What are YOU preparing for?

 

What?

I've asked this question dozens of times, and had people give dozens of answers, but it is a critical question that people new to preparedness must ask themselves before even buying their first can of food. It's also a question people experienced in preparedness should ask themselves at least two to three times a year; What ARE you preparing for? The answer to that question will drive nearly every other decision and choice within your preparedness plan. Are you preparing for the next winter storm? The next tornado or hurricane? Does the thought of a major financial collapse, depression, or recession affecting the United States economy keep you up at night? Do you have fears or nightmares surrounding an asteroid strike or do you just want to avoid the annoyance caused by an impending ice storm?

How Long?

Whatever your target event is will drive many factors based on the impact of that event. As an example, it's anticipated that a nuclear war will trigger a global nuclear (particulate) winter that can last upwards of 25 years. As such a solid bunker with 25 years worth of supplies is the expected level of preparedness. Another example would be a blizzard in severe-winter weather prone areas. In most blizzard type of events you rarely would need more than two weeks worth of supplies to get you through the disruption.

Avoid Getting Overwhelmed or Burned Out

For most new preppers especially, time-frame and what that means can be extremely overwhelming. It can lead to people interested in preparedness to toss their arms up and walk away from the activities. I always provide the following advice to stave this off; perform general preparedness for a time frame of two weeks, then go from there. If you can successfully achieve a reliable level of preparedness with near 100% off grid independence for two weeks you're off to a great start. At that point is when you want to start to specialize your preparedness condition, but having a good generalized set of preparations is dramatically beneficial, too. You never know what disaster will actually befall you. Generalization, at least to start, keeps your options open. Specialization can occur after that. 

Examples

Say you want to prepare for the "biggie", nuclear war (I love the nuclear war example because it's the most extreme conditional event on so many levels). From your two-week preparedness baseline you will want to add radiological monitoring equipment, iodine tablets, and treatment for burns to your preparedness supplies. You'll also want to dramatically increase your food, water and water purification methods, and shelter plan. 

A different scenario you may plan for after your two week baseline is set may be tornado. Again shelter would become critical, but for a much shorter period of time (no 25 year nuclear winter to live through), but excavation gear such as shovels, axes, and a chain saw, could be added to your preparations. Rarely would more than two weeks worth of baseline prepping supplies be needed to recover from a tornado, but that shelter will become invaluable, then, as would a solid weather radio and power plan. 

In Summary

The key is to define, level-set, plan, and specialize. Define what drives your desire to prepare, set a base-line level of preparations, plan for the more specified event, then expand and specialize your preparations. In my strong-but-humble opinion the base-line or level set preparedness is key to moving forward. It provides a habit-forming expectation of what level of preparedness will be required from a general perspective. This is crucial in not becoming too specialized. Nothing would be more embarrassing than preparing 100% for a financial collapse of the U.S. and having a tornado sweep in and blow all those preps away.  It's best to focus more broadly then narrow down in these cases.

Stay safe.

Prepping/Life Balance

Prepping is one of those activities that can consume you. By nature it's an anxiety-driven activity; people fear a certain event and prepare against that event. As with all other forms of anxiety, it's easy to lose control of your state of preparedness and over do it. It's important to have what I call Prepping/Life balance, a small twist on the Work/Life balance I hear about at my place of employment. Work/Life balance refers to the fact that you're applying normal, satisfactory time in your professional career, earning enough money, while at the same time enjoying life outside of work...family time, vacations, and such. A skewed work/life balance, for instance, would be working 80+ hours a week and, as a result, missing your kids music recital. That's a failure of work/life balance.

Taken during a vacation in the Smokey Mountains.

Prepping/Life balance is the same. On an episode of Doomsday Preppers (one of my favorite prepping TV shows as a guilty pleasure) which profiled a husband and wife who uprooted their children from Florida to the Appalachian mountains, an example if failed prepping/life balance was shown. The producers were interviewing the wife who, with tears in her eyes, admitted that the family had not taken a vacation in over 3 years because every single dime that was made by the husband went into preparedness. Though the wife agreed with a high level of preparedness, she clearly wanted to enjoy life with her kids as well, and a yearly vacation would have done just that.

