So what are you going to do? Are you prepared?

Nice starter list....Read a book called "One Second After". You won't put it down.

 

I grabbed that book yesterday and am about 1/2 through. Question: if equipment and/or vehicles, and computers are not operating at the time of the pulse, how could they be impacted?

 

Very generally speaking the Electro magnetic pulse "fries" electronics operating or not. They say old cars/trucks and tractors with little or no electronics or ECM's may still run. I have also read it may not impact all vehicles. Guess we won't know until it happens.

It's a dark read, glad you picked it up Ray. There is a sequel- One Year Later, I have read both.

 

I just got this book last week. Finished it in 4 days. I'm gonna pass it on to my Dad. Its truly Thought Provoking. Especially Since I Know exactly where it took place. I used to live in North Carolina and I would Travel thought Asheville and Black Mountain to go to Greensboro to Visit my parents all the time.

 

Very cool....and absolutely a very thought provoking indeed, So many lessons to be taken away from the book. We live here in the Western NC foothills. I began reading this book a few years ago on a flight to DC when I was on work travel like you in 4 days done, I could not put it down.
I have loaned it to many friends, who really learned to look at survival just a whole lot differently.

 

I just got " One Year After" yesterday. I'll probably start reading it on Monday.

 

Be interested in what you think after you finish.

 

Over 50 years ago the Boy Scouts had a motto, "be prepared". I'm not sure why or when this transitioned into being "preppers", and enveloped with negative and extreme connotations.
I took the motto to heart, and perhaps because of my own aptitude and interest have tried to live this way.

I have serious doubts and trepidation about my ability to survive the future. At least, at my age, there's little chance of a long one!

 

Goes without saying the EU is a training ground for the Daesh...

https://www.rt.com/news/403599-french-police-railway-jihadists/

 

exactly.. "prepping" just decides how long you're going to live in the dark.... If it pops, I'm down with being one of the first to go.

 

Yes Ray, I was a scout also...a great motto, loved the outdoors, and still do. Hunt, fish, camp, long range "varmit" practice, dualsport motorcycle riding on the mountain forest roads. Learned a lot in scouting and the being prepared part of scouting more than likely carried over to my adult life and into a long career. The numerous experiences in scouting, my military training, and long LE career in addition to things my awesome late father taught while me growing up in the country have served me very well.

Today's prepped man or women can be given an eye roll or even laughed at, I just quietly absorb and smile while thinking how set we are with food and water reserves, and plenty of defensive security measures putting it very mildly. Everyone has an opportunity to prepare, but many don't. It's dam expensive. We laid out $4k for a Honda generator, but after the last hurricanes that came through were so glad to have it staged. That 4k put my Tundra mods in the back burner for awhile. We have friends in Fla and Tx that had no power for a week. They were miserable. Heat and light and hot water mean a lot to me, and my family..so naturally the choice was easy...tundra mods took a back seat pun intended.

Fact- there is "possibly" two weeks of food on most grocery shelves in the supply chain in this country. It's sad when you see people clean out a store before a bad winter storm or hurricane or natural disaster. Supply chains are very easily a d quickly disrupted. I choose not to be standing waiting on a CH 47 aka- Chinook to drop a pallet of food and water off like in Fla last week.

It's an interesting and debatable topic for sure and everyone has to make a solid choice of what is best for them given their circumstances.

 

@Patriot
Are you familiar with NOLS?
National Outdoor Leadership School.

@Almaboy and my brother in law were both instructors there. I sent both my sons. It's kind of like an explorer scout survival school on steroids.
I was not too enthusiastic about the scouts when I was raising them.

 

I would not even know where to begin to start to put aside some needed supplies. I live in an HOA development, no basements, and everyone knows everyone's business. It is a real pain.

Kurt

 

@kurtwp
Some basic stuff is really easy and will get you by for a week or more:
Buy a couple dozen cans of stuff; salmon, tuna, ranch style beans (all this can be eaten cold and will last a couple years). Buy 6 or 10 gallons of purified water and put em in the back of your bottom cabinets or linen closet. (This will probably be good for a couple years but I'd cycle it every 6 months). Add some candles, flashlight batteries and a box of chocolate bars plus some boxes of crackers and you could probably shelter in place with the door locked for at least week or more.

 

Along with all my other preps i just bought a portable toilet for when .

 

No I am not,but it sounds pretty cool!

 

Pun intended?

 

@gosolo I think you would appreciate like the shelving I installed in my basement "safe room". Water is good as long as it smells good. And even then you can boil it.

