Carmageddon

All of Southern California seems to be freaking out about the 405 Freeway Closure. From what I understand that's about 10 miles of freeway, and it will be closed for one day. Everyone is acting like it's the end of the universe, and if it was even vaguely true, I would highly advise never moving there, and if you live there, get the hell out!

1 Freeway of 10 miles out of hundreds- maybe thousands in the area...
...What would happen if two of them were to close? Or a major quake shut them all down? What would the people there do? Starve? Die of thirst? Riot? Party till they were too stupid to walk? Who knows, but lets watch to see what happens and see if we can learn anything from it, like we learned from Japan, Hatti, and Katrina.

For instance, what if something happened to the 99 or 120 here? Or a major freeway where you live? Do you have alternatives? Now, do you have an alternative that everyone else doesn't know about? And, an alternative to where? Do you have a destination to head for if you had to leave?

Also, something to think about; Is your vehicle prepared for an instant bug out? Tuned up, half tank or more of gas, vehicle emergency kit, food and water, maps for those secret roads we just talked about?

Although, admittably this would be the perfect situation for bugging in. You can't get out, nothing dangerous is going on where you are, so hunker down, crank up the BBQ, pop in a movie and relax...

... Uhh you do have a generator or solar back up for the movie, right? right? Beuller?

Happy Thankgiving Everyone

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving this morning. And a simple reminder, follow the instructions on your turkey is you've never cooked one, otherwise only the hard core survivalists will be enjoying their turkey jerky this year. :-)

This may or may not be a good time to check your preps, as you can use your stored food for some of the items on the table, also if you turn out the lights you can use your candles and lanterns for a more ambient lighting.

Another thing you can try (If you are feeling adventurous) is to try an alternative method of cooking. Use your fireplace, outdoor fire pit or BBQ, or try your Colman propane camping stove (Good luck with that one)

As the turkey will take quite a while to cook, whatever the method used (except deep frying) you can try out your freeze dried or dehydrated foods to go with it as you will have ample time to soak them completely through.

Whatever you thoughts, enjoy you holiday!

Cold Weather is Coming

I've had a job for the last couple of weeks painting a building outside. (That's why I haven't posted anything in a while) Well the building is situated kinda funny. The West side gets absolutely no sunlight on the wall all day, where the East side is permanently in sunlight.

While working on the West side I had to wear thermals, street clothes, and a jacket. The wind chill on that side made it so bad that I lost all gross motor function in my hands after only about two hours of work. (I generally work 6 to 8 hours a day painting) And the rest of my body stopped working so well a couple of hours after that. My brain was also trying to shut down higher reasoning as well. And of course the worst part was, that combination makes for more accidents and every time I got a boo-boo it felt like I severed a limb.

Gloves don't help me much, as I suffered mild frost bite when I was a child, so am always susceptible to cold.

The other side of the building, in contrast, is so hot that by 10am I want to be in shorts and a tank top while working. I start the morning dressed like on the West side, but as the day grows hotter I begin to strip off layer after layer. By 11:30 or so I finish my coffee and switch to water to stay hydrated. The project should be done by the end of next week, so I can be done with these extremes, but I swear, it should be raining in the middle of the building at all times where the heat and cold meet.

Lessons learned:
Dress in layers
Don't over work, no mater how much you want to
Stay hydrated, especially in cold weather. You need it just as much, and don't realize it as well as in the heat.
Take breaks in a comfortable climate.
Watch you health. I think I'm coming down with a cold now because of working in these conditions improperly.

Halloween, Elections, TV show the Wlaking Dead

Sorry It's been a while, but this has been a busy couple of weeks for me.

Halloween was a big one for me as I get to take my kids trick or treating. I guess you already know the basics of this; Wear safety equipment, lights, glow sticks, safety vests, reflective tape, etc. Don't let your kids out of your sight. Check your kids haul, for anything tapered with, or homemade (unless you know and trust the source)

Elections; What can I say...Kalifornia is NUTS!

Warning- Spoilers Follow

The TV show Walking Dead is a new program on AMC about the Zombie Apocalypse. It takes place shortly after the worst has occurred, and the main character, a deputy sheriff, pre-apocalypse was shot and hospitalized. When he wakes up the Apocalypse has occurred and he makes his way home to find his wife and son are gone. Evidence shows that they packed and left so he decides to make his way to Atlanta where roomer has it that a safety zone exists.

