Disaster/Zombie/Armageddon/Economic Collapse Preparation

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 6:09 pm

I've been interested in disaster preparation all my life. I've read countless books, articles and magazines on disaster preparedness. I don't trust my government to take care of me in the event of a disaster (case in point: FEMA & Hurricane Katrina). I don't trust in God to take care of me because I'm an atheist. So for a lot of my life I've been focused on self-reliance.

Now, recently I've begun to take disaster preparedness more seriously, especially after having been part of rescue operations after a large tornado when through one of our smaller communities. Power was out for a few weeks, roads were impassable, etc. People were completely reliant on the Red Cross and county disaster response units for food, medical care and shelter (at least those whose houses were destroyed).

So I've begun acquiring more supplies. My wife is upset with me for spending money on stuff "we'll never need." She has faith in our government for food and water hand-outs. She also feels that because we haven't gone without power for more than a few hours since she's lived here, it'll never happen to us. The arguing has not been fun, but I'm steadfast in my conviction that we need at least some type of short-term supplies.

I recently purchased several gallons of Coleman fuel and a dual fuel stove. I also purchased two 55-gallon food-grade drums and four 15-gallon food-grade drums (all on sale with free shipping) to store potable water on a long-term basis. I also have plenty of guns & ammo for hunting/protection/because I like guns. Now I need to acquire a reasonable supply of storable food and other supplies.

Some people at work even think I'm a little weird and/or crazy because of this. In my mind, what's wrong with being prepared for a short-term disaster such as a tornado, or power grid failure, etc.? People think I'm acting like some crazy militia survivalist, when all I'm trying to do is be prepared...even the government tells people they should be prepared.

What precautions/preparations have you made?

Tiny Deev · Post by **Tiny Deev** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 7:44 pm

I keep a cool head under pressure (, if I do say so myself), I think with that you could probably can get everything if some kind of disaster hits. Also, I'm capable of quick-thinking, and if push comes to shove, I have no problem getting my supplies by pillaging.
Other then that, nothing. I'm mostly counting on the fact that if I do get into a katrina situation that I can stay with people who aren't affected by the disaster.

Kitt · Post by **Kitt** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 6:03 am

Depends on the disaster and the warnings, really. If there's warning signs, like people starting to cannibalize one another, you can tell there's a zombie apocalypse beginning and you can do what you must.

I can tell you one thing, though. If the end of the Mayan calendar is, in fact, the end of the world, I have a plan. The day before the world is supposed to end, I have a huge blow-out, fuck-off party planned. Everyone I give a fuck about is invited. And boy are we gonna get shitfaced. We'll say our goodbyes, do what we have to do, then drink like crazy. At first light, we take a chainsaw to my minivan. Cut off the roof and all of the supports. Glass goes wherever. Tear up the carpeting and weld a metal pole to the metal floor of the van. Run up a pirate flag. Get dressed in all of my pirate gear. Anyone who wants is more than welcome to join me. We'll modify all the cars we have to. And then, pirate flags waving, booze in hand, I shall drive directly into the nearest ocean and go down with me ship. If I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go in a flashy way.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 3:49 pm

I keep a plan in my head, and make sure my daughter always knows what it is. I keep a store of necessary books, those required to rebuild civilization from something more than my memory, should it collapse. Other than that, I don't keep stuff, because I'm not really a stuff kind of guy. [I used to have Flukit and Beef Not, but now I'm a nomad, and have less storage than I once did.] When the day comes, what I lack and do not have access to, I will have to obtain otherwise, which is part of the plan in my head.

We've been developing what we call our "Z Day" plan for about a decade now, and have even roleplayed out the ramifications of different executions thereof, but I maintain that the plan itself, when the day comes, will be useless, because reality never quite plays into plans; it is the fact of having spent time planning - and thus the mental exercises thereof, and the lessons learned from them - that will be useful if the day should come.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 5:15 pm

3278 wrote:... I maintain that the plan itself, when the day comes, will be useless, because reality never quite plays into plans; it is the fact of having spent time planning - and thus the mental exercises thereof, and the lessons learned from them - that will be useful if the day should come.

I agree with this almost entirely. While I think my plan won't be completely useless, there is a decent chance that my stockpiling of goods, equipment, etc. will either become damaged, inaccessible or otherwise unusable. However, my stockpiles are mainly for things like a week without power (certainly more than possible, since it's happened about 12 times in the past 5 years in my area) and simple things like that. "Z" day requires something else entirely.

