Every Day Carry - real story

Why do we plan for emergencies? Why bother? Nothing will happen and if something does happen the government will be there to help. Guess your definition of an emergency is different than mine. Real life story time...........

The other day I received a text message from the Boss, my prettier half, asking if the power was still on at the house. After exchanging a few text I learned the power had gone out in the area her and one of our children were at. They had stopped to have dinner and the power suddenly went out. Now is this an emergency? If you have ever been with a child when the power goes out you will understand this is a bonafide emergency!!!

With the power out and fire alarms going off, the better half had to console the little one and figure out how to pay for the food they had already received. From her purse came a flashlight, you know the one I annoyed her into carrying!! Along with some money, cash, to pay their bill.

The flashlight might seem obvious while the money might not. With the power out the waitress told the Boss they had no way of giving her a bill, using credit cards or giving her change if she used cash!!! She had them estimate the bill, paid extra and left with the little one, who was shaken up by the situation. How long would they have had to stay had she not had cash and the ability to pay the bill?

Only a small area around the restaurant was affected by the emergency. Yet you would have thought the end of the world had came when the little one told me the story!! Being able to produce light and cash saved the day to the little one and put mommy on super hero status for a moment or two!!! Moral of the story...... annoy your better half till they start carrying some EDC gear, they will thank you if they ever need it!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe

Medication

None of us are getting any younger, some of us have special needs and some of us rely on medications to keep us around. If you need medication on a daily or even a once in a while basis this is something you have to take into account when planning for emergencies. Be it an inhaler you use only once in a while or heart medication you need to take every day. Why? Because the day you are running low on medication or forgot to get a new inhaler is the day something will happen!!! (Murphy’s Law)

Some medication is easier to store then others and in rare cases you might not be able to store it at all. First thing we need to discuss is, do you really need it? What would REALLY happen if you did not have it? We all know people who take something or have some medical condition which really…… let’s just say they aren’t going to die if the condition is not addressed.

Ask your doctor if you can get extra. Tell the doctor what it is for “Doc, I am afraid if an earthquake (tornado, hurricane, insert disaster) comes I will be without my medication! What can I do?” Be honest with them, let them know you value their thoughts and honestly ask them to assist you in doing something to alleviate your concern. They can write you a prescription to have some extra medication. Heck this might even lead into a good discussion about planning for emergencies and having a doctor as a friend is almost always a good thing!!!!

Whatever you do, DO NOT cut your pills in half or some other scheme you think you will be able to pull. If you skip taking your pills or lower the dosage or whatever half brained idea you come up with, this will just cause you issues. Why? Because the doctor said to take a certain amount and now you haven’t. This means the day something bad happens will be the day you are weakened by not taking your pills and this puts you at a deficit right from the start of the emergency. Just ask your doctor.

While talking about medication and emergencies we also have to address the elephant in the room. Some of us cannot live without modern medicine. I hate to bring this up but some of us will die if we cannot stay connected to modern medicine. Of course we will try to go to any lengths to reach modern medicine but there could be situations where we cannot, people will die. If you are one of these people who are alive only because of modern medicine you have a duty to your family to try and learn what was done for people with your condition before electricity. In a lot of cases people lived long and happy lives before what we would call ‘modern medicine’. If there are treatments for your issue learn them now! Ask your doctor what used to be done. You have an obligation to your family and loved ones to learn now what could keep you alive later.

Ask your doctor, see if the can help you. Have some extra medicine on hand. Say a weeks’ worth or even a months’ worth. Just enough in case the "big one" does hit or your home suddenly becomes an island. Remember in emergency situations you are responsible for you………..

As Always,
Stay Safe!!!

THE WATER IS RISING!!

Recent events in Texas and the news coverage got me to thinking about this post. I watched several rescues of people from cars trapped in flooded streets, homes surrounded by water and some folks who decided to “play” near running water.

This event really drove home for me how important prior planning is. People found themselves having to leave their homes, with nothing. Others were stranded on the road when the waters blocked the roads or their cars stalled in the water. They had to abandon their vehicles, with nothing.

With the minimal of planning the odds are they would not have found themselves in these positions. How? Nothing is worth your life, not your job, not your car, not that event you need to be at and most defiantly not “playing” around running water.

Even ankle high water is enough to sweep a grown person off their feet. The dip you drive over every day can fill up with enough water to stall your car. Mother Nature will win every time if you challenge her! Period, full stop!

Having food, water and extra cash at home can keep you from having to venture out during a flood. Having a get home bag can help you if you are stranded somewhere. Having a bail out bag can help you if you’re in a situation where you suddenly have to abandon your car. Being able to miss a day or two of work because you have something set aside might ensure you are around to go back to work after the storm has passed.

Do not drive through streams in your car. Your car is not designed to go through water. The force of the water can easily push you off the road and you will quickly find yourself stranded. Do not try to walk across streets which have turned into rivers. Especially in urban areas, water takes the path of least resistance and in urban areas this means the roads. Do not drink or spend time in flood waters. Sewage treatment plants get flooded and odds are the water all around you is contaminated!!! Even a simple scratch can become infected by the CRAP, chemicals and other nastiness floating in the water.

DO NOT DRINK UNTREATED FLOOD WATERS! You will become ill, you can become ill even if you just fall down in the water and swallow some. Then you are trapped by or dealing with flood waters and sicker then you have ever been in your life!!!!
Know the threat of flood in your area. The information for most areas can be found of the internet. Heck if you go outside and look at the land around you, you can figure out where the water is going to go; if your home is at the bottom of the terrain guess where the water is going to end up.

Plan ahead, watch or listen to the local news and be ready to leave before it is too late. During an emergency is the wrong time to plan, under stress you will make mistakes and please USE SOME COMMON SENSE!!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!

Luci Inflatable Solar Latern

I ran across an item I just felt I had to share with everyone! This is one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” tools. Before I go any further I do not get anything for writing a review so this is uncompensated.

The Luci Inflatable Solar Lantern is an outstanding item to have for emergencies! We have had one for a while now and have used it during a power outage. The one we have has also been kid tested and approved! The little ones have tossed, stepped on and otherwise abused the thing for several days with no issues!

Over the last week I have used charged and used the lantern over and over again. The lantern has worked flawlessly. Now the light it gives off is not going to replace the lights in the house but it does light up a room. The ingenious design is simple and effective. I’ve been leaving it out on the porch and then bringing the lantern back in at dusk. Even on cloudy days the lantern seems to charge enough to work for hours.

Each night I have used the lantern or tested the lantern the light has ran for several hours. More than enough to last from dusk till bedtime. I’ve even left the lantern on overnight and have found it working in the morning. About six hours, let’s not talk about my schedule and lack of eight hours every day!

Besides some flashlights, camping lanterns and other power outage tools I would highly recommend you purchase at least one of these. I now own half a dozen! I plan on sticking a couple in our Get Home Bags and power outage kit!!!!!

As Always,
Stay Safe!!!

Furry Family (pets) in an Emergency

A lot of us have four legged family members whose special needs we have to account for during any emergency situation. Of course we might not think about these special needs until we are forced into a situation and this would be far too late into the scenario to try and deal with their needs. A few minutes of planning and preparedness done now, when you are not under the stress of any situation, will greatly increase your odds during a situation.

If you have a dog, cat, weasel, hamster or other four legged family member of the small to medium size variety stop what you are doing! Stop what you are doing! Is the pet supply store open? If it is go now and buy a carrier, harness leash and in the case of dogs a muzzle. I’ll wait here……………..

Your Back!!!

You are going to need these things if a situation comes around in which you have to evacuate your furry friends!!! A carrier is the easiest way to transport a pet. You’re going to need the leash when they time comes to take your friend out to use the restroom or just stretch their legs. If you end up in some sort of shelter you will need the muzzle for a dog in most cases. Some shelters will not take you in if you have furry friends, be ready for this situation. For those of us without the furry type of friends a carrier can still be used to transport the pet iguana or birds. For birds try and get a carrier big enough to hold their cage inside of.

