Friday, February 19, 2016 · 3:25 AM

Why you should prep

A.  Your personal obligation,
May 2014 by Mr. Larry
“Two hundred years ago (1812) the majority of the human race lived an agricultural life, their tools, assets and  knowledge were fitted to extracting most of their livelihood from the land, their land.
Fast forward to 1937 (75 years ago) , agriculture had become mechanized, allowing a great many families to migrate to the cities. These new urban residents learned skills that replaced the previous agricultural knowledge on how to provide for their families sustenance.

Meanwhile, back in the countryside, as had been the practice for 8,000-10,000 years, the remaining farm families continued to use the excess from their crop yield to sustain themselves during the winter, they maintained a quantity of their produce as seed for the following spring planting, some of the crop yield fed their livestock, some grains was sold for trade currency,  and if  the harvest had been really good, they added a couple more head of live stock.

The farm family stored food supplies, seed for future crops, and maintained a supportive ecology based on agricultural foods, wood from the forest, and water from the well or stream. They maintained a supply capacity to cover the eventuality that: a rainstorm might damage an early planting,  a drought could reduce summer production,  or an early frost might kill crops before they’d fully ripened. There could also occur: a crop disease in the field, insect and pest infestations in storage, robbery, heavy taxation,  a wild-fire, or a number of family members (work force) could be ill and removed from the seasons production labor effort. There were and are a lot of potential threats, fortunately none have a high probability of severe occurence on any given year.

The new landless,that is,  the migrants from the farm to the city-town, like their country kin, needed to maintain a savings from the slight excess generated by their labor. Life,  in some ways, may have become easier in the city, but there was/is still the chance of losing one’s job; a business bankruptcy; severe, long term illness in the family; theft by robbery and taxation; currency devaluation (more governmental theft), fire, war, calamity, personal needs and eventual retirement.

There remained a need for everyone to set some of their income aside to cover an eventual, “rainy day,” and not just a literal day or a week, but to cover the individual or family in case they missed a significant part of their harvest or a seasons labor for wages.

During recent decades (roughly the last 75 years), the exploitation of essentially free energy (free lunch) from fossil fuels has made the world’s lifestyle wealthy compared to  that of ancient kings. The largess of Western social economic structures have grown to provide an economic safety net for both farmers and unemployed urban residents. These public welfare programs have become so prevalent, that people now expect someone else to look after their deficiencies.
Diligent industry and personal responsibility have given way to public welfare, there is no longer a need for diligent industry or personal responsibility; quite the contrary, both the rural and urban worker can at times maneuver their situation in conjunction with the letter of the law to profit from sloth. Once enrolled in the public welfare, enough people find ways to stay in the program that they become a burden to society. [See also my post, “Tragedy of the Commons”]

The point here is: While governments has set up well-meaning, social welfare programs, these programs can only be expected to function as long as government structures operate within  some nebulous limit we might call, “Normal Conditions”. It’s great that a new layer of protection has been added as insurance for our personal sustenance, but each individual adult, each family, still has to provide diligent industry and accept personal responsibility to protect themselves.

When you  fulfill your obligation to look after your own survival, like any other larger animal on this planet, then you can accept public welfare on a temporary basis.  Relying on and expecting public assistance in times of regional-national-global hardship is like an irrational farmer who thinks: there will never be a crop loss, who doesn’t maintaining supplies, who does not maintain a flock or herd, and who eats the seed set aside for next year’s crop. This is a line of thinking that is bound for disaster, this is “our modern way” in the West and it has been for the last decade.
All it takes is one crop failure; or, in modern terms: massive unemployment, an extended period of high inflation,  the government declaring bankruptcy, a couple of nuclear missiles entering our skies, a deadly pandemic, any form of economic collapse…
…In 3 days you could be dying of thirst, followed by several weeks of social disorder that escalates by maybe two orders of magnitude (100 times worse than what “bad” means in “normal” times), starvation begins in 4 weeks…” (Mr. Larry)
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B.  Aesop knew how it worked — 2500 years ago
If anyone doesn’t understand the obligation of families to one another during a serious economic national crisis, I recommend you read Aesop’s fable,  The Grasshopper and The Ant, as follows:

“Once there lived an ant and a grasshopper in a grassy meadow. All day long the ant would work hard, collecting grains of wheat from the farmer’s field far away. She would hurry to the field every morning, as soon as it was light enough to see by, and toil back with a heavy grain of wheat balanced on her head. She would put the grain of wheat carefully away in her larder, and then hurry back to the field for another one. All day long she would work, without stop or rest, scurrying back and forth from the field, collecting the grains of wheat and storing them carefully in her larder.

The grasshopper would look at her and laugh. ‘Why do you work so hard, dear ant?’ he would say. ‘Come, rest awhile, listen to my song. Summer is here, the days are long and bright. Why waste the sunshine in labour and toil?’

The ant would ignore him, and head bent, would just hurry to the field a little faster. This would make the grasshopper laugh even louder. ‘What a silly little ant you are!’ he would call after her. ‘Come, come and dance with me! Forget about work! Enjoy the summer! Live a little!’ And the grasshopper would hop away across the meadow, singing and dancing merrily.

Summer faded into autumn, and autumn turned into winter.
The sun was hardly seen, and the days were short and grey, the nights long and dark.
It became freezing cold, and snow began to fall.

