By Richard Madia,
EDITORIAL: Mama Donna is growing stronger every day as she recovers for a severe infection that had her in the hospital before Christmas. This gave us time to reflect on what we are doing with our lives in general and this page in particular. We decided that the effort we put into this page is worth it because it gives the possibility of helping some individual, couple, family or group to have a better chance get through an emergency event, large or small. We will, however, switch to two editions a month, one around the 1st, the other around the 15th.
We do want to make this very clear. We may teach, but we don’t preach! We are NOT out to convert you into prepping. If you see no need or threat to your little world, so be it. Best of luck to you in the next natural or man-made disaster, be it small and localized, or widespread. But if you want to do something to be better prepared, but don’t know where to begin, we’re here for you. GENERAL FORMAT
Each edition will have a section for new preppers (Basic), for those who are into prepping a bit (Advanced), and an area where we’ll look at possible situations after a cataclysmic event (Aftermath). We will also have Toucan Bill’s Bird’s Eye View, where we’ll talk about prepping at bargain prices, Prepper Bee Wise’s Buzz words and phrases for Preppers, where we’ll explain terms like BOB’s and such. There will also be a bit of entertainment in the form of a fiction section where I will post a few pages from the short stories that make up my “When the Day Came” series or other “prepper” fiction. Feel free to suggest any other features or areas you would like to see covered.
A BIT OF WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE’RE ABOUT Our goal is to help guide the “Average Ann and Andy” to have a fighting chance in case some natural or man-made emergency event disrupts their normal living for some period of time. We are NOT experts, nor claim to be. We are just plain folk on a budget like you. (If your budget is “fixed” you are usually broke, LOL!) We’ve seen a few events in our time, learned from them and other sources and know a bit from experience and want to share it all with you. We will present options for you that will cost the least in money, time, space and effort. We will NOT present or deal in any political views, radical or racial slants, or any kind of “hate and hurt” positions. While we may from time to time discuss various defensive techniques that will include forms of weapons, these areas will be only a VERY small portion of the information on prepping we will present to you. Or to put it simply, WE DON’T DO CAMO COMMANDOS, MILITIAS OR ZOMBIES. LOL!
We don’t make a cent off of this, and as of yet have no sponsors or advertisers. If we ever do, they MUST meet our guidelines of having good quality products and services and not flashy junk. I don’t intend to say much about us because I feel the message is important, not the messenger and because we don’t do this to make “big money” or as an “ego stroke”. But, since some folks may wonder about my background and such, here goes. Richard P. Maida IS my real name and my wife is Donna. We are real people and do live the way I describe, so we don’t hide behind a phony photo or name. Here is our “info”.
MINI BIO Richard P. Maida (writing as Poor Richard/RPM/Toucan Bill/B.B.Trapp, etc.) I’m now over 60 and was raised during the Cold War. I had Civil Defense training in high school and later learned Search and Rescue as a member of the Civil Air Patrol. I served in the US Army first as an Infantryman, and later in Intelligence (S-2) and as the unit’s armorer and demolitions man. After my honorable discharge, I worked as a lab tech in biochemical research and nuclear medicine, holding certifications from the USDA, EPA, and NRC. Disabled now, and medically retired, I keep up my prepping and I am a part time writer, and live “at the foot of the mountain, at the edge of a small town, where the pavement ends and the forest begins” here in the Northeastern PA area with my wife “Mama” Donna, who was a legal secretary before she too became disabled.
THE BASICS: PART I & II If you are the Average Ann or Andy, you go to some kind of job, make some level of money (probably never enough LOL!) from which you pay for the means to live. (That is your water, food, shelter, etc.) These “means” come to you by various providers (utility companies, grocery stores, etc.) who in turn are the end points on a long chain of those who grow, gather, or otherwise create what you need. This is assisted by a banking system to keep things running, medical systems to take care of health, and protection for it all from police and fire departments.
In short, this is your “grid”. While some wish to willingly live “off the grid”, and I say more power to them, most folks, including us here, don’t. I like my a/c, heat, running water, etc. But while I don’t want to live “off the grid” I DO want to live when the grid goes off. That is what I see as the main goal of prepping, to be able to maintain some kind of average, normal life if all or some of the normal grid is gone for some period of time.
