing traffic at the clogged stoplight.

Looting was rampant during the evacuation. A lot of people just decided to make a stand. We came home days before the all clear. Everything pointed to some unprecedented idiocy among the authorities.

In February we had an epic ice storm (Oregon, not Texas) that had about 250,000 power customers without electricity.  We were out for 8 days, and 12 days without phone or internet. THAT emergency we handled with flying colors.  But we learned a tremendous amount about streamlining our daily existence.

We learned that we could run most essentials on a gas sipping 2000 watt Honda Generator.  We learned that refrigerators are useless, because they warm up too quickly and cool down too slowly.  I was able to fill three ice chests with ice that fell from the trees, covered them with heavy horse blankets and they long outlasted the power failure.

The freezer remained solidly frozen (it’s in an unheated building), running the generator about 4 hours am and pm.  We used less than five gallons of gas during the 8 day outage. I took enough food out for three days’ meals at a time to avoid opening it unnecessarily.  We are going to put additional rigid insulation around the outside of the freezer.

Normally, our water comes from a 320 ft deep well.  We have never had a generator large enough to operate it, but we just bought one, based on recommendations from the blog here.  Of course, everyone’s out of stock so we have to wait for it.  But the biggest message was that we can run nearly everything that’s really essential with the small generator, while the big generator guzzles gas (or propane) at a much higher rate. Score for the small generator.

During this outage we relied on the 3000 gallon rainwater tank and the 120v pump that delivers the water.  This works great for an emergency outage in our rainy winter, but would only last about 100 days without rain.  Hence the big generator. Plus our expectation is that we will soon begin to experience California style deliberate blackouts as Oregon dismantles its energy producing infrastructure and becomes more susceptible to wildfire.

In 41 years of living here, we’ve never experienced either emergency scenario before.  It was enlightening, exhausting, and educational.  It has also eroded our sense of complacency, if we are guilty of that.

In terms of food, we’re trying to draw down the freezer and have more shelf stable food, but it’s a balancing act between what takes up space (canned) versus what takes up resources (as in water for rehydrating dried food, particularly pasta/rice/beans, and fuel for long cooking time of beans).  That’s a real balancing act I need to address.  We ate like normal people in both situations, not deprived, but canned goods take up a lot of space for evacuating (heh, how about hundred pound bales of hay!)

Anyway, I’m rambling, sorry.  It’s been an eventful six or so months!

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Scenarios

Storing water outside?

Rich DCContributor - March 28, 2021

Are there any tips, tricks, or rules of thumb for storing water outside (in barrels, etc) or is it best avoided when possible?

Some of my thoughts/questions:

If you opt for a rain-barrel collection system, where its not perfectly sealed from the outside and water-overflow might be a concern, is there any way to avoid various gross things from growing in a rain barrel? If storing in a sealed container, are there containers/materials that are more freeze-tolerant?  Should you avoid filling an outdoor container to 100% to give ‘freeze’ expansion somewhere to go? Is freeze expansion so problematic that you can only do outdoor storage in more temperate environments, or empty your outdoor water storage prior to the freezing points in winter? Are underground (below the freeze line) storage solutions/cisterns viable in suburban environments, or is this more for homestead type operations, where you have a few acres at your disposal and fewer code enforcement agencies to worry about?

To clarify, my use case here is secondary water storage and/or replenishment (with possible need for filtering?).  I’m also curious if this might be useful for small scale garden applications – especially in a scenario where public water isn’t always turned off but potentially intermittent/less reliable.

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Generators?

Jonnie PekelnyContributor - March 28, 2021

I’ve been trying to get my head around generators. (Disclaimer: I am almost entirely ignorant abut electricity and am not very handy).

The immediate need that’s driving my need for a generator is that I need an off-the-grid backup for running my CPAP machine. For those of you who don’t know about CPAP, it treats sleep apnea. No CPAP no good sleep. That’s bad in an emergency. My CPAP machine is rather power hungry and I’ll have to buy a sizeable capacity lithium battery to run it for one night. But then I will need to recharge it. As I understand the best way to recharge it is with a generator. But here’s where I get stuck.

