Today is another busy day of construction and deconstruction here at Ye Olde House. A note from a friend summed matters up perfectly (I paraphrase): “Old homes have character — and sometimes are characters.” Ayup. These things must be coped with! Today again I won’t have a lot, but with luck the time spent painting and drywalling will be meditative and will produce Brilliant Thoughts. Later. So I’m throwing another question at you: How prepared are you to deal with unprepared people? This is a perennial question of course but I bring it up because of something a non-political friend…
Category: Preparedness
(And the coolest brand name ever.) During the recent discussions on bug-out bag supplies (here, here, and here), several people suggested I should teach the dogs to pack. Though I don’t think it’s realistic to plan to strap all three dogs into packs, then try to manage them all on leash during a “head for the hills” emergency, it did make sense to train at least one to carry a backpack. The pack arrived today and here’s Ava wearing it: Ava is the smallest of my dogs. I chose her because she’s the youngest, sturdiest, and best on leash of…
Hilarious. “World’s largest army.” J. said this gave him a “much needed big warm fuzzy feeling.” Me, too — mainly because it gives Schumerites cold, prickly feelings. It’s a comforting thought. But if push ever comes to shove, I wanna know what the “army” is going to do about those domestic invaders. Emergency preps on a shoestring. While there’s probably not a lot there that you don’t already know, it’s still food for thought. And it’s definitely help for those who feel they can’t be prepared because they don’t have a million bucks to buy up everything at Cabela’s, Lehman’s,…
Okay, preparedness pals. Another question for you. Digging through my emergency supplies for just the right water filtration/purification gear for my revamped bug-out bag, I discover I’ve been excessively paranoid about clean water over the years. I have on hand six different tools for water treatment. Some will stay here among my bug-in supplies, but two will go with the grab-n-go kit. I’ve tested all these on tap water (including the undrinkable tap water down at the Desert Hermitage). I’ve been too paranoid to risk my health for the sake of experiment by applying any of these to mountain streams,…
The other day I mentioned in passing that “official” maps of the danger zones around Mt. St. Helens were so misleading that they probably got people killed. Indeed, I’ve learned since that they did. In fact, almost everybody killed in the 1980 eruption was in an area that government agencies had officially designated as “safe” — despite evidence to the contrary. My comment came in a post about tsunami preparedness and “official” maps that I’ve chosen not to trust. First off, I want to say that I think “official” map makers usually do their honest best. But at best there’s…
I’ve mentioned before that I’m not exactly an optimist or a believer in positive thinking. But there is one area of my life where all I have to do is set something in my mind and I can be amazingly sure that serendipity will provide. I’m talking about garage sales. I cannot believe the number of times I’ve fixed some item in my brain only to have it turn up at a garage sale within a few weeks — even if it’s an item I’ve never seen at a garage sale before. Really tough items might take six months or…
In the comments section on bug-out bag contents, several posters insisted that a backpack — not a suitcase or a rolling cart or a plastic tub — was absolutely essential equipment. While I’m not 1000 percent persuaded that absolutely everybody must have a backpack (and I don’t think anybody should allow lack of a backpack to stop them from assembling a kit), I can definitely see the point. Commenter Adam Selene posed a question: “For those of you who advocate for backpacks, can you suggest any actual brands and models?” I think it’s worth bringing that question up more visibly.…
The trouble with advice … is that when you ask for it, people give it! I mean, that’s the good thing about advice, too. But it goes both ways. On Tuesday when I asked for tips on what to add to my reconstituted grab-and-go kit (which sounds so much more respectable than a bug-out bag), you were your usual generous and informative selves. You helped me and potentially helped hundreds or thousands of strangers who might google upon that blog entry one day. Of course, you also twisted my brain into a pretzel and will probably scare the heck out…
Yesterday I wrote about why I’m re-creating my bug-out bag. it needs to be renewed for a scenario I’ve never faced before. Today I promised I’d list the “ingredients” in the bag and welcome your suggestions. You’ve already made some good ones in the comments to yesterday’s blog. While putting together the new kit, I poked around online to refine my ideas. One thing that struck me immediately is that there is no “right” bug-out bag or grab-and-go kit. Some are geared toward hardcore outdoor survival. Others seem more geared to getting you adjusted to conditions in a shelter. Yet…
I spent most of this weekend updating my emergency preparations, with an eye especially to earthquake and tsunami preparedness. Like most of you, I’ve always had a bug-out bag — a grab-and-go kit — around the house. But I realized as I worked yesterday that I never took those kits completely seriously. Thing is, I didn’t believe I’d need to bug out. Until now, I’ve mostly lived in the sort of places other people would bug out to. Cabin Sweet Cabin was high on a hill outside of a small town (and was probably the most earthquake-safe structure in the…