Can you afford to NOT be prepared?

I don’t care how poor you are…or how rich.  I don’t care how closely you watch  your pennies.  I can’t stress this enough, by the way.

YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO NOT BE PREPARED TO SAVE YOURSELF DURING AN EMERGENCY

No one can afford themselves the luxury of assuming that FEMA or the Red Cross is going to step in and help them during an emergency.  Too many people have seen these agencies fail in the face of emergencies.  Too many people distrust these agencies for a variety of reasons too, all of which may have validity.  During emergencies such as Katrina and Ike, these agencies failed to deliver aid to everyone in a timely manner.  Many families were left without assistance for weeks, struggling to get the things they needed to survive in an increasingly hostile environment populated by more venomous and carnivorous residents than aid-rendering agencies.

Fire, flood, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, violent storms, blizzards, epidemics, quarantines, martial law…nobody can be prepared for everything, but everybody should be prepared to at least shelter in their own home for thirty days.  Could you?

You don’t have to buy a fancy kit for $599.95 from some internet based company to be prepared.  You do have to do a bit of thinking.  You have to set some things aside, do a bit of creative shopping, some menu planning, and some thoughtful regard of “what if” scenarios.

Think about having to stay home, unable to go anywhere or get anyone to bring you anything for thirty days.  The reasons wouldn’t even matter, as long as you look around and realize that you would need to have everything you needed to stay safe, warm or cool, fed, healthy, and well-hydrated for that thirty days…even if the power went out and the gas was shut off.  How would you cook?  Use the bathroom? Take a shower?  Make a pot of coffee?

Take a good hard look at your pantry.  How would that pantry look after the 21st day?  How would you and your family look and feel?

Next, imagine knowing you have exactly one hour to get everything you need to survive for thirty days and get out of the house.  What would you take?  How would you leave?  Would your gas be able to drive 300-400 miles on the gas that is in it?  Could you do it?  What about your family?

Too many people are being too complacent, thinking someone else will take care of it.  There are too many things going on to ignore all of it as mere conspiracy theories or wild speculation.  Sooner or later, the law of averages say that some of these things will occur in or near to your area.  You cannot afford to NOT be prepared!

Stock up.  Get that 30 day food supply in your pantry and remember to rotate your goods.  Assemble that emergency backpack for each person, and don’t forget to include camping gear for shelter, as well as food, clothing, and a cooking method with its tools.  Practice carrying it, and imagine carrying it a whole day as you walk 10-20 miles.  Could you make it?

Think of alternative transportation just in case you lacked fuel to power your car or truck.  How about a bicycle?  Is your bicycle in functional repair?  Do you have a child’s wagon that could carry a backpack or young child?  How would you walk with your family, if you needed to?  How would you get everyone together if the evacuation order came through with litlte time to prepare?

Start thinking, start talking, and be prepared.  You can’t afford to not do it.

 

 

Seasons change and updating your backpack

It is a fact, seasons change in North America, although some regions have much more dramatic ones than we enjoy here in the South.  Even so, it’s time for that twice-a-year update to your emergency backpack.

Every emergency backpack should include clothing for 3 days, along with 3 days of food, and other emergency supplies.  Even an infant should have a separate pack with their essentials, although we all know that they can’t carry it…it puts them together in an easy-to-manage unit.  (In an actual emergency with a necessity for traveling on foot, their supplies would have to be divided up among the able bodied adults in the group, the same as supplies for young children.)  Twice each year, that backpack needs updated to reflect the upcoming season–Spring and Fall.  It’s a good time to check the other supplies in your pack too, for damage or expiration.  It doesn’t take long, and its a great activity for a rainy afternoon or weekday evening after dinner.

Summertime clothing is lighter, although a jacket of some sort should also be included.  Each person should have 1 or 2 t-shirts, a long sleeved shirt, 3 sets of underwear, 4-5 pairs of socks, 2 pair of pants, a pair of shorts, a hat, and a pair of work gloves.  Everyone should also have a pair of “water shoes” or some other lightweight shoe suitable for navigating through water and doing double duty as camp shoes, if necessary.  Navigating through water, especially when there may be debris, can be hazardous and a serious cut can truly cripple someone.  In addition, walking all day in soggy shoes is a misery that can result in sores, fungal infections, etc.

Summertime sleeping needs are also lighter, although the same sleeping bag could be attached year round, with the addition of a light blanket or flat sheet for either extra warmth in winter or to use on top of the sleeping bag in summer.  A flat sheet in a fairly neutral color can also become an excellent shade to protect you from the sun, although they don’t offer much, if any, protection from rain.  Folded and wrapped, a sheet can even be cool clothing, allowing your other clothing to dry after washing or a rain storm.

Don’t forget rain protection, both for you and for “housing” too.  Ponchos are great, adaptable rain protection, but they don’t protect your legs much, and if you are traveling or working in the rain…and it includes wind, you may find that its protection isn’t adequate.  Rain coats and pants are heavier, bulkier, and less diverse in their applications, but they do work better for keeping you dry in adverse conditions.  Many ponchos can be snapped together, creating a pup tent shelter too.

Water is a critical need in summer, with the higher temperatures and increased loss of water from sweating.  At the same time, typical grocery store water isn’t designed for even six months of storage in your backpack.  Preserved long term storage water is stable, but expensive and both bulky and heavy.  Personally, I keep water bottles and canteens with our backpacks, but they are empty.  Each backpack, in my case, is equipped with about 3 quarts of water storage capability.  That’s not much, but we live in a very wet region too.

Double check your food supplies too.  Things get punctured, crushed, expire, or your needs can change.  Don’t forget special items for infants, toddlers, and young children either.  The last thing you need to deal with during an emergency situation is a hungry or sick baby or child!  Including some formula, even for a breast fed baby, is a good idea too.  Mothers can have difficulty producing milk for their infants during stressful situations.  Infant formula is now available in single-serving tubes, perfect for adding to a single bottle with purified water.  Similar tubes are available for adults and children in sugar free flavorings, turning tepid water tasting of metal or plastic (or purification chemicals) into something more palatable.  Tea, while it won’t have ice, can also be made by simply folding a teabag and shoving it into a disposable water bottle filled with water.  (Don’t do this on a narrow necked re-usable bottle though–retrieval of the used tea bag can get tricky!)  The tea can help hide the taste of the water itself, even without heating, just by letting it hang out in the bottle with the water for an hour or two.

Plan a spring readiness drill.  Make your emergency plans and plan for the “what ifs” of an emergency too, by talking about what should be done in the event of this or that problem occurring during the initial stages of emergencies.  It’s quite conceivable that when an emergency occurs that requires quick evacuation, everyone won’t be at home with their backpacks at the ready.  Work, school, shopping, and other activities are likely to be taking place.  Figure out how everyone would meet up and what should be done, even how long those at home would wait before departing themselves.

Remember, while preparations such as your emergency backpack and emergency food supplies are important and potentially very useful, they are not the primary component of any good emergency kit.  The most important component is the brain!  All the supplies in the world cannot help if you are not mentally prepared to successfully adapt to an emergency situation.  This means planning, practice, and most importantly….thinking about what you would need to do if such and such a situation arose.

Think.  Plan.  Prepare.  Think some more.

Tough times are easier when you are prepared!

Whether you believe the conspiracy theories, doomsday prophecies, or economic outlooks, it seems that everyone is predicting harder times ahead for all of us, whether we’re currently feeling the economic pinch or not.    Even so, that pain can be minimized with a bit of preparation before those times get so tough.

There are plenty of fables out there to remind us of the merit of putting things away before hard times, of working hard when the “weather” is good, in preparation for when its cold and hunger comes knocking on our doors.  There are just as many historical accounts of hard times and hunger, if we just look back to the Depression era in our own country.  So what do all of these stories have to do with us today?

What those stories tell us is that an “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  We’ve seen cut backs all across the board with government agencies, and most of us have little hope that if we lose our jobs in the future, there will be anyone left to give us a hand out or a help up again.  Knowing that you can stand on your own two feet in hard times is an important bit of knowledge, and probably does us a lot more for our peace of mind than any insurance policy we could buy.

