What I Did This Week To Prep 3/30/12

This week tended to be oriented around writing on the blog and creating a public blog more than anything else.  I know that blogging may not be considered prepping, but I would argue that it is for me.  First, it helps get my thoughts organized.  Second, it forces me to think about what I've done this week, and if the answer is not much, then I try to go do at least a couple of small things.  I'm also finding that in the private blog I'm maintaining, there have been some good discussions on how we might approach our planning/training for a SHTF event.  Although a SHTF event is not my primary focus for preparing, it is something I try to make consistent little gains on.

I did my normal workouts this week.  I've definitely been feeling better since I've started back doing regular workouts in about mid-January.  Already my pants are fitting a little less snug and I have much greater breathing control on the bicycle.  In addition to working out, I've made it a goal to cut out Coke, lattes, and beer during the week.  I started doing this about 3 weeks ago.  I figure I improved myself by something on the order of 600 calories a day during the week just by cutting that stuff out.  I did not have to lift a finger or break a sweat to do it either (my favorite way to start a weight loss program).  During the weekend, I don't go super crazy drinking a bunch of that stuff either. It is nice to have a bit of reward for a couple of days, though.

I purchased some books this week.  "Tom Brown's Field Guide to City and Suburban Survival".  I've been reading a copy borrowed from my friend Greg up until now.  I just finished the chapter on weather this week and will continue "Disasters" soon.  "Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival".  I'm hoping this will be a good follow on to the first book I'm reading.  "Washington Road and Recreation Atlas".  This book shows a lot of the trailheads and back roads of WA.  I'm hoping to use this as a guide this spring, summer, and fall as I start exploring the northern Cascades.  My goal is to start committing geography to memory in this area since I consider my current primary BOL to be this wilderness.  "Fieldbook: The BSA's Manual of Advanced Skills for Outdoor Travel, Adventure, and Caring for the Land".  I've never really looked at this book and have no idea if it will be useful or not.  I figure since it's BSA, there must some value in reading it.



I also purchased some supplies to add to my primary and secondary BOB's.  This includes 6" Ace bandage wraps and some mylar emergency blankets.  These items were all relatively inexpensive and have a lot of useful versatility.


I've been using Amazon Prime for a big portion of my preparation purchases.  I've found that the pricing is very competitive on items that I want and I like that using Prime gets me free shipping.  It costs a yearly fee, but I find that with the number of little things I purchase at a time, the price is worth it.  Especially when I'm home with a toddler.  Going shopping just does not hold a lot of appeal for me.

Over the next 2 weeks, I'm expecting to get our garden planted and to transplant our strawberry bushes to a new bed I'm creating next to our fence.  We'll also be adding blueberries and asparagus to that same bed.  We're going to keep our garden simple this year I think.  We intend to plant several types of herbs, zucchini,  tomatoes, and peppers.  We've had rotten luck with tomatoes the past 2 years, so we are going to change it up by trying tomatoes in pots.  We're going to put them against a wall that gets a lot of afternoon sun to see if that helps us.



What did you do this week?

How Will We Communicate?

I've been having discussions with a couple of friends about how we can communicate in the aftermath of some "event".  This doesn't have to be SHTF.  It could be as simple as power is gone and cell phone towers are down.  It's still important to maintain comms with my group for mutual support as required.  I believe normal communications within my group occurs as follows.

1. Blogging - non-urgent and not requiring a timely response
2. Email - non-urgent and not requiring a timely response.
3. Cell phone - non-urgent or urgent.  Leave message if no answer and want a call back.
4. Texting - non-urgent or urgent.  My understanding is texts may still go through even if cellular calls will not.
5. Show up on the doorstep - if nothing else works, this may.  No guarantees that anyone is home though.
6. ?

It's really the ? of number 6 that I want to find a solution for.  I've been looking at MURS radios.  I've focused on this type of radio because they are readily available, require no FCC license, are not line of sight, and have a somewhat reasonable range.  By reasonable range, I mean something like 2-7 miles.  They are not super high power, but with an antenna can extend out to the maximum range.

I was looking at these models by Dakota.

http://shop.murs-radio.com/MURS-Hand-Held-M538-HT.htm

http://shop.murs-radio.com/MURS-Base-M538-BS.htm

And antennas.

http://www.dpdproductions.com/page_murs.html

I haven't yet purchased radios for myself.  This is something I'm planning to work on with my group sometime this summer.  Right now my thinking is that it would be best to establish comms between everyone's houses within my group.  I'm planning on putting a base with antenna at each house and handhelds in each vehicle.  Handhelds can then be transitioned to backpacks for field use.  Eventually I may want to equip my vehicles with antennas as well.