It's only on the first episode, so I'll give them a chance to work things out, but, if it had been me waking up in a deserted hospital, the first thing I would have done is to find some clothes. Second, would be to gather water and food (In that order) Then, as he left the hospital, he found an abandoned army camp out front. Maybe him being Law Enforcement didn't think of it, but I would have ransacked the camp for everything useful. Admitably I may have run into my first zombie right then, but I would not have tried to walk home in hospital shorts and gown, and nothing else.

My Daily Kit

Here are some pictures of the kit that I carry with me everyday. You can see what it looks like fully packed. The bag is a Maxpedition Versipack and it can carry far more than it should! I've also added a 5.11 First Aid Kit that I've custom stocked, and a dual mag pouch also 5.11.



I think I've over loaded mine a bit, as it is a bit heavy to carry around all day. I'm not sure how much it weighs but it feels like about 15-20lbs. The problem is all of the individual items are very light so I can't figure out what to eliminate.



Here is me carrying it, with my children. You will notice that they are not dressed as woodland commandos. We were just taking a day trip to a local zoo.



And here is what all fits in this beast.

I'm not sure if you can see all of the details, but I carry gear for myself and my two girls in this bag, as I must support them as well in an emergency.

I don't want to say that everyone should carry the same load that I do, in fact I need to lighten it up a bit. But you can see that in a fairly small bag, you can carry a huge amount of gear. I'm not sure what you would call this type of kit. It's definitely not going to get me through 72hrs all by it's self, but I can easily go 24hrs with a bit of work, supporting me and my kids, which is sufficient to get us home from any distance where I didn't include our BOB bags. I also carries everything that I need on a daily basis. Actually one thing that I forgot to include in this pic is my wallet. I used to carry around a butt pack with keys, wallet, pens, phone etc., but now with kids, I have a lot more that I need to have on hand, so I went for a bigger bag. I think women invented it and called it a purse, but Maxpedition managed to make it look manly-ish

If a few of you ask, I'll add closeup pics of some of this gear, and describe what you looking at.

Emergency Binder

I haven't discussed this yet but you should have an Emergency Binder in your home or car readily accessible. I have written one that I am going to give to you. The links are below for a RTF, PDF And DOC versions so get whichever one you can use best.

Look it over before you print anything, as not everything is suitable to you and some of it you may need two or three copies of. Please remember to keep a digital copy if you can on a flash drive or USB on your key ring,and DO NOT let this fall into anyone's hands who doesn't need to see it.

RTF Here

PDF Here

DOC Here

Earthquake Survival Kit

OK I was talking to a friend of mine on Facebook who lives in the DC area while the rainstorms and flooding was occurring. I think it's abating now, but it got me thinking. I've been putting this off for a while, but here is an overview of prepper supplies that you should have. This list is by no means complete, and you should build you own kits according to what you need. Don't but a pre-built kit made by someone else as you don't know what is in it, if everything works, or how to use some of it.

You should assemble you own stuff so that you know what you are putting in and it will be what you need. Also you will have a chance to try different things out to find out what works and what doesn't. Wind up flashlight for example; I've gone through three different kinds and haven't found one yet that works as advertised.

According to FEMA this is what they recommend for an Earthquake Kit. I use earthquakes because I'm in California (Sorry about our state) and that kinda the standard, but you will see that it's kind of universal, and will work for most disasters, but with everything, modify it to your needs.

http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/eq_before.shtm
4 Have Disaster Supplies on Hand

* Flashlight and extra batteries.
* Portable battery-operated radio and extra batteries.
* First aid kit and manual.
* Emergency food and water.
* Nonelectric can opener.
* Essential medicines.
* Cash and credit cards.
* Sturdy shoes.

Below is also some lists of relevant equipment. One of these days I will go through ans write down everything that I personally use or carry, but for now, these general list should do to start. Please keep the BOB Bags in your car. They don't do any good in the closet.