While what knocks you off the grid is important, I feel TOO much emphasis has been placed on the more “doomsday” events and such things as “zombies”, or political beliefs and not enough on the more common and likely probabilities. After all , a tornado, hurricane or flood doesn’t care if you are a redneck, wear a white collar or in a blue state.
Let’s start with a look around your world using what we call the “seven sisters of survival”. These are water, food, shelter, medical, power, money and security.
To start off, you need water. How do you get it normally? In most cases, the average person gets their water from some water company through the faucet. This can be affected by water main breaks, or some kind of contamination. Currently the entire area of Flint, Mich. has a contaminated water supply. This has also happened in a number of places caused by chemical spills or runoff into reservoirs. So what do you do if they announce you can’t drink the water for an unknown time?
Now let’s talk food. This is more complex because you not only need the food itself, but the means to keep it fresh and to cook it. That also means you have to be able to get to a store that has food and use money or cards to purchase what you need. Ever see a store stripped because of an oncoming storm? How much food do you have right now? How much is non-perishable? How do you cook it? Are you “married to the microwave”?
Shelter can vary with each person, from an apartment in a complex in a major city to a house on land in the country. If your shelter is damaged, can you make it livable for the moment by use of tarps, ropes and other means? Do you have temporary shelter you can set up, or another place to go? All it takes is a chemical spill, gas leak or major fire to cause you to leave your home. Are you ready to dash or dig in to stay?
Medical covers a host of areas, including basic sanitation. What do you do if you can’t use the toilet; wash your dishes, or clothes? What medications you need? What if you are injured by the event? Do you have a first aid kit? Do you know how to use it? Don’t count on EMT’s as there may be no way to reach them or them to get to you and they may be dealing with more serious cases. Can you handle your medical needs right now?
Power generally covers electricity but may in some cases include gas of some form. This is your light and refrigeration and probably your heating and a/c along with how you cook food. It is one of the most important and at the same time the most vulnerable. No, you don’t need some terrorist act to take the electrical grid down; simply a bad storm of some kind can do it. In some cases a car hitting a pole can knock out power for hours. Can you stay warm in winter, or protect your food in the freezer in summer if the power goes out? Will you able to cook or even eat without it? Do you even have one working flashlight you can find?
Money makes the system work. It is a means of exchange. Today, however, most stores need card systems up and running to be able to sell you anything if you have no cash on hand, even if they have their registers operating off some emergency generator. Also small stores and shops may operate more on a cash basis. Many of us have little cash on hand however. What about you? What’s in your home, piggy bank, or pocket?
Security refers somewhat to the police, but also to your personal situation. Where do you live and work? Is it a good or bad area? How far are you from bad areas? How are your passive (locks, doors, windows) security measures? What are you moral feelings about defending your home and family when the police can’t be called or may be too overwhelmed to help you? What could you do, or use to protect yourself? (This includes blocking doors with furniture, or having pepper spray) So now, what will you do and how are you affected if you lose your power for an hour, your water for a day, your entire grid for a week?
While there are NO “one size fits all” answers, there are basic guidelines we will go over as we explore as many of the aspects we can. We will look at these subjects from the standpoint of the Average Ann and Andy, plain folks who don’t have a lot of money, land or time, people who go to work each day and may have to face events away from home.
It can seem overwhelming and it isn’t simple, but it’s nothing the average person can’t deal with. If you want to put an ace up your sleeve in case of an emergency, if you want to try to have a fighting chance if things go wrong, we will try to help you all we can with what we have learned and what others have shared with us.
PART II: EVENTS AND RESPONSES This is a general guideline I came up with to help my prepping. While you may have a specific event in mind to prep for, such as tornados, there are others that can affect you. They can be minor, such as a power pole knocked down by a car accident causing a short term loss of power or as long and destructive as an EMP or Solar Flare.
LEVEL I (most common) DURATION: 0-2wks CAUSE: Loss of the “normal grid” of stores, banks, electricity and/or water due to man-made, (including derailments, chemical spills, etc.) or natural events (storms, flooding, etc.) EFFECT: No light, no heat in colder months, no A/C in hotter months, no refrigeration/freezer. There could be water supply / sanitation issues. Banks/stores may be affected RESPONSE: Alternate ( battery powered) light systems, propane heater/ Ice pre-packed in freezer/12v cooler/at least 2wks nonperishable food and water/ $200 + cash (hopefully) on hand.