Financial balance is key in preparedness as well. The "spending every dime in preparedness" contributes to far more stress in an emotionally sound individual than being prepared for any disruptive event which would last an unrealistic 25 or more years. Balancing strong finances along with having preps for 6+ months is ideal. Having 25 years of food stores does you no good if your car breaks down and you can't afford to replace or repair it. More on financial prepping later.

Don't let prepping cause to much Mayhem in your life.

Of course all of this type of discussion depends on a direct ratio of your level of anxiety-to-life expectations. A lone-wolf hermit living off grid in the wilds of Omaha may very well spend every dime of his income on preparedness and be completely happy, but this is rarely the case for families or even groups of families gathering together for a solid state of preparedness. The bottom line can be summed up in your level of comfort and happiness. Other factors surround your level of preparedness.

1. What type of disruptive event are you preparing for?
2. How long are you expecting to live off of your preparations? < this will drive the "how much" factor".
3. What will you need to accomplish #2?
4. How fast do you want to get to #3?
5. What are the financial resources you will need to achieve #3 & #4? Generally speaking faster = more expensive.

These are very high-level goals which make up a preparedness plan, and #4 and #5 will directly impact the timeline and expenses of that plan. These are factors that need to be considered for your prepping/life balance. For instance if you're planning for an event you anticipate to occur in the next 6 months and will require one years worth of preparations, that will dramatically drive, say, how much money you're going to have to throw at it. Achieving a base-line level of preparedness of 2-weeks, for instance, with a future plan of expanding those preps to 2 months is more realistic and can be budgeted far easier. The ratio of income you need to spend towards your preps would be lower.

With just a little bit of planning and a solid budget, along with the discipline to follow it, you can achieve both goals; prepping for your future based on your comfort level and having nice things or taking enjoyable trips. :) 

Peace.

Spring Time = Potentially Severe Weather Time!

 Springtime means (potentially) severe weather time. This past week, 03/15 through 03/19, has been Severe Weather Awareness Week here in Indiana and included a state-wide tornado drill on 03/14. Situational awareness of the weather for the coming months remains important, along with preparations surrounding power, water, and critically, shelter.

I recently signed up for and virtually attended the Central Indiana Severe Weather Symposium, a 3-day seminar given by weather experts from around the mid-west. The entire symposium cost a whopping $10 and if you have to miss a session there's no-worries as all three sessions will be posted online.

Tornado damage from the 2016 Kokomo Storm

A little over a year ago I moved in with my girlfriend who owns a house in suburbia north of Indianapolis. The biggest upgrade in the move (other than moving in with my hot, intelligent, funny, and sarcastic as fuck girlfriend, of course) is the fact that the house has a large, unfinished basement. It is important not to get too over confident regarding storms when it comes to basements and storm shelters, but they certainly hedge the odds when it comes to severe weather and storms, though can prove a disadvantage in flooding if constructed poorly. Never-the-less, your confidence can high for this storm season with the following preparedness points recommended:

• Shelter
• All-weather radio
• Backup power
• Fresh water stores
• Food
• First-aide/medical
• Tools (for needed debris removal)
• Documentation (insurance, the capability to photograph damage)

Stay safe out there!

Peace.

Bugging Out With an Animal or Pet

There's a prepping TV program out called Apocalypse 101 on NatGeo (all six episodes available on Amazon for a relatively small cost) that I've taken to. It details four ex-marine and survival specialists keen on prepping and survivalism who have opened their own prepping consultation business and store. In one program the guys have a client walk in who was interested in learning how to better bug out with his dog. The client went on to explain that he had taken his dog on a test bug out situation, hiking out into the wilderness in a controlled weekend of camping with the animal. The biggest problem? the dog drank all his water within 3 hours of being out in the wilderness. I don't recall what breed the dog was but my understanding is that it was a bigger animal. Of course the guys on the show criticized the move of bugging out with the dog in a serious way, pointing out that in a real survivalist situation you need to decide who lives...you or your pet.

Making the Choice

Small Animals

All of this got me thinking about the practicality of bugging out with an animal...any animal. In his book, Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag, Creek Stewart recommends having a comfort or inspirational item within any bag. The point here, being, it's good for psychological strength having such an item in your bag. In a tough survival situation it can be hard keeping people's spirits up, especially for children. Having a small stuffed animal or such an item helps keep kids a little more positive in a bad situation.