BOB Bag (Individual Adult)
General list, please customize to you and your child’s needs

Food and Water:
6 Boxes of Aqua Blox Water Boxes
6 - 400 Calorie Food Bars (2400 Calories)
10 Water Purification Tablets - each tablet purifies 1 liter of water
Water Filter

Light and Communication:
Am/FM Radio with Headphones and Batteries
Rechargeable Squeeze Flashlight
36 Hour Emergency Candle
Green Emergency Glow Stick 12 hour
5-in-1 Survival Whistle - compass, signal mirror, flint starter, waterproof container, lanyard, and shrill whistle

Shelter and Warmth:
Emergency Survival Sleeping Bag - Recommended over common "space blankets"
16-20 Hour Body Warmer - heat up in minutes with an average temperature of 130 degrees.
2-Person Tube Tent with Rope
Emergency Poncho with Hood
Fire Making Kit include water proof matches, lighter, magnifying lens, tinder in small film can

Tools:
Multi –Tool or Swiss Army Knife, Leather Palm Working Gloves, N95 Respirator Dust Mask - NIOSH approved or scarf, 50 Feet of 550 Cord

Hygiene and Sanitation:
toothbrush, toothpaste, wetnaps (Baby wipes), bar of soap, shampoo and conditioner, dental floss pick, deodorant, twin blade razor, comb or brush, 4 maxipads, and washcloth. 3 Tempo Pocket Tissue Packs

First Aid:
Portable First Aid Kit – Whatever you choose to put in here, double the amount of Band-Aids, and triple the number of 2 inch gauze pads.

Other:
Notepad Pencil Deck of Playing Cards for Entertainment, Infectious Waste Bag, Emergency Survival Kit Information

BOB Bag (Individual Child)
General list, please customize to you and your child’s needs

Food and Water:
6 Boxes of Aqua Blox Water Boxes
12 - 200 Calorie Food Bars (2400 calories)

Light and Communication:
Rechargeable Squeeze Flashlight
5-in-1 Survival Whistle
Compass
Signal mirror
Flint starter
Waterproof container
Lanyard and shrill whistle
3 Green Emergency Glow Sticks - lasts for 12 hours each

Shelter and Warmth:
Polar Fleece Blanket
Emergency Poncho for Children
16-20 Hour Body Warmer - heat up in minutes with an average temperature of 130 degrees.
Two changes of socks and underwear

Tools:
Warm Winter Gloves
Large Scarf to replace Dust mask or scarf

Hygiene and Sanitation:
Hygiene Kit - Includes soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, and 9 wet wipes. 3 Tempo Pocket Tissue Packs

First Aid:
(Sample-Please make your own) 42 Piece Pocket First Aid Kit - contains 42 pieces - 10 spot bandages, 10 sheer junior,5 sheer medium, 5 sheer strips, 2 antibacterial, 3 clear strips, 2 fabric strips, 1 extra-large, 2 alcohol pads, and 2 gauze pads

Entertainment:
Activity Coloring Book with Crayons - contains pictures to color and activities to help keep a child's mind occupied
Children’s Toys - jump rope, ball, and a jax set

Blackout Kit In case of power outages
(Not including your Food and Water storage)

Same as Bug Out Bag plus:

Cooking:
20-60lbs of Charcoal
Propane cans or tanks plus stove attachment
Cords of wood

Light:
Candles
Tea Lights
Large Target store candles but not the ones with 3 wicks
Citronella candles
Flashlights
Head lamp (for walking around hands free) at least one per person
Batteries
Storm Lanterns with fuel

Communication:
Windup radio

Entertainment:
Reading material
Board games

Power:
Generator/fuel

Keeping Up Your Spirits

It occurs to me that you of the most important thing you can do in an emergency or survival situation (or even in your day to day lives) is to keep your spirits up. I don't know about you, but I tend to accumulate a lot of bad or negative thoughts and when people start coming down on me, I sometimes just want to curl up in bed and sleep the day away.

Well, it's a good way to fall out of shape, ruin your diet, and all around ruin you physical health and well being. Ok, enough preachieness.

Some thing to do to get your spirits up:
Read a joke or two on line
Reward yourself for something small that you accomplish today.
Talk to a friend (Poor peoples therapy)
Pick a cardinal direction and drive until you see something you haven't seen before, then stop and explore the area for an hour or two.

Many of these ideas are basically to get you to STOP dwelling on what the negative situation or person is. Once you've done that, you can begin thinking of something useful to do in your situation. I know it's fun to fantasize about horrible things happening to someone you are having a problem with, but that really doesn't help. You need to DO something to change the situation you are in. Like the philosophy saying goes "A journey of a thousand mile begins with the first step" And if you can take the first step in improving where you are, you will (hopefully) feel a small sense of accomplishment which you can leverage into a second step and so on, and so on.