A generator seems tricky and dangerous.

* It can’t run inside. It has to be 20 feet away from the house but my outside property is very small and also on a hill and also exposed so that the generator could be easily seen and and maybe stolen outside. Even if not stolen I don’t know where I would place it to be 20 feet away from the house and how I would keep it secure on a slope.

* It requires gas or propane, which also has to be stored outside, also somewhat visible and possibly easily stolen and also explosive. Do I want to keep an explosive gas right near my house? How do I store it safely? I already have this problem with the little propane canisters I keep for my camping stove. I’ve opted to store those in my basement, which I’m not supposed to do technically, because I don’t know where else to put them safely.

* And if I’m camping (which is my secondary reason to want an off-grid solution for my CPAP) do I bring a bunch of gas or propane with me on my camping trip to feed the generator?

I also don’t know how long a generator takes to recharge a battery to capacity.

I would really appreciate guidance from someone who is competent about generators.

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ticks, why do they exist?

pint of beer - March 28, 2021

i was going to attach a picture of a tick, but was creeped out by just the image of it and couldn’t keep looking at them.

this is one of my fears of camping, bugging out, and just being out in the woods. nasty lil blood suckers, why do they even exist? bird’s probably aren’t getting much nutrition off of them. i think they are just around to be a creepy pest and to keep me out of the woods.

to the point now, what can people do to prevent ticks? both the day hiker and the person bugging out in a tent in the middle of no where for months? 

what are the dangers of getting bit by one besides the fact that they are creepy as h***?

if, heaven forbid, someone were to get bit by one of these abominations, how do you remove it? i’ve heard you have to do it just right or the head breaks off and stays connected to you. gosh!

can you tell i don’t like ticks?

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Advice

Learn how to persevere during a crisis before the crisis happens

UbiqueContributor - March 27, 2021

“TOO WEAK!” The dojo walls echoed the screams of our instructor.

We were in formation, row upon row of exhausted, sweat soaked students. He stalked up and down the rows, and around the perimeter of the class, his eagle eye catching every imperfect punch or kick.

The worst offense was not to train hard enough. If one person was lax, everyone was punished. The penalties were double knee jumps or pushups or both.

“DOUBLE KNEE JUMPS NOW! ONE, TWO, ONE, TWO!” 

The count was rapid and relentless.

We soared in the stifling heat, strained to send our bodies upward, and drew our knees up into our chests. As soon as our feet hit the floor, the rapid pace of his count drove us back up again. 

Over and over we repeated the movement in the sweltering heat of the dojo. It was situated in an old building without air conditioning and we trained upstairs. The heat of the hot summer day rose to where we trained and combined with the thermal energy that radiated from our bodies.

Thirty seconds of double knee jumps at his pace was brutal. Sixty seconds was an indication that our instructor was really annoyed with the lazy offender in class.

No one complained because the double knee jumps were better than the bamboo rod that used to be administered for not training hard enough.

Regular training consisted of warm-up, calisthenics and flexibility. We rotated through an assortment of skills: kicks, punches, patterns, sparring, and heavy bag training.

In almost every class, his corrections would rise above the thunder of feet hitting the dojo floor or the kiyups yelled in unison. “HAAAHHH!” The kiyups rose from deep in our bellies and up, and tightened our solar plexus as the sound blasted out of our mouths.

One of our instructor’s preferred verbal admonishments was to stop the class and tell us “What will you do in a fight for your lives? Are you going to tell your opponent that you are tired and need to take a break? Do you think your opponent will stop? NO! TOO WEAK! NOW TRAIN HARDER!”

His point was simple: learn to push beyond what you think you can do because it can save your life or someone else’s life someday.