The grasshopper didn’t feel like singing any more. He was cold and hungry. He had nowhere to shelter from the snow, and nothing to eat. The meadow and the farmer’s field were covered in snow, and there was no food to be had. ‘Oh what shall I do? Where shall I go?’ wailed the grasshopper. Suddenly he remembered the ant. ‘Ah – I shall go to the ant and ask her for food and shelter!’ declared the grasshopper, perking up. So off he went to the ant’s house and knocked at her door. ‘Hello ant!’ he cried cheerfully. ‘Here I am, to sing for you, as I warm myself by your fire, while you get me some food from that larder of yours!’

The ant looked at the grasshopper and said, ‘All summer long I worked hard while you made fun of me, and sang and danced. You should have thought of winter then! Find somewhere else to sing, grasshopper! There is no warmth or food for you here!’ And the ant shut the door in the grasshopper’s face.

It is wise to worry about tomorrow today.” (That was human thinking 2500 years ago. lfp)
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C.  Remember the addage , “It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.”  (about 5000 BC)
One thing about the future is that no one can be too sure how it’s going to turn out. Most of us are realists and understand that in regards to the future, it’s better to prepare for the likelihood of falling on hard times than be stuck in the middle of it without any preparations or plans.

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Definitions use in the following article
SHTF – Shit hit the fan (event). Think: Temporary, local or regional disaster that disrupt some services, business and-or social structures for days to months. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornado damage, flooding, riots, local volcanic activity, major snowstorms, hyperinflation…Black Swan SHTF events that trigger a chain of cascading disasters can lead to TEOTWAKI.
TEOTWAWKI – The End Of The World As We Know It. (event). Think: long term wide spread disruption, systemic failures, extreme hardship, trying to survive within a collapsed social structure, crime violence escallates, seeing dead human bodies becomes somewhat common. Nuclear War, solar and terrorist EMP, deadly pandemic, major volcanic activity…
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D.  SHTF vs. TEOTWAWKI?
SurvivalCache.com, by  Captain Bart
http://survivalcache.com/shtf-vs-teotwawki/
“This past President’s Day, all the satellite channels on my cable went out. Annoying. About an hour later all power in the house went out! This is about how it would play out if a big CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) were to hit the earth.

Prepared?
First the satellites and then some time delay later (depending on CME speed) the power goes down. Since I hadn’t followed my usual practice of daily checking on the Sun, I didn’t know and it was too late to find out. Then I noticed the cell phones still worked, my Blackberry allowed me internet access (NOT a Carrington Event). Turns out a line fuse had blown and about 40 houses were without power for 20 minutes or so. Not even much of a SHTF event but for a few minutes, a whole lot of things I wish I had already done went through my mind.

We often use SHTF and TEOTWAWKI almost interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. For the first week or two, they may be almost identical. Law enforcement may still be in place well into the TEOTWAWKI event. In many scenarios we won’t know if it is TEOTWAWKI for weeks or months. This causes difficulty in preparations. Get it wrong and you could be in trouble.

My SHTF moment may be your TEOTWAWKI event. When Hurricane Ike hit Houston, I shared food, firearms and ammo with neighbors. It was a SHTF and not even a ‘Black Swan” event. The problem with this, of course, is that now my neighbors know I’m prepared. If you lived on Bolivar Penninsula near Galveston, Texas, Hurricane Ike was a TEOTWAWKI event. This Cat II hurricane had a storm surge like a Cat IV storm and in parts of Bolivar not even the foundations are left.

The point of this is that not only is one man’s SHTF another man’s TEOTWAWKI, one event can morph into the other. How you prepare for one event effects how you deal with the other type event. If you have only prepared for TEOTWAWKI and that plan is basically taking your fully tricked out assault rifle and scrounging what you need from your neighbor’s deserted homes, then you may find yourself in real trouble when the SHTF but it isn’t TEOTWAWKI. SHTF and even ‘Black Swan’ events happen to all of us to varying degrees with surprising regularity although we often don’t recognize it. If you worked for Bernie Madoff and his ponzi scheme, the SHTF big time when your job, your investments and your savings all went away at the same time! Everything changed overnight.

I think the most likely TEOTWAWKI event will be some type of pandemic that will start slowly and grow in isolated locations until some critical mass is reached. You may have a different “favorite” TEOTWAWKI event but this one serves for discussion. At the point critical mass is reached everything shuts down, martial law is declared and the TEOTWAWKI spiral begins.

Plan For The Mostly Likely Events
What does this mean for us? I would argue that most of our preparations should be for SHTF events. A TEOTWAWKI pandemic and a normal flu outbreak will be identical on the local level for the first days to weeks. So my first preparations will be to survive a one-week ‘shelter in place’ – grid up and utilities working. My next step is to survive a 2-week, shelter in place, grid down scenario followed by a possible 4-week bug out stint. I am ready and flexible if things change but I feel that this is the most likely scenario and what I base my planning around.

The moral is to prepare for the most likely events first since they are the ones that will surely happen. I KNOW Houston will get hit by another hurricane. If I’m ready for Ike, then I’m set for a different 2 to 4 week grid down Black Swan. If I stretch my preparations to 3 months then I’m ready for a massive commerce interruption and so on. Baby steps will carry you far if you are consistently improving. Giant steps can lead to major, perhaps catastrophic mistakes in planning and execution. Take care of the smaller, high probability events and the low probability events and Black Swans can be successfully handled.”

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E.  How Horrific Will It Be For The Non-Prepper?
May 12th, 2012, for  SHTFPlan.com, by  author, Be Informed
http://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-preparedness/how-horrific-will-it-be-for-the-non-prepper_05122012

This article has been made available by regular SHTFplan contributor, Be Informed.
Editor’s Note: You have no doubt had your own set of issues dealing with friends and family members that simply don’t see the writing on the wall. The following article may serve to assist you in convincing those who simply don’t know, don’t want to know, don’t care, or have never even thought to contemplate. Some of the scenarios outlined below may be frightening, as they should be, because when it hits the fan millions of people will be thrown into desperation with no hope of a solution. Be Informed provides a variety of point-by-point details that may (and hopefully will) convince the non-prepared individual to at least insulate themselves with the basic necessities. The consequences for not doing so, as you’ll see, are severe and often deadly.