Many people in survival situations often talk about thinking of family that need them, or things they plan on doing once they are safe, but they never give up hope! Giving up is the surest way to die, because once you believe that you will, you stop trying.

Like the saying in Galaxy Quest "Never give up, never surrender".

I think this works for daily living, or any critical situation you find yourself in.

If you have other methods of keep up your spirits, or getting out of a funk, please let us know what they are, as we could all use a boost from time to time.

Rasing Children and Other Adventures

I've been working with my oldest, working with her math. She seems to be enjoying it, but that's not what I want to talk about.

My youngest yesterday was having a bad moment and beginning to through a tantrum. Well, instead of letting her explode and me yelling at her (she's only 3) I did something that I learned in a Parenting Class. I put her in Time Out. I know what you're probably thinking "he's just punishing her". Well no. In my Parenting Class They taught, and I'm using it to "stop a behavior".

I didn't just tell her to go sit in the corner. She was already beginning to cry and flop on the ground, so I told her she needed to sit in Time Out for a couple of minutes. She didn't respond, except to cry more, so I gently picked her up and gave her a hug, which almost completely calmed her down right then, and then carried her to the hall where she was going to sit and placed her in the chair. I then spoke to her for a couple of minutes to let her know why she was sitting there.

Here is where I took another teaching moment. She kept looking at her feet to begin with, so I lifted her head with my finger and made sure that she looked me in the eye the whole time. I've been learning (And vaguely remember as a kid myself) that if you don't look at the parent talking, it doesn't really count.

Also, I am reminded of something that happened to me in the Army. I was in school working on getting promoted, and the next day I was required to lead the physical fitness training. Now, I had been leading things for years before this, but in school, you are graded on your performance, so I wanted to get it right. So, I practiced my commands by saying them to myself in the mirror. Let me tell you, that is the single most difficult task I have ever done. You try it. Look yourself right in the eye and say one full memorized sentence without blinking, turning away, glancing down, or anything else.

It's hard to maintain eye contact with yourself. But I figure, if I can teach my kids to do it now, so that it is a natural, normal thing for them, they will have a leg up in the world, where eye contact gives you credibility and stature.

As a survival technique I can only see it as a plus, when in an emergency, you are making constant eye contact with EMTs, Firemen or other emergency personnel, or claims adjusters for that matter. People tend to pay more attention, and take you more seriously when you look them in the eye.

Anyway, back to my daughter. After two minutes she had completely calmed down, so I looked her in the eye and told her it was OK to come back over to the rest of us. Then I gave her a big hug and reiterated why she was on time out to beginning with "because she was having a tantrum, and not co operating". That's something I do with both kids if they have to be corrected. I tell them why at the beginning, so that they should think about it while on time out, then after it's over, I review why they were there in case they forgot (they are only 3 and 5) Then I try to give them an alternate to the behavior I'm trying to stop.

Burning Man

I'm sure you've heard of it. I was surfing around and came across an app for it for free. After looking at the app for an hour or so, I went to the web site. www.burningman.com Apparently it just happened.

This event while weird lasts 7 days on a desert plain in Nevada. You take in everything you need to survive, live, thrive, and party. There are some "first timers" notes and supply lists that read kinda odd, but make some sense for the environment. (don't agree with the fire arm one tho')

I'm thinking of going next year. That would give me a year to prepare mentally, physically, and financially for a week long, day and night party survival experience.

Anyone want to join me? Plenty of time to decide. [B-)]

Explosion in San Bruno

I've been watching the news about the gas explosion in San Bruno. Admitably it was a one in a million incident, but another similar story appeared in the news the day before in LA somewhere if I remember right. I don't believe that I know anyone who lives there, but it did get me thinking.

If you have all of your preps at home and something cataclysmic happens to your home, you are SOL. Even if you were in a house that survived the original blast yours is going up in minutes from the fire if you were next to it. That doesn't give you much time to get your gear out. So, it seems to me that an off-site storage point for your essentials may be prudent.

My thoughts: A safety deposit box, small storage space at a storage rental place, someones (Relative) house out of the area.

Things to store as back ups:
Hard Drive backup
Emergency Binder
Photos
Some Food
Clothing for each family member

Of course you can add more to these, and please post them here (I might learn something) but you get the idea. Off site storage of critical items that you will need immediately.

