Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am reading 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Disaster Preparedness' by Ramirez and Hedtke. Published in 2009.
It brought up some points that I had not considered and is very well written. The author said that the first 72 hours of any disaster will be in the hands of local people. Boy, are they correct. They allow another 72 hours for state response and another 48 for federal response. I had not thought of that (and should have). Here is Louisiana it would take even longer since our politicians will spend a lot of time fighting with each other.
I am still working my way through the book. I noticed quite a few more titles at my local book store than were there the last time I looked.
Oh, well, the Atlantic is getting restless. Time to go buy freeze dried food and landscape lights!
I know a bunch of friends who grow tomatoes, some can, some make a big deal from canning 30 quarts.
Now lets say that you want one meal/week that uses a qt of home-canned tomatoes. From one year's harvest to the next harvest you now need 52 qts.
Plus that qt of tomatoes did not fill your families stomachs. You needed a second qt of other food to finish that meal.
2 qts of food, twice a day means that you need [2 per day X 365days/year] 730 qts of home canned food from your garden per year. Working hard? You will likely need 3 meals a day [3 per day X 365] 1,068 qts of food per year.
We did not realize how much food we have to produce, until we tried doing it.
Remember that early North American colonialists came here with farm tools and seed, and they starved. Many colonialists died, because it took them years to finally get garden production up high enough to feed them.
30 or 40 qts from your veggie garden is not going to turn the mustard.
Are you guys talking about solar landscape lights?
Mine rock. Even after a cloudy day, or during a blizzard, those danged little lights will come on. DH (who does not sleep well) says they go off around 2 AM - after being on 6 hours. Not enough light for these old eyes to read or sew by, but enough to see.
I am also a kerosene lamp collector; I buy everything from the HD outdoor ones to petite ones to stained-glass ones at auctions (usually about $2 to $4 apiece, even the good ones). We had a power outage during a severe storm on Aug 7 - we were out of power for 6 hours. The kero lamps burned hardly any fuel at all, and of course we doused them when we went to bed.
The only problems with kero, candles, or anything that burns are 1) kids and cats find them immensely fascinating, 2) like anything that burns, once the fuel is gone it's over. Solar is kewl, a nice light that lights YOUR way but doesn't give anyone else much to shoot at; and if they are charged, you can't shut them off unless you buy the ones with the switches.
We like our solar lights on the greenhouse, the chicken coop, and we have an AWESOME electric fence all around 20 acres that is solar - it stays charged and keeps the bull in (ticked off, but IN). We have had it for 2.5 years and it has never failed, no matter the weather. After one week of snowfall, DH drove the 4-wheeler out to the fence to check for downed fencing and 'tested' it by accident. It knocked him back...
Forest beekeeper is right; you need to have more than just an inclination or ability to grow from seed "if needed". My GF here had her garden completely wiped out by hail during that same storm on Aug 7 - if that was all she had to live on, she and her 4-person family would be dead by Christmas. Diversification of food, and practice of accessing it, as well as being able to store it without refrigeration and cook without electricity, are not things one can wait to start til after the disaster.
Yellowstone caldera blowing? Massive nuclear attack? That cracking volcano in the Canary Islands falling into the sea and wiping out the east coast? California getting "the BIG one" and falling into the sea? Meteorites crasing into the earth? Nuclear winter? Ice age? No, of course you probably can't prepare for the aftermaths of all of those things; most BIG things affect even people thousands of miles away. But that is no reason to NOT prepare for the things that you CAN mitigate.
Although this does not detract from the basic validity of your post, just for the record I want to state that not a single reputable earthquake scientist or geologist thinks that California, or even a small slice of California, is going to "fall into the sea".
It is true, of course, that any large earthquake in Calif. is going to be destructive, but the destruction, at least during recorded history, has been surprisingly localized. The 1906 San Francisco quake was probably the most destructive of all (at least in this country) but we have come a ways since then in building codes and fire-fighting techniques.
The solar lights we use are the cheapies at Wally world. They will last all night if fully charged during the day. The light does dim after about 6 hours. I have been testing them.
I have some bricks (the 3 hole kind) that I scrubbed. Stacked them 3 tall. Each stack will hold 2 lights. My friend uses a can full of pea gravel.
There was talk about a book called 'Aftershock' by Robert Wiedemer. Anyone heard of it?