“I have become personally so disenchanted with the way people fail to prep. People still don’t understand how important it is to put away. I have gotten into arguments over this and had cretins call me a fool because I put away food, water, and supplies. I thought about this and the frustration that other preppers have with this laid back idiotic attitude that there is no need for preparation. There are good people that just can’t/won’t start preparing. They have the money to do so, but just don’t want to. Many have only seen what happens to non-preppers on TV, but it still doesn’t make an impact.

In this article I detail some hard core realities to show just how awful it will be for those that don’t prep. Every one of these scenarios is something that has occurred to the non-prepper throughout history. While strong images come to mind, the purpose is to jar some people out of their inaction and into action before it is too late.

Preppers are good people and care much about those around them, and unless something does jar those around them that choose not to prep, their own survival chances could be reduced. For every bit of food, water, ammunition, or supplies you sacrifice to the non-prepper, the fewer irreplaceable supplies are left for you and your family in a crisis situation. It is hoped that the following can help certain people put into TRUE perspective just how horrific it will be for those that don’t prepare.

Here are the awful consequences for those refusing to prep.
As the world continues to decay at multiple facets, the common person has and continues to be lulled into a sense that everything is improving and will continue to for the distant future. After all, to them unemployment has peaked out and will drop until everyone that wants to work will easily be able to find good paying work, North Korea is no threat because all their long range “bottle rockets” fizz out, sanctions will eventually make Iran give up their nuclear program, oil prices will start going down after June or so, Europe will bail out Greece and Spain and everyone else, and U.S. debt will eventually come under control.

After 2012 everyone that has prepared themselves will go back to more “sensible” lives. “Good times are coming”, baseball season is here, let’s get back to watching some more crackerjack news.

It is amazing how people become good conversationalists with most others discussing all the gossip related news, while becoming mentally tranquilized into a totally deceptive state of denial of truly dangerous issues of the times. It’s the blind leading the blind… right off the cliff.

Rather than dealing with harsh reality, people surround themsleves with easy to digest material that can be talked about without directly influencing anyone’s lives. Meaningless chatter. Even for those unwilling to even think to prepare for a societal catastrophic event, there is also no desire to even face the extreme possibility of a sudden loss of one’s employment. A personal SHTF.

Look at some of the terrible personal pain experienced in America right now – and it hasn’t even hit the fan on a grand scale. Those people who have lived it up on credit, who failed to put much of anything away for a rainy day, who’ve lost their job, and who eventually lost their unemployment benefits are experiencing the first level of collapse. This is happening to millions of people in our own country, all around us, as we speak.

These Americans, who once enjoyed the luxuries that modern living had to offer, are now at their wits end, with very little hope for a return to their previous lives. They are no longer able to pay most or any of their bills. Many have to humiliatingly turn to others for help to pay for food, or worse, to obtain old, unhealthy and poor tasting food from locally funded food banks. Their credit cards are totally worthless. Many have been evicted from their homes and have uprooted their families to live either on the street, in tent cities, with relatives, or have been forced to live at homeless shelters, They’ve have had their vehicles repossessed, or simply can’t afford the gasoline anymore. Their living conditions often make it difficult, if not impossible, to look presentable for job interviews. For many, the life of stability they knew just a short while ago is gone, replaced with fear and a constant stress to the point of nervous breakdown.

A personal economic meltdown is confined to the individual or family, or at worst a few families. The human civilization remains intact and so do society’s safety nets.

With food assistance, rental assistance, homeless shelters, and family to turn to, even the most destitute are almost always able to find some sort of help – however menial.

It is no wonder with these known assistance programs, then, that people have forgotten or never thought to consider what happens IF and WHEN human civilization goes through a strong enough SHTF event. If that happens on a mass scale what happens to everyone that needs help that has not prepared ahead of time? What happens when governments are in such total disarray or destroyed altogether that they can’t help even if they wanted to?

The media and others have portrayed the good people that sacrifice much if not all “luxuries” of life to prepare themselves and their family and friends for extreme times, as chicken littles. Those who have made the choice to store up emergency food, water, and other necessities to avoid extreme life threatening risks, including suffering horribly during and after a widespread SHTF event, are laughed at and ridiculed often for “wasting” their lives on delusional paranoia.

But who is delusional? Those who see the signs around them and understand how vulnerable the system is, or those who believe that things never change, that politicians have their best interests at heart, and that if the worst happens the government will be there to provide everything they may need?

How many have considered the dire consequences of their failure to prepare in the event that the infrastructure and everything a country’s people depend on totally collapses?

The misery from long term unemployment and lack of money is like a walk in the park compared to the severe anguish and dangerous conditions that await those who have failed to prepare for the aftermath of a large scale cataclysm. The “minor” problems of unemployment that seem extremely major and painful to most today should serve as a wake up call to what life will be like when something much, much worse happens – when those proverbial safety nets are no longer there to catch us.

Many preppers have become deeply frustrated at those around them, especially those that truly mean something to them, because they simply refuse to put away anything at all for emergencies. The prepper is usually a person that cares a lot and it is often difficult for them to take a tough stance towards the people that they care about. However, unless someone changes the habits of those people that fail to get ready, decisions will need to be made, and they won’t be easy.