So how can we prepare now for hard times ahead?  Should we be saving money?

Saving money is probably the least effective way to preserve your own well being in hard times.  Money has a tendency to be affected by inflation, which means that $1000 you saved last year might only be worth a percentage of what it was last year.  The worse the economy is, the more likely we are to see rampant inflation too.  So if things really DO get that tough, we might see inflation reminiscent of what Germany saw in the pre-war years…where it took a wheelbarrow load of money to buy a loaf of bread, and workers collected their pay in the morning so that they could buy food before the money was worthless again.  (Yes, it really WAS that bad.)  America has never had inflation that high, and it is rare even on a world-wide scale, but it is a dramatic illustration of how useless money itself can be.

Minimizing debt is always a good start to preserving your own economic well being.  If you don’t have loans to pay on, with  your house or car as collateral, then you aren’t going to have to make those payments to prevent anything essential from being repossessed by the bank or note holder.  Adding to credit card debt is also not wise, even though the dollars you borrow today may be worth less tomorrow, they still might be difficult to obtain if you lose your job.

Ensure you have an adequate wardrobe for your particular lifestyle and climate, but don’t choose trendy items, sticking instead to classic ones that can be worn many years without appearing too dated.  Often classic designs can be updated with accessories, far less expensive than purchasing a new wardrobe.  If you live in a cold climate, make sure you have warm clothing too, including items to wear if energy prices get so extreme that you need to dramatically reduce your heating bill.  Thermal underwear, cardigans, fuzzy slippers, thick socks, warm robes, and flannel pajamas may not be fashionable items, but if you are forced to reduce your heating bill to minimal levels, they can greatly enhance the comfort of your entire family.  Coats, hats, mittens, boots, etc. for outdoor wear should also be serviceable, classic, and utilitarian in style rather than the latest fad.  As winter fades into spring, purchasing clearance items is an excellent way to stretch your current budget to buy items that may be needed next winter.

Plant a garden in your yard.  This truly stretches the food budget as well as providing many other not-so-0bvious benefits for everyone.  (Exercise, knowledge, quality time, work ethics, etc.)  Even if you have only a tiny yard, “edible landscaping” can create something that is attractive, edible, and efficient for your particular climate.  In arid areas with frequent water rationing, explore ideas such as gray water recycling, rain water collection, and drip irrigation for reducing your water needs.  Starting your plants from seeds rather than purchasing plants from the nursery will greatly reduce the expense of gardening as well and is quite simple for most plants.

If you are landscaping your yard, why not plant fruit trees instead of just ornamentals? Many fruit trees are quite decorative in form and flower in addition to the fruit, and require about the same amount of work to maintain.  The fruit that is produced can be eaten fresh, traded or given to neighbors, family & friends, and be canned or made into jellies and jams as well.  Fruit trees typically take 2-5 years, depending on the variety and size, to begin bearing fruit.

Stock your pantry. Many religions advocate maintaining a food supply for a year, and this same school of thought is held by most people involved in emergency preparedness.  Shop sales and use coupons, buying extras whenever your budget allows.  Date each can with the month and year of purchase to simplify the rotation process.  Always put the new purchases behind the older ones, making it easier to use the oldest items first.   Canned goods do not have an indefinite shelf life, however, and most should be used within 12 months of their purchase.

Buy plenty of staples, such as rice, dry beans, flour, sugar, salt, etc.  Once again, grains and beans do not have an indefinite shelf life.  For long term storage, consider purchasing items that have been packaged for long term storage, typically in #10 cans or 5 gallon pails with an internal sealed liner.  These items can be stored for up to five years without any problem with spoilage, as long as the can or pail remains intact and sealed.

Learn to cook from scratch.  Not only is cooking from scratch usually healthier with fewer additives, preservatives, less sodium and less sugar, but it is less expensive.  Get a good basic cookbook, and enlist the help of an experienced cook if possible.

Learn to shop for local and in-season items, and learn how to use them in your daily recipes.  This can save you a great deal of money, and items that are not shipped across the country are obviously much better for our environment with their reduced carbon footprint as well.  Farmers markets and roadside stands can be excellent sources, as can “U-pick” farms.  (Search online for what is available in your area, in some areas, local farmers often sell at flea markets or swap meets too.)

Learn to can, dehydrate, and preserve food for later use. Not only are homemade jams and jellies far tastier than their store-bought counterparts, but they are much healthier too, as you control the ingredients that go into them.  No preservatives and a healthier portion of fruit preserves these summertime fruits for use all year long, whether its topping ice cream, shortcakes, toast, pancakes, or waffles.  Stirring a spoonful into plain yogurt also creates an excellent taste-treat that cannot be matched by any flavored  yogurt in the dairy case too.  Plain oatmeal becomes delicious fruit flavored oatmeal when it is sweetened with a spoonful of homemade jam too!  Fruit leathers and dried fruit become after-school snacks, or can be used in many recipes.  Dehydrated vegetables are easy to store and can be easily used in recipes all year long, both at home and while camping.

Start walking or using a bicycle for short errands and recreational travel.  It is amazing how quickly short errands can total into hundreds of miles and empty a gas tank without ever going anywhere!  By walking or using a bicycle, you not only save money but reap untold wealth in terms of increased health benefits.  Even grocery shopping can be achieved easily on a bicycle with the use of rear baskets or a trailer.  (Front baskets can reduce the rider’s stability while riding.)  Even purchasing a bike rack for your family vehicle can help reduce your fuel costs when vacationing–many popular tourist destinations are more easily traveled by bicycle or on foot than by car, and the car stays parked while the family enjoys sight seeing.  If you are looking for bicycle routes, try Google Maps, and choose the bicycle icon for their beta bicycle routing feature.  I’ve used it, and I love it!

Unfortunately, one of the problems that increases as the economy’s strength decreases is crime.  One of the best methods to encourage a potential thief or home invader to choose another home is to have a dog, especially an indoor dog, irregardless of its size. Adopting a dog from a animal rescue or pound is much less expensive than buying one from a breeder, and often the adoption fee includes initial shots, exam, heartworm test, parasite exam, and spay/neuter.  This series alone can often be far more expensive than the fee charged to adopt.  Owning a pet offers numerous other benefits besides crime reduction, such as companionship and affection as well.

For services of all kind, whether its vaccinations and wellness exams for your pets, healthcare for your family, insurance for your home and car, repairs, purchases, etc., it is wise to do your homework and compare prices. This can usually be done without ever leaving your home, via the internet and the telephone.  In a price check for annual exam and vaccinations for cats and dogs, in one town, I found an incredible variation in prices for virtually identical services (same vaccinations & basic annual exam w/o lab work).  The lowest was just under $100, but the most expensive was well over $300.  Why pay more if it is the same level of service?  (All of these veterinary clinics were well liked by their clients, and none had any major complaints against the veterinarians practicing there.  Obviously, I didn’t bother checking prices with clinics that were regarded as substandard in any way, whether it was quality of care or difficulty in making an appointment.)  This kind of variation can often be found in almost everything a family purchases, whether it is insurance or a house.  For example, I used an online service for multiple agencies to price auto insurance.  The company I ultimately chose was so much lower that I thought that the quote they emailed me was a mistake!  (No, it wasn’t Geico OR Progressive!) Do your homework and you won’t spend any more than you need to.

While shopping locally is a great idea, unfortunately, not everyone has a vast number of local options for their shopping.  Shopping online is a very valid way to try to ensure that you get the most choice for the least amount of money, especially when you have the time to wait for the item to be shipped. In addition, if it is shipped to you, you haven’t had to spend money on fuel to drive around to FIND the item, often a difficult and time consuming task.  Shopping online does not have to be a difficult and dangerous task.  Read reviews on the products and the retailer to ensure that other customers are happy with the service the company provides. I have purchased a wide variety of items online, from clothing to groceries to auto repair parts, from a number of retailers, and I’ve rarely had any problem except that with the shipping company.

