Hopefully, in your travels through the world wide web you find what I have posted here, of some use. Thoughts and ideas and how to's will be here. Have you ever turned your power off for more than an hour just to see what it would be like to run every day life with out that convenience? Have you ever asked yourself how you would cook dinner with out being able to enter your own home. These are just a couple of questions that are necessary to becoming more prepared for an unknown future. Join me, let me hear and see your ideas. Let me know if the information added here is or has been helpful to you and your family. I hope to hear from you.
A thought... Walk around your house and write down all of the appliances and other items that use electricity, or gas. After that is done, turn your power off for about 3 hours. Your going to want to hit the breaker, that's right the breaker. It is amazing how many items in your home rely on power. To get a true sense of a power outage, turn off the breaker. Now right down all the things you had planned to do, on a normal day, during that time period. How many of those things required gas or electricity. (not water yet). Do you have 1 or 2 or maybe even 3 alternatives for cooking, heating, or lighting? How many batteries do you have? Candles? Propane stove? How about enough propane to run your BBQ, or charcoal? What would your plan for communication be? Do you have extra gasoline for an emergency requiring you to leave your home? Do you have a generator and extra gasoline? After 3 hours, did you survive? Were you able to sit and read? Perhaps you had enough candles or a battery powered lantern and were able to play a board game. Was it dinner time? How did you prepare dinner with out the ease of a stove or microwave? Are the kids used to having a light or a mobile or lit mobile? Could you find new ways to get them to sleep with out those "sleep aids"? How would you get information to someone with out power. (Remember, you wont have a phone with out power. Even if you can turn your cell phone on, is the cell tower going to work?) What time of year was it when you tried this? Did you have alternatives for heating your home, or at least one room? Do you have enough firewood to heat your home? How much firewood would be required to heat your home for one year? Were you able to stay away from your computer for the three hours? Do you have alternatives to charge appliances like computers, or phones? These are questions that are not normally asked in the course of ones day. Did they get the gears turning?
Now for the water... Do you have a supply of water that would be enough for a week just for cooking and drinking? Do you have enough water stored, to provide minimal cleaning? Have you recently checked your water supply to make sure that it hasn't been contaminated? Do you know how to deal with the contamination you may come into contact with in your water? Is your water being stored in an area that has a relatively solid temperature? Can you store enough water to last a month? How about a year?
Let's get started.
Electrical: This list includes as many items as I can think of that require some form of electricity, including battery power. Oven, microwave, blender, toaster, waffle iron, coffee maker, juicer, coffee grinder, refrigerator, freezer, water filter, of course the over head lights, and clocks. That's just the kitchen.
Now the rest of the house. In the bathroom you might have a curling iron or straightener, electric tooth brush, light up mirror, blow dryer, electric shaver, or maybe a crimper or curler box.
In the bedroom; night lights, mobile, baby monitor, bed side lamp, heating blanket, massage pillow or mat, alarm clock, charging ports for phones or bluetooth or music devices, filter on the kids fish tank.
Living room and office; computer, T.V., radio, cable or satelite, game systems, lamps, over head lights, vaccuum cleaner, DVD or VCR players, paper shredder, digital locks or security systems.
Garage and excersize room; tread mills, stair climbers, any excersize equipment that has a need for a power cord. The garage door. Many, many tools that require power to run. Table saws, jig saws, some chain saws, drills, and many more. The question here is, If you are out of power long enough, what are some alternatives for repairs?
Here are more items that usually encompass the laundry room, but not necessarily just that room. The furnace, water heater, washer and dryer, soft water system, sprinkler system, modem or router for the computer.
And then there are items that probably 75 % of the population never has to consider.... Medical. Do you or someone you know require some type of medical assistance that requires power? Oxygen, heart monitor, wheelchair, refrigeration for meds, elevators for upstairs and downstairs travel, alarm systems for the critically ill or seriously incapacitated? Have any of these thoughts crossed your mind? This link has great tips and ideas to help deal with power loss and medical assistance, http://www.netplaces.com/caring-for-aging-parents/in-case-of-emergency/power-outages-and-oxygen-or-other-care-issues.htm
We have become a world of convenience. Can you live with out all of these things for even 3 hours? Could you manage for a week? How about longer? In the Midwest there are often power failures that can last for weeks. These power failures can happen any time of the year. Between the tornadoes and ice storms heavy lightening and high winds, power loss is an inconvenient and frequent visitor.
Have you ever considered a supply of batteries? AA, AAA, 9 volt, D cell, C or even car, motorcycle or boat batteries. Batteries can be stored for a relatively long time if stored in a cool dry place, off of the cement floor of the basement. Have you considered rechargable batteries? Of course these would require a solar powered charging tool, or some other generation with a converter and charging port. Generators would be wise, but if you have no way to get to fuel, you will quickly lose that help. have you ever considered a pedal generator, http://www.los-gatos.ca.us/davidbu/pedgen.html , or http://pedalpowergenerator.com/ ? The first link is from David Butcher. He built his first pedal power generator in 1976. The second link is a website full of ideas, helpful hints, prices, kits, and many more ideas and products that might become useful becauseof the possible loss of power. Have you considered solar power? There are many prdoducts that are currently available like never before, some portable some permanent.