The choice of what the prepared prepper should do will boil down to either either adding these people to their own circle or survival group and reduce the group’s safety, supplies and self sufficiency, OR, they will have to let the non-prepper fend for themselves. This is a very personal choice, and each of us will need to decide based on our own morals, ethics and personal relationships.

As a last ditch effort, discussing the following scenarios with the non-prepper may help them understand what life will be like without what has sustained them so comfortably for so long.

This is the hard reality the non prepper needs to understand:

•  Without power the water company cannot get water to their faucets. Without water dehydration occurs within 24 hours. Dehydration causes much suffering before death.
•  Toilets in homes, unless they have an incineration toilet that still need power to work, don’t flush without water. Where will they go to the bathroom and then where will they dispose of human waste?
•  There will be no clean water available anywhere, especially in major cities, and they cannot live more than about three days without it.
•  Drinking dirty and polluted water will make them incredibly sick and accelerate the dehydration process.
•  Polluted water must be purified and that means having a good filter, bleach or other disinfectant, or fuel and something to boil water with.
•  Understand just how fragile the power and the infrastructure is that pumps water to the public. A breakdown in our power infrastructure or a cyber attack against utility systems will render them useless.
•  A single event can rapidly lead to a cascade of other events that would certainly collapse almost, if not, everything. This is why major snow storms, hurricanes or solar events  in the past have affected millions of people in an entire region all at once.
•  A single, seemingly unimportant event may become quite terrible as its repercussions spread; this can include a far and away disaster.
•  Understand that the economies of the world are so interwoven that when one major economy falls it affects everyone.
•  Not having any food in the house means that if the stores are emptied suddenly in a bad enough situation that there will be no food available for a long period of time afterward. Recent history during disasters around the world has shown that stores can literally be emptied in minutes.
•  Think about how totally horrible the feeling of being very hungry is and what circumstances would cause one to be desperate enough to eat anything.
•  ALL stores can be closed instantly under martial law.
•  Understand that you may not be able to purchase anything after it starts, especially with any credit cards.
•  Understand the complexity of food and water distribution; breaks in these chains can stop anything from getting to the people.
•  What life will be like if no toilet paper is stored?
•  Understand that without light sources, the night will be pitch black, often with zero visibility.
•  There will be no communications, other than probably martial law type of instructions over the radio, that is if they have batteries for the radio.
•  Other than ham and shortwave radio, any information that is available will be sent out by the government as filtered propaganda that “they” want everyone to hear.
•  Without power consider what it will be like to not have any heat to stay warm, or air conditioned air to stay cooler – with no way of alleviating the situation.
•  Travelling will likely be by  foot or bicycle, as their will be no fuel and roadways may be blocked.
•  Realize that ANY travel outside of the home or neighborhood will be extremely dangerous as ANYONE  who moves becomes a target
•  Non preppers will be pushed way beyond their limit because of lack of supplies.
•  The non prepper must realize their government does not really care about them individually, that they are a mere number and help will likely not come from them.
•  They have to figure out somewhere to get food. This can mean wild plants which they must know how to identify as safe, or risk poisoning themselves.
•  They have to understand that when we refer to “having no food” it doesn’t mean not having the food they are used to enjoying, it means no food to eat at all.
•  They have to understand that if they are fortunate enough to have any running water, they will probably have to bathe in cold water for lack of stored fuel to heat water.
•  They have to realize that the very strange and totally unexpected is going to be all around them, made that much worse because of lack of any reliable self defense stores or skills.
•  They might have to remain on the run constantly because of looking for water and food.
•  They must understand that bad will be magnified magnitudes to living misery because of lack of food, water, and other necessary items that they took for granted for so long.

Okay, now comes the “truly ugly and unthinkable” life that most, if not all, people that have failed and refused to prepare themselves will deal with. Clear vivid visualization is key here for anyone that ho hums the idea of prepping.
What horrors they will likely face after a cave-in of their nation’s economy, war, geophysical upheaval, or whatever crisis is bad enough to disturb or stop their nation from working and functioning? There are plenty of very potential SHTF events that are simply awaiting a catalyst to trigger them.