In that line of thinking, having a small animal may serve the same purpose. A small animal, such as a hamster, Guinea pig, or reptile may not eat much and may be manageable in a bug-out situation...if you can collect the animal during the actual bug out, safely. Two years ago we had some rough weather roll through and for the first time I seriously thought a tornado was going to hit our house. I'd been watching the weather from my front door, and when I saw horizontal rain and heard a low rumbling sound I told my family to head to our safe room. My 14 year old daughter, however, ran the other way...heading to her room to collect her pet rabbit. She was nearly in tears as I screamed at her to head to the safe room, and if a tornado would have struck (it didn't form but the funnel cloud was within half a mile of us), she may have died saving her bunny.

Small animals don't eat or drink much but it can be a pain keeping them alive if they have special diets (like lizards) or if you have to remain mobile over rough terrain. Imagine cleaning out mashed-hamster goo from the bottom of your bug out bag while explaining to your child what happen to Little Bear. Snakes and reptiles tend to have very picky diets, too, so prepping to bug out with such an animal may require storing up some mice or other carnivorous treats.

Mid to Large Size Pets

Smaller and Mid-sized dogs were bred to chase rabbits down holes or root into small caves for small animals to retrieve, but as with any animal you need to train your dog to behave this way. As I related above, larger dogs and animals can quickly become a consumption burden, taking in disproportionate amounts of food and water if you're not careful to ration them.  Dogs in general are social-pack animals and as any "dog-whisperer" will tell you a dog views the family it lives with as it's social unit. Typically this is good in a bug-out situation as the dog will stay near to the family if cross-country travel has to be taken. Unless the animal is new to you or your family, a bonding has already formed which should keep the dog from running away while outside, with or without a leash.

Cats are a different story. Independent and lone hunters by nature, even cats who have been with a family for many years would most-likely wander off or run away during a bug-out situation. Cats also won't 'share' their kills, nor retrieve a kill, like a dog can be trained to do.

Larger snakes (constrictors) and other reptiles can similarly be more of a burden than a help. Snakes can't exactly keep up when you have to be mobile so you may find yourself carrying the animal, and some larger breeds can weight upwards of 50 pounds or more. The same with lizards such as full-grown iguanas. To complicate bugging out with a reptile even further, cold-weather environments are all but fatal to such animals if you have to travel through such conditions.

Aside from a well-trained raptor, birds are similarly troublesome. Again outside weather conditions and mobility pose problems, though, admittedly, bugging out with a parrot on your shoulder like some wandering pirate has a certain coolness factor. Other things to consider regarding birds are if their wings are clipped and if they're noisy enough to draw unwanted attention.

Pack and Utility Animals

Many preppers and, of course farmers, invest in larger animals such as goats, cows, and horses which may hold great value. Arguably a cow may not be much use during a bug out, and may slow down mobility to the point it's just not possible to lead the animal away from danger without putting yourself at risk, however horses tend to be great assets in an emergency evacuation. My wife owns a horse and has for years. Though she has never considered the animal for "bug out necessity" we've had some discussions about it in recent days. She knows a guy who goes on extended wilderness camping trips with his horse and he's well versed in traveling overland with the animal. There are also competitions out west in which horse owners and their owners go through emergency routines and scenarios, testing the bond and relationship between man and animal. Though the situations in these competitions are the extreme situations, they serve as examples of what can be accomplished when the proper patience and training are applied to such beasts.

Pet-preparedness

As with all things in preparing for an emergency, you need to take everything into consideration before hand when bugging out with a pet. And, just as humans need to condition themselves for such events, so-to can pets be prepared. Dogs can be seasonally conditioned  to deal with hotter or colder temperatures, to find water, and trained to hunt or retrieve food and prey items. Cats, lizards, and even snakes can become accustomed to being 'hauled' around in small packs, or even ride on their human owners' shoulders over time. 