If I was rich and "eccentric" I might have one of these:

My ultimate dream shelter

I would also have enough food, clothing equipment and medical supplies to last 1-2 years. The title of this thread was meant to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek (especially the Zombie part), but I still think it's reasonable to have some sort of disaster preparations. Many countries in Europe have large public shelter systems that demonstrated how woefully unprepared the United States is. Switzerland has a nuclear attack shelter for every citizen...all government funded. The United States has decommissioned most of its shelters, and no longer provides them for congress and other government officials, except the president and a few others.

Now, I probably won't build a bomb shelter or anything like that. I do think that having no forethought about some type of emergency plan for you and/or your family is foolish. What if there's a fire in the house? What if the house gets hit by a tornado/wildfire/earthquake/hurricane? Are you prepared to deal with an emergency at all? Your plan may be as simple as deciding where everyone would meet after the disaster strikes. But having no plan at all pretty much guarantees chaos. I sleep better at night knowing that I'm somewhat ready for minor catastrophes. Of course, it also helps that I respond to emergencies for a living...because I see how underprepared people are.

Icepick · Post by **Icepick** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 4:56 am

I have a small kit ready for my next car, which includes a couple of MRE's, 3 liters of water, a compass, and flare, and some other survival equipment.

I have a pair of kits at home, one for long term survival in the building, and one for a three week travel, just in case I have to travel farther than the nearest relatively large city(26 miles).

Of course, I'm also single so that helps a lot.

Liniah · Post by **Liniah** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 3:33 pm

I think 'leave the area' is a good plan if it comes down to it. I'm not a home owner so I don't need to worry about that. I don't have kids or pets, so I don't have to worry about that. I mean, if shit really goes down here we can move back to Europe. I know people all over the world, so I'm sure we could find somewhere to go unless we're talking about a planet-wide disaster, in which case survival is likely not an option anyway.

Icepick · Post by **Icepick** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 9:14 pm

Liniah wrote:I think 'leave the area' is a good plan if it comes down to it. I'm not a home owner so I don't need to worry about that. I don't have kids or pets, so I don't have to worry about that. I mean, if shit really goes down here we can move back to Europe. I know people all over the world, so I'm sure we could find somewhere to go unless we're talking about a planet-wide disaster, in which case survival is likely not an option anyway.

Survival is always an option.

Liniah · Post by **Liniah** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 11:53 pm

If the entire planet is destroyed survival is not so much of an option. Not until our space technology gets a lot better.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:32 am

Liniah wrote:If the entire planet is destroyed survival is not so much of an option. Not until our space technology gets a lot better.

The entire planet would not be destroyed in the kind of disasters I'm planning for.

Liniah · Post by **Liniah** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:31 am

I realize that.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 6:26 pm

Some additional things I've recently acquired for the apocalypse:

Large commercial grade storage rack
Kerosene heater & fuel (this also comes in handy when I'm working in my garage in the winter)
About 6 months worth of canned goods and packaged foods (these are things we normally eat anyway. We pull stuff from our stockpile and rotate freshly purchased stuff in periodically).
About a year's supply of personal hygiene products, household soaps/cleaners, etc.

A quick note about our growing stockpile:

A thread I started over on Animalball was about me discovering the coupon game. I've been able to stockpile certain items for FREE or pennies on the dollar by shopping the weekly store sales combined with rebates and coupons (clipped from Sunday paper, online, etc).

I was able to get 8 sticks of deodorant for $.49 each by using coupons combined with the CVS Pharmacy sale. Additionally CVS Pharmacy has an "Extra Bucks" program, which is fantastic and generates lots of spendable money on future purchases. My first CVS purchase for $33 generated an equal amount of Extra Bucks for my next purchase. By keeping these Extra Buck purchases rolling, I've been able to buy hundreds of dollars worth of stuff for free.

So all that stockpiling has not cost me much more than regular shopping, but it sure has stocked my shelves!