(Did you know that by opening the blinds and curtains of the windows on the most south facing part of your home, that you can cut your energy use in half. Not only do open curtains bring natural light into the house, but it also allows the sun to heat your home. The more heat you can produce without the furnace during the day, the less time the furnace has to run at night. Especially in cooler and colder seasons. Of course this is the reverse in hot or warming seasons. By closing the blinds and curtains on the south most facing windows during the hotter days of the year, you can cut your cooling bills. To further cool your home, create a breeze way from the cooler part of the house to the warmer. This is accomplished by opening up the windows fairly wide in the cooler portion of the house, and opening up another window in the warmer part of the house just a little. Make sure that doors in between the windows are open to access the draft through the house with out obstruction. A breeze way works best if there is a breeze out side. To supplement a breeze way with no outdoor winds, use a fan in the window with the larger opening.)
Now how about cooking and heating. Do you have a barbeque, or charcoal grill? How about a backyard fire pit? Have you ever cooked in a contraption called a Dutch oven? http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/ Do you have a supply of Charcoal for a year? (Fifteen 20lb bags of charcoal can be enough for 1 hot meal a day for a year. It is recommended to store the charcoal in sealed plastic buckets to protect them from moisture.) Do you have a wood burning stove? Not a pellet stove that needs to be plugged in to operate. An old fashioned wood burning stove. If you have that fireplace, do you have enough wood to cook, and heat for the household? Is the top of your fireplace flat enough to support pots or a tea kettle? Do you know how much firewood would be required to heat your home for 3 months, 6 months, 9 months or a year? This link explains in fairly easy terms what it would cost and take to heat a home that is an average 2 - 3 bedrooms that is well insulated. http://www.ehow.com/how_4456875_estimate-how-much-firewood-buy.html , These numbers are a good solid base. There is never anything wrong with adding to those numbers as long as you can safely store your wood.
Now on to water. Do you have enough water to allow for a power outage, of your doing, for about 3 hours? Probably. Do you have a supply of water that would be enough to last 72 hours? Do you have enough water for a week, a month, a year? How much water is required for minimal survival? how much water is required for minimal survival and then some cleaning? Do you have pets? have you considered their water needs? If you have water in storage, have you recently checked its quality? Do you have the means to filter and boil water for drinking in case you use up your supply? This web site has some great information on this. http://www.buggingin.com/blog/how-much-water-do-we-need-to-survive/ Could you get by on 1 gallon of water per day per person in your house hold? I would add 1 gallon per day per pet. Even if your pet is small, 1 gallon per day, would go along way to supporting existing water supplies for the whole family. Just because a cat or dog can drink outdoor sources of water doesn't mean they should. Due to certain circumstances, outside sources may be rendered unusable even for an animals standard. Do you have a plan A or plan B for water? Do you have a plan A or plan B for cleaning water that may be substandard however, necessary to utilize. These next websites have great products that provide many options and ideas for not only water but also food storage, Emergency Essentials http://beprepared.com/ , Quake Kare http://www.quakekare.com/emergency-water-supplies-c-15_17.html?gclid=COGbzInqhagCFQxvbAodC1S_qQ , Nitro Pak http://www.nitro-pak.com/products/freeze-dried-foods?gclid=CMXej7TqhagCFQE2gwodOwktsw. With the high demand on all sources of food and water storage, some in house skills are quickly becoming necessary.
I especially like the idea in the buggingin blog, 2 and 3 liter bottles make good storage containers particularly if you need to leave your residence quickly. (1 gallon of water weighs 8 US pounds. Imagine trying to move a 15 gallon container while hurrying to vacate. That's 120 pounds.) In the Emergency Essentials store there are many choices for both personal water purification and purifying large quantities of water. For example; Aquamira, treatment for water storage, treats up to 60 gallons of water. Or the Katadyn Micropur MP1 water purifier tablets, 1 tablet will treat 1 quart of water.
There are many small steps we can take to start shoring up our defenses. Starting now will produce 2 serious but positive outcomes. For 1 you will be 1 step closer to being prepared for long or short term situations. (job loss, disaster, long term power failure) For 2, imagine what it is going to be like for others who have not taken the time to prepare. Imagine the flood of people at the store trying to just get a few supplies for their families. By you being prepared you have made it possible to avoid these areas during a crisis. You have made it possible for 1 more item to be on the shelf for someone else. You have made everyones job just a bit easier. There is never anything wrong with that.
If you are on Face Book these are a couple of groups I recomend that you become aquainted with. They have great ideas on all of the ideas outlined in todays blog. Back to Basics- Hope for the Best, Prepare for the worst. New Survival Skills. Preparing your famlies for the worst but hoping for the best.
As I find more places that have devoted their time to preparations, I will add them.