If you are fond of online auction sites, remember, while they were once the bargain hunter’s dream, today they often start auctions at prices the same or even higher than both local and online retailers. Don’t let auction fever grab you and coerce you into spending too much for an item.  In addition, service and speed of shipping is not always what the customer likes to see.   Know the normal prices, set your limit and don’t forget to add in the shipping costs, which are often incredibly expensive.  Read reviews on the seller, and pay attention to complaints and compliments.  While no one can make everyone happy all the time, consistent complaints are concerning especially when there are repeated complaints about items not being as described, poor packaging, slow shipping, never received, etc.  Also pay attention to the auction site itself–some of then actually charge you a fee just to place a bid, whether it is a winning bid or not.  Ebay is probably the auction site most familiar to most people, and it too is not the same as it was a decade ago.

Being prepared for hard times does not mean that you are wishing them upon yourself, but simply that you are being frugal and responsible.  Exposing your family unnecessarily to the hazards of a depressed economy is not a desirable event, and we all like to protect them as much as possible.  By making minor changes in your life now, before gas prices hike, before inflation strikes, and before shortages occur is no different than buying life insurance before you die.  In this case, it truly is LIFE insurance to ensure that your family’s lives are as safe and secure as possible.

If the unthinkable happened, what then?

Part of being prepared for an emergency situation is just thinking about those “what ifs”.  That doesn’t mean obsessing over disasters and gloomy scenarios, but rather doing a talk-through drill of what if this happened to what we’d do if this happened.  It isn’t about stockpiling weapons, ammunition, food, and other supplies so much as being mentally prepared to deal with the unthinkable.

Lately, we’ve heard a lot of talk of a potential civil war in the United States.  In my entire life, I’ve never heard such a thing suggested or even speculated about before, and frankly, it’s a bit frightening.  I grew up in the Cold War era where we spent more time worrying about a Soviet attack or nuclear bomb than we did about the remote possibility of a civil war, let alone hearing one suggested as the result of federal agencies operating in opposition to our constitution.  A civil war isn’t a joke, it isn’t funny, and it is not being suggested as a potential outcome of the federal government lightly either.  Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t heard anyone proposing that we start one, but rather that it is the inevitable outcome of certain federal actions over the past few years.  What is the primary reason for the worry that it will happen? State’s rights.  Guess what started the first civil war in the USA before?  No, it wasn’t slavery like most of us have been told our entire lives–that’s the propaganda part that was prevalent even in that era.  It was state’s rights.  There is that cliche about “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it” and we may be watching that play out once again.  I can’t help but wonder…will the McMansions of today be the “antebellum homes ” of tomorrow?

We also have numerous natural disasters being discussed lately, for a variety of reasons.  Of course, there is the conspiracy element to consider too.  It seems the federal government has been granted all sorts of magical powers lately, including the ability to control the weather and cause earthquakes.  Granted, we all know that our government has a lot of advanced technology and many secrets, but I’m also a bit skeptical of their ability to do much useful with that knowledge.  They seem to be much more adept at chasing rainbows and keeping vast dossiers of information about people than they do at anything else.  Why else is Wikileaks causing such great worry among the powers that be?

But back to natural disasters, we do have a very critical fault line that has been dormant a little longer than anyone expected, which could mean delivering a major “shake and break” session any day.  That’s the New Madrid fault line, which has also been associated with the mass bird deaths in Kentucky, Arkansas and Louisiana recently.  The reality is that if that fault line did deliver a 7.0+ earthquake anytime now, we’d be in trouble.  We’d likely lose communications between the western and eastern halves of the USA, along with severe problems of moving goods and people from one side of the country to another.  We would see a lot of deaths and a vast number of displaced people–it would make Katrina look like a playground.

The West Coast and Alaska both are subject to earthquakes too, and tsunamis are also a possibility there.  Even if you live far from the immediate reaches of such an event occurring on the West Coast, it would affect everyone in the USA, especially if it was a 7.0 or larger quake in the Los Angeles area resulting in that city nearly being leveled.  No one wants to think of such a thing occurring, but it could conceivably occur.

The East Coast is subject to hurricanes, as well as tsunamis, and although the Atlantic region does not seem to be as earthquake prone as the Pacific, they do still occur.

Add in the Upper Plains and their potential for winter storms, dropping vast amounts of snow and incredibly cold temperatures that can paralyze the entire region for days at a time, and we’ve certainly got enough natural disaster scenarios to worry about on a national level.  Don’t forget the tornadoes too.

The real kicker would be what if they happened in a series event.  What if it was multiple events that struck?  What if that civil war DID break out?  What if, as the saying goes, the shit really did hit the fan?  What would you do then?

Who would you want to be on your “team” if the unthinkable did occur?  Have you even thought about a team effort, allowing resources, skills, and manpower to be pooled for maximum efficiency?  This isn’t something you put together at the last minute, but rather something that you need to have thought out and discussed long before an event that requires that team to assemble ever occurs.

We’ve seen it time and time again when natural disasters and civil wars have struck, both here and abroad, that despite everyone being in dire straits, predators appear.  I’m not talking about roaming dogs either, but rather the human predators.  These people really do rape, rob, steal, and destroy without any regards for others.  They roam, not unlike a pack of starving dogs, looking for someone to be their victim.  A lone person or a single family is an easy target for such a roving band of looters as well.  How would you cope with trying to survive while trying to ensure your family’s safety?

It’s the same motivation that caused our ancestors to form groups that we commonly call “tribes” today, that need to provide for safety by increasing their numbers from a single family unit to multiple family units.  While it is hard to find enough resources to supply hundreds of people food and shelter, it is just as hard to provide for the safety of a handful of people.  By having a group of people numbering a dozen to two dozen adults, there is more diversity of skills and greater ability to provide security for the group as a whole.  This also allows for elderly, infants, toddlers, and children to be protected within the group, a very important consideration for those with young children or aging parents.

Geographic proximity is an important consideration when assembling your team.  In the event of an emergency, roads may become impassable or even unwise to travel.  How will your team manage to get together if they cannot use motor vehicles?  Where will they assemble?

Ideally, everyone would live within walking distance of each other, but that is not always possible.  Think about various kinds of situations and how your group would get together, as each situation is very different from another.  Are there any alternative routes?  Would bicycles or motorcycles make it easier?  Would walking be the only way?  How would you carry your supplies?

Think about what your group would do if they were among the displaced during a disaster.  Where would they go?  How would they travel?  How would they provide for their own needs?

How will they communicate?  Who is the leaders of the group?  How will decisions be made and who will make them?  How will the group be housed?  How will disputes be settled?

These may sound like petty issues, but petty issues can cause serious problems within a small group.  It is very important the the group maintains peace and is compatible.  Ideological differences can become massive issues under stress.

If you look at primitive people, “tribes” usually have similar ideology and culture, reducing potential conflict within the smaller unit.  They also have a high percentage of people related through blood and marriage, and often have strong ties with neighboring tribes.  Their neighboring tribes are also their allies when faced with an enemy, and often pool resources with each other during hard times.

Learning from our own past is an excellent idea, and right there is a lesson.  Not only do you need to practice with  your own team, but you should have an entire network of “teams” with whom you exchange information, ideas, and potential solutions with.  This expanded network provides options if one group or another is displaced due to a disaster too.  A  “Plan B” is always a good idea, and when planning for disasters, one never knows exactly how things will play out when and if it does occur.

One’s “team” also can serve functions long before the disaster occurs.  Socializing together ensures that everyone is familiar with each other and how each person functions within the group.  Often, companies selling supplies for emergency preparedness offer group discounts, so by pooling their purchase power, they can effectively maximize their purchasing power while preparation is the best idea.  It is also a great idea for the team to pool their efforts on various member’s personal projects such as building sheds, a barbecue, a deck, renovating a bathroom, etc. to allow everyone to learn how to work together and learn new skills or share skills.  These cooperative efforts have immediate benefits, but in the long term, could mean whether or not a group can function cooperatively with each other during an emergency situation too.