•  The Non-Prepper (NP) has to realize right off the bat that 911 and other emergency calls in will be met with silence or some recording telling the caller not to panic.
•  The (NP) that has no reliable self defense that can stop an attacker, will not get help from public services, and will become a victim of rape, assault, torture, or murder.
•  The (NP) that has no reliable self defense and will not only be at the mercy of criminal elements, but also have to contend with many desperate animals, some with rabies.
•  The (NP) that has no food will either have to find food or be ready to beg for food or worse, like sacrificing their bodies or other horrible acts or things to get a bite of food.
•  The (NP) will have to go through the worst, most rancid conditions of garbage to just maybe find what they should have stored up.
•  The (NP) will go through panic and near if not total psychosis looking for any water source right before their bodies begin shutting down during advanced stages of dehydration.
•  The (NP) will go through unbearable trauma when their children and other people around them are crying, screaming, and suffering with intense hunger pains in their stomachs.
•  The (NP) will have to deal with the awful stench of rotting wastes from many sources because they have not taken the effort to even store up waste disposal plastic bags.
•  The (NP) will have disease and pathogens everywhere, not only because they have no trash disposal means, but because they haven’t prepared how to deal with trash and waste.
•  The (NP) will have to live in very primitive conditions after things around them deteriorate rapidly, because they have neglected putting away anything to make life more bearable.
•  The (NP) and those around them will likely develop all sorts of infective skin rashes from the lack of insight of storing up toilet paper. Imagine the smell for a moment.
•  The (NP) will have to handle biting insects and other vermin that will collect amoungst the filth that will pile up. No pest control stored up along with no other supplies
•  The (NP) will have no way of treating sickness certain to follow a SHTF event, no first aid and likely no training or knowledge about how to treat the ill on top of this.
•  The (NP) will have sick and dying people around them because of not being able to treat minor injuries. Didn’t even stock up on disinfectives. Unsanitary conditions lead to infection.
•  The (NP) and others around them will experience much grief as they watch helplessly as their family members literally die of starvation right in front of their eyes.
•  The (NP) won’t believe how desperate hunger drives them and those that mean everything to them to “trying” to eat food that taste so bad it gags them and comes back up.
•  The (NP) will likely have  family and friends around them that have also not prepared committing suicide because they can’t take it any longer.
•  The (NP) will witness some of those people around them lose any sense of civilized humanity in them and behave like wild animals after some time from lack of necessities.
•  The (NP) and family members, maybe friends also, will at some point end up barbecuing or eating raw the family dog, cat, bird, any pet dear to everyone for food.
•  The (NP) will likely get into  physical fights with other family members over any scrap of food available as rational thoughts are lost to wanton hunger.
•  The (NP) as many other (NP’s) will eventually go out of any safety of their home looking for food and or water, become disorientated and lost, and die a hard death somewhere.
•  The (NP) that is “lucky” enough to find some government help will likely have to almost sell their  soul, probably all their freedom, to get tiny rations – just enough to keep them alive.
•  The (NP) will see widespread violence and barbarism that will shock them to the core and will wish that they had purchased some form of firearm and stocked up on ammunition.
•  The (NP) better get used to attempting to explain the children and other adults why they wasted all that money on junk, and didn’t buy any emergency food and other supplies.
•  The (NP), no matter how positive they are will drop quickly into depression and lose willpower as  having nothing to hold on to does this, along with lack of any nutrition.
•  The (NP) will feel the worst guilt imaginable as they hear their family moaning in anguish from lack of anything to eat, knowing they could have done something to prepare.
•  The (NP) will most likely not see the rebuilding and recovery after A SHTF event. They will, like almost all NP’s, be statistics. Some will die hours or a day before help arrives.
•  The (NP) from lack of food, drinking bad water, no light at night, the horrid smells, no good self defense, the overall horror, will often be paralyzed with fear and despair, blank stare.
•  The (NP) is totally helpless after SHTF, will have to rely totally on charity of those prepared to live. They will take all sorts of desperate measures likely to get them shot. They’ll attempt to eat hazardous foods like an animal trapped in a house will do, and get sick and suffer much before dying. The (NP) will      likely die (ugly and hard) as they lived, unprepared for anything.

If we were to use one single word to describe the torments that someone who “chooses” not to prepare will go through after a true you know what hits the fan it would be “PREVENTABLE”.

Almost every single person, even a very poor person, has the capacity to put away emergency food and supplies. Even homeless people have stashes of something just in case things become so bad that the normal hand outs and thrown-away items dry up. Many people with good sources of income don’t even have an extra can of food or any water put away at all. This is stupidity beyond words.

Every day lightweight disasters happen in all parts of the world that disturb services enough that people are confined to their homes for a certain amount of time. While recovery is short, people are still uncomfortable during these times. Look what happens after a power outage at night and you will be mystified at how many homes are completely dark for hours. People have not even bought an extra couple of candles or any battery operated light sources. Even in well-to-do neighborhoods you may hear only a lone generator going after a blackout. This lack of preparedness is truly frightening and plays itself out again, again, and again every time services are disrupted for minor to major reasons. It’s as if there is something wrong with storing extra food, water, and supplies.

Even after “lessons” played out to what happens to those non-prepared, most people still feel that it just cannot happen to them, or won’t ever happen to them again. It should be proof enough to people what happens to those unprepared after disasters simply by looking at those that have gone through it firsthand. The difference, though, comes in that these disasters have had recovery periods and help from others. Even Haiti received some help and conditions remain putrid over there.

After a TRUE SHTF, it is presumable that government help and others coming to the aid of those in need WON’T happen for long periods of time. During that time those that have chosen to not put food, water, and necessities away are going to be in life threatening positions. Most people just don’t get that when the supermarket shelves are empty they will stay that way for an extended period. When the utilities go down, especially water, it may be weeks, months, or longer before they come back, if ever. Without what someone needs to survive each day, it is not going to magically appear, and depending on the goodwill of others to feed them and sacrifice their own family’s survival chances is a terrible choice.

People MUST know what life will be like after SHTF in mega fashion if they refuse to prepare. This is NOT new. Terrible events have plunged people into the deepest levels of desperation and hopelessness, and they will happen again and again.

While the above consequences to the non-prepper are extremely abysmal for anyone to read, the simple fact of the matter is they have already happened time and time again to those that have nothing put away. People have resorted to cannibalism and gone to levels of primitive savage behavior out of shear desperation and out of literally losing their minds to the physical depletion of food and water that keeps the physical body operating. Sometimes showing the extreme severity and results of a person’s lack of action, such as failure of the simple act of putting away extra food, water, and supplies, can be the kick in the complacency that they need.

It’s really easy to put away food and supplies. All one has to do is add a little bit of extra food to the grocery cart for long-term storage. Over time this adds up to a well stocked pantry of supplies.

There is something that is in a can of food that everyone can eat and enjoy the taste of, so talk to family members about their nutritional preferences and start stocking up. Toilet paper and other supplies that really don’t have any expiration date can be put away and forgotten about ’til needed.

There MUST be common sense and intelligence to see what happens IF they don’t stock up for the future. There has to be the DESIRE to get started, and this is the real problem with so many.