With the use of batteries, these radios can at least get my group all moving in the right direction if we need to bug out.  I think we'll probably establish some frequency settings and perhaps broadcast times to conserve battery operations (for instance, every even hour for first 5 minutes of hour).  The radios will only be useful for as long as the batteries have charge.  Once we can no longer charge the batteries, they are paperweights.

I'm proposing within my group that the first step be that 2 people purchase base radios with antennas to see if we can establish comms between 2 houses.  Hopefully, we'll be able to transmit over that distance.  If not, we can use these 2 radios to establish what range is effective.  I have no idea if there is a way to create a repeater network with this kind of system.  My guess is if you can, its probably expensive.

What are your thoughts?

To Bug Out or Not to Bug Out, That is the Question

This subject jumps to the highest point in the Personal-Localized-Regional-State-National-Global hierarchy.

A comment to a post made on my private prepper blog stated:

"First of all, what happens after one bugs out? Many scenarios to think about. Here are some, and follow on thoughts:

1) Super Volcano eruption at Yellowstone - would need to move South or North, or West depending on prevailing winds. For massive area evacuation, what is the best route or best hidden routes?

2) Pandemic situation where the epidemic moves inward from our major ports of entry - Would need to move East, South or North.

3) Food, or other socioeconomic situation, rule of law intact - Stay home? start to grow food, using stored food only if required.

4) Food, or other socioeconomic situation, No rule of law - Get away from civilization? (likely would not occur fast and decision where to go, would maybe be clearer as such a situation develops. Also, the time of the year would also influence. Example: If wanted to move North or South, we could get ourselves to the Pacific Crest Trail. We could go to Canada or to Mexico on that trail and it purposely avoids civilization for the most part. Water, fire, shelter.. fine. What about food for the long term? would have to rely on anything one could hunt or catch.

We should research Easterly routes that would get us across the cascades, preferably by vehicle over foot, while avoiding the major highways going over."

Here are some of my thoughts on how to decide if it's time to go.

1. We have to survive whatever event causes us even to discuss bugging out.
2. Regardless of the event, if it is large enough for us to even think about leaving the city, we probably should.  There are hundreds of scenarios that we could come up with.  The central idea of every one of the scenarios is this: flow of goods into the population areas is interrupted.  All scenarios boil down to that 1 reason for leaving the urban area.  When there is no flow of goods into the city, people will start doing really bad things-looting, murder, cannibalism, you name it.  There is enough food on the shelves of grocery stores for about 3 days.  Food and other survival type gear will disappear as soon as everyone realizes its time to horde.  When power goes away, so will water, communications, natural gas, etc.  When hunger and thirst sets in, looting and murder will begin.  People will feel justified in killing their neighbors to feed their children.  Once all the food and water looting is complete, people will result to cannibalism to survive.  It's ugly.  A situation could degenerate to this level in as little as 30-60 days.
3. We should assume help is not coming.  FEMA couldn't get help to New Orleans for literally weeks after Katrina.  We cannot count on anyone but ourselves.
4. Staying in an urban or suburban area in this situation most likely means death.

Here are some of my thoughts on where to go/what to do.