Lessons Learned - Field Training

Camping (as a form of field training)

Well this weekend was a good training exercise. The original intent was to go rafting, and the rest of the group was to camp for the night. Well here in Modesto it was about 500deg. (Ok 95+) Heat was a SERIOUS problem, especially for my kids. My mother went along as well, and she wasn’t doing so well either. In the beginning of the day, we arrived at a beach portion of a local state park and I let my kids play in the river, looking at the little fish swimming around, and picking up freshwater clam shells. It must be rich there as the sand was littered with them. Anyway, I stayed in the water with my kids as there were a few deep places, and even if the water was not running fast, it was stronger that a 3 year old who can’t swim (yet). I took the opportunity to show them the different kinds of life living around the river, and to not fear the water, but respect the power of it.

After a couple of hours I scouted around and found where my group was meeting and packed up my kids to move to the campground areas. This was about 11:20am

This is where the real learning begins.

The camp area was maybe 100-150 yards from the parking lot. The first load (let me remind you, I was only staying there with my kids for about 6 hours at this point) I took my 24hr kit, my kids BOB Bags, an Ice chest (Full), and my mother carried a large beach bag full of kids clothes and a folding chair. I was pouring sweat with just that tiny little walk and still had to keep up my strength to assist my kids getting there shoes on instead of flip flops, and my mother to set up her stuff. In the 6hrs that we were there, we move the positions of chairs at least 5 times to stay in the shade. 2 more trips were made to our vehicle for various items, but not much more that a bag or two worth of “stuff”.

Lessons learned:

Hats are a must. I don’t wear them, and my kids don’t like them, but every time I had to walk in the sun I flipped on the boonie hat I had brought along, and I swear, it felt like the temperature dropped 15 deg.

You cannot have too much to drink, and Ice was Stupid. I brought a large jug (1 liter I think) of juice, a six pack of bottled tea, various pouches of Capri-Sun and LOTS of water. By the time we were done there were 2 bottles of tea and about 20oz of juice remaining. I had to keep calling my kids to the side and making them drink, as they are not old enough yet to be responsible for their own health. And something I was grateful for out there, but in hindsight writing this in air conditioning, was that as a survival situation, Ice is just stupid. I mean seriously! If we had to bug out of our homes so far out that we were living in the woods, there certainly would not be someplace where we could get ice. At least not for the first few days of a crisis. If anyone went through Katrina or Haiti, please let me know how long it was before fresh water and ice became available.

Too much Crap. We were only there for a few hours, and yet it took three trips to the vehicle to get all of the comfort crap out. My friend who was camping overnight, with three kids (one being an infant) and his wife, had two tents, one or two folding chairs, and STILL managed to keep it down to (maybe) six trips to his vehicle. One the other hand, I was humping everything by hand, except for the Ice chest, which had wheels. He on the other had was using his baby’s stroller to maximize his carrying capacity. I know for a fact that if it were just me I could have had everything I needed for an overnight loaded into a single backpack (or pack-pack as my kids call them) so, add kids and elderly, and significantly increase the amount of crap you will need. No, you won’t need most of it, but like a teddy bear, some of it is just comfort items that make people happy that it’s there, whether useful or not, or used or not.

Cooking. To start our fire we used my little film can of tinder. This is a mulching of cotton balls, dryer lint and Vaseline. Several of us had heard of using petroleum jelly, but this was our first use of it. It took two(2) strikes with flint and steel, and WHOSH! we had fire. This works! What we didn't do properly was permit sufficient air flow in the kindling to get the fire burning properly. A little adjustment and it all worked fine. Also, having the basic BBQ tools are essential. The wire scrubby pad, tongs, and spatula are a minimum.

Bug/Sunscreen Spray. Something I learned the funny way. Spray on sunscreens and bug sprays are great for what they are, but, if you use them on kids in a dirt environment, you children will become mud monsters. The spray is like a dirt magnet, which of course increases the power of children’s natural dirt magnetism. I suppose as a parent, I should have been horrified by the amount of dirt suddenly coating every exposed surface of my 3 year old, but, as a survivalist, I figured that the dirt would probably act as a block for both sun and bugs, and she is always happiest covered in dirt anyway. If you all think I’m wrong, put a post in and please explain why, and as always, I prefer real world knowledge to something you read.