Just watched some young ladies discussing the lifting of the ban on pop and rock festivals, and how they take stuff they dare not leave in the tent in case of theft. Cargo pants covered with wrap around skirts appear popular, fanny packs, money belt / garter, neck purse and neck knives . Those close fitting horse riding type wellington boots with stuff tucked into them were also popular. and multi coloured paracord bracelets and necklaces with useful items attached appear popular.
I know ladies including my wife who wear cargo shorts UNDER their skirts to carry essential EDC, accessed via slash pockets in the skirt / dress.
I keep my firewood in plastic wheely trash cans and large plastic weatherproof garden stores, no rats.
The more you prep, the more you plan, the more situationally aware you are of yourself, your abilities and your surroundings the less your PTSD will control you. TAKE CONTROL of your personal space, TAKE CONTROL of the situation and dominate events and that damn PTSD will fade. Its NOT doing the above that lets that alligator sneak up and bite your ass.
And Train drivers.
Just a pointer, those colours for fuel are for the Americas, many other nations use different colour schemes. EG in the Uk there are NO legal colours for fuel storage but Petrol (gas) is normally GREEN and Diesel is Black.
Dammit I’m trying to stay off SP but I have to chip in on this topic, If you are going to store potable (drinking) water safely theres a few pointers you need to consider. If there is a risk of freezing dont fill your containers to the top, only 3/4 full to allow for expansion. Dont store on bare concrete floors , put the containers onto a pallet or piece of carpet. Concrete attracts fluids and ‘bleeds’. Anything that has been on or in that concrete will find its way into your plastic water barrel. This includes the lime in the concrete, any hazardous materials (i.e. gasoline, oils, kerosene, or anything a contractor used in construction), algae, etc. Usually, it is not enough to make the water toxic, but it will taint the water enough to make the taste unbearable. And no amount of pouring it from container to container will take that taste away. Store in a dark room because light can trigger algal blooms turning the water green Only use airtight containers. Dont store Petrochems in the same room I change the stored water every 6 months as it goes flat (not off) and it can absorb chemicals used in making the containers (in some cases gender affecting synthetic hormones)
Desal is very energy hungry , its the most expensive means of making fresh water and where the plants are its very bad for the seas as the plant returns 6% saline to the seas 3% thus killing all the marine life near the plant. Evoporation techniques have been used for centuries in Arab and far eastern countries with plenty of sun to evap the water leaving only salt behind which is used for other stuff and not returned to the sea. So Cal is among the world leaders along with Arab states into trying to reduce Desal costs. Two ways to Desal sea water is Evap / Condense and Reverse Osmosis ( forcing water through a membrane at very high pressure separating the salt from the water) . Evap is only viable in very sunny areas, and RO is very energy hungry and bad for the environment.
Guys there is nothing at all wrong with your great forum, its impressive, its just not for me as I only have so much available time and my prepping research and writing takes up all my working day. Just keep doing what you are doing. Regards Bill.
On two other forums folks from TX and OK are reporting that they have now started investigating their domestic water supplies and most are reporting back that many under house and attic / roofspace pipes and tanks have NO insulation or lagging at all , they are quite suprised and alarmed. I think sales of pipe foam and lagging is going to be popular in the deep south. which is good of course. On the BBC it showed multiple collapsed ceilings in US homes caused by burst pipes that could have seriously hurt people, regretable of course but i was stumped to hear multiple people saying they did not know how to turn off the water in their homes!!!!! and the water was still pouring through ruined homes.
Another major winter storm is crawling across the Eastern third of the country Thursday with a plethora of hazards. Heavy rain, thunderstorms and severe weather will be possible over sections of the Southeast and Florida while ice and snow will make travel difficult if not impossible over parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
Extra from the US another endorsement for preppers to have water reserves and Berky filters. “About 7 million people in Texas were told to boil their water or stop using it entirely
I dont think anything will change this time, People will say its a one off event, but if it is not and such storms become more frequently TX ,OK etc are going to have to invest BILLIONS in hardening their utilities AND their homes. I hope the prepper community takes the ititiative and moves PROactively to upgrade they homes and back up utilities. I think utilities are likely to become ever more vulnerable to disruption as weird weather events get more common.
They should but they wont, not until these artic storms become a lot more common in the Deep south. Just like they wont winterise their utilities.
Good morning world, Reports from Texas in UK media say that because of the storm supermarkets are empty, this is causing PRICE GOUGING in TAKE AWAYS, some adding $50 to the cost of a Pizza. So no power and no food for millions. THIS reinforces why preppers MUST stockpile food supplies, as well as off grid heating and water supplies. We can ALL learn from this winter storm.
I look at society et al and look back over millions of years of history, and I have reached the conclusion that Preppers are evolving humans, adapting to the way the world chops and changes, rising above adversity. But the rest of humanity appear to be either swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool, or heading along a dead end branch of the evolutionary tree heading for extinction.