Once upon a time, families were vast and extended and yet lived fairly close to each other.  Today, that is seldom true.  What you are creating is in effect an artificial form of extended family unit.  Unlike a genetic family, this artificial version can choose its members wisely, rather than enduring the luck of the draw.  As you are assembling this group or team, think about the roles each member would assume within the group.  Dividing areas of expertise among the group is an excellent idea, and ensures that each team member knows exactly what they are responsible for within their group.  Don’t forget, everyone has an active role.  Even the developmentally impaired can manage tasks like picking up firewood, carrying water, and cleaning.  The elderly are often excellent at teaching younger members of the group how to do things as well.  Someone who is physically impaired may well possess other skills and knowledge that more than make up for their inability to help with the physical labor.

So, when you sit there, musing about what you just read, who do you think you want at your back if looters are headed your way?  If the power and gas are gone, who do you want ensuring that you and your family will have food to eat that is safe and healthy?  If you are displaced, with no roof to shelter you from the storms, who do you want in your group to help figure out how to stay warm, dry, and comfortable in the meantime?  If the trucks and trains and ships stopped coming one day, who do you want around to make sure that you stay safe and warm and fed and have enough to drink?  If soldiers showed up next week and confiscated your valuables, your food, your weapons, and your transportation…maybe even your home…who do you want around then? (and don’t say that would never happen…it happened during the Civil War.)

Think about what you would do if the unthinkable happens, and then when you go to sleep tonight, pray that it never does happen and that all of our preparations for an emergency are for nothing.  I’d rather put my faith in God than in Uncle Sam any day.

Emergency preparedness and the New Year

In the midst of all of your New Year resolutions, did you remember to list emergency preparedness?

It’s easy to overlook the concept of emergency preparedness when celebrating holidays, but in reality, this is an excellent time to focus on just that.  As we prepare ourselves for purchases in the New Year, we need to set aside a portion of our budgets to achieve true preparedness, and sometimes that means answering family and friends who find our desire to be prepared to be “weird” or “paranoid” or maybe even “subversive in nature.”

These naysayers were hanging around Noah when he was building the Ark too.  They were still scoffing at Noah after the first week of rain, but as the waters began to rise around them, I’m sure they were trying to get to his Ark and get on board, but it was too late.

Emergency preparedness is like insurance.  You don’t want to pay for it, but if you don’t, then you regret it when and if you need it.  Unlike most kinds of insurance, however, emergency preparedness can have a lot of pay off in situations that may not be a national emergency.

Sometimes, that “insurance” pays off when there has been a cash shortfall in the household due to illness, injury, accident, job loss, or other sudden cut in income that your family had no control in choosing whether or not to accept.  Those same supplies can help be the insurance policy that cushions that economic impact on your family’s health and well being, without forcing you to stand in line at the local food bank or apply for food stamps.

That same insurance policy can be called into play not only for your own household, but for those of your extended family and friends too.  If, for some reason, they are forced into a situation with a reduced cash flow, you can even use that policy to help them cover the gap.

How many purchased policies really give YOU the option of when to use the benefits?

By preparing yourself, your family, your home, and your vehicle for emergency situations, you are preparing yourself to manage your own needs in the event of an emergency, independent of any relief organization or agency.  We’ve all heard the horror stories about FEMA”s shortcomings in Katrina and other hurricanes on the Gulf Coast.  We’ve heard stories about other charitable relief organizations and their fund management that has left them as a dubious source of relief in an emergency as well.  Do you really want to put your family and yourself at the mercy of “maybe” when it comes to protecting yourself in an emergency?

It’s a fact of life, I really complain about paying for car insurance…especially for months like last month when my car was barely usable at all during the month before going “under the knife” for serious repairs.  Even though it wasn’t being driven, by law I still had to have insurance or I’d have the registration revoked, and it was cheaper to pay for an entire month of insurance than to deal with the problems of NOT insuring it when it was not being driven.  In addition, I only carry minimal insurance, which essentially means that the only people that will ever see money from that policy would be someone other than me.  It’s not going to cover MY expenses, but rather the expenses of someone else perceived as the “victim” in the eyes of the law, in the event of an accident.  So why do we pay for insurance, besides the legal requirement to do so?

Just in case.

Just in case I have an accident, I have motor vehicle insurance.  I have never had an accident involving another vehicle, but it might happen.  So I have insurance, just in case.

Health insurance.  We don’t buy health insurance because we want to, but rather we buy it “just in case” we get sick or injured.

Homeowner insurance.  We don’t buy homeowner insurance because we want to either.  But we do buy it just in case of fire, flood, theft, vandalism, etc.

The same is true of emergency preparedness supplies.  We don’t buy them because we want to, or because we want to see “the end of the world” as some people put it.  Those supplies are purchased and maintained just in case of an emergency, which can range from epidemics requiring quarantines to natural disasters to civil uprisings resulting in inability to obtain necessary items.  It doesn’t mean we are advocating chaos, not by any means!  It means that we want to be prepared just in case something goes wrong with our current lifestyle.  It is your ultimate insurance policy!

So how do you know what you  need?

There are a lot of resources out there to tell you how to be prepared.  There are videos on YouTube, websites, emergency preparedness packages that include everything from food to emergency shelter.  But its more than merely buying some supplies.  It’s about being mentally prepared to face the challenges of being forced “off the grid” by a situation you have no control over.

I highly advocate camping (tent camping, NOT RV camping, by the way!) as a way to think about and practice “being prepared.”  Why is that?

Camping takes you out of the familiar situation of your home and puts you in a natural environment that is a bit different from home.  You practice skills that are less technical and more suited to emergency situations.  How do you stay comfortable?  How do you prepare your meals?  How do you stay clean?  How do you entertain yourself?  What does nature have to offer in the different seasons of the year in terms of natural foods?

There are a myriad of skills that are well suited to emergency preparedness that are easily practiced and mastered while camping, especially if you can arrange to camp with a small group of like minded individuals who also happen to possess the skills useful to survival in nature.  Granted, some things that you may opt to do in an actual survival situation, such as the use of snares and traps to obtain food, may not be things that can be practiced in our modern world even in nature, but they can still be learned without actually setting these snares to catch animals.  (No, I do not suggest poaching or catching animals for food in non-emergency situations!)  Knowing how can offer you peace of mind even if you aren’t actually using the methods to feed your family, just like knowing how to start a fire with a flint and steel can offer peace of mind, even if you aren’t building a fire regularly using that method.  (Practice it though–otherwise, if you needed to do so, you’d lack the skill to do so!)

We all are facing tough economic times, and no matter what the official word is about the economy, most of us aren’t seeing dramatic upswings in our disposable income.  Even so, there is no better time to start investing in  your own “insurance package” than right now, as we are looking at inflation driving up costs ever higher.  Supplies don’t have to be bought in one massive purchase however.

Start in steps.  Invest in some extra groceries for your pantry, ensuring an extra week or two of food on hand and rotate through these additional supplies.  Typical grocery store foods have shelf lives from 6-12 months.  Purchase backpacks for your portable emergency supplies, and pick up essentials for that a little bit at a time.  Each member of your family, from the youngest to the oldest, should have their own backpack even if they cannot carry them themselves.  This makes supplies just easier to manage in the event of a sudden emergency requiring evacuation, whether on foot or by car.  Purchase a basic first aid kit or make one yourself, with the essentials for minor wounds and burns, minor illnesses, and containing important medications for your family members.  Keep adding to your kit, and increasing your knowledge, as time and money allows, but just remember…

It requires a bit of sacrifice, just like paying any other insurance bill.  Set an amount to spend each month to add to your emergency supplies and stick to that minimum.  When you can afford to do so, I highly recommend buying food for your emergency supplies that is designed for long term storage.

Over the years, I have discovered that it is impossible to keep a 12 month supply on hand without frightening levels of loss due to spoilage and insects when storing grocery store supplies, and I would have saved a great deal of money if I had invested in the long term storage foods initially. Most grocery store versions of foods are also heavier and bulkier than the long term storage version, and require stronger shelves and more space.  I typically anticipate having about 30-90 days of normal grocery store food on hand, and the remainder is made up of long term storage foods, some of which are rotated through our regular supply as well, either as a test product or simply because we like it.