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 1:07 pm

While in college around 1998, I purchased a medical kit nearly identical to this one. Over the years, it has been my go-to first aid response bag, and I've used it for many basic first aid needs. I've added to it and re-stocked occasionally. Over the past 4-5 years, I moved away from that kit, since I wanted to leave it fully stocked as more of a grab-and-go kit, rather than my primary home first aid kit. So my old college kit simply sat fully stocked in my basement for the last couple of years, ready to go whenever I needed it. However, I did not pay a lot of attention to it.

Well, last night I needed my blood pressure cuff for something, so I went down to the basement and grabbed the kit. I discovered that sometime in the last few years, a mouse or other critter decided to take up residence in the bag. I had forgotten that I had a large emergency ration pack stored in the bottom of the bag, which provided all the temptation needed for a small critter to infiltrate the bag and take up residence. The emergency ration was about 2/3 gone (a considerable amount of food, when you realize the size of the animal that had eaten it), and there was a ton of droppings and other debris in the bag. Additionally, most of the bandages and other paper-wrapped items had been soiled with something (presumably urine). Whatever had been living in there was not longer there, and I could not figure out how it got in there in the first place...the bag was completely intact.

Anyway, I started cleaning up the bag only to realize it was far too soiled to salvage. I had to discard most of my supplies, including the bag. Most of the medications and a few other supplies had long since expired anyway, but bandages have a very long shelf life if kept clean and sterile...what a shame. So now I'm in the market for a comparable kit. Preliminary shopping research has shown me that prices have gone up considerably since 1998.

Moral of the story: Inspect any emergency and/or preparedness supplies on a regular interval. I recommend 6 months to a year for a sufficient interval.

Bonefish · Post by **Bonefish** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 4:12 pm

this reminds me, i need to rotate out my water, and fill up three more gallons. Then i will have 6 gallons of potable water stored.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sun Oct 16, 2011 4:59 pm

Bonefish wrote:this reminds me, i need to rotate out my water, and fill up three more gallons. Then i will have 6 gallons of potable water stored.

Anyone have any good suggestions for what to do with non-potable water? My two suggestions are always watering plants and flushing toilets, but I'm sure there are others. That way, the water you switch out never goes to waste, it just gets held for a while, and then used in some other way.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:50 am

3278 wrote:Anyone have any good suggestions for what to do with non-potable water? My two suggestions are always watering plants and flushing toilets, but I'm sure there are others. That way, the water you switch out never goes to waste, it just gets held for a while, and then used in some other way.

I have been thinking about this for quite a while, since you posted it. I really can't think of anything that useful, other than possibly cleaning and evaporative cooling, depending on how nasty the non-potable water is. I'm reading Cody Lundin's book When All Hell Breaks Loose right now. One of his suggestions for non-potable water is to douse yourself in it if you need to cool down in a hot environment. And basic sanitation for things such as laundry, cleaning tools/utensils, etc. for certain things can be accomplished with non-potable water, but it really depends on how bad the water is. You certainly don't want to go cleaning dishes or bathing in heavily contaminated water. But it wouldn't need to be sterilized for some of those things.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:52 pm

Having seen Galveston up close and personal 6 weeks AFTER Hurricane Ike, my attitude and approach to Natural Disaster preparedness has changed.

I trust the Gov to not help. Oh, don't get me wrong, they will have hand outs and such, but not enough, and certainly not in a timely fashion.

Water will only be a problem here IF the water towers get knocked down, and if that happens, my house will not survive anyways. Our towers work on a Siphon system that does not need power to work. Even if every house on the grid were to open up their taps, all that would do is make the water pull into the towers faster.

Canned goods we are set on for a couple of weeks. Not to mention, it isn't that far to get to Mule Deer, and maybe another hour or two to get to Elk. Rabbit is also plentiful and so is Javalina, though, for the Javalina, the local stuff has to be cooked extremely well done to be safe since they are scavengers.

It is dry mostly here, so Wood as fuel is not a problem. We can cook easily just off wood. Heat for the house won't be an issue since the likely hood of a natural disaster that could cause that kind of havoc will happen during the summer months, and that would most likely be a Tornado. An Earthquake /Could/ happen, but that would be an extreme rarity. As one of the local geologists put it, a volcanic eruption would be more likely.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Wed Dec 07, 2011 11:40 am

Picked up some fire extinguishers for the house and truck, and a replacement smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector on Sunday. Putting the finishing touches on my bug-out bag.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Wed Dec 07, 2011 11:07 pm

Ordered a new 3-day backpack today. LA Police Gear has their house branded 3-day assault pack on sale for $28. The ultimate 3-day pack is made by Maxpedition...and costs around $150 (Paul has one of these). The LAPG brand pack is a solid pack though, so if I decide to buy the MaxP pack later, I'm only out $28.