As part of their preparedness training, mid size and larger animals can be trained to wear small packs containing their own food, water, or medications. Again, dogs are the most tolerant in these cases, however if you have or raise larger utility animals, such as goats and horses, they can be used to haul their own share as well ... often times more than their own share. I'd thought feeding a horse would be fairly simple; set it out to pasture at night and let it eat, however my wife pointed out that most horses are not bred to "live off the land" in this fashion any more, which causes the necessity for a horse-bearing prepper to make sure grain is packed and hauled during the bug out.

Training and conditioning remains a critical factor with utility animals as well. Consider this if you own a horse; would you be able to ride down city streets or get near a crowd of paniked people while on horseback? Would your animal bolt, perhaps throwing you and causing serious injury to yourself and anyone it runs down? Horses can be trained to walk down pavement, though proper shoeing is required, and can be conditioned to 'deal' with other stressful conditions which may be encountered during a bug out.

My dog, Kitsune (Full-blood Shiba Inu)

Don't Wait. Make the Tough Decision Now

Most preppers know that it's almost impossible to anticipate all bug-out scenarios but keeping things in broad categories helps keep prep's in control. The same principle applies to making those decisions about animals.  During a crisis when animals are involved there are essentially three choices; 

1. Leave the animal in place and hope you can return to care for it before it starves or falls victim to other circumstance.
2. Set the animal free and let it fend on it's own.
3. Take the animal with you.

The cold reality is the first two choices are the most likely in the majority of bug out circumstances, especially if you put yourself or family members at greater risk  by taking the animal with you. It's critical to consider these things now, or when you are pondering purchasing a pet, rather than waiting until an emergency is upon you. Things to consider in bugging out with your animals are below, including some summary of content above;

1. The size of the animal.
2. The self-sustainability of the animal. Can it hunt for it's own food? find it's own water, or even water for you and your family? Can it haul it's own resources?
3. The training, conditioning, and temperament of the animal. 
4. The type of animal; canine, feline, reptile, bird.

Lastly, think ahead of what kind of emergencies and broad conditions of the bug out which may prompt the choices to take as listed above:

1. What is the time-line of the crisis; immediate (ex. tornado, earthquake) or pending and long-lasting (hurricane?)
2. How long until you can return for the animal?
3. What is your bug-out plan? Are you needing to travel through populated areas or over water?
4. What time of year is it? What are the environmental factors you will be dealing with during your bug out, and how will these effect your animal?

Just as you do with yourself and your family prep your animal and consider all possibilities as much as you can. Have a battle plan that gives little sparky the best chance of survival in an emergency.

Peace.

Introduction

Greetings to all!

I'm a humble guy interested in general preparedness located in the eastern midwest, hoping to learn a few things about preparing for emergencies in all aspects of life. Welcome to my blog!

The last few years, 2020 especially, have awakened people to at least some form of preparedness. Within the last year and a half we have seen a global pandemic, social disruption due to racial tension, and political division bordering insurrection within our own country. Anywhere from the panic buying of toilet paper to otherwise-peaceful protests turning violent, self awareness and some degree of preparedness have become a resounding need within American society today, regardless of which side of the political spectrum you stand. All Americans, outside of race, creed, gender, political affiliations, or any other sub-group beneath "American" should consider at least a moderate level of preparedness in my strong opinion.

So, what to prepare for? At the (re)writing of this post, 3/24/2021, COVID-19 infection rates are dramatically reducing due to propagation of the vaccine (of which I just received my first dose mere hours ago). The country is in a relatively better place politically, and there are only remnants of effects from the racial tensions which occurred this time last year, and those remnants remain peaceful and legal. However, a review of how quickly things went 'south' at the beginning months of 2020 should be a clear sign that at any time disruption can occur on a local, state, national, or even global level. The question becomes not "is prepping necessary", but how long and for what should I prepare for.

As a side-bar to my interest in preparedness I also enjoy the money saving prospects of the hobby such as the idea of growing my own foods, going off-grid, and conserving natural resources. I'm also into outdoorsmanship, camping, and hiking, bicycling and other forms of outdoor physical fitness....all of which contribute to some element of preparedness.

I've created this blog to share my stories, lessons, and opinions throughout my journey down the road of preparedness and survivalism. I welcome helpful criticisms and encouraging comments as well as engaging conversation on my blog even from differing view points from my own.

Peace.