I pushed myself through many limits during my training. Even my experience with “runners’ wall” during my running days was nothing like what I learned in that class.
 
I experienced what it meant to literally drop during a heavy bag workout. While I was being dragged off the floor and checked for cardiac by a fellow student who happened to be a physician, my thoughts were to get back in there and keep going.

I chose knuckle push ups over the other type of push up allowed for women because they strengthened my wrists. 

My preferred sparring partners were men. Sparring with taller men taught me to become fast and proficient with my kicks. I learned to overcome their longer limbs by getting in close past that radius.

I favored sparring partners who listened to me when I told them to forget you’re sparring with a female. I wanted to desensitize myself to the image of a larger and more powerful male coming at me and overcome that difference in combat.

Beneath my gi (uniform) was a road map of bruises from torn muscles and sparring. Not every student pushed that hard. I chose to push hard and train hard at the dojo and at home.

Tenacity or perseverance is something we can develop by challenging ourselves to continue in the face of adversity. It is an asset for a prepper.

It is a trait that we can rely upon in times of crisis, and if resources are stretched thin, it becomes a very important asset.

Tenacity can make the difference between survival and death.

Think about why some people give up just before they succeed. Just before they overcome a problem, some people stop trying, stop fighting and they just give up.

You don’t have to be a martial artist to learn tenacity. Push yourself every day to do better, to carry on when you are tired, to complete the task when you’re overwhelmed and frustrated. Just keep going. Don’t give up.

Don’t wait until there is a crisis to develop this trait. You can practice and learn tenacity each and every day. 

Don’t be the one who gives up just before the finish line, or before the battle is won, or before the crisis is over. Persevere and survive.

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The prepping items that we regret buying and why

UbiqueContributor - March 26, 2021

Remember the nifty prepping gadget or shiny “gotta have it” object begging to be added to our prep items. Like crows, we swooped in and snatched it up and carried it off, only to discover it was garbage.

It wasn’t well made and broke after we used it 3 times. It didn’t do all the wonderful things it was supposed to do. It was a pain in the neck to use and more aggrevation that it was worth.

That regrettable prep item purchase was recycled, thrown out, buried in the backyard or gifted to an unsuspecting relative.

So come on now, ‘fess up. We’ve all done it. What was the worst prep related item that you ever purchased and why?

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Advice

Intuition, Nature and Prepping

UbiqueContributor - March 26, 2021

This morning, I thought of how many times I have used intuition and nature as part of how I prep.

Intuition can be considered the ability to understand or know something immediately, without conscious reasoning.

I was raised in a family of intuitive people, which made it difficult to get away with anything as a child. Their abilities went beyond parental instinct.

I was taught to pay attention to my intuition and use my instincts for the ability to do something about what my intuition noticed.

I thought everyone’s family was like my family and never considered it unusual, until as an adult outside my family unit, I acted upon my instincts. That was when other people noticed and I found out we didn’t quite follow the norm.

For example, I would get a sudden mental flash that a friend was in trouble and call them. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Are you okay?”

Friend: “No, I’m not…wait a minute, how did you know?”

The friend was particularly surprised because I had called her at 3 a.m.. I had awoken out of a dead sleep to respond. I was surprised also.

That was the point when I realized that not everyone paid attention to their intuition or used their instincts. This is not to say that I always got it right. It took some years for me to understand how to focus some of that intuition on protecting myself.

I was also taught to pay attention to nature and be mindful of the physical world around me by using all my senses.

It was the smell of snow, of the shift in the air when Spring had really arrived. It was about observing how animals behaved in different seasons. Were the squirrels out longer gathering food? How heavy was the moss on the trees that year? Were the horses suddenly running because a storm was coming or was it something else?

Nature has a way of telling us things if we pay attention.
There have been many times when I make decisions to do something prep related that can appear spontaneous, but are actually driven by intuition and nature combined.

For example, regardless of the weather forecast, I can decide to go immediately to do a grocery shop rather than wait for the planned for time and day.