LEVEL II (less likely but possible) DURATION: 0-4 wks. CAUSE: All of above plus computer virus affecting banks, stores,(ATM’s debit and credit cards), electrical and water/sanitation systems EFFECT: All of above if electricity/water/sanitation affected. No normal banking, bill paying, shopping (gas/food) possible. Possible effects on communications (cell and land line phones) RESPONSE: All of the above plus 2 more weeks of food and water.
LEVEL III (least likely, but still possible) DURATION: 4+ wks. CAUSE: Economic/ governmental collapse /EMP/Solar event/Pandemic/ Nuclear (plant meltdown/limited exchange). This also includes any serious disruption of order in the major cities/ supply chains, etc. due to terrorist attack. EFFECT: All of the above for at least 90 days or more RESPONSE: Full change over to self- support, gather family if possible/ try to have 90+ days of food, etc.
AFTER THE BASICS: ADVANCED PART I You took your time and carefully squeezed out your prepping supplies and gear from your budget. You put together your plans based on the knowledge of your local threats and conditions but with an eye towards the possible major “Level III” disasters that might occur such as solar flares, etc. You checked off each of the ”Seven Sisters of Survival”, that is water, food, shelter, sanitation/first aid, power, money, and security, as you met the basic requirements to cover them for at least a two week period, if not more. You have set up plans and gear to get back home or to your safe haven if you are away at work, shopping or whatever, or to hunker down in place if necessary. You know there is no perfect plan or situation, but you feel that you have given yourself and your family at least a fighting chance in most probable emergency events.
So now what? What’s the next step? Do you stop here? The choice is yours. If you are comfortable with the level of supplies and gear, and the plans, knowledge and information you have, then just keep up with what you have, rotate your food and water stocks and feel good about what you have done.
But, you can reach a higher level of coverage with just a little more effort. The next goal would generally be covering everything in your personal “grid” for four weeks or more. You have already done the “heavy lifting” as far as setting up the basics. It’s time to DARE! DARE is an easy way to remember what your next steps are. D Develop new options for all the basic areas. As time, space, budget and effort allows, see if there is an easier, more economical, and even fun way to add to your prepping. You might want to get a basic food dehydrator and make Jerky, or dry fruits and veggies.
An Acquire new information, skills, or items as the situation allows, possibly “upgrading” as you go. You could add a lantern or a battery powered “strip light” to add to where you just had a good flashlight, or some racks for your pantry to hold cans.
R Rotate, restock and research. Rotate your stocks by “eating what you store, store what you eat”. Yes it is good to have some special “survival” type foods in “deep reserve” but many times due to their cost, a beginning prepper won’t have much of it. Most of us have to “Two can” our way by adding what we can each trip to the store until we build up our reserves. Once you have built up your basic level, eat from it and replace it to keep it fresh while you try to add to it. Have a limit, so you don’t allow it to fall too low. Do research into information that can add to your knowledge (weather patterns, etc.) and help you do things easier and at less cost. Look for sales and bargains on food and gear. Check out yard sales for useable items and books.
E Enhance all the areas where you can. Slowly build up water and food stocks to four weeks. Add more first aid items a little at a time. Check and add to any “Bounce back” or “Go Bags” Stock up on more paper towels and toilet paper. Maybe add a small generator or solar panel. Keep putting aside a few dollars and change. Improve locks, doors and barrier plans. If you so decide add to and practice with bows, firearms, etc.
We will help by showing you different options that may be of value to you. Remember that THERE IS NO ONE SIZE FITS ALL when it comes to prepping, only good general guidelines. Are you ready to DARE?
AFTERMATH: AFTER THE DUST SETTLES PART I You and some others around you have survived the initial impact of a Level III type event such as a Solar Flare/EMP, government collapse, etc. and have made it through the first three to four weeks. Besides the usual steps to be taken to set up your water gathering, food growing, power generating and security plans, there are the others you may not have put on your list. In an old cheap 50’s sci-fi movie, three people survive a short term depletion of the oxygen in the air because they were scuba diving. After an hour or so the oxygen stabilizes back to normal. (Yes, I know, stupid premise.) When they get to a small town on the Caribbean island they were diving off of, everyone is dead. Then one of the characters points out something overlooked or not mentioned in a number of better made movies, namely they need to get away from towns and cities as fast as they can, because in a few days the dead bodies are going to start to decompose and it will not be healthy to be there.