 

I hear ya Kurt, but you can start small on your preps. Something as simple as a few 14 day supply of Mountain House food see best used date. It actually keeps much longer. This food is long term storage, you can rotate out your canned food -soups from your pantry or shelving area.
A generator, buy the best one you can budget for. We sucked it up and bought a Honda. Honda gens are great and quiet and reliable. Ours is fuel injected, no floats, carbs, it starts every single time and is super easy to service. I rotate fuel out every two years. I treat the fuel with Stabil. Buy one that will run the basics you need. My EU7000 can run off natural gas or gasoline. I cannot begin to tell you how glad we are to now have it. NC has power outages mostly in the winter. Ours will easily run our lights, nat gas heat, hot water, oven and cook top. I could go on and on.

Amazon..over time...naturally you can slowly acquire several months supply.


Water- one shelf sampling of our some of our supply-one gal per day per person. I added 300 sq ft of shelving for food and water. We also live on a 1700 acre lake. No marinas and a really clean water supply for Western NC. Bales of TP and paper towels added over time. Rice, flour, sugar, beans, in 5 gallon buckets, cases of different flavored instant potatoes...the list goes on.

 

Read it years ago. Loved it. Had me searching for rations for months.

Oh, and I got the 56 Mercury which will still work when both my Tundras are dead from the EMP.

 

Kinda.. went camping last weekend and didn't want to drive to the restroom every time so I got the luggable loo. Would have been nice to have when I had a plumbing problem under my house earlier this year. So now if shtf or the water goes out I won't need to leave the house for shit.

 

Ah, nice to have the space to store stuff. I don't quite have a 1700 acre lake but I do have 1200 gallon pond in the backyard, plus 50 gallons of water is in the water heater, and an 80-gallon rain barrel. Looking into buying 55 gallon BPA barrel to put into the garage. I have a spot in the garage where the 55 will fit perfectly.

I have been researching some of the food supply companies such as Wise, Moutan House, and Saratog. A lot of all their products seem to have very high sodium, Wise being the most, but I guess if there is no food does it really matter.

Kurt

 

Mountain Houses is the best i have tried and i have 24 metric buttloads of it but also supplement it with other foods. Keystone canned beef is awesome and has about a 5 year shelf life...think homemade potroast!
Also get 5 wheel dolly carts so you can move your 55 gallon drums around easily and lube the casters.

 

Yes, most long term storage foods use salt. I highly reccomend Mountain House overall they taste pretty good. I have had both.
No perfect answer to taking a few steps to being prepared for uncertain times such as these. And I am no expert. But after an entire career in the gov, I know self reliance is critical.

You are on the right track Kurt! Keep in mind, it takes a while to build up supplies. But trust you and your family will rest easier hoping you never have to use them. Especially the generator. That was our biggest purchase, including the gen lock out install. During the last few storms my wife really agreed it was a wise purchase after talking to friends without power. We have multiple freezers we have to keep running. Blueberry farmer here..gotta keep my blueberries in the deep freeze. And a couple hundred pounds of other frozen products.
I try and buy a little extra each time I hit Wally World. I just don't want to be relying on "Uncle Sugar" for food and water ever.

 

Prayers for all people in this storms path - not gonna end well.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-imposes-rationing-of-basic-supplies/

 

All my prep work took a back seat when I got the Tundra. Now that my truck is where I want it (mostly) time to flip the script back to prepping.

 

Quake swarm...interesting read.

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...ts-say-quake-swarm-at-rainier-is-not-unusual/

 

@Patriot you're an insomniac like me? How about what's going on in Puerto Rico right now - zero power for the foreseeable future - could get nasty quickly

 

Haha..yeah since I retired sleep has not been a high priority. I sleep in when I want or burn a short nap after lunch. It's not looking very good for the island at all. National grid could be down for a few months or longer. I can't imagine the amount of suffering going on there right now. Especially children .
This storm has removed basic human needs for the foreseeable future.
Surely the news will sensationalize every morsel for the is the head dead yet fanfare? I speculate, we will have to send in the military to provide law and order, shelters, possibly tent cities, fuel bladders, massive generators, food, water, latrines, showers. Or it could require a mass evacuation? In swampy climates diseases spread fast. Surely lots of injured, infection, food borne nasties, what to do with the deceased with no power? My "SWAG" is a USN hospital ship at the least.

We'll see, yes as you say..ugly quickly. Sad and years $$$$ to rebuild.