1. We want our primary escape routes to be available to us year round.  We are limited in a western direction by the water.  We are limited in an eastern direction by the mountains, which may or may not be covered in snow.  There is no guarantee that the passes will be clear to vehicles once we decide to leave.  We are limited in a southern direction by the city itself.  The Tacoma - Puyallup - JBLM areas are a bottleneck on the best of days - think what it would be like if people realize they should evacuate the city.  The only real escape route is to the north, and even that has limited choices if we don't decide to leave before everyone else does.
2. The decision to leave should be made quickly.  Once the decision is made to leave, it should be communicated to everyone involved in the plan and executed quickly to coordinated BOL's.  Time will not be on our side.
3. We should have secondary escape routes planned as well.  Over the mountains might be a possibility in vehicles at the right time of year.  It might be a possibility on foot any time of year, assuming that we have the proper gear and the knowledge to effectively use it.
4. A fixed BOL which we own is ideal as a repository for a cache of gear, food, weapons, seeds, etc.  It would allow us to abandon our bug out vehicle and walk to the BOL with our BOB's and still be able to receive support.
5. A fixed BOL which we do not own is still useful, but there is no guarantee of security if we try to hide a cache somewhere.  We might consider renting storage somewhere a bit more remote that could supply us if necessary.  Security of this storage would of course rely on it being kept secret.
6. Whatever we do, we are better off coordinated and together.  The more of us there are, the more we can do to help each other.
7. We should not discount the value of being able to move and hide.  We will never be a force that can handle a mob of people unless we've prepared a strong fixed fighting position.  Frankly, I think we are years from being able to build anything remotely like that.
8. Until we feel like we are safe enough to fix our location and grow food, we must rely on hunting, foraging, looting, or pre-positioned caches.
9. If we learn how to use the nature around us, it can provide our every need.  For me that's a pretty steep learning curve.  I don't know very much at all about edible/medicinal plant identification; hunting, killing, dressing animals; fishing; building shelter; preserving food; etc.  I've read a bit about all of these things, but the skills can only be developed through practice.  It's easier to practice right now when we don't have the pressure of a crisis weighing down on us.
10. After about 90 days, the cities will be mostly devoid of people.  Once populated areas can then become a source of tools and raw materials for us to begin building a settlement from.

This is all doom and gloom stuff.  Will it ever happen?  Who knows?  I personally hope that every preparation that we make for the above is a complete waste of time.  I like the cushy world I live in just fine.  But, I want to live if this cushy world ever turns against me.  The only way that happens is through planning, preparation, education, and networking.

My plan (and believe me, it's in its infancy) revolves around my thoughts above.  I'm open to discussion/suggestions because I think cooperative collaboration is going to help the best plan emerge.

What are your thoughts?

FAQ's - My Thinking on Preps

I thought it would be useful to summarize my point of view of why I "prep" or call myself a "prepper".  I'm going to do this in the form of a FAQ.

What influenced you to start prepping?

Let me start by quoting from one of my favorite web sites that I'm "not whack job crazy".  In fact, I'd like to think that my reasons for prepping are far more calculated.  Prepping is actually something that's been on my mind literally for years.  I've discussed prepping with friends as far back as 2006.    Lately, having Cole in my life has given me a heightened awareness of my need to try and protect my family from anything I realistically can.  But it's more than that - my reading list over the past few years has consisted of a lot of historically fiction (John Jakes, Patrick O'Brian), some alternate reality fiction set in times that didn't have a lot of our current technologies, and of course some apocalyptic doomsday fiction.  All good stuff I assure you.  But a common theme in all of the novels is how the characters dealt with not having computers, electricity, etc.  Essentially, life 100 years ago.  In addition, this past summer, Barb, Cole, and I visited the Museum of the Rockies.  One of the really cool exhibits is a turn of the century (1900) farmhouse.  In the exhibit, there are people wearing clothes and doing tasks from that era - blacksmithing, weaving, farming, etc.  These kinds of chores/hobbies interest me.

What events do you really think will occur to make all this work worthwhile?

 Let me quote Jack Spirko and say "Everything you do to “prepare” for emergencies, disasters or economic turmoil should be blended into your life in a way that improves your life even if nothing disastrous ever occurs."  This is 1 of his 10 core values as to why to prep.  In fact, it's the very first one.  Read about them here:  http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/articles-by-jack/modern-survival-philosophy-2.

I have a ranking of events that I think are possible to happen to my family.  I developed this ranking based on Jack Spirko's 6th core value, which is "Plan for disaster in the following order of priority – Personal-Localized-Regional-State-National-Global."

1.  Personal:  I think it's likely that Barb or I could experience a vehicle breakdown of some sort in the next 10 years.  Therefore, my preps include having gear stored in the vehicles to help us if we are stuck on the road.  We subscribe to AAA as our first line of defense against vehicle breakdown.  We keep cell phones with us when we go somewhere in a vehicle.  We insure that we do all the required maintenance on our vehicles.  We fill up the car with gas when the tank gets half full.

I think it's possible that either Barb or I could lose our job sometime in the next 10 years.  I think it's possible that either Barb, Cole, or I could be very sick sometime in the next 10 years, possibly to the extent of partial loss of income or extremely high medical expenses.  Therefore, my preps include having a store of extra food that could sustain us for 6 mos to lower our monthly costs.  We are starting to grow some of our own food for the same reason.  We are putting money into savings to help cover living expenses for such an eventuality.  We are paying off our credit cards every month to keep our credit clear as a secondary line of defense.  We are paying off our house and car loans as quickly as we can to lower our monthly expenditures.

2.  Localized:  I think it's highly likely that we will lose power in the house sometime in the next year.  I think it's likely that the power outage will occur concurrently with cold weather.  Therefore, my preps include food storage, alternate sources of heat, alternate sources of light, and alternate sources for cooking. 

I think it's possible that we could have a house fire sometime in the next 10 years.  Therefore, my preps include keeping important documents and extra cash in a fire-proof safe.  We have smoke detectors in each bedroom and the kitchen.  I'm going to install a smoke detector in the garage.  I have fire extinguishers located in the linen closet upstairs, kitchen downstairs, in the garage, and each of the cars.  We have roll down escape ladders stored in each bedroom on the 2nd floor.  We talk about what to do in the event of a grease fire.  We keep supplies in each car that can help us in the short term.  We are developing a network of friends that can help us in the event of a loss of the house.

3.  Regional/State:  I think it's highly likely that there will be a large snow storm that will shut down this area for several days in the next year.  Therefore, my preps include storing extra food in the house.  We intend to always own at least 1 4-wheel drive vehicle.  We have chains for each of the vehicles.  We have warm clothing and boots in case we have to leave the house on foot.

I think it's possible that we'll experience a large magnitude earthquake in the next 10 years.  Therefore, my preps include storing supplies in a location external to the house to make them readily accessible.  We keep tools that can help us gain access to certain areas of the house in the event of a collapse to reach more supplies.  We keep a store of water external to the house.  We keep spare  gear in the vehicles.

4.  National/Gobal:  I think it's possible that an economic disaster could occur in my lifetime.  This could include the loss of goods coming into the city and the ability of the government to respond.  This could result in no food, water, power, energy available in the city.  Therefore, my preps include being able to leave the city to a known remote location.  We can do this primarily in a vehicle or if necessary on foot.  We are teaching ourselves skills that can help us survive in the wilderness around us.

As you can see, a lot my preps for the more local emergencies dovetail well into the large scale emergencies.

What are your short term prepper goals? 

 I think it makes the most sense to prepare for the personal and localized events first.  As I stated, there are highly likely scenarios that I think will occur within the next year.  I maintain a list of prepper tasks that I prioritize in terms of cost, effort, and necessity.  I'm also working to build a network of preppers to become a safety net in the event of a personal tragedy that may require the help of others to overcome.  I'm learning to grow things in my own yard.  I'm constantly learning new skills to add to my personal skill "toolbox".

What are your long term prepper goals? 

Eventually, I'd like to purchase a bug out location.  This would be used in the event of a national/global crisis.  I'd like to stock it with equipment and make it defensible.  At the same time, I'd like it to become a recreation area where I can camp, shoot, grow food, play paint ball, or experiment with coming "off the grid."  I think of prepping as a hobby as much as I think of it as useful tool to help keep my family safe.

Why blog about prepping?

I think it puts subject matter out for people to discuss ideas and to talk about what the best approaches might be to solve a given problem.  I think it's a great way to build a network of friends.  I think it's a great way to learn and to teach.  I think on a prepper blog, there can be something that will strike a chord with anyone who reads it, no matter how serious they are about prepping.  Most of all, I think it gets people to think, which is a skill we seem to lack all to often in our modern world.

What 1 question would you ask of anyone reading this post?

What does prepping mean to you?

What I Did This Week To Prep 3/23/12

Well it was certainly a busy week in terms of prepper stuff for me.  I got a lot of little items checked off my list.

The top of my list is that I worked out 4 times-2 cardio and 2 weights.  As a prepper, it's my opinion that I'm useless if I'm not fit enough to carry a pack or even do the simplest tasks that require a reasonably fit body.  As the weather gets nicer, I think I might start putting Cole in the baby backpack we have and cart him up to the park.