I am now purchasing more long term storage food, but before I include them in my emergency food supplies on anything other than a test basis, I buy and USE some of the product from the same company I intend to purchase the product from.  Face it, even in an emergency situation, we want food that appeals to our own particular tastes.  I know that certain foods will not appeal to me, such as TVP and peanut butter from powder, and these items are not going to be featured heavily in my supplies.  They may have a place in them…but not as frequent visitors to the menu.  Don’t forget comfort items such as toilet paper, hard candy, sugar, spices, and beverages too!  These items are also included in our backpacks, and our backpacks also  feature more compact and easier to prepare meals such as freeze dried meals and MREs.  Our normal food storage includes more foods that require more preparation of some kind, such as dry beans, rice, flour, cereals, etc.

So get prepared.

And if you are in need of some answers to the naysayers, here’s a video to help you decide if its preparation or paranoia! Just click here.

Be prepared for holiday travel

I live on the Gulf Coast, not exactly prime territory for worries about winter traveling.  But, that wasn’t always the case.  I have lived where I have seen thirty foot drifts.  Literally.  I have seen snow plows tearing their way down the roads, shoving…or blowing (depending on the era) snow to the side, leaving behind a canyon averaging six feet lower than its sides.

I’ve slid off of the road when its covered in ice…an incident that I will never forget as I found myself stuck in the snow filled ditch, far from anything, with sundown approaching, an inadequate coat, no gloves, and incapable of walking without the aid of crutches.  It wasn’t a pretty picture, but it was the one and only time I took a ride from a stranger…the only person I saw coming down the blacktop road…and he delivered me safely at some friends’ house, where the problem of stuck car and its retrieval could be dealt with from the warmth of a furnace heated house.

My story is amusing, but only because it ended well.  They don’t all end well.  Today, we tend to rely on our electronic devices to keep us safe and informed, such as our cell phones and GPS systems.  But…do they really do that for us?

How often have you suddenly found yourself without a signal for your cell phone, with little to no warning?  Or found that your GPS couldn’t find a signal or suddenly malfunctioned, giving you contradictory instructions from what it said 2 minutes ago?

I don’t know how many times, when I lived in Arizona, I would encounter someone taking a “short cut” through the mountainous regions to “save time.”  For them, perhaps encountering me on those alternately muddy or snow packed roads saved their lives, because they were on a trek to disaster with unplowed roads that frequently were blocked by rockslides from above during winter, were not plowed, were not even used by locals after a certain point, and there was no cell phone signals in those areas either.  Most of those roads were not used from the first snowfall (or shortly afterwards) until the spring thaw.  Being prepared is one thing, but no one is prepared to unexpectedly spend the entire winter camped out alongside of a road with a car that’s out of gas and stuck in a snow bank.

GPS systems are wonderful.  I have one in my phone and intend to replace it with a new system this year, a dedicated GPS with (hopefully) better maps & directions.  My cell phone, a Sprint phone, is prone to losing signal frequently if I am more than 5 miles north of I-10 in the Mississippi/Alabama area.  The phone is also likely to be replaced by a phone from a company with more reliable signal service.  At the same time, while we all love our gizmos and gadgets, they aren’t the total answer.  The problem?  GPS systems and cell phones tend to fail us by losing signal or giving error messages.

GPS systems are prone to routing errors, especially in rural areas.  While most of the population isn’t ever going to encounter those errors in mapping, if you are in unfamiliar and rural areas during a snow storm, that can be a fatal error.  Don’t rely only on the GPS, have a map too. Double check when in unfamiliar territory, it only takes a few minutes and may save you hours of time or even your life.

Check the weather report.  Are there winter storm warnings in any part of the territory you will be covering in your trip? If you know there is going to be a storm, sometimes the smart thing to do is not travel at all.

If you do have to travel during a winter storm, stay on the main roads. Main roads have traffic, snow plows, and emergency vehicles.  You are more likely to have a cell phone signal there than anywhere else.  Don’t deviate and take short cuts on local roads where conditions are unknown and you can potentially become lost or stuck. 

Fuel your car frequently, don’t risk being caught out of gas while traveling during a winter storm. Gas stations can also be a source of information about the storm, local hazards, and other storm related information.  Keep your gas tank at least half full during the trip.

During  a winter storm, be smart. If you really have to travel, don’t try to hurry or “save time.”  Be safe, don’t risk sliding off of the road, getting stuck, or getting lost.  Pay attention to road signs, other traffic, and road conditions too.  As your visibility decreases, your likelihood of potential trouble increases.  Headlights become clogged with snow, and windshield wipers become chunks of ice scraping away at other ice.  Clear your wipers, windshield, tail lights, and head lights frequently.

When traveling during the winter, always be prepared for a sudden storm, even if it is not predicted.  Carry drinks-dehydration is potentially dangerous if you are stuck in your vehicle during the storm.  Items such as flares, blankets, chocolate or energy bars, flashlights, and a candle should always be in your emergency kit during winter trips in addition to carrying drinks.  Hand or body warmers are also a good idea and they keep for years if they are unopened in your emergency kit, and after all, our goal is to really never need that kit!

If you are stuck during a storm, NEVER leave your vehicle to go for help. Most people who do so don’t find help, but rather their bodies are found after the storm or during the spring thaw.  Your vehicle is much easier to find than you are.  Stay with it, it offers you protection from the elements too.

NEVER eat snow to prevent dehydration. Melting the snow by putting a container of it in your vehicle or even in your pocket is one thing, but by eating the frozen snow, you will cause your body to lose more heat than any potential benefit from re-hydration from the liquid it contains.  Even using a metal cup over your candle can melt snow, while at the same time warming the vehicle some.

Be aware of potential carbon monoxide poisoning, especially  if running your engine to keep warm. Carbon monoxide is also a heavy gas, and tends to concentrate lower in the passenger compartment, putting prone persons (such as sleeping persons) and children at a higher risk.  Be very cautious, and remember that merely cracking a window on the lee side of the car may not be enough to prevent this from occurring, especially as snow builds up and potentially blocks your exhaust pipe.

So remember, don’t depend on your gadgets to bring rescue to you or to prevent a mishap.  Use your head, and don’t get off on seldom used roads.  Don’t risk getting lost in a severe snow storm to try and save time.  Don’t try to hurry.  Don’t travel if you absolutely don’t have to, and above all, accept it when it becomes time to stop due to increasingly severe conditions.  It’s always much easier to stop at a location with amenities such as restrooms, fuel, electricity, and food than it is to spend the duration of the storm in your car stuck on the road!

Doomsday?

I’m usually not into the whole doomsday thing. I’m just way too optimistic for that.  I do believe in emergency preparedness, but in my mind, its usually about the natural disasters that can quickly descend upon us.  But…in light of the times, I’ve listened to the gloom and doom more.

Civil war anyone?  We haven’t done that in the United States in a very long time.  But what starts a civil war here anyhow?  Well, when I cast my brain back to my college days, it was states’ rights.  Yeah, you read that right…states’ rights, not slavery.  Slavery may have been part of it, but face it, economically speaking, slaves weren’t particularly efficient.  They were expensive, and it was far cheaper to avoid “ownership” and merely employ people at starvation wages like they did in the North.   The real issue was about whether or not the federal government could override states’ rights in determining their own laws.

Apparently, that lesson has been forgotten, because last year Obamacare was passed…and it mandates commerce, something that has always been under the jurisdiction of the states themselves.  Now don’t get me wrong…I am all for universal health care, just not that particular healthcare plan or how it was passed.  It seems that the states feel the same way.  There is a LOT of conservative agitation over that particular issue, and the complexity of that bill makes disinformation rampant.

Add in an economy that is still struggling, compounded by rumors of war and a rising deficit.  Unemployed people tend to be real grumpy, and they have more time to stew over political issues.  Some of them have been unemployed a long time, and these unemployed and underemployed people tend to be educated people too.  They are not happy with government’s bailouts and they are tired of handouts.  They want to see some change happening, and it hasn’t been change for the better so far.  Now we have rumors of war with North Korea coming around the grapevine, and war is expensive…which increases our skyrocketing deficit.  How long before we’re in Greece’s shoes and looking for SOMEBODY to bail our spending butts out of hot water?

