lets discuss preps for disasters

[MossRoad]

i gotta ask about the lubed cotton balls. ?

Fire starter. Takes a spark or match real well and burns hot for several minutes. You can also put it in a layer of aluminum foil, poke a small hole in it, pull out a bit of cotton as a wick and use it for a small candle. :thumbsup:

Look it up on youtube. Pretty cool. We used them in Boy Scouts.

 

[MossRoad]

heck, if chlorinated.. might be safe as is.

Our pool is salt water. About the same level of salt as in human tears. 10 times less than the ocean. I think 3500 PPM. Anyhow, if the power is out, the salt water chlorine generator does not run. Therefore, the chlorine level starts to drop in a couple days (so does a chlorine pool). So, if I'm going on vacation, I'll pour in a gallon of Walmart bleach (8.5% sodium hypochlorite) and that'll keep the level up for a week with no power.

 

[MossRoad]

I've told this story before, but what the heck?

Back during the Y2K scare I was bringing in some food from the garden and offered some to my neighbor. He said something to the effect of shouldn't I be keeping it for my Y2K stash? I said something to the effect of "Nah, all I have to do is keep you fat." I smiled and walked away.....

 

[MossRoad]

and those jugs of frozen water.. in the end.. are water!

I'd put that water in clean 2 liter pop bottles and I'd add a couple drops of that 8.5% unscented bleach to it before freezing.

 

[s219]

Speaking of infinite shelf life. Bleach has already been mentioned. Countless uses.

Bleach actually degrades on its own, right in the bottle! It only has about a 6-9 month shelf life, all the while losing effectiveness. After a couple years, it will just be salt water in the bottle.

I use bleach to treat our well water, and don't stock up. It takes me about 6 months to go through a bottle, in which time any shelf stock would have lost effectiveness.

 

[GreenYellow]

Bleach actually degrades on its own, right in the bottle! It only has about a 6-9 month shelf life, all the while losing effectiveness. After a couple years, it will just be salt water in the bottle. I use bleach to treat our well water, and don't stock up. It takes me about 6 months to go through a bottle, in which time any shelf stock would have lost effectiveness.

Who'd a thunk it!? Good to know.

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[MossRoad]

Wow.. every day, more great posts. lots of good points.

I actually have a friend that keeps a few FRS radios in aluminum fol wrapping faraday shielding.

Here's another thought. Most of us are talking short term preps ( which is what 99% of us, hopefully will ever need ).. but one onther long term thing that some forget is teamwork.

It's hard to stay up 24 hrs a day, guard the family, go hunt or gather supplies.

you need ( 100% trust your life/wife around ) trusted team members to take turns guarding and gathering.

It helps if your groups team members also each bring their own unique skills. IE.. our family/friendly group has members with medic and 1st responder training, engineering and electronics, tactical ( many members are former military ).. etc.

all those skills in tandem are as important as many of our other preps.

Man, I live on the outskirts of he** as far as society goes! :laughing: South Bend, IN is a heck hole and I can only imagine the chaos that would unfold there if there were no food for three days. I trust my wife, my kids, some of my immediate family (some not!), and maybe one of my neighbors (the one I keep fat). I'm gonna hunker in the bunker for as long as possible. :dance1:

 

[hutchman]

subscribed! Thumbs up on this thread!

 

[MossRoad]

I think most of this thread is weird. Talking about groups with different skills and not being able to stay up for 24 hours to guard the property. Too many movies?

We've done security rotations for 3-4 days during the aftermath of tornadoes. The most stolen item? Generators.

My mother's family down around Cincinnati have had to do security rotations after storms as well. Its not a laughing matter when it happens to you or your loved ones.

 

[MossRoad]

For the scoffers - July 2012.

Carrington-class CME Narrowly Misses Earth - NASA Science

That kind of stuff is so scary I choose to not look up! :laughing:

I was looking at the rings of Saturn two nights ago through a cheap telescope. Pretty cool! While I was getting used to the settings, I put it on the north star so I wouldn't have to keep adjusting it. Holy **** a shooting star went right across my field of vision in front of the north star. Now I realize that most shooting starts are pea-sized or less, you gotta wonder how many large rocks are just hurtling along and its over in an instant. Sleep well!

 

[MossRoad]

You bring up a point that I have thought of on several occasion. In a time of difficulty, where does one "get" salt.

Do you know of the nearest salt mine in your area? The ocean is only about 100 miles from my home. quite a hike if there be trouble about. And besides, Salt water is NOT salt, that takes time.

The salt mines under Cleveland and Detroit. Maybe they'll end up like the refinery in Mad Max! :laughing:

The Incredible Urban Salt Mines Hiding Underneath Our Feet

 

[MossRoad]

"Nobody can stay awake 24/7": that's a good reason to keep your noisy dog around.

Just out of curiosity, how many are ham operators?

I've never operated a ham, but I have smoked one!

 

[hutchman]

We've done security rotations for 3-4 days during the aftermath of tornadoes. The most stolen item? Generators.

My mother's family down around Cincinnati have had to do security rotations after storms as well. Its not a laughing matter when it happens to you or your loved ones.