This has happened in fall and spring stock up times. There have been many storms I have avoided by simply following that intuition and paying attention to what I sensed in nature and not the weather forecast.

When I lived in the city and could frequent thrift stores more easily, I did the same thing, a sudden decision to go because I had that flash of intuition that told me go now. Sure enough, I would find an item I had been searching for and needed for my preps.

Now in a rural area, it works the same way for online shopping. I can be in the middle of baking bread, stop cold and check online for an item I have been searching for and there it is, on sale.

I use intuition alone for dealing with safety and security issues. Again, I can awaken out of a sleep to check security cameras and there are people on the street or in the back lane.

I don’t think I’m the only one who does this. I have a theory that we all have the ability to be intuitive, but many people are not taught to pay attention to their intuition and nature as I was taught.

So, this morning my curiosity leads me to ask whether anyone else uses their intuition as part of how they prep, and if so, how?

I also wonder if anyone else understands what I mean about reading the signs in nature and if so, how does that affect how you prep?

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Advice

NWS weather forecast model upgraded

Bob - March 25, 2021

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2021/03/25/607109.htm

Our complaints were heard and acted on ! The National Weather Service was using a model that did not work – especially when compared to the European model. Above link tells of the change.

Traditionally, the US model for hurricanes measures only wind speed.  This misses the bigger danger: flooding.  Our loss of life is not coming from the wind but from the water.

  

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How we can teach children and youth prepping skills

UbiqueContributor - March 25, 2021

“They should teach this in the schools.” 

I have read that comment referring to prepping skills repeatedly, or some variation of it, in various threads and have said the same thing myself.

Emergency preparedness doesn’t appear to be taught in school. 

Note: Please say so if you know that it is, because I would like to know how that community got it into the curriculum.

If it isn’t taught in school, then that leaves the parents and the home environment as the place where preparedness is taught.

In an ideal world, prepping would be taught at school and at home.

If we think of prepping as a lifestyle, then it follows that children and youth at home would grow up with that mind set and philosophy.

It is possible that as they emerge into adulthood, they might reject that lifestyle. They might also return to a prepping lifestyle eventually.

Regardless of whether they reject it or not, at least as adults they would have roots in prepping and develop some basic skills and knowledge.

There are exceptions where some parents are not suitable in the role of teacher. A parent who doesn’t recognize their limitation and unsuitability as a teacher can destroy their child’s love of learning.

Every child or youth learns in different ways. Some children are “hands on” learners, others lean more toward self-teaching, while others like to observe and learn.

To be an effective teacher, a parent must understand this and adapt their teaching style to suit the child. A frustrated child will soon grow to hate learning if it becomes associated with unpleasantness and stress rather than the joy of learning and discovery.

I am not a fan of “everybody’s a winner” methodology used in some schools. 

Children need to understand that they will make mistakes and that is another feature of learning. It also prepares them for how things will work once they are employed or self-employed. 

If the parents are not suitable to teach and they know it, then what?

Fortunately, there is a broad base of substitute teachers who can work with the family’s philosophy of prepping and help out.

Other family members, prepping friends, groups such as Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, survival skill courses, for example. There are family farms who open their farms to people who want to take a vacation and participate in a working family farm.

Most of us keep our prepping low key, but it is still possible to have a neighbour, family or friends outside the prepping community to teach your child how to fish, hunt, sew, bake bread, garden, animal husbandry, first aid, and financial skills, without disclosing that these skills are about prepping.

You could call them life skills or wanting your child involved in the environment and understanding where their food comes from. Frankly, after the walloping big lesson Covid-19 has taught the world, I don’t think too many people would even question a parent wanting their child to learn those skills.

This morning I am wondering who here is teaching their prepping skills to their children or grandchildren and if so, what has your experience been as a teacher of these skills and lifestyle? Was the experience always successful or did you learn things along the way?

Have some of your children rejected the prepping lifestyle? If so, do you know why?