Our biggest employer in the United States is the government.  That’s not healthy.  What are we going to do when THEY start laying off?  And…it’s already happening at the lower levels.  States, counties, parishes, cities and towns have been laying off some of their workers.  Hiring freezes are in effect.  Next its going to be the federal government…and what are they going to do, just put a pay freeze on the soldiers and tell them they aren’t going to get paid this year?  (I say fire the IRS workers…then they can’t collect taxes!)

We are seeing gas prices that fluctuate a lot, which means fuel for heating homes in the frigid North is skyrocketing often too.  Cold people are unhappy people.  Food prices are unstable, randomly seeming to rock up and down, as though stores are trying to gauge what we’re really going to spend on our food.

And our illegal immigrant issue isn’t going away, and no matter how much everyone wants to point their fingers at Arizona and their laws…if the Federal government was addressing the illegal issue, then they wouldn’t have to.  It’s not just Mexican nationals either, nor just the Mexican border…and the problem isn’t ending with the Mexican border states.  Illegal aliens are not just picking lettuce, they are often taking far higher paying jobs, even with companies holding government contracts, far away from the Mexican border.  They hail from all kinds of countries too.  When a man who’s just been laid off is walking away from his job site, knowing that those illegal aliens still have THEIR jobs…how do you think he’s feeling?

And how do you tell if someone is an illegal alien?  Are we all going to need to carry our papers to prove we are citizens?  Are we all going to have to assume that we’re going to be challenged several times a day about our nationality?  Logic says that is inefficient, and profiling is necessary, even if it isn’t fair to citizens who may be Hispanic, have an accent, or have difficulty speaking English.  I guess its a case of so sorry, but English IS our mainstream language.  MY ancestors had to give up THEIR language to live here, so why is the current crop of immigrants any different?  Granted, I’ve known some technically illegal aliens that spoke perfect English and didn’t look any bit like a “foreigner” because they had been here since infancy.  They didn’t make the decision to come here illegally, it was done for them, and they were very American.  It isn’t an easy or cut & dried situation, but most people don’t see it that way.  They see illegal aliens that have jobs that they don’t have and would like to have.

What does all of this mean?

A potentially bankrupt nation with most of its armed forces scattered across the globe, unable to adequately supply their armies or bring them home, as riots begin to erupt in one city after another as social unrest, shortages, and unemployment provide the sparks for the flames.  As the government begins to break down, so does shipping of goods, and as cities endure one shortage after another, rioting only gets worse.  Crime rises.  Black markets begin to flourish.  Homes, businesses, government offices are destroyed, police and fire departments are helpless against the rising wave of unrest.  The National Guard, once intended as a force remaining here to protect the nation, has become an auxiliary source for soldiers, and many units are far away from the United States, unable to assist in restoring order here, and the situation continues to deteriorate.

That’s if no foreign government steps in, that’s if the United Nations doesn’t step in.  Then, we’d become an occupied nation living under someone else’s martial law.  The production of our fields, farms, factories and refineries can be confiscated and shipped overseas, leaving Americans still struggling to survive.  After all, we have to pay the bill for their soldiers…

Of course, that situation could be compounded.  We have seen our shores landed on by boat people before.  It can happen again, and what if they are carrying things like cholera, diphtheria, yellow fever, and diseases far worse?  As these diseases spread out at an epidemic level, we could add sickness, quarantines, and panic to the equation, further speeding along our descent into chaos.

Mother Nature hasn’t been adverse to striking too.  How about a few really nasty blizzards, the kind that dumps 5-6 feet of snow across the Heartland and Midwest?  Maybe a nice earthquake on the West Coast, shake things up a bit there.  And…the Madrid fault along the Mississippi river is about a century overdue to shake things up all across the center of the country, along a major shipping alley too.  The river flowing backwards would be an awesome sight, I suppose.

And too, there was Katrina…and there can be another Katrina again.  Where shall it land?  The East Coast?  Florida?  Somewhere along the Gulf Coast?

If you have disease running rampant, social unrest resulting in serious urban rioting, a breakdown of the ability of the government to respond and restore order, and then comes natural disasters on top of it, sending a couple of million people to find a refuge elsewhere, while those they left behind are struggling to survive…what then?

How will you survive?

What will you drink? Eat? Where will you sleep?  How will you stay warm or cool?  Who will protect you when the bandits, rioters, or looters come?  What are you going to do when they want YOUR food, YOUR water, YOUR safe haven, and maybe YOUR sons or daughters?  It’s a fact of life, they WILL come.  Look what happened with Katrina…all that death and destruction, and people went into flooded houses and stole what hadn’t been damaged.   Gangs of looters roamed neighborhoods, unafraid of the curfew, and respecting little except a confrontation with armed residents who were still in their homes.  There are cops who were convicted of wrongfully killing people during those times…but how many people died at the hands of looters and it went unreported and undetected?

Think about it.  Do you have food and water to last you…maybe a long time?  How would you protect yourself?  Who are your neighbors?  What if you aren’t allowed to find your family?  What if travel is too dangerous or not permitted?  Look at the humiliation people now have to endure in order to be allowed to fly…what if it was like that to drive to the next town…or worse?

Being prepared means thinking about worst case scenarios.  It means getting the tools together to achieve a successful outcome.

Sometimes it means making sure you have the right to do so too.

Critical survival gear and child’s play

What is the most important part of your survival emergency preparedness kit?  The one thing that you MUST have?

What this item is not:

1. bulky
2. heavy
3. expensive
4. hard to find
5. illegal (yet anyhow!)
6. hard to store
7. need to be rotated
8. easy to lose
9. prone to spoilage
10. needs special tools to operate correctly
11. need accessories

What it is:

1. critical to survival
2. works for your entire group
3. can be boosted by others
4. adaptable
5. ingenious
6. useful
7. hard to lose
8. easy to carry along
9. doesn’t need special sizes
10. uses many accessories
11. adjustable
12. renewable
13. works better when shared with others, whether before or during an emergency
14. works better when used before the emergency occurs
15. works better with frequent usage

Know what it is yet?

It’s your brain and knowledge it carries.

It’s the single most important piece of survival and emergency preparedness equipment that you can make sure you possess.  It works when you have little else, and even when that emergency backpack is missing, damaged, or destroyed.  It can get you out of situations that no weapon or rope alone possibly can.  It can attract the attention of rescuers when there is no flare bright enough.  It can find food and water when there isn’t much to be found anywhere.

It also works better when shared with others, even before the emergency even actually occurs.  It’s effectiveness is compounded by being used frequently before the emergency too.  Sometimes, its potential effectiveness can be multiplied simply by sitting around with others and mentally going through potentially challenging situations and thinking about how they could be solved.

A lot of the ideas that can become useful skills are born out of the play of children.  Playing house?  Building a house out of found materials in the wooded lot next door can give birth to the same skills that create a shelter out of found materials in the woods in an emergency too.  “Fun” childhood activities can lead to survival skills too…like boiling water in a paper bag or heating rocks to boil liquids in a flammable container.  Cooking on a stick.

The games we play as children, and the games we play with our children have much more meaning than we realize sometimes.  Those childhood games lead to problem solving skills, adaptability, and being able to think creatively.  Cooking that hamburger patty on a hot rock isn’t as silly when you compare it to preparing food without utensils in a survival situation.  What is the difference really between building a ‘cool snow fort” and building a snow shelter?

Realizing that those playful excursions build skills and provide a foundation of knowledge for survival in our children, as well as hones adult skills, really changes the whole concept.  Just as play provides learning experience for other mammals during their youth, it does the same for our own.  Just in our case, we can continue learning in playful manners as adults.  Lessons learned in such play are also the lessons that will provide both the adults and the children with the foundation of knowledge that can turn into real survival skills when under stress too.

Too often, as adults we take learning new things too seriously, and take the fun out of it.  Without the fun, our brains don’t make the same critical connections that we need to make to ensure that knowledge is retained and accessible during an emergency.  It is our brains that are a critical tool for our survival, and the knowledge that is retained from childhood builds the entire foundation for our ingenuity and inventiveness at solving survival situations.  Those lessons will be the basis for our children’s ability to adapt and find solutions for the infinite possibilities that can occur in an emergency, whether it is suddenly being stranded in a winter storm, a natural disaster, an invasion of a foreign army, or breakdown of the modern infrastructure or anything else.  No one can have an emergency backpack that is prepared for all eventualities all the time.  Everybody should have their brain prepared with that framework of knowledge and problem solving skills that give them the best possible chance of survival, however.