We got hit with this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2012_North_American_derecho

We ran a generator for 9 days. People were trying to steal generators (especially from the elderly) and there were several stories of shot being fired when folks went out to gas up generator and got attacked by people trying to steal generator. Gave me a small glimpse of how bad things could get. If you have ever noticed ... most gas stations/convenience stores have satellite dishes on their roof. Well guess what ... in a bad storm they get blown off their azimuth and don't work. Almost every one had signs that said "cash only, can't take credit/debit cards". And gas stations ran out of gas and had people fighting over it.

We even had someone try to get into our house.

I was a real great time!

 

[MossRoad]

Why would you filter or purify well water? It's just as pure after SHTF as it is before.

As mentioned, in seaboard states, with massive flooding (as in hurricanes), wells can get contaminated fairly easily.

 

[MossRoad]

We got hit with this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2012_North_American_derecho

We ran a generator for 9 days. People were trying to steal generators (especially from the elderly) and there were several stories of shot being fired when folks went out to gas up generator and got attacked by people trying to steal generator. Gave me a small glimpse of how bad things could get. If you have ever noticed ... most gas stations/conveinence stores have sattelite dishes on their roof. Well guess what ... in a bad storm they get blown off their azimuth and don't work. Almost every one had signs that said "cash only, can't take credit/debit cards". And gas stations ran out of gas and had people fighting over it.

We even had someone try to get into our house.

I was a real great time!

Funny you mention that.... we were at the zoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana that day. We had to hunker down in the underground aquarium exhibit with a hundred other people. When we went outside, the trees were down and they told us to leave the zoo. We left, but it was hard to get out of the area. Any way we went, the roads were blocked with downed trees. Power was out for about a 10 mile radius. We ended up driving an hour north just to find a restaurant with power (McDonalds) so we could eat before going home. That was a brutal storm and I watched it on the radar all night just chugging east. Anyone east of Ft. Wayne all the way to the ocean got pounded! :thumbdown:

 

[hutchman]

Funny you mention that.... we were at the zoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana that day. We had to hunker down in the underground aquarium exhibit with a hundred other people. When we went outside, the trees were down and they told us to leave the zoo. We left, but it was hard to get out of the area. Any way we went, the roads were blocked with downed trees. Power was out for about a 10 mile radius. We ended up driving an hour north just to find a restaurant with power (McDonalds) so we could eat before going home. That was a brutal storm and I watched it on the radar all night just chugging east. Anyone east of Ft. Wayne all the way to the ocean got pounded! :thumbdown:

... and it was HOT! People died from the heat alone. It was really crazy. The world as you knew it was gone! Millions of people around here had no power. It was BAD!

 

[MossRoad]

I remember a power outage due to bad storms when I was a very little kid. A guy tried to get in our house while we were eating dinner by candle light. My dad chased him off.

 

[MossRoad]

... and it was HOT! People died from the heat alone. It was really crazy. The world as you knew it was gone! Millions of people around here had no power. It was BAD!

I can only imagine. There was an ice storm 50 or so miles south of here probably 25 years ago. People in some rural areas were without power for 6 weeks! I can't imagine an urban area without power for 6 weeks. Our crime rate is bad enough with good weather. Now take away power and food.

Anyway, I only prepare for storms and power outages, and should probably think about being a little better prepared for social chaos. If there were a long term outage, I'd go get my wife's parents and bring them to our house where I could keep an eye on them. They have a wood burner, but not enough wood anymore for more than a few days. We have a wood burner and enough for two years. They are elderly and we'd be a lot more comfortable here with the food and heat (if in winter). And it helps that they like me. I wouldn't want to be cooped up with my in-laws if we didn't get along. :laughing:

 

[Garandman]

I think most of this thread is weird. Talking about groups with different skills and not being able to stay up for 24 hours to guard the property. Too many movies?

In 2011 there was a big ice storm through central New England. Generator thefts were rampant, along with fist fights in grocery stores. That was after eight days.

Our plans are almost entirely focused on something that happens every year: major Northeaster snow storms, with high winds, drifting snow and flood tides. How far anyone goes beyond the commonplace is up to them.

 

[GreenYellow]

We had a bad ice storm here about 15 years ago. Nearly 2" of freezing rain. There wasn't a power pole standing for nearly 100 miles. It was bad. Real bad.
We lived WAY off the beaten path in a log house in the woods. We literally had to cut our way out of the house with chainsaws. Entire house was covered in downed trees. We were without electricity for a month.
In town (Texarkana, population about 70k) the power was out for over a week. The water dept backup systems went down after a day or 2, so the entire city was without electricity and water. It got crazy in a hurry. People acting all sorts of foolish. Like wild animals.
We made it ok out where we were after we got the house uncovered and roof repaired. We had to get real creative for how to do stuff. We had a cast iron stove, so heating and cooking was very doable. Couldn't buy gas for a couple weeks. Banks were closed. Stores were closed. Good bit of looting and stealing. Quite a number of deaths, mainly from the cold from no utilities.

I could go on for a while. Point is, (like several others here) I know a thing or 2 about having to make it with what you've got. It ain't fun or easy, but it's very doable if you plan for it. Even if only a little.

Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet