Saturday, March 20, 2021

Ant: Yes. Grasshopper: No.












 


Three seconds without Safety;

Three minutes without Air;

Three hours without Shelter;

Three days without Water;

Three weeks without Food.

Then add Three More Things: Medical; Power; Communications.


Lather, Rinse, Repeat: What about the next month?

And next year?


KISS: Knowledge. Insight. Skills. Stuff. In that order.

Two is One, and One Is None.

Skills and Systems beat Supplies. Supplies beat Starvation.


Enjoy your weekend. Time is money. Spend yours wisely.

Today's the first day of Spring. A good day to check the batteries in smoke detectors and CO alarms. Take stock of your earthquake (me)/tornado/hurricane/flood/et cetera supplies. Change out the emergency bag in your car(s) from winter stuff to summer stuff, if appropriate (if you're going to be in snow until May, my condolences.). Rotate out anything that's getting old. Eat it, donate it, whatever. (Maybe make a gift of it to someone you know in harder times because of the COVIDification of the economy, or just to jumpstart their preps with a kindly kick in the pants. Something is better than nothing.) Replace with fresh stock. Change batteries in anything else too. And chem lightsticks, flares, and whatnot. Rotate out oldest RX meds, and any meds expired (on paper) in med kits. Swap in fresh ammunition for ready weapons, and put the older stuff in the range bag for practice. Do change of season PMs on your vehicles; tires, fluids, rubber parts, and any other needful maintenance. Either put in or service a cache or two, if your worst case plans include a bug out. Upgrade where possible, deepen larders, and lessen the odds against you for all manner of things.

Oh, and you have written hard-copy lists of all this, where you can put your hands on them, right? Right?

So you know what you need, and what to keep an eye out for.

And spend some time after supper doing some new "What If?"s, then start thinking about how you'd deal with not just A or B, but also LMNOPQRST. You'll get tired eventually, but it's work that will increase the number of Zs you get at night. And the number of days before something comes up that you really have to worry about.

This message brought to you by People Who Thought Everything Would Always Be Fine.



6 comments:

Old NFO said...

That $1400 is going to come in handy for preps... Just sayin...

Joseph said...

I was without power for more than 4 days during the Great Freeze in South Texas...I was ready for anything but losing power. The cavalry never came, never saw a single cop or service truck. TPTB just flipped the switch and left it off. So yeah...an inverter/generator or 2 and another propane heater is in the next purchase plan. Summer is coming, and 110 deg days can be brutal.

Charlie said...

Did food inventory about a month ago
Did ammo inventory a couple weeks ago
Working on garage inventory now
vegetable starts are waiting on weather to be acceptable to planting
hardest thing I am having to deal with is finding groups worthy of donations, I don't know about elsewhere but in the Cleveland area every single org accepting donations is so far left I would rather put stuff in the garbage

Unknown # 4B, Jr. said...

"....written hard-copy lists of all this,...."

"House bible" - the printed paper binder with owner's manuals, spec sheets, etc. for all the appliances, equipment and accessories, and your vehicles, with "call sheets" - the contact info for whomever is (and has been confirmed as) best at repair and refit for them (including 3AM emergencies), and your insurance info,including agent and claim contact info. This is kept someplace reasonably secure but accessible to all and not just updated but religiously kept current. Add in names and contact info for medical resources to get bonus points. And, understand that if may be someone other than you using the "house bible" so it needs to be simple and clear.

2nd Binder - another "printed paper binder" stored in a VERY secure place, NOT accessible to everyone, because it has the confidential stuff in it - the inventory of EVERYTHING in the house (or apartment) with purchase price AND replacement cost, plus the make, model and serial numbers, color photos or everything are a large plus, estimates, specs and receipts on any remodel projects or property upgrades (even if you did them yourself). Many extra points for also having the original digital file in PDF for all this, in a format resistant to casual destruction (but the paper printouts are the gold because they need only enough light to read to be accessible, no electronics required). Don't forget vehicle info.

A second copy (semi-electronic, like DVD, is OK) entrusted to someone with equal or better security than you and is at least 500 miles away gets you a gold star; trustworthyness is a mandate because it is not encrypted because if everything disappears ("fireproof" safes aren't, really, they're just "fire resistant" to varying degree) printed copies can be overnighted or e-copies emailed in a pinch.

Food, water, etc.You should understand all that already. More is better, much more is much more betterer.

Cash - more "printed paper" - a week's worth at a minimum, a month plus 20% is better, because cash is "universal grease" that can be used to lubricate anything. Gold, silver, diamonds, platinum, etc. are great, but it's $10 and $20 bills, not ounces or carats, that get you dinner and a place to sleep tonight.

Unknown # 4B, Jr. said...

"....written hard-copy lists of all this,...."

"House bible" - the printed paper binder with owner's manuals, spec sheets, etc. for all the appliances, equipment and accessories, and your vehicles, with "call sheets" - the contact info for whomever is (and has been confirmed as) best at repair and refit for them (including 3AM emergencies), and your insurance info,including agent and claim contact info. This is kept someplace reasonably secure but accessible to all and not just updated but religiously kept current. Add in names and contact info for medical resources to get bonus points. And, understand that if may be someone other than you using the "house bible" so it needs to be simple and clear.

2nd Binder - another "printed paper binder" stored in a VERY secure place, NOT accessible to everyone, because it has the confidential stuff in it - the inventory of EVERYTHING in the house (or apartment) with purchase price AND replacement cost, plus the make, model and serial numbers, color photos or everything are a large plus, estimates, specs and receipts on any remodel projects or property upgrades (even if you did them yourself). Many extra points for also having the original digital file in PDF for all this, in a format resistant to casual destruction (but the paper printouts are the gold because they need only enough light to read to be accessible, no electronics required). Don't forget vehicle info.

A second copy (semi-electronic, like DVD, is OK) entrusted to someone with equal or better security than you and is at least 500 miles away gets you a gold star; trustworthyness is a mandate because it is not encrypted because if everything disappears ("fireproof" safes aren't, really, they're just "fire resistant" to varying degree) printed copies can be overnighted or e-copies emailed in a pinch.

Food, water, etc.You should understand all that already. More is better, much more is much more betterer.

Cash - more "printed paper" - a week's worth at a minimum, a month plus 20% is better, because cash is "universal grease" that can be used to lubricate anything. Gold, silver, diamonds, platinum, etc. are great, but it's $10 and $20 bills, not ounces or carats, that get you dinner and a place to sleep tonight.

John said...

At the start of the Great 'Rona Rodeo, they sent The Boy home from college and Pugsley home from school. I had them count up all of the calories in the preps.

I felt better, and worse. Better in that we had enough for a very, very long time. Worse because I feel that someday they'll be needed.