Taking knowledge and playing with it creates associations of pleasure with the skill set.  It may sound silly initially, but the most dangerous risks for anyone in a survival situation is hopelessness, mind numbing fear, depression, panic and similar negative responses to the stimuli being delivered during the event.  If you add in your companion(s) emotional response, it can become even more daunting.   By creating associations with fun and pleasure prior to the emergency in association with skills for survival, you are in essence putting in an emotional insurance policy.  This emotional insurance policy is multiplied by confidence and knowledge too, so the more practice and knowledge added, the greater that potential pay off.

And doing these activities with novices and children has an additional pay off.  Not only teaching these things to others increases your own knowledge and understanding and gives you practice that creates confidence, you are passing the knowledge on to others.  Tenfold to your own experience, you discover the things that can go wrong when trying to successfully achieve a goal, whether its cooking food over a primitive spit over a fire, build a fire using no matches, build a shelter…or whatever.

Camping provides another way of preparing for emergencies, as silly as that may sound.  In an emergency, we’re often forced out of our familiar situation and into an unfamiliar one.  We may have food and shelter, but we have to adapt to living in close quarters with our family or friends, of using common restrooms and showers, of dealing with strangers with whom we have nothing in common.  We may have to cook food over a camp stove or campfire and wash dishes out doors.  We may have to sleep on a cot or pallet on the ground in a tent.  We may have to eat food that is unfamiliar or ill prepared.

We’ve all seen photos of refugee camps on television, newspapers, and the internet.  What do they resemble?

Overcrowded campgrounds!

Loss of privacy, crowded and primitive quarters, uncomfortable beds, communal restrooms and showers, lack of control over our environmental comfort (heating and cooling of our quarters) and our own food seem like minor issues.  In a refugee situation, these become major issues.  If you lack the ability to adapt and stay positive, managing to live through a refugee situation can become an insurmountable problem.  You may be laughing, and saying that this is the United States and we don’t have refugee camps.

FEMA camps?  Katrina?  We saw that on the Gulf coast, and we saw how incredibly long some of these FEMA trailer villages existed as people tried to get back on their feet.  The entire Katrina experience is an excellent example of what can occur during and after an emergency, and what the most critical areas for survival for an American refugee.

The refugees then that survived best were the ones that were best able to adapt to changing circumstances.  Not because of money or social status, but rather because of that internal ability to adapt.  Those same adaptable victims were the quickest to return, whether they returned to their previous homes or found alternative housing.  They were the first to resettle in other areas when their job and home had vanished and there was no alternative available for them.  These were also the same people that needed the least amount of assistance from relief organizations and the government to get back on their feet.

This vividly illustrates the importance of teaching skills to prepare people mentally and emotionally to adapt to situations.  It’s important for society as a whole to teach the individual these skills, as it reduces the drain that individual presents on the greater group.  Taking these same lessons and applying them to your own “survival group” whether it is your nuclear family or a larger group of family and friends, and ensuring that everyone CAN adapt to an emergency situation is important.   It is much harder to remain positive and keep on thinking on your feet when a family member, significant other, or simply another member of your group is continually focused on the negative, and protests the situation with every breath.  The best way to prevent this is to maximize their adaptability quotient prior to an actual emergency, and camping can be an excellent outlet.

So, try out those survival skills you read about.  Get that unused tent out of the garage.  Go camping with the family and make it fun and enjoyable.  It’s a lesson worth learning.

 

 

 

 

 

Changing of the season and the itch to go

Yesterday, I had the air conditioning on to combat high humidity as the temperatures hovered around the low 80s.  It wasn’t that hot, so much as steamy.  Tonight, we have to have some heat, as the temperatures drop to just above freezing.  That’s life on the Gulf Coast this time of year.  Fast changes, and it usually involves some rain, which clung to the area all day today.

With the cold weather, the rain…guess what?

I have this itch on the bottom of my feet.  It’s saying its time to get ready and GO.  I want to go camping, I want to go fishing, I want to get out and do a road trip.

I’m probably crazy, but there is nothing I love more than cold weather camping.  I love sitting around the fire, a windbreak stretched between a couple of trees, sipping coffee and chatting with friends after a good evening meal.  I love sleeping in the cold tent, warm inside of my sleeping bag, with GM & the dog to help me stay warm.  Okay, so I do despise a call of nature driving me from my warm bed to hanging my butt out in the woods…but it makes me appreciate that warmth all the more!

Cooking for a crowd in camp is much more fun in cold weather too.  The hot fires aren’t chasing them away, whether its a campfire or a lit stove.  Granted, I have to cook in the dark for the evening meal because of the short days, but I manage.  People are much more appreciative of food in cold weather too, as well as have a bigger appetite.

I love watching the dog at that evening fire too.  She’s hilarious, and has no fear of fire, so we often have to fish her tail out of too-close proximity to the fire as she enjoys the heat herself to ease her aching joints.  (She’s getting old now.)  She sprawls by the fire, and practically sucks the heat in.  It also means she is right there, just in case someone has some food they need to get rid of.  She loves the camping too, although I’m not sure she loves the cold weather as much as she used to.  At least I don’t have to worry about her overheating in cold weather.

Granted, it takes more gear in cold weather than warm.  Our tents tend to be bulkier with rain flies that extend nearly to the ground or actually to the ground.  We need to ensure we are well insulated from the cold ground to prevent losing body heat to the ground.  Our clothes are bulkier and we wear more layers too.  We need hats and gloves.  There are extra tarps, to protect from wind or rain.  We use more firewood for our evening fires.  We carry fire bricks to warm our beds, and towels to wrap them in before tucking them under our beds.  We drink more hot drinks to stay hydrated and warm.

It’s a pain, but I love it.  For some reason, the challenge of staying warm, dry, and eating well in cold weather is just much more intriguing than doing the same thing in summer.  Granted, I’ve experienced snow and frosts in July and August at high altitudes, but it was still summertime all day.

Winter, even a Southern winter, presents new challenges, and the continual risk of seriously cold weather.  Straying northward means we’d also run the risk of potential stray snowstorms too.

Ever sleep in a tent during a snowstorm?

How about a thunderstorm?

In a thunderstorm, the wind pushes the rain into any potential gap in the tent’s moisture barrier.  It invariably sneaks into bedding as ambient moisture.  Everything starts to feel damp and cold.  As the storms continue day after day, the misery level just continues to increase.

With snow, barring the blizzard scenario, the snow comes down, piling up alongside the tent walls.  It may pile on the roof before gently sliding to the ground with a slithery sound that reminds you of a fat, drunken snake losing its balance.  If the wind blows, it can push the snow against the tent, or occasionally even whip around the tent door when its opened, invading the relative warmth of the tent’s interior.

The big difference is that by and large, in a snowstorm, your tent and its contents, including you, stay dry.  The snow also acts as insulation, trapping air and blocking wind.  It’s just much easier to deal with good old H2O when its in a solid form.

Assuming the temperature is 10 degrees or warmer, and the wind isn’t a serious issue, it isn’t that hard to stay warm.  Cooking in the snow isn’t as hard as cooking in the rain, whether using a fire or a stove.  The air is more invigorating than it is life threatening, and the challenge of staying comfortable is merely a challenge…not a life threatening issue.

At the same time, there is just enough risk that the weather could turn seriously snowy and windy, with a blizzard like force, that could create a real survival challenge.  Having enough food, fuel, clothing, and sleeping gear would go from an entertaining weekend to survival in the few degrees of temperature and a handful of miles-per-hour on the wind.  It’s there, in the back of your mind, as you are forced to remember that you must always be prepared for that emergency, of the potential of being caught out in a serious winter storm or of encountering someone else who is less prepared that is caught out in your vicinity.  What then?  Did you bring enough to remain comfortable until help could reach you after the storm has passed?  Would anyone know where to find you?  What would you do if you suddenly were forced to rely on your own wits to stay alive and healthy for ten days if it did happen?  Could you do it?  How?