Another very important and absolutely needed item for your furry family member is up to date papers!!! These are just as important as the paperwork you need to have for your two legged family members. Make copies of all their paperwork and put it where you keep your own. Last thing you want to do is waste time in an emergency looking for "Fiddo’s" paperwork!!!! Along with paperwork your pets should already have tags. If not go this weekend and get them some!!!!! This will help out greatly if you are separated from your loved one or the little guy has run off during the situation!!!

Most cases we can use a car to transport all of our family members. In some cases we might not be able to. For these rare cases when you have to walk, pick up a red wagon or garden cart; something big enough to place the carriers on along with being easy to maneuver. You will not be able to carry your furry family very far in the carrier.

In most emergency situations animals, excuse me, furry family members, can take care of themselves. At times they take care of themselves better than some two legged types can! Animals will go outside if the can during an earthquake, they will run from fire and generally take the proper action to save their little butts when needed. The rough part is usually after an incident.
After an incident we might really need the leash and carrier to take our pet somewhere safe. Once there we might need to keep them in the carrier until they get used to the new surroundings. We also need to have the ability to feed and water our family members.

Planning food and water for them is no different than planning the same all the other family members. Food needs to be stored and they should be included into the water plan. How much of do you need? You know what your pet eats daily or weekly. Add this amount into your planning. Another words you do not have a weeks’ worth of food for the “family” until every member of the family has a weeks’ worth!!! The good part about most of our friends is they will also eat whatever we feed them. This means you can find food for the fuzzy family members almost anywhere you find food for the two legged.

For larger animals such as horses, goats, bulls or other larger animals we need to plan now to evacuate them. Do you have access to a trailer without counting on anyone else? Do you have all the tack you need if you had to saddle the horse up right now? If not we need to acquire these things ASAP. Do not count on anyone being able to help you when something happens and you should plan on doing as much as you can alone.

As hard is this might sound to some of us; abandoning your pets might be a necessity. I know you do not want to think about having to do this but their might come a time when you have to. This might not be as bad as it sounds. Cattle can be let out, along with horses, goats and other live stock. They will do everything they can to stay alive and you will find them after the emergency is over. Smaller furry friends have tendency to run off at the first sign of danger. This is a good instinct on their part and odds are they will come back when things are over. Never let the life of an animal take precedence of the life of any other part of your family!!!

Furry friends, pets and animals are some of the easiest family members to plan for. They are also a overlooked part of most people’s planning until they are involved in a situation. Plan now and take steps to ensure your special friends are also included in your plans!!!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe!!!

Normalcy Bias

Watching the news recently I noticed people were being affected by something which is rarely talked about or discussed, normalcy bias. What is this? Here is a good definition from Wikipedia;

"The normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster and its possible effects. This may result in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of governments to include the populace in its disaster preparations.
The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred then it never will occur. It can result in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias

This mind set does not just affect people during a natural disaster; people are affected by this during everything from a car wreck to a civil disturbance event. People do not acknowledge things are not normal and act in ways which are not appropriate to what is going on. Most of us have seen this happen in one form or another. Most common manifestation of this is people who keep asking ‘why?’ something is happening.

“Why are you doing this?”
“Why is this happening?”
“Why is this happening to me?”

This mental state seems to come before the ‘flight or fight’ syndrome kicks in and can even delay the triggering of ‘flight or fight’. For some people this mental state stops them from realizing the situation is not normal and even dangerous. This can lead to people doing really just stupid things or lead to complete inaction by the person.

People also seem to exhibit this behavior by just not doing anything before, during or after an emergency. Not in the situation has overwhelmed them, they cannot mentally handle what is happening and they simply melt down way. Some people will refuse to take any action because they believe someone else will fix the situation or the situation will change for the better. All they have to do is keep waiting. This inaction in most cases leads to the situation only becoming worse. We have all seen people just stand or sit around waiting, they are not panicked or emotional they are just waiting. Nowadays with everyone having a camera this is also manifested by people who walk around recording incidents as if the camera somehow keeps them safe and separated from the situation. As if they are spectators? The biggest problem with having normalcy bias is the inaction it brings.

