What I Did The Last 2-1/2 Weeks To Prep 4/24/12

Yes I know, pathetic that it's been so long since I've written anything.  Speed of life and lack of doing anything worth writing about are my primary excuses.  No, I don't have any good ones.

Barb and I did purchase 4 blueberry bushes.  Unfortunately, they are still sitting in their pots by the front doorstep.  We're keeping them watered and hope to get them in the ground soon.  They are actually sitting next to our potted strawberries, which are coming to life.  We're excited b/c we're thinking by next year we'll actually start producing a decent fruit crop.  Better yet, my son loves blueberries and strawberries-what better treat could I make for him than homegrown fruit?

I also finished a new book called "Lucifer's Hammer".  The main characters are a group of folks in LA and their story of how they cope when a comet rounds the sun, calves into multiple large piece of rock/iron, and collides the Earth in multiple strikes.  The devastation described was pretty bad-tsunami's at all ocean strikes.  As the tsunami's collided with each other, they built in intensity and basic reflected around the planet like ripples in a giant bathtub, destroying every coastal city.  Every fault line instantly triggers due to the impacts as well.  LA basically goes completely underwater after it's hit with a massive earthquake.  The survivors flee to the Sierra's, just managing to cross the San Joaquin valley before it becomes the San Joaquin Sea from the massive amounts of rain and broken dams generated by the comet strikes.  Then, of course, comes neighbor killing neighbor with shotguns, rape, cannibalism, etc.  Afterwards, a new ice age starts b/c the planet is covered in clouds.  The whole time I was reading this novel, I was thinking "I'm not sure I would want to survive this".  Sounds defeatist I know, but that would be a pretty awful thing to survive.  I do know for sure that I do not want to survive a nuclear war - I know far too much about radiation poisoning to want to die that way.  Oh, and zombie apocalypse - I definitely don't want to survive that either (I know-watching too much Walking Dead).

Sunday, I had a few of my prepper friends over for dinner and a discussion of home safety/preparedness gear.  It was a great get together.  The weather was awesome, we got to do some networking with new faces, and we had some really good conversations about prepping from all points of view.  The home safety/preparedness gear was pretty basic.

1. Temperature sensors.  We have a dual output temperature sensor device which reads a sensor located outside the house and one located inside the house.  Very handy for instantly determining what the conditions are both in and out.  Saves time when you need to leave the house in a hurry and don't have time to check the forecast.
2. Lights.  I'm big on lighting for many reasons.  Top of my list is keeping escape paths lit.  We bought a pack of LED nightlights a few months ago and have them plugged in at key locations to light paths to our doors.  I like the LED lights because they use significantly less power than incandescent lighting.  Next, I have an LED headlamp stored in each of Barb and my bedside tables, 2 in each vehicle, 1 in the garage, 1 in the bonus room (convenient for taking the dogs out), and 2 in each of our BOB's.  I love these lights b/c they are hands free, bright, and last a long time on their batteries.  I was actually scoffed at a little bit about putting them in our bedside tables, but that changed when we actually lost power and they were readily at hand.  We also have LED candles scattered throughout the house.  We like them for the same battery longevity reasons and they are totally handy in a power outage.  Finally, we have candles of varying types scattered all around the house.  These are our backups for when we are out of batteries.  In conjunction with the above discussion, I recommend that you learn how to move around the house in the dark without lights, though I will say that with an 18 month old boy around, there are often toys scattered around that act as very efficient booby traps. 
3. CO detectors.  We have 3 gas fired appliances in our house.  We want to make sure that they are all properly ventilated.  When they are not properly ventilated, products of combustion (CO, CO2, etc) build up inside the house.  The CO detectors will sense when this has happened and ply us with 80 decibels of love.  The CO detectors are plugged into regular wall electrical outlets, but also have battery backup.
4. Smoke detectors.  We have l located in each bedroom, 1 located in the top of the stairs going to the bedrooms, 1 located in the kitchen, and 1 located in the garage.  We test them twice yearly, when the time changes.  Yes, I know, the manufacturer recommends more-but I'm good about remembering at the time change.  As we all know, they beep maliciously when the batteries run low.  They are especially prone to this failure in the middle of the night.
   
5. Fire extinguishers.  Fire is a very real danger in any home.  I've experienced 2 home fires in my life.  One of them was a grease fire.  When I was in the Navy, we had a fire on the ship almost every patrol.  They were always minor and out within seconds.  All of them were electrical fires.  For this reason, we keep fire extinguishers all over the house.  We have 1 located upstairs in the linen closet, 1 located in the kitchen, 1 located in the garage, 1 located in the storage shed, and 1 located in each vehicle.  For more information about fire and on how to use fire extinguishers, go here:  http://tracemypreps.com/2011/11/28/only-seconds-to-react/.  Also, we had a great discussion on grease fires and how to combat them.  Whatever you do, do not throw water on them.  Try to smother them with baking soda, put the lid over, or pretty much anything that will remove the source of oxygen works.  For an idea of what water does in a grease fire, go here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmjSUlKoMXE
6. Safety ladders.  We live in a 2 story house with all of the bedrooms located on the 2nd floor.  We keep a 2-story escape ladder in each bedroom.  It's basically just a roll up ladder that hangs on the windowsill. It was pointed out that we've never actually tried to escape the house with these ladders, so Barb and I will be testing them very soon.
7. NOAA radio.  We keep 1 in the kitchen, 1 in a box in the storage shed, and small handheld versions in each car.  We like these b/c they can give us the most up to date information on weather issues as well as emergency broadcasts during disasters.

Thanks so much to everyone who made it out

What did you do this week?