I bought the pack to replace my Maxpedition Doppelduffel as my bug-out bag. The Doppelduffel is phenomenal, but it is a duffel bag first and backpack 2nd. With the amount of weight I carry in my bug-out bag, a real backpack makes way more sense.

My first bug-out bag was structured around a military A.L.I.C.E. pack, which is great, but it's basically a large sack attached to a metal frame...not bad for basics, but not easy to organize a large amount of supplies. Think of Santa's sack of presents on a metal frame.

Any, you know, I'm a "stuff" guy, so I'm always on the lookout for the next best thing...

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Dec 08, 2011 8:34 pm

Got some 3M N95 masks today for my medical kits.

Bonefish · Post by **Bonefish** » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:29 am

I no longer have rice. I went to a house party that did a canned food drive, and i gorgot canned food. I took my 5lbs of rice out of the trunk and donated it.

I do need to cycle out my water, and clean up the fresh three gallon jugs i have. I get that done, i have 6 days of water. That's a start.

Pdyx · Post by **Pdyx** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:35 pm

Check this out:

http://bestplaces.nydailynews.com/voyeu ... ssile-silo

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:32 pm

Pdyx wrote:Check this out:

http://bestplaces.nydailynews.com/voyeu ... ssile-silo

I've seen that property for sale so many times over the years. I can't believe it doesn't stay with one owner very long. Or maybe it's still for sale by the same owner? You'd think that some eccentric millionaire would just buy it and live out his/her years in anonymity...but maybe that's just my dream...

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Mon Mar 18, 2013 6:35 pm

My new home is on a community well. Because of water hardness, we had to install a water softener. In addition, we have to filter our drinking water. Right now, the only filter we have is on the fridge, and it comes out freezing cold, but rather slowly. When you want cold water, it's great. When you want to cook or want room temperature water, it's kind of a pain. Plus, we're completely dependent upon the community well system, which may or may not be all that robust. So, I've decided that I want a low-tech solution for filtered water, not only for cooking, but also for room temperature water and supply disruptions (we have a lake across the street).

Today I purchased a Big Berkey gravity filter system. I have a friend who has one, and I've been wanting one for several years. Now I'll have a fairly large quantity of filtered, room-temperature water on tap whenever I need it. The filters can be cleaned and/or replaced, and last a long time (especially with our source water). Plus, if the water supply ever fails, I can simply walk across the street and grab a bucket of water to filter.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:31 am

Got my water filter a few days ago. I also opted to add two of the Berkey Sport water bottles for my go-bags. These bottles have weighted filters at the bottom of the drinking straw that will filter your water as you drink. So you can simply fill up with whatever water you have along the way, and just about everything nasty will get filtered out (certain chemicals and/or pesticides aren't filtered). I only wish these bottles were stainless steel so you could also boil water in them if the filter became clogged or went past service life, but they're great bottles.

I also got a well water test kit to check our water quality and hardness prior to filtration/softening. I think it's a great idea for everyone to test their water, regardless of whether they're on a well or municipal water supply. For the $20 or so that a fairly comprehensive water DIY test kit costs, it makes great sense.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Tue Apr 30, 2013 2:59 pm

Precursor to Zombie Virus

The UK is going to start trials for a "heart-healing" genetically engineered virus. The virus will supposedly regenerate and/or re-grow damaged/dead heart tissue to improve function after there has been a heart attack or some other heart function failure.

Isn't this almost the exact premise for nearly every zombie movie? This may end up being a case of life imitating art...start your preparations now!

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sat Aug 02, 2014 8:59 pm

I've had so many projects going on lately, that my preparedness stuff has taken a back seat. However, I find time to squeeze in a little readiness here and there.

Last winter, we had a devastating ice storm. Power was out anywhere from 2-10 days in my location, and some places were out for over 2 weeks. The temperatures were very cold and between cold and ice, caused tons of damage. In my jurisdiction alone, it looked like a war zone. I've been through a few tornadoes, and though the damage in the path of a tornado is catastrophic, it's usually nowhere near as wide-spread as what we experienced.