Outside of volunteering, what are some ways we can lead by example and encourage prepping? Are we noticing the opportunity to teach when it happens?

Can you think of other ways we can teach prepping skills?

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AdviceSkills

Peaches in the spring

RedneckContributor - March 24, 2021

Sometimes prepping is beautiful.  A big part of my prepping are my perennials.  I grow all sorts, mostly apples but also pears, Asian persimmons, pecans, blueberries, blackberries, muscadine grapes, jujubi, asparagus… and peaches which are blooming now.  IMO, few things are as beautiful and taste so great when ripened on the tree.  Was spraying the orchard & roses today and just had to take some pictures.

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Mitigation: How to reduce the cause, impact and severity of disasters around your home

UbiqueContributor - March 23, 2021

I read through some FEMA information this morning about the four phases of the emergency management cycle.

The four phases are: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.

I considered some of the projects that have been done around my home and property over the years that have mitigated disasters or the effects of one.

The trees on my property were in terrible shape when we moved in. Most of them were planted close to the house and planted too close to each other. Some of the trees were dying and partly rotted and others had huge branches over the top of the roof of the house.

We get can get high winds and tornadoes and I was very concerned about the potential for how my home and a neighbour’s home could be damaged by such an event.

Trees have a life cycle and it is important to know that when selecting them for your property, especially a town or city lot. Watch also for roots systems that can infiltrate sewer lines.

Tree branches over a roof or close to a roof are not good for a variety of reasons. Branches that actually touch the roof can destroy your shingles. The branches can become too close when they are heavy with ice, snow or moisture and then sag lower and touch the roof.

Squirrels and other critters are fun to watch from a distance, but give them a tree branch close enough to your home and they will scurry up that branch and find a way into your attic. Squirrels are amazing high wire acrobats and can jump 15 feet (some sources say more or less), so that needs to be considered when pruning back branches or planting.

Aside from damage to the home, squirrels can carry diseases. Some of the more common diseases they carry are tularaemia, typhus, plague and ringworm which can be transmitted through a bite or other forms of direct contact with infected squirrels. 

I called in a tree service and had all the trees removed.

High wind, tornado and potential for rodent damage mitigated.

Next, there was the issue of poorly graded property. We can get heavy rains, more so now in recent years with “once in a 100, (insert years – it keeps changing) events.”

During a heavy rain, I discovered water pouring into one of the basement windows.

I had both basement windows replaced with properly installed window wells around them. I then installed window well covers. 

I noticed after the heavy rain exactly where the water was pooling on the property. The next project to tackle was the issue of our poorly graded residential lot.

Residential lot grading is shaping and grading the land to direct surface runoff away from your home in a way that doesn’t affect neighbouring properties. .

Aside from standing water and flooding, improperly graded residential lots can cause foundation settlement or damage and basement dampness. Dampness is not good for prep storage.

Here is a link for an overview of lot grading. Each community will have their own rules. Where I live, no permit was necessary. However, some communities require a permit.

Residential drainage

After 5 truck loads of soil, and becoming very acquainted with my landscape rake, the lot was correctly sloped and graded. Swales and drainage channels were the final component to ensure that rain water and moisture from melting snow drained away from the house. The water now flows to the street and back lane via grade and drainage channels on each side of the lot.

I also had larger drainage pipe from the gutters installed to allow for better and more rapid flow of water during storms and heavy rains. No more overflowing gutters. Risk of flooding and water infiltration around the home and property now mitigated.

After the water table rose due to heavy rains, I had my plumber install a sump pit and pump to move water away from below the foundation and ease hydrostatic pressure. There are other methods, but this was recommended as a good first line of defence and it has worked very well over the years.

At the same time, I also had a sewer back flow valve installed on my sewer line. Our town has the storm drains tied into the sanitary sewer system. This is not the correct way to do it and not all communities may be built that way. It is wise to check especially in older rural towns with municipal sewer and water.