As far a canning is concerned, we canned paste tomatoes for sauce; regular tomatoes for cooking. We canned just about all year long with the busy season during the fall.
Although this does not detract from the basic validity of your post, just for the record I want to state that not a single reputable earthquake scientist or geologist thinks that California, or even a small slice of California, is going to "fall into the sea".
It is true, of course, that any large earthquake in Calif. is going to be destructive, but the destruction, at least during recorded history, has been surprisingly localized. The 1906 San Francisco quake was probably the most destructive of all (at least in this country) but we have come a ways since then in building codes and fire-fighting techniques.
Sorry, Escort Rider, but that was a TIC exaggeration. Although wasn't there an Edgar somebody who predicted that it would happen? He said that the West Coast would become Nebraska. No, that's not the reason I moved here - beachfront property, Yay!
When you start talking about disaster - the big one - it depends on the part of the country.
Where I am, the big one is a hurricane with Camille's winds, Betsy's route, and Katrina's tornadoes.
In Arkansas, where I was raised, the big one is a New Madrid earthquake. The last New Madrid earthquake created Reelfoot Lake and caused the Mississippe to run backwards!
When we were in Texas, they talked about a proglonged drought. People told us of dust storms that went on for days and buried everything in their path.
As far as Yellowstone is concerned, the caldera has been slowly rising for a good while now.
But, we don't need a hurricane, earthquake, drought, or Yellowstone eruption to throw us for a loop. Members of my long-lived family still spoke about the year without a summer, 1816, when I was a child. I later learned that Mount Tambora erupted at the same time we had a year with low solar activity. Mount Tambora erupted in 1815 and threw enough debris into the atmosphere that there was snow in June here in the US!
I would hate to think of what our government's response would be if that happened now. Worse, I hate to think of what other government's response would be. We would need bring our troops home and deploy our army just to defend our borders (especially with Mexico). Can you imagine what a city like Philadelphia would be like? Or Milwaukee?
We have a generation raised on grievances and resentment. They are taught that is an 'accident' that they were not born wealthy, and that anyone who has more than they do must have gotten it illegally so it's okay to loot and steal. Especially if the people they are beating and looting are different - white, Jewish etc.
The rioters I have seen do not appear to have the moral compass that most civilized people have. The squeamish response of the media, politicians and police frighten me. They refused to even call the Milwaukee incident a 'hate crime'.
I prefer to prepare for the worst - a period of total chaos lasting at least 6 months. I think that the civilized people will realize that they must take back the country, and we will see militias spring up, and our military leaders begin to organize and take action. But, there will still be a period of lawlessness. I believe that the government will attempt to confiscate anything they believe placate the rioters. I think the government will attempt to disarm everyone.
Lastly, I believe anyone who does not have a bug out plan is a fool. Civilization is a thin, easily torn tissue protected only by people of good will and determination.
Okay, time to end the diatribe and go get some coffee.
Last edited by Countrysue; 08-18-2011 at 08:01 AM..
If Yellowstone erupts do you really think you can survive? I am not knocking self defense and being prepared if things go to crap during a time of civil unrest. Or a natural disaster. But, do you really think you can survive something that will affect the world? What is the point if you do? I am just trying to get some insight. I have an emergency kit for the normal things that happen and 10 days is about it. I do own a few firearms. For protection and hunting. Granted 45, 9mm couple of shotguns and hunting rifles. No automatic, super magazine, belt feed ones. Have some items that can help out if no gas is around, heating oil, food supplies and water. Can grow food if needed. Which would take some time. But is a handy skill to have. So what am I missing?
There are countless scenarios that one can try to prepare for. Only you can decide how prepared you should be to have peace of mind. I just prepare for the most likely ones - natural disaster, civil unrest, and maybe economic calamity - anything leading to a 'without rule of law' situation of some duration. I'm not a pessimist, but we face certain risks and I think it's foolish to just assume that nothing severe will ever happen and that it's only those people on the news who have to deal with disasters. If a huge meteor nails us or a mega-volcano like Yellowstone goes up, then I guess we're all screwed and I will have wasted about 300 bucks and some time preparing for something that didn't happen. But if SHTF and I'm still around, my $300 bag of stuff will be priceless.
If you move far enough away from one threat you will be exposed to a host of others. I can't prepare for everything, but I prepare for what I can.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Mac-Muz
He said that the West Coast would become Nebraska. No, that's not the reason I moved here - beachfront property, Yay! 