People will not acknowledge things can happen and they will not do anything to prepare.
People will not react during a situation because they refuse to acknowledge something is happening.
People will not take proactive steps after something has happened to deal with the situation.

A major step to countering normalcy bias is to acknowledge bad things happen. Sounds simple enough yet is the most difficult part. Mentally you have to say to yourself “Ok, I do not like the idea of something bad happening, heck it kinds of scares me to think about it, but I need to know bad things can and will happen to my loved ones or myself!” Once you mentally accept things will happen you are a step ahead of the rest of the herd.

If your loved ones and you have already acknowledged the fact things happen you can move on to the next step, what to do? While others take the step of getting over their bias you can already be walking out of burning building, taking shelter during a storm or gathering needed supplies. The trick is to already be a step ahead in the decision making process.

Since you are reading this post odds are you might have already acknowledged things can go south. The next step is to get your family, friends and neighbors to at least acknowledge this. The more people planning, reacting and ready to help during a situation the better for everyone, including you!

As Always,

Stay Safe!

Do it yourself food storage

The best food you can eat is the freshest food, the best food you can store is the food you will eat and the cheapest way to do both is to grow and store the food yourself.

We’ve been looking at food storage as a step by step process or in a tier format. This would be the last tier but does not have to be done last. You can start this portion of your planning at any stage. Heck you can start today!

In addition to adding to your pantry or emergency supplies you should add to your skills and knowledge base. Some of us might already know how to plant a garden, know how to ‘can’ our own foods or other such skills. I for one had no idea how to do any of these things!!!! In our modern times few of us know how to grow our own food or utilize the resources around us. We go to the market and food is just there…….. With this in mind; having the ability to grow (learned when your family does not ‘need’ the food) your own food is a skill few of us know how to do anymore!!!

“I do not know how to grow anything; I have nowhere to grow anything!”

This is the idea, learn how to grow something and find somewhere to grow something. The internet is full of information on how to grow food stuff!!! You can find literal hundreds of ideas on how, what and where to grow things. Does not matter if you live on the twentieth floor of an apartment building or in the suburbs, there is something you can grow!! Start small, find a window which has sunlight for most the day. Maybe you can put a pot or two in the window or maybe on the roof of the apartment building? Maybe there is that unused strip of dirt along the side of your house? If you start looking there will be a spot you can find.

Start small maybe just some parsley or other herbs in the window sill. Just to get in the habit of watering something every day. Then once you have grown these, a pot with tomatoes or onions or peppers? Find out what grows in your local area and try to grow what you know will grow. You want to give yourself the best chance at success! Do not try to grow too much too soon or you will become discouraged when all your plants die!!! I know this from firsthand knowledge!!!!

Bring the kids in on the growing of food, make it a fun time digging in the dirt, let them help water the plants and watch how excited they get when you harvest!!! Of course how much they can ‘help’ depends on their age. What you want to do is try to give them a skill set you might be learning from scratch but might just be what they need later in their lives!!! Plus it is fun to get dirty with the kids!!!

Look around your home. What plants are growing you can use? Our home came with an apple and apricot trees. I had no idea how to grow either, the internet helped me out! Now we have apples we do not have to buy at the store and I figured out how to make jam with the apricots!!! We had a neighbor who would bring oranges over and we would give them apricots. They would make apricot brandy??? We give away the apricot jam to friends and family.

Lemon trees, orange trees and others can be grown in pots and everything you grow on your own does not have to be bought at the store. Money you can use elsewhere. Of course most of us do not want to turn our yards into farms but there are things you can grow which do not take away from the beauty of your space and give you something you can use. We have apples, apricots, blackberries, onions, sage, potatoes and grapes growing in our yard!!! Grapes for making jelly not wine; although I’m sure someone in the house rather we grow wine grapes!!!!

This may sound generic but there really is something to be said for growing your own food and using the food to cook with. A certain joy in knowing you grew what you are using. It is hard to explain but once you do it you will understand!!

Remember we are trying to have enough food available for just ‘one more meal’ and the food you can grow in your own space might make the difference for your family and you!!! Go out and try it, learn a new skill set and have some fun!!!!!

As Always,

Stay Safe