If however, your sewer lines back up for any reason, this valve is well worth having in place. One woman I knew with heavy rains in another town, had over four feet of sewage in her basement. Her massive, fully stocked chest freezer was floating.

During heavy rains, some homes in town had flooded basements. Many people were trying to hide the fact that their homes were being flooded. Instead of correctly pumping the water out of their basement and away from their property, they were pumping into their basement storm drains.

The problem is that when so many of them did that, they overloaded the sewer lines causing sewage to flow back into basements. My basement stayed clean and dry. Installing that sewer back flow valve on my home has paid for itself many times over.

We have had many heavy rain years and I don’t have to worry about sewage backing up into my basement. Preps safe and sound and potential for disaster mitigated.

Those are a few of the steps I have taken over the years to practice hazard mitigation. What kind of steps or projects have you done to mitigate disaster causes, impact or severity around your homes? Are there still projects you want to do to reduce the effects of a disaster?

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AdviceSkills

How to prep and recognize all or nothing thinking

UbiqueContributor - March 23, 2021

In my ten year journey to learn to manage PTSD symptoms, I encountered some terrific therapists.

Mary Ellen was a warm, caring person capable of the most deadpan delivery of practical and common sense advice.

I was stuck in a forty year old memory. A person had attempted to murder me three different ways in one night. We were trying to work through the fear and nightmares I still had of that incident.

One session, Mary Ellen asked me “How old were you when it happened?” 

I answered “Around nineteen or twenty-years old.”

“How old was he?”

“He was thirty-eight years old?”I answered.

“Okay, so today, that makes him, what, seventy-eight years old, right?”

“Well, yeah,” I answered.

“Do you think you could take him today?” Mary Ellen asked.

The light bulb went off, or should I say “on” in my head.

“Hell, yeah!” I shouted. “You bet I could take him now.”

Mary Ellen showed me that I was stuck in the past, while the years had rolled by. The man who terrorized my sleep and had caused me so much fear of ever encountering him again, had aged, as had I.

My thoughts and thinking had kept me trapped in time.

Some effects of the trauma still remains, but the image of him as he attacked me that night is gone.

I tell you this because it is an example of how our thinking can change everything.

This is very important in prepping and when were are coping with a crisis. It is also important in the aftermath of a crisis.

How we think and what we think can keep us “stuck.”

Mary Ellen used to call me out on “all or nothing” thinking. It is also referred to as thinking in “black and white” terms. “You’re doing it again,” she would tell me.

She taught me to catch and correct thinking that considers only two options, one or the other, and doesn’t see the shades of grey in situations. It is a very limiting way to think.

All or nothing thinking involves thinking in absolute terms: never, ever, always.

It can also happen when we place “either or” limits on our thinking. For example, my bug out shelter will be either here or there.

If we limit ourselves to those two choices, then we might miss a better option.

When we are stressed it becomes easy to panic and begin to limit our options through all or nothing thinking.

We may think I can or I can’t do something instead of  I can try to do it or I can succeed if I do it this way. All or nothing thinking doesn’t allow for that and focuses on the negative.

If we think in terms of options, rather than “either or,” we can overcome all or nothing thinking. We can substitute “and” for “either or”. I can do this and I can try this as well. 

Our preparedness and reactions can be shaped by decisions made upon a wider spectrum of choices.

There will be many times in our prepping lives where the ability to see and evaluate a wider scope of options will be important, if not, crucial to our plans.

In a crisis, our ability to recognize the limitations of all or nothing thinking may help us survive by alerting us to change this type of self-limiting thinking, expand our options and make a better choice.

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Advice

Are you new to preparedness? Ask whatever you want here!

Robert LarsonContributor - March 23, 2021

In some of the other forums that i’ve been apart of over the years, I’ve been more of a lurker than a contributor because I was so new to the hobby and didn’t want to feel like the annoying new kid who has a million basic questions. 