Anyway, the night the ice storm was scheduled to hit, I noticed no mobs of panicked shoppers, nobody in the grocery stores buying up every last supply of foodstuffs. I'd seen this before when a large snowstorm was announced, but not for this ice storm (snow storms are inconvenient, but nothing compared to ice storms). I could not believe that people were so casual about this ice storm, given the response I'd seen with past snow storms.

At any rate, my neighborhood often loses power because it is connected to an old out-county circuit. So while my new subdivision is all modern, robust and weather-resistant, the main power line that comes into the neighborhood is connected to the same, rickety old power grid. This prompted me to purchase a small Honda generator to power my furnace, water heater, a few lights, fridge and electronics on my gas stove. I was no more than 5 minutes from home (a few hours after I'd purchased my generator) when I saw two large explosions (electrical transformers) off in the woods. When I turned onto my street, the whole subdivision was dark. We were without power for a total of 3 days in very, very cold temps.

About 2 hours after I was home, I had my generator set up with all the power bypasses wired and was happy as could be. We had family driving into town that night, but they got caught up in the storm and had to wait it out in another town. But eventually they made it, and we didn't have to cancel plans, etc.

Since I'd never had a generator in the past, I wasn't prepared for how fantastic having one is. It is a luxury to be sure in the summer, but in winter, almost a necessity. I had friends who suffered thousands of dollars of damage to their homes because of the lack of heat (burst pipes, ruined/frozen fish tanks, other damaged stuff) for so long. One friend's house got down into the upper 20's (Fahrenheit) inside (fortunately he had a cabin up north that didn't lose power).

My little generator will run for up to 9 hours on one gallon of gas. I have a heavy gauge security bar across the handle, an external 6-gallon marine tank that allows it to run for at least 2 days before needing fuel, and it is all secured via massive chain and lock to a large eye-bolt through my concrete foundation. It powers my essentials, and nothing more. And because it's a Honda, it will last a lifetime.

During the ice storm, our police department took report after report of stolen generators and fuel. It was a short-lived disaster, but people lost their minds and civility went out the window. All of the hotels for miles around were full, and anyone that didn't have a generator or alternate way to heat their home was displaced. Many resorted to stealing generators from anywhere they could find one. The first morning after the ice storm, the familiar panic purchasing set in. People were lined up out the door of every generator dealer in our area. All the major stores placed emergency orders for new generators. People were fighting in line for food, water, emergency supplies at every store around. It still confounds me why everyone waited until after the storm, when they'd all done the same crap prior to a less extreme storm in the past.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Tue Aug 05, 2014 12:58 pm

I am looking into a small diesel generator. AS it will not only be used for emergency, it will also be used to operate a Welder, and needs to be able to power the AC system during the summer. Fortunately for us, our Grid is redundant. We can lose a transformer station and all it will do is lower the amount of power in the grid without out blacking us out.

The wife doesn't understand my push to get Solar added to the house. I don't want to use one of the Co-Ops like Solar City. I want my own system that will let us power back into the grid. One of my old Co-workers had her house built a couple of years ago. When it was in the design phase, she had the power needs computed, then tripled the amount of Solar she actually needed. Her kickback check every month is over $300 during the summer and $400 during the winter.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 10:17 pm

This is a major consideration for us, as well. Though we've never lost power for more than a few minutes at our current house, we have anywhere from 15-20 non-human animals living in the house at any given time, many of them sick or injured or otherwise fragile rescue animals, and we have no fireplace. So a winter power outage would be a major disaster for us. Many of the animals could theoretically be moved to the basement, which wouldn't be unlivable, but for some, even 50 degrees for an extended period could kill, or exacerbate existing health issues.

Summer isn't a concern for us; we need enough power to charge phones, basically: everything else is a luxury. We only have AC in the sickroom - so, yes, animals get AC, but not humans - but the basement stays a nice 50-something. We've looked at our Consumer's bill many a time and considered just going 100 percent solar in the summer: the only electricity in the house is a fridge, and sometimes a computer. We don't have a TV, we don't use electric lights, we don't have a microwave or anything like that, and almost none of the animals need any kind of electricity to survive, particularly in an emergency.

Winter, though, would be a disaster, so we've checked out getting a generator from Craigslist, something small and Honda-powered, just in case. It'd only need to power the furnace, and even then only the blower, as the furnace is gas. Anything else - say, cell phones, and even computers - can be run off the massive power inverter I have installed in my Jeep.

Thus far, though, cost - and the need to have a real electrician verify our work, particularly since we don't own this house - has kept us away from a generator, but it's definitely on the shortlist for when we have any kind of spare money. Probably the best home-survival investment there is, short of "water supply."

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 6:46 pm

I've read good things about the Harbor Frieght "Predator" generators, which are Honda clones. Although Honda is the gold standard, they are quite expensive. Even if you find one on Craigslist or elsewhere, they aren't going to be cheap. It's why I bought a new one. However, you can get a Predator genny with twice the capacity of mine for less than half the price.

Mine is also an inverter generator, which is safe for sensitive electronics (which most modern appliances now have). Anything controlled by a motherboard is going to be susceptible the "dirty" power output of a non-inverter generator. But, if you're just running the furnace and water heater (if it is a direct-vent, gas fired water heater), you should be fine with the other ones. Another issue with the cheaper gennies are longevity. Some of the cheap ones out there are spec'd for only 50 or 100 hours. Seems reasonable, except that a power outage for 3 days puts you over the time-between-overhaul on the cheap ones. Do your research if you're not going with a Honda or Yamaha.

sinsual · Post by **sinsual** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 6:29 am

If you can determine if the motor was actually made by "Lifan", they are the actual factory that builds the Honda motors. They have a side contract with Honda that allows them to sell their motors to 3rd Party Vendors to use. They seriously suffer from the Monday/Friday syndrome. Motors built on Monday and Friday are guaranteed to grenade...

The downside is that the motors built by Lifan that are used by the 3rd party vendors are also "Open Domain" designs which get copied and built with a much lower regard for quality. So, if you can't confirm if it is a Lifan, it really is a crap shoot.

A buddy of mine has a small Kubota style "Bobcat" that has seen better days. The motor however is in great condition. If I can swing it, that will become the motor for my generator/compressor rig. It is a small capacity diesel 3cyl that will idle forever.

Bonefish · Post by **Bonefish** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 1:18 am

My water stockpile disappeared(without a car, it was hard to justify moving 3-6 gallons of water when I moved). But I've stockpiled some other things, liek a tent, tarp, sleeping mat, sleeping bag, camelBak, a crude first aid kit(gauze, tape, neosporene), a machate, a shotgun and a lot of ammo. I keep that in the trunk of the car in case of shit.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sun Dec 14, 2014 2:46 pm

I ordered a supply of waterbricks, and oh man, are they nice. My first foray into large capacity water storage was 55-gallon used food-grade drums. What a PITA! I've never gotten them really clean enough, and they're too big to move once full of water. So, they've sat empty for years. So much for water storage...I think I'll re-purpose them for rain barrels. These waterbricks, however, are the bomb diggity. Easy enough to carry anywhere, and stackable/interlocking so they're very stable (i.e. they won't tip over) when stored. They aren't cheap, but are perfect for the job. If you buy new 55-gallon barrels, the waterbricks are very close in price-per-gallon of storage.

3278 · Post by **3278** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 4:54 pm

We've really gotten off our marks as far as preparedness goes. We don't have kits in the cars, don't have a bug-out bag anymore, don't have water storage, nothing. It's hard to plan for what might happen when you can't afford what's actually happening; still, if something goes wrong, this just means we're extra screwed.

I want to at least take up a collection among the family to get a kit set up for my daughter's car, at the very least, since she regularly makes long winter drives. If only one of us is going to be ready, it's best if it's her.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 6:31 pm

With my new job, I've redoubled my preparedness efforts in the past 6 months. Made a kit for my work truck, streamlined and stocked the kits in my truck and wife's car. Organized my supplies. And put some other things together. Really back on track now, so I can focus on some other stuff. I'm also finally at a level of preparedness where I don't need to spend a ton of money anymore. It's all about maintaining my stores, as it were. On to the airplane...

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 2:39 am

Yesterday, with the looming threat of a severe winter storm, I finally filled my waterbricks with treated water (5-year shelf life). I only filled 4 out of 10 of them, but it's a start. I also have four 15-gallon water jugs, but they still need to be cleaned from when I bought them years ago. For all my preaching about prepping, my water stores are the most lacking. Of course, I live next to a lake and have a near-infinite supply of fresh water, with plenty of filtration methods at my disposal, but I should be storing water nonetheless. More water storage in the future!