Once started, however, prepping becomes a type of life saving routine or positive lifestyle habit. It is easy and can and will save one from misery. It may save their life and the lives of their family from ruin when SHTF, which is almost inevitably going to happen someday. Every month and year that goes by without a true SHTF event, makes it more likely that it will happen. Basic statistical chance shows this to be the case, but people continue the same pattern of behavior that has led them to the same devastation countless time before.

For those preppers that have people around them that refuse to prepare, you can at least have some degree of solace knowing that you tried to show the non-prepping person(s) what not having anything will mean to them and their families.

All we can do is try. Once we’ve given it our best shot, all we can do is let those who have been warned about the direness of the possibilities live their lives the way that want to. They will, unfortunately, live in a world of regret and suffering if the nation and the world falls apart around them.

To every action there is an opposite equal reaction. Preppers will see their efforts have been more than worth it. Objects that are motionless tend to remain motionless and non-preppers will find there are horrific consequences for their lack of effort and motion to put away “life insurance” preps for themselves and their families.”

End of article

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Wednesday, February 3, 2016 · 12:10 AM

BOB (Bug Out Bag), generic

(Survival Manual/2. Social Issues/Bug Out Bag, generic)

What is a ‘Bug Out Bag’?
The term “survival kit  refers a relatively large, portable survival kit also known as a “Bug-Out Bag” (BOB), Personal Emergency Relocation Kits (PERKs) or Get Out Of Dodge” (GOOD) kit; the kit is comprised of emergency items which are pre-packed into backpacks or duffel bags. The kits are designed specifically to be carried by individuals in case alternate forms of transportation are unavailable or impossible to use in the face of or immediately following a disaster.

The bags contain small quantities of supplies such as food, water purification equipment, clothing, medical equipment, communications gear, and tools. You should supply your BOB with the thought  that you’re going wilderness camping for 3-5 days.

The Bug-out Bag is considered by many to be the first level of preparedness that anyone should put together, simply by virtue of its overall usefulness. As noted elsewhere, the man-portable kit can be also be used when you don’t have to leave. It can be thrown into a vehicle when the situation allows you to drive away from the area. It also provides you with a kit that can be carried out of an affected area if damage to the transportation infrastructure is extreme, such as  after a severe earthquake, a technology busting EMP pulse, or widespread wind or flood damage.

[Photos above: (L) A back pack with an internal frame; one each, appropriately sized for each member of the family.
(R) High Sierra Wheeled Duffle, 30 inch, 6100 cubic inch capacity.  Loaded dimensions: 31 in. wide x 22 in. deep x 14 in. high. Has backpack straps, roller wheels with telescoping, handle, bag carry handle. One of these duffle’s carries supplies for 1+ person, 2 duffel’s  for 3-4  people.]

BOB-How to make a ‘town and country’ (Family style) portable emergency survival pack
eHow, By Alan Kirk
From <http://www.ehow.com/how_2311996_make-survival-pack.html>
With hurricane season upon us annually, the off season is a good time to put together a survival pack. In fact, survival packs are not just for hurricane season, but for any time of the year. A survival pack comes in handy in case of a natural disaster or power outage, or even an ice or snow storm. Survival packs received the most attention after Sept. 11, 2001, and Hurricane Katrina, but most government agencies recommend that every family have one prepared at all times.
See Ready Gov/FEMA: <http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit>

Things You’ll Need:

  • Suitcase/duffle bag/back pack with several days’ change of clothes
  • Flashlight
  • Bottled water
  • Batteries
  • Cell-phone charger
  • Copies of important documents
  • Cash (1/3-1/2 weeks net income)
  • Food–72 hour  (3 day) supply.

A.  Preparing a Survival Pack
Step 1- Suitcase/duffle bag/ back pack prepacked with emergency clothing: Pack suitcases for your family. When you pack clothes for a survival pack, you should fill one large suitcase with enough clothes for all of your family members. In general, you should include at least two days’ worth of clothes for each family member. If you have a young child in your family, don’t forget to pack diapers and wipes as well. Keep in mind that, in case of an emergency, you might not have time to look for these items before you have to leave your house. Pack clothing appropriate for being outdoors in the weather.

Step 2- Small suitcase prepacked with ‘survival’ food: Prepare a small suitcase full of food. Obviously, the food must be non-perishable, considering that it will be sitting in your survival pack for a long period of time. Do not pack items that must be microwaved or cooked on a stove, since you will not know when you will next be in an area with electricity. Some of the best items include snack bars, peanut butter, cereal, beef jerky, canned fruit and dried fruits.

Step 3-Important documents: Put copies of your important documents in an envelope and pack it in one of your suitcases. This envelope should contain a copy of everyone’s birth certificate and Social Security card. It should also include recent tax filings, automobile registration and/or loan documents and home-ownership information. If you think an original document will be required instead of a copy, pack that. Just make sure you have extra copies of the document somewhere for backup purposes. In this envelope, include several hundred dollars in cash. If there is a loss of power, ATMs will not operate.

Step 4- Flashlight, batteries & charger: Keep in mind that, in case of a natural disaster, you will not know how far you will have to travel, or how long it will take to get somewhere that has electricity. Make sure you have a flashlight in your survival kit. You can purchase a battery-powered emergency charger for your cell phone at cell-phone stores, grocery stores and convenience stores. Make sure you have an extra charging cable for your cell phone your kit as well. If you plan on taking a laptop computer with you, pack an extra battery, along with a charging cable.