But I want to offer my expertise here (anyone else can chime in too!) and make this a safe place where everyone and anyone (even seasoned veterans) can ask any question about preparedness no matter how basic, small, or noobish it may be.

Your question might not be that big of a question to make a whole new forum thread about, but you can ask it here.

I find a lot of joy and satisfaction helping others and sharing what I know, so please ask away 🙂

-Be Prepared-

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In some of the other forums that i’ve been apart of over the years, I’ve been more of a lurker than a contributor because I was so new to the hobby and didn’t want to feel like the annoying new kid who has a million basic questions. 

Steps to take to solve a problem

UbiqueContributor - March 23, 2021

Coping with a disaster in real time requires response. If we have prepped wisely, then our responses will be appropriate.

However, there may be times during a disaster when we are called upon to solve problems that may arise.

Even with good preps in place, a disaster may demand much physical and intense labour. We may be forced to push ourselves physically and there is no time to eat, drink or rest. It is possible to become sleep deprived, hungry, dehydrated, injured, ill, or incredibly stressed.

Imagine that scenario and then imagine problems cropping up and the need to solve them.

There are different methods for teaching problem solving steps. I prefer these steps and wanted to share them with you:

Step 1: Identify and define the problem.

It isn’t possible to solve a problem if you don’t clearly understand the problem. You need to be able to correctly identify the problem first.

Step 2: Brainstorm possible solutions.

A brainstorm is simply jotting down any possible solutions that appear reasonable and come to mind.

If you do this as a group or family, everyone calls out their suggestions, without stopping to critique or comment upon them. Just keep the momentum going and list the ideas.

Step 3: Consider and evaluate the list of possible solutions.

Now is the time for discussion if in a group or family or reflection if you are along and doing this.

Step 4: Select a possible solution to try. 

Try the solution.

Step 5: Evaluate the solution.

Did it solve the problem?

Step 6: If the problem is not solved, repeat Step 4.

Go back through the list of possible solutions and select another one to try.

Step 7: If you try all the possible solutions and the problem is not solved, then

a) Go back and review how you identified the problem. Perhaps the problem is not accurately or fully defined.

If you discover this has happened, adjust the definition of the problem and repeat the steps.

Or

b) Accept that the problem may not be solvable at this time.

There may be problems that occur during a crisis that are not solvable at that particular point in time. Consider that the problem may be solvable at a different time and then try again later.

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What is your Get Home Plan?

UbiqueContributor - March 22, 2021

The issue of bugging out is a much discussed topic. We focus on what gear to put in our BOBs and then load into our BOV. 

Has anyone made a Get Home Plan, or even considered it?

What if you or your family are separated? Do you each know how to work a Get Home Plan? Do your children know?

I’m not planning BO, but am prepping for that option just in case. What I haven’t done is make a Get Home Plan and that is now on my get ‘er done list.

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Advice

Prepare for a disaster and know the risks

UbiqueContributor - March 21, 2021

I posted yesterday about a case of a nasty emergent syndrome that is in New Brunswick.

We prep and cover various gear and necessary for life items like water, food, clothing, and shelter.

Has anyone considered the risk factors for the scenarios/disasters for which you prep?

If so, have you considered changes to any of those risks and changed how you prep or plan to prep going forward?

After what I read yesterday, for how long it took to make this progressive and deadly neurological syndrome public, after an internal memo was leaked and for the additional information that I posted on that thread today, that my prepping is never going to be the same.

I am prepping now for risk as well as scenario. I am also prepping for what is not being released to the public and will continue my habit of medical research reading. It is how I got ahead on shoring up preps before Covid-19 was front and center in the media.

New and emergent diseases, viruses and syndromes. Contaminated food, water and air.

The risk has always been there and just got worse because we aren’t always the first to know. I am prepping accordingly. 