Maybe that’s what drives us all to head out into nature, to test our skills and our wits.  That potential risk factor.  Of wondering if we are as tough as our ancestors were.  If we really have learned as much about survival as we should have.

How about you?

 

Babies, winter, and the outdoors–10 rules to make it easy!

I live in the South, along the Gulf Coast.  Our winters are nothing compared to places like Fargo, North Dakota or somewhere in Maine or Vermont…or a few thousand other places further north and higher in altitude.  I’ve lived in those places, and I know how cold it is when the snow squeaks too.  I LIKE living in the South where it doesn’t get like that!

At the same time, we bundle up considerably when winter finally does get us in its bitter embrace.  The cold is different here than the cold you’d find in the Rockies of Colorado, the Northern Plains, and so forth.  It’s damp and a sneaky cold.  I’d far rather feel a normal dry cold at 17 degrees than to deal with 17 degrees along the Gulf Coast.  I’ve experienced those kinds of temperatures (and others!) at both extremes.  I know there is a difference, and its not merely in perception.

Dealing with cold is one thing for an adult or in regards to our four legged companions, and another ball game entirely when you have an infant in tow.  Generally speaking, the smaller mass of an infant is more prone to chilling, and their immature bodies are incapable of generating enough heat and regulating their temperatures enough to protect themselves in cold weather, even when bundled in blankets.  So how do we cope?  Do we need to keep our babies indoors?

Babies have been experiencing the Great Outdoors since the dawn of man.  Where we often have a choice in whether or not to expose our precious bundle to the outdoor temperatures, once upon a time, there was little option.  Homes were primitive, drafty, smokey, and often pretty chilly when temperatures dropped.  To keep our precious bundle safe, warm, and protected today, we can take many lessons from our ancestors.

The best way for a very small infant to stay warm is to keep that infant close to the mother, allowing him or her to share her heat and help regulate their own temperature.  What does this mean?  It means using something such as a sling or baby carrier, keeping the baby near the mother and UNDER her outer garments such as coat or cloak.  To accomplish this, she will need a coat several sizes larger than she would  normally wear, and the infant is only minimally bundled up before getting tucked inside of Mom’s coat.  Always put a hat on baby, preferably something snug and warm instead of cute.  Their thin skin, and often nearly bald or sparsely haired heads are over-sized radiators to the rest of their bodies, shedding far too much heat into the cold air.

In less extreme weather, the sling carriers that carry the baby diagonally across Mom’s torso can be used, sometimes lined with a fleece blanket, with the baby dressed in a standard sleeper and then put into a “bunting”.  Buntings can be very much like a sleeping bag with sleeves or like a thick fleecy sleeper with feet.  Snow suits are another option, if you can find one small enough for the tiny baby.  Buntings last through longer phases of baby’s growth, as they are not closely fitted.  I happened to prefer Carter’s buntings for my own children, and now that I have a brand new granddaughter, we’ll be dressing HER in a Carter bunting for her first outdoor adventures.

Tiny infants cannot tolerate exposure to wind.  Not only does it increase their risk of chilling, the wind across a baby’s face can often cause them to suck inwards, swallowing air, and resulting in a cranky baby with colic.  The last thing a new mother needs is a baby with colic!  In windy conditions, it is advisable to find a way to cover the baby’s face or otherwise block the wind.  It doesn’t take a heavy covering to merely block the wind, and it certainly shouldn’t be anything that would cause a potential smothering incident–a gauze diaper, receiving blanket, etc. is usually sufficient.

Few new mothers are going to consider going camping with a tiny infant and winter weather, especially in a tent.  Even so, thought should be given to the “what if” scenarios that could arise.  If there was an emergency of some kind that put mother and infant outdoors, how could they protect themselves and remain safe, even if not quite comfortable?  What kinds of things should be added to an emergency backpack to ensure their comfort?

Make sure there is a good poncho, possibly one with a liner, in the mother’s backpack.  This poncho can essentially become a portable “tent” over her body, to help protect her infant as well.  Add a couple of micro fleece blankets, which can greatly increase warmth by retaining body heat too.  Remember to caution nursing mothers to NOT eat snow as a source of water–it causes the loss of heat at an excessively high rate.  It is better to thaw the water by putting a container of snow where your body heat will slowly thaw it or to even remain slightly dehydrated versus eating snow in an emergency situation.  I remember a case when I was a child on the Northern Plains where a nursing mother, the father and the infant were caught in a blizzard and stranded in their car.  The mother insisted on eating snow, resulting in her death, whereas the father and infant survived until help arrived.  (NO ONE, nursing mother or not, should eat snow to hydrate when in a cold weather survival situation for the same reason.)

Include formula, either dry or canned, along with water and bottles in the backpack too, as well as some diapers and wipes.  Remember to change your infant’s gear regularly, as the first year involves dramatic changes in sizes and needs for an infant.  If your infant is eating solid food, include easy to carry and use foods such as instant cereals, along with spoon and bowl.  Typically, it is advised that everyone’s needs for 72 hours are included in a backpack, and the infant’s gear should be divided between the parents’ backpacks.  Spare clothing, socks, onesies, and hats should also be included in the emergency clothing, and ensure it is suitable for the season and the correct size. (Too big is far better than too small though!)   In winter, an extra bunting is also a very good idea.

For outdoor adventures, most mothers are not going to be enthusiastic about braving the elements for a weekend of camping when it is bitterly cold.  In such weather, it may not be advisable.  I camped with infants in below freezing weather, but I’ll confess…we slept in the van, off of the ground, and the infant never became chilled.  In fact, despite the bitter cold that struck one night, I overheated the baby once, having bundled him up excessively.  To check a small infant’s “comfort” level, feel their feet.  If they are “just right” in terms of retaining their body heat, their feet will feel slightly cool (as long as your hands are not cold, btw!) If their feet are cold OR warm, you need to adjust how you have them dressed and wrapped.  Cold feet is a cold baby, whereas warm feet mean you have gone overboard.  Babies that are too warm or too cold are also apt to be fussy.

Don’t give a baby a cold bottle when outdoors in cold weather.  The last thing they need is a chill coming from their stomach!  To warm a bottle, heat a small pan of water on your stove, then remove it from the heat and set the bottle in the hot water.  Depending on how hot the water was initially, it typically does not take long to heat a bottle under four ounces…just a minute or two in very hot to almost boiling water.  ALWAYS shake the bottle and then check the temperature of the liquid on your inner wrist–you also do not want to burn the baby’s mouth!

Cooler weather doesn’t mean that Mom has to stay at home with the baby.  At the same time, reasonable caution should be used.  If it can be avoided, extreme cold weather, especially if it is also raining, should be avoided for baby’s first adventures.  If the car is available during the “Great Adventure”, it also means a place where it can be warmed up, ensuring baby doesn’t get chilled excessively.  It means that if it isn’t turning out as all that great of an adventure due to weather changes, sudden new mom nerves, fussing baby, or anything else…there is always the option of calling it a day and heading home.  There is also nothing wrong with opting to return home to safety and warmth.  Even as an adult, there have been a few occasions where things were going wrong, the weather wasn’t cooperating, or my nerves said enough…and I opted to call it quits and head home early.

So, when your family has a new baby in its midst, remember:

1. Add baby’s essentials to both parents’ emergency backpacks (or to Mom’s and a second person’s who is apt to be around)
2. Dress baby appropriately for the weather.
3. Have extra clothing and blankets available.
4. Keep baby dry when in the cold-wet diapers are wet garments and can increase the chill factor.
5. Keep the wind out of baby’s face.
6. Don’t give a cold bottle to a baby outdoors in the cold.
7. Get baby a bunting or snow suit (as appropriate) as well as a hat for outdoor adventures.
8. Use a carrier or sling to help keep baby close to Mom for warmth.
9. Use the car as needed for a warm retreat.
10. Remember, you can return home if things aren’t going well.

With these ten rules, there’s no reason to wait until spring to get out and go with baby!