Step 5- Phone numbers: Create a list of the phone numbers you feel you must have if you are forced to leave your home. It is a smart idea to print out these numbers on a business-card-sized piece of paper and have it laminated. You should have one of these made for each member of your household who will be with you. This way, everyone will have the phone numbers they need. This card should include your cell-phone number and your spouse’s number, labeled as “mom” and “dad” on your child’s laminated card. This will come in handy in case you get separated and someone finds your child.

Step 6- Be prepped for fast evacuation: Keep all of these items in a location in your house that will be easily accessible in the event of an emergency. This location should not be in the basement if flooding is common in your area. Neither should you store survival materials in the upper levels of the home, or in hard-to-locate areas. Your kit should be stored so that you can find it in five minutes, in case you have to evacuate immediately.
.

B.  Component ideas for your BOB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug-out_bag
A bug-out bag is a portable kit popular in the  survivalism subculture that contains the items one would require to survive for 5 days when evacuating from a disaster.
The focus is on evacuation, rather than long-term survival, this distinguishes the bug-out bag from a 1)  survival kit, 2) a boating or aviation emergency kit, or 3) a fixed-site disaster supplies kit.

Rationale
The primary purpose of a bug-out bag is to allow one to evacuate quickly if a disaster should strike. It is therefore prudent to gather all of the materials and supplies that might be required to do this into a single place, such as a bag or a few storage containers. The recommendation that a bug-out bag should contain enough supplies for seventy two hours arises from advice from organizations responsible for disaster relief and management that it may take them up to seventy two hours to reach people affected by a disaster and offer help. [Disaster relief organizations have recently increased the recommended emergency survival period from  3 days (72 hours) to 5 days.- Mr Larry]

In addition to allowing one to survive a disaster evacuation, a bug-out bag may also be utilized when sheltering in place as a response to emergencies such as house fires, blackouts, tornadoes, and other severe natural disasters.

1) Recommended contents for a generic BOB.
The suggested contents of a bug-out bag vary, but most of the following are usually included:
Check the suggestions at  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug-out_bag> and <http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t469988/>
Enough food and water to last for seventy two hours. This includes:
•  Water for washing, drinking and cooking. One gallon per person per day.
•  Non-perishable food. [Mountain House Freeze dried camp meals, Wasa Crispbread or other hard crackers, peanut butter, canned tuna, dried fruit…]
•  water purification supplies.
•  Cooking supplies.
•  Cutlery and cups/dishes.
•  A first aid kit
•  Mosquito repellant
•  Fire starting tool (i.e. matches, ferrocerium rod, butane lighter, etc.) More than 1 way to start a fire.
•  A disaster plan including a local map(s) with the marked location of emergency centers, family rallying points, possible evacuation outes, etc.
•  Professional emergency/survival literature explaining what to do in various types of disaster, studied and understood before the actual disaster, but kept for reference.
•  County, state and regional maps and travel information.
•  Standard camping equipment, including sanitation supplies.
•  Weather appropriate clothing (poncho, headwear, gloves, etc.)
•  Bedding items such as sleeping bags & blankets.
•  Enough medicine to last an extended evacuation period.
•  Pet, child and elderly care needs.
•  Battery or crank operated radio.
•  Lighting (battery or crank operated flashlight, glow sticks).
•  Firearms and appropriate ammunition? Arms level– situation dependant.
•  FuBar or Crowbar [Photo at right: Stanley Fat Max Xtreme FuBar Utility  Bar: Firemen use these to gain access to locked buildings, wrench handles off doors, rip their way through walls, the ultimate handheld demolition tool. Good for SHTF urban survival situations.]
•  Cash and change, as electronic banking transactions may not be available during the initial period following an emergency or evacuation. Have enough money for potential motel expenses, auto gas and food for 3-5 days, in other words a week’s income – stored in the BOB.
•  Fixed-blade and folding knife.

2)  The ‘Wilderness BOB’
If you are going into the boonies to weather out a  five day emergency/crisis situation, your ‘Wilderness style’ BOB should additionally include many items from the list below:
_a) Staples:
 •  Some MRE’s and/or freeze dried foods (mentioned above)
•  Beef and chicken bouillon packets
•  Tea bags
•  Instant coffee
•  Honey crystal packets
•  Mess kits

_b) Medical Kit:
[Photo at right: Use simple, light weight quart and gallon size zip lock Baggies for compartmentalizing your BOB sub-kits: medical supplies, toiletries, survival items, and other miscellaneous small and use related parts]
 •  Adhesive Bandages
•  Gauze Pads
•  Non-adherent Pads
•  Adhesive Tape
•  Gauze Roll Bandages
•  Compress Bandag
•  Betadine wipes
•  Alcohol wipes
•  Wound Closure Strips
•  Bandage Scissors, stainless steel, small
•  Single Edge Razor Blade (5)
•  Splinter Forceps
•  Thermometer
•  Antibiotic Ointment
•  SPF-15 sunblock packets
•  Tylenol
•  Tylenol
•  Benadryl
•  Vicodin 750mg
•  Several antibiotics: Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Doxycycline, Tetracycline, Zithromax (see Survival Manual/Medical/Medicine & Supplement/Patriot Nurse antibiotics– not yet posted)

_c) Survival Kit:
 •  Katadyn Hiker PRO Water Filter w/ 2 extra filters, or similar device.
•  Water containers
•  Water Purification Tablets – 2-30 packs
•  Coffee Filters (to filter natural water)
•  Waterproof survival matches
•  Magnesium fire starter
•  Several disposable mini butane/Bic lighters
•  Mess Kit – knife, fork and cup set
•  Mil-spec Para Cord, 550 test – (100 feet)
•  Duct Tape
•  Zip lock bags of various sizes, (6)
•  Sewing Kit
•  Compass
•  Survival Shake Flashlight (no batteries required)
•  Fishing Kit
•  Army Poncho
•  Tarp: 10′ x 12′ (1 -2 persons) or 12′ x 16′ (3- 4 persons), camoflauge colors.
•  Nalgene Collapsible Water Canteen, 48 oz