The point here is, if you are going to remain in any type of populated area, after three weeks you have good odds of having a number of bodies to dispose of. Besides any deaths from the actual event, there will be die offs from violence, lack of medicines, thirst and starvation. This is going to affect you and the others emotionally and give you a rather large problem. The bodies have to be disposed of, but there are moral and religious concerns, along with the logistics of how to handle them safely.
Given a small town with 1K of population, even a 10% die off is going to be a challenge to deal with, and that’s if everyone else is actually working together. This is why planning for the “day after” a Level III event means more than putting on the camo and shooting up looters with your AK. TOUCAN BILL’S BIRD’S EYE VIEW: COFFEE!!!! I’m not a big coffee drinker, but I MUST have that first cup in the morning to get my brain going! LOL! As such, I came up with a number of simple, quick and economical methods of making sure I could have that cup, even if the grid in general and the power in particular went down.
There is the “coffee stick”, of course. This is an individual serving of freeze dried coffee in a tube that can be opened and poured in a cup needing only hot water. These are great for the food packs for backpacks (bug out/bounce back bags). But when you shelter in place (hunker down) at home or your safe haven, you should be able to use the standard ground coffee.
The options with this have been some form of alternate power (generator/car battery with power inverter) and a coffee maker, especially a single cup style, or some form of stove/cooker, which can range from a can of Sterno to a camp stove. In the second case, you can boil water with the grounds in a pan and filter the grounds out with a paper filter in a funnel.
Now, however, there is another easy and economical variation on the boiling water method. I picked up at a local discount store for $4.00 a pack of two “coffee sticks” with a carrying pouch. These sticks are plastic spoons with a mesh coffee filter at the end that will hold enough regular ground coffee for one cup. There is a mesh lid in a frame that slides to the side, which allows you to scoop up the coffee. You then slide the lid back and lock it in place, put it in the cup and pour in the hot water. You then stir until your cup is brewed to your liking.
This item can be used for tea or hot chocolate, and possibly for bullion. At this price, it’s easy to have a couple of these 2 packs on hand and in your “go bags”.The ones I picked up were sold under the name “Handy coffee sticks” and are easy to clean and can be put in a dishwasher. So while others are stumbling around on a dark morning when the electricity is off, you are sitting back with you hot cup of coffee and your battery powered lights, because you learned than prepping does NOT take up a lot of money, time, space or effort.
PREPPER BEE WISE’S BUZZ WORDS AND PHRASES GRAB AND GO This is tossing additional items such as non-perishable food, clothing, or such SWIFTLY into a box or bag and putting it into your vehicle to add to your GO BAGS, BOBS or other such items in an evacuation.
PREPACK CHARLIE Also known as GO BAGS, these are packs, duffels, or any other containers that hold extra food, water, important papers, money or support equipment that are pre packed and ready to be put in your vehicle within minutes in an evacuation. These are in addition to the BOB’s (Bug out Bags, more on those later) that should, if possible, always remain in the vehicle.
ACE UP YOUR SLEEVE Any bit of knowledge, equipment, supplies, or situation (not working in a flood plain, etc.) that adds positively to your prepping and odds of survival. NOT JUST BREATHING This term means surviving an extreme event and maintaining your morals, standards, dignity, honor, and humanity, Just being alive does not make you human, your conduct does. In Katrina, at the superdome, some were alive and some were human.
BE BACK Short for” law and order will be reestablished, until then we will maintain order as fairly and decently as we can”. It comes from an old 60’s movie of a family caught up in a nuclear war. The teen age son says that there won’t be any laws or rules now. His father sternly tells him “don’t count out the law. It will be back. I just want us to be alive when it does.” (FYI: The movie was Panic in Year Zero Horrible title, but a good prepper movie.)