I read more of Tom Brown's Field Guide to City and Suburban Survival.  I'm finding a lot of great information in this book and I've generated a lot of good ideas based on what I've read.  After reading the "Shelter" chapter, Barb and I had a great discussion on some simple things we can do around the house.  First, we talked about crumpling up newspaper into some garbage bags and stuffing them up in our skylights.  It defeats the purpose of the incoming light, but it does provide great insulation in a location that is prone to heat loss.  Second, we talked about installing heavy curtains over the windows in our bonus room, living room, and dining room.  The bonus room is where we spend a majority of our waking hours during the year.  We'll probably install them in such a way that the bottom can be tucked into the windowsill to eliminate cold drafts from entering the space.  Third, we talked about installing heavy curtains in the open doorways (no doors) from our kitchen to the dining room and front hall to the living room.  This will have the effect of isolating that portion of the house and lowering the need to heat that space.  The overall effect of these items is that it creates 2 shelters in the house if we need them.  The bonus room has a wood burning fireplace insert to provide heat and the living room/dining room area has a gas fireplace.  Now we have 2 alternatives to effectively weather a power outage in the dead of winter.

After reading the chapter on "Water", I recalled some training I received when I was doing summer camps in ROTC.  Tom talks about recovery of water from the ground by simply digging a hole in a sunny location, putting a bucket in the bottom of it, running surgical tubing out of the hole, covering the hole in clean, clear plastic that has a rock located in the center.  This should take advantage of the heat evaporating water out of the soil, collecting on the plastic, and running down into the bucket.  The surgical tubing can then be used to draw the water out of the bucket without removing the plastic.  The water is purified, so no further steps for purification are required.  I'm adding this to my list of things to try this summer-yes I intend to dig a big hole in the backyard.

Barb and I sat down and took the time to re-familiarize ourselves with the contents of our secondary bug out bags from the car.  I was adding the new Gerber EAB's, their refill's, and tea candles to all of the BOB's, so I figured this was a good time to remember exactly what we are keeping in the cars.  For a good explanation of the Gerber EAB, go here:  http://tracemypreps.com/2012/01/09/product-review-gerber-eab-lite-utility-knife/.  For a good explanation of tea candles, go here:  http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/2012/02/simple-survival-gear-tactical-tealights.html.

I also added emergency cash to both Barb's wallet and my wallet, as well as the secondary BOB's located in each of the cars.  This was prompted by a discussion between Trace, Sarah, Barb, and I last Saturday night.  It was pointed out to me that we need to keep cash on hand for something as simple as a power outage, where, for instance gas pumps might be on emergency power, but the credit card machine may not be.  I'm pretty much solely a credit card user.  I pay off the card every month, but use the charges to generate cash back based on the types of cards we used.  Now Barb and I will have enough cash on hand to fill up the car with a tank of gas, get a motel room, and buy some dinner, without the need of a credit card.

I also started keeping a "Task List" of all the preps I'd like to make as I think of them.  I use this to organize my list in terms of priority, cost, and need.  My list will never be completely resolved, but it seems like a good idea to me to keep everything in one place for quick reference.

What did you do this week?

What I Did This Week To Prep 3/16/12

Up until today, I wasn’t as productive as I hoped this week. I ended up working a lot of hours. Of course, as my boss likes to remind me, I’ve got plenty of excuses, but I don’t have any good ones ;p.

I can pretty much only claim that I read a few prepping articles and glanced at a website a friend recommended to me: http://opensourceecology.org/. This site looked interesting from the point of view of building the tools needed to rebuild our world after a SHTF scenario. I hope to research more. Add it to the list right?  I also did 3 workouts this week - 1 cardio (25 minutes on my bike) and 2 weight (30 minute Gunnar Peterson video).

Today, I was a little bit more productive.  I ordered some gear from Amazon to add to the vehicles and packs.  I also created this blog.  Yay me!

Barb and I are headed to Costco tomorrow for our monthly shopping trip. Not a lot of great coupons, but we’ll continue to build our stockpile ;p.

What did you do?

And So It Begins

I started blogging about my preps a few weeks ago to a group of friends.  I still maintain that blog as a private blog, mainly because we use it as a way to bounce around ideas and plans.  However, it made me realize that I would like to share some of the posts from my private blog in a more public way to generate discussion with a larger group of people.

I guess the first thing that you will be wondering as you read my blog is why do I blog about this subject.  The main reason is rather selfish.  I find that writing down my ideas adds clarity to my thinking.  That's why I started the private blog.  I've created this public blog to increase awareness, stimulate conversation, and generally get people thinking about the idea of preparing for all types of emergencies.  I have opinions about a lot of things, some that many people may or may not agree with.  I welcome all points of view to any discussion, as long as it is presented in a respectful fashion.  I feel it's important to maintain respect throughout any discussion in the posts so that the central idea is not lost due to presentation.

Welcome to my blog.

Mike