_d) Hardware:
•  SOG Fusion Tactical Tomahawk
•  Leatherman Tool
•  Pocket Chain Saw
•  pistol or revolver + 100 rounds
•  Ruger 10/22 (with light weight black synthetic folding stock) + 300 rounds

.
3)  Desert Environment and Hot Climate BOB
_a) Clothing:  When spending days or weeks in the desert, choose the type and color of clothing that with increase your comfort. Clothing should be worn very loosely and long sleeves, trousers should also be baggy. Hats should be worn in extreme temperatures to protect from the day time heat plenty of high factor sun tan lotion should be worn on exposed areas of the body. Footwear should be lightweight and have good support (military desert boots ideal).

_b) Night time: In the night time the desert temperature tends to drop rapidly and from being high 30-40 degrees will drop to anything below 5 degrees to include minus temperatures Therefore you need to take into consideration warm clothing and to the extent of a waterproof (don’t be fooled). A good sleeping bag is useful a two season bag is adequate. Sleeping on the floor is not a problem in the desert a good ground mat will make life easy also a bivi bag is ideal to keep out unwanted guests.

_c) Suggested list of equipment for a ‘Desert BOB’
•  Good size rucksack 4300 cu in.
•   Small rucksack  1728 cu in. (hand baggage)
•  Sleeping bag Lightweight
•  Bivi bag
•  Ground mat
•  Cooking stove
•  Water bottles
•  Drinking mug
•  Camelpak water carrier.
• Water- Purification tablets
•  Survival kit
•  Knife- Leatherman
•  Compass
•  Mess tins/ pot
•  Mosquito repellent
•  Lighter/ Spare matches
•  Candle
•  Head lamp & Spotlight flashlight
•  String/Para cord/Bungee
•  Sunglasses
•  Large bandana
•  Sweat rag
•  Goggles
•  Floppy hat
•  Spare warm clothing.
•  Sun Block 50%
•  Lip Salve
•  Poncho

Weapons
The .22 LR is the recommended cartridge for a survival rifle. The object here is to kill small animals and birds for food, not blow them apart with a powerful cartridge. The .22 LR High Velocity (not Hyper Velocity) cartridge loaded with 36-37 grain hollow point bullets is just about perfect for the purpose of harvesting such game. And .22 LR ammunition is so compact that a 50 round box takes up little more space than a single 12 gauge shotgun shell or three .410 shot shells or center fire rifle cartridges. Remember at this point the situation is expected to be temporary, you do not need assault rifles, body armor, etc.in the aftermath of a hurricane

[Image above: Ruger 10/22 with 5 power scope]

For the Bug Out Bag, it really doesn’t matter much if your handgun is a compact or a full framed pistol, but if you intend to carry it on your body you may want to take that into account.  Get one that fits your hand and that you are comfortable enough with how it works, it should be the right caliber for you, and then practice.  As far as bug out bag application goes, buy extra magazines for and stock them in your bag.  Just remember, ammo does have weight to it, so the more you plan to carry, the heavier it is going to get.

Remember this topic is a discussion of the Bug Out Bag, meaning that you’re dealing with a short term situation, most likely a natural event; ie., a hurricane, flood, fire, etc…  If there was a need for firearms it would most likely be for your peace of mind. Civilization is not falling apart, people will remain civil.
However, the larger the global or national disaster, the greater its affect on the food and water supply, on energy distribution and the impact on individual lives, the greater the need for ballistics and personal armor. It will take until three days after an ‘unparalled, widespread, global or national disaster’ before things could get dicey; that’s when the cupboards get thin and bottled water runs out.
Unless society has disentegrated into a situation where there is no law, you will not be permitted to walk around in public with an assault rifle, wearing armor plate, etc. Don’t bring attention to your self, don’t bring grief to your self. There’s no glory in looking ‘tactical’. Blend.

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Wednesday, January 27, 2016 · 12:10 AM

Your 72+ hour emergency kit

(Survival manual/2. Social issues/Your 72+hour emergency kit)

A.    FEMA’s, ‘Are You Ready’ homepage
 Are you ready? You may need to survive on your own after a disaster. This means having your own food, water, and other supplies in sufficient quantity to last for at least three days. Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster, but they cannot reach everyone immediately. You could get help in hours, or it might take days.
Basic services such as electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment, and telephones may be cut off for days, or even a week or longer. Or, you may have to evacuate at a moment’s notice and take essentials with you. You probably will not have the opportunity to shop or search for the supplies you need.
A disaster supplies kit is a collection of basic items that members of a household may need in the event of a disaster.

Kit Locations
Since you do not know where you will be when an emergency occurs, prepare supplies for home, work, and vehicles.
1.  Home
•  Your disaster supplies kit should contain essential food, water, and supplies for at least three days.
•  Keep this kit in a designated place and have it ready in case you have to leave your home quickly. Make sure all family members know where the kit is kept.
•  Additionally, you may want to consider having supplies for sheltering for up to two weeks. This kit should be in one container, and ready to “grab and go” in case you are evacuated from your workplace.
2.  Work
This kit should be in one container, and ready to “grab and go” in case you are evacuated from your workplace.
Make sure you have food and water in the kit. Also, be sure to have com­fortable walking shoes at your workplace in case an evacuation requires walking long distances.
3.  Car
•  In case you are strand-ed, keep a kit of emergency supplies in your car.
This kit should