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AdviceScenarios

Today in history – March 18 – The New London School explosion and why natural gas has added odors

OldHouseGirl - March 20, 2021

Today is the anniversary of one of the worse disasters in US history that happened in Texas in 1937. Sadly, most people have never heard of it. It’s the reason you can now smell when there’s a gas leak. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion

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Scenarios

Under-counter water filters

JRoll - March 19, 2021

Hi All,

I’ve been researching under-counter water filters after seeing an ad for Hydroviv. I found several articles on other prepping sites that recommend Epic Smart Shield over the Hydroviv. I’m curious if any folks here have experience with either of these filters and could provide some insight? I’m also open to other filter brands if you have recommendations. 

Background: I live in the Southeast and am on city water. 

Thanks!

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AdviceGear

Staying entertained during a power outage

Jay ValenciaContributor - March 19, 2021

If the power were to go out for a week, I think my family’d be able to survive. Definitely need to think up a good way to cook off grid, but besides that, I think we should be fine.

I was watching my kids this week and how they entertained themselves, and hey even my wife and I are guilty of this, we all tend to go to electronics for our entertainment. Phones, tv, video games, radio, podcasts, etc… 

What are some ways to keep the family entertained during a week long power outage?

We have quite the collection of board games, which will help some nights.

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Our well was down for a week. General observations.

Thomas GomezStaff - March 18, 2021

I live in a rural part of New Mexico, and our well was recently down for a week. Unbeknownst to us, our pressure tank and buried lines were leaking due to the system’s age and were made worse by the recent spate of cold weather much of the country experienced. We currently share a well with our neighbor, and we both have young children and a pregnant spouse. Save for the well shaft and submersible pump, the whole system was torn out and re-done.

General observations 

Last summer, I installed gutters and five 50-gallon rain barrels. This was a good prep! We used this water to flush toilets. Between my neighbor and I, we used about 70 gallons of water to flush toilets.  Though we have 55 gallons of clean, potable water in reserve, we elected to purchase water from the store for drinking, cooking, cleaning, coffee and tea.  We went into the City every other day to shower.  Over the week, we went through several rolls of paper towels. Paper towels were great for wiping down surfaces and drying off hands and cooking implements.  Since we didn’t have hot water, dishes stacked up like crazy.  Teflon/non-stick pans were a godsend. To clean them after use, we just added some water, heated it on the stove, then wiped it down with a paper towel. I only cooked with our non-stick pans during the week.  To get our well back up cost $7,000. My spouse and I regularly contribute to an emergency/rainy day fund, and we have been planning for a well failure for over a decade. We did not feel a burden, because we were financially prepared. Here is an excellent article about financial prepping.   Lack of running water generally destroyed my work efficiency. It is hard to concentrate when coordinating with well crews, plumbers, inspectors, neighbors and setting aside time to drive into the city for showers, food, and provisions. If you have a busy life, expect a major setback on all of your projects.  

Improvements

I want to store 100 gallons of potable, clean, readily accessible water. We are going to add an additional 55-gallon drum of stored water to our preps.  I am looking into an on-demand system for hot water and bathing. These systems are used by campers. I will probably write an article about these systems in the future.    Since we couldn’t easily do dishes, I am going to add some bio-degradable paper plates and bowls to our preps.  Our rain barrels quickly fill up. This year I plan on burying a thousand-gallon tank under my deck and building an overflow system to drain into the storage tank. That would give us a 1,250 gallons of stored water. Since we have a septic tank on our property, I am going to design an outhouse that can be quickly built over one of the septic tank access points. This would save a lot of water since we wouldn’t need to flush toilets. Just build an outhouse with a solar light and a hand washing station, and poo and pee right into the septic tank.  Certain well components need a heat source to prevent freezing during the winter. I need to find a solar powered heat source to prevent critical well components from freezing in the event of a grid failure.  Buying a Big Berkey counter top water filter ASAP. 

Overall it was a good experience and gave me some data points in the event of a grid failure or catastrophe.  Feel free to share your thoughts below. 

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