3278 · Post by **3278** » Thu Jan 07, 2016 4:04 pm

That's something I've slipped on, too, is water. We used to keep 3-5 gallons on hand, because we used them to water some of our more delicate animals, but they just get tap water now, so we don't have piles of full gallons on the shelves. Like Joseph, we do have a water filter and two different types of water purification tablets, and access to ample fresh water locally, but it's still good to keep some gallons at home.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 6:20 pm

3278 wrote:That's something I've slipped on, too, is water. We used to keep 3-5 gallons on hand, because we used them to water some of our more delicate animals, but they just get tap water now, so we don't have piles of full gallons on the shelves. Like Joseph, we do have a water filter and two different types of water purification tablets, and access to ample fresh water locally, but it's still good to keep some gallons at home.

For the average power outage or whatever, the water stored in the home really allows you to continue as usual, with minimal inconvenience. For a 3-day power outage, I don't really want to have to trek over to the lake and pull buckets of water out. Still, I could use more stored water, and should get off my butt and make that happen.

I really only rely on the access to large quantities of local freshwater (like my lake) for extended disruptions. But that really means a change in the realities of daily life, and I'm okay with that.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:57 pm

The other day, we had a threat of a severe thunderstorm...it just barely missed my neighborhood, but caused lots of damage in the surrounding area. Just before it arrived, I took my generator out and fired it up, making sure it was running properly. My neighbor, an older retiree, was out in his yard and came over. He asked if I "knew something he didn't." I explained to him that the weather report called for severe storms, so I was just performing a maintenance checkup on the generator. At first he seemed confused, but then almost seemed to panic at the thought of a severe storm. I wondered "Doesn't he look at the sky when he's out in the yard, or check the weather forecast/news each day?" I mean, giant black clouds of evil were moving in toward us as we spoke, but he was oblivious.

My neighbors always ask me what I'm doing when I'm just running my generator for a few minutes doing a tune-up or check-up. They all seem to think what I'm doing is good, but crazy at the same time. It's ironic, because up until about 2 years ago, we lost power in our subdivision all the time. We still lose it from time to time, but nobody seems to want to be prepared for anything. My new next door neighbors eat out almost every meal, every day. They don't have much food in their house, don't have any water that doesn't come from the tap, and live a very modern, dependent-on-infrastructure lifestyle. I only hope they don't plan on coming over when the power is out.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 5:09 pm

To further expand on this topic: I have several neighbors and friends who all know that I take precautions and make preparations for emergencies. Many of them flat out state that they will be coming to my home if a disaster strikes their home, and they are serious. With several of the folks who don't come out and say that they're coming, I can plainly see the looks on their faces that it is exactly what they're thinking.

Here's my thought on that: If you're not invited, you're not welcome. I don't spend my money, my time and my resources so you and your families and friends can come freeload off me. You can spend your own money, learn your own skills, spend your own time preparing to provide for your family during power outages, service interruptions, disasters, zombies, or what-the-fuck ever. How or why any of these folks somehow think I'm going to be their safety net is beyond me! I toil away preparing my home, family and life for whatever difficulties that may come about. But I'm not their personal FEMA. Why on earth would they think that I am, or that I somehow have enough supplies to care for their freeloading asses?

The alarming things is, none of these folks have any problems with their logic whatsoever. They fully expect that I will welcome them with open arms (even though I've fully explained that I won't). They've even had the audacity to say, "I don't need to prepare because Uncle Joseph has already done the work." The fuck? The only concern I have now, is that if/when such a situation arises, and if/when they do show up desperate, cold, hungry, hurt, etc., will they plan to use force? This is the major reason I hope nothing bad ever happens. These "friends" and neighbors will end up being parasites, despite the fact that what they think I'm doing is a good thing and makes good sense. Yet they won't take the initiative to do it themselves. What. The. Fuck.

Disaster/Zombie/Armageddon/Economic Collapse Preparation

Disaster/Zombie/Armageddon/Economic Collapse Preparation

Re: Disaster/Zombie/Armageddon/Economic Collapse Prepartion