NEVER HAPPEN The mental attitude of some concerning any type of event short or long, local or widespread, IN SPITE of 9/11, Katrina, Sandy, tornados, wildfires, so on and so on. A JAKE MOMENT This is when you calmly look at a situation gone bad and find new resolve to win out against it. Taken from the low budget movie “ JAKE SPEED” from the 80’s. In the scene, the hero, Jake Speed, finds all his plans disrupted violently when he is caught between two fighting factions. He calmly stands amid the smoldering wreckage and says:
“ALL RIGHT, ENOUGH OF THIS BULLSHIT!! “. SHEEP DANCE When the unprepared first stand numbly, then panic when a serious event happens or is announced, such as stripping stores of bread and milk before a major snow storm. This comes from the old rhyme: “ When in worry, when in doubt, run around and scream and shout.”
MARRIED TO THE MICROWAVE A person or family that lives from freezer to microwave and wouldn’t even know how to open a can of beans with a manual can opener.
FAST FOOD FANATIC This is a person who lives by the “drive through”. Picks up breakfast on the way to “the office” goes out for takeout lunch, picks up dinner on the way home. Has more money than common sense and will be in serious trouble if an event knocks the grid out for a week or so.
ECONOMICS MAJOR This is person who will spend $20 to “vote” for a favorite performer on a TV show but thinks spending $2 on a mini flashlight with batteries is a “silly, unnecessary expense.” ONE STEP AWAY This means to be prepped in such a way that it would take one simple action or two in order to handle the effects of small events, such as local power outage or water line break. (Reach for a flashlight, check water supply, etc.)
A YAWN What a minor event becomes for you when you are prepped. Example of this is when our water was cut off for 1 day because a car hit a hydrant. This was followed by a boil water advisory for four days. We did have to do ANYTHING. We had nearly 5 gal of water in the jug in the cooler, with 2 more jugs in reserve, plus 2 gallons of water in the refrigerator plus sodas, etc. We never touched our reserve supplies.
WINE AND CAKE An expression for water and MRE’s (Meals ready to eat) usually directed to those who didn’t prep and don’t have regular food and drink available and have to wait in line for supplies from FEMA, the National Guard, etc. As in “LOL they can go get their wine and cake if something happens, I’ll be ready here.”
POOR RICHARD’S FICTION CORNER Every edition we will post some “prepper” fiction. This is a page from the first short story CHOICES, from my fictional work “When the Day Came” PLEASE NOTE: This entire work IS copyrighted.
Choices Part I: Marlene mixed herself a scotch and walked back to the couch in the living room of her stylish house on a quiet street in her gated community. Sitting down she grimaced thinking that today was grocery shopping day. She hated the task so much she held off as long as she could until there was nothing left in the kitchen. It’s not like she actually went to a grocery store, God forbid, but even the thought of making a list and calling it in was enough to ruin her day. At least the exclusive store she used delivered and put up her order. Still, with her in her late forties she should have a house keeper to do such menial tasks. But with the stock market doing a nose dive every second day, her husband, Stanley, claimed they just could not take on more expenses.
The thought of him put another grimace on her face. She had caught him right after college when she saw that with a little training and control he would be the right man in the right profession to give her the social status and financial position she desired. This was the first time that he had ever balked at fulfilling a demand of hers.
She shook her head wondering why he couldn’t show some backbone at work and demand a raise. But no, he was as much of a wimp there as he was at home. He only had his current position thanks to her skillful entertaining of his bosses and their wives. God, they were enough to make her gag every time they came to dinner. She worked just as hard as he did for what they had. Without warning the A/C and the CD player she had on stopped. She cursed under her breath at the thought of another brownout on this, one of the hottest days in August.
Figuring the afternoon was ruined anyway, she went to call in the order. She wouldn’t bother with a list. They could just send what she ordered last time. Stan wouldn’t know the difference anyway.
Forgetting that the base unit needed electricity to work, she lifted the phone up and found it was dead. Putting the now useless phone back, she went to the kitchen and got her cell. She put it to her ear and again got nothing. After checking to see if it was on, she set it back down angry at herself for not making sure it was charged. Strange though, it was working at lunch time when she tried to call Stan.
When a knock at the front door got her attention, she realized that the doorbell wasn’t working either. She opened it to find her friend and neighbor from four doors up the street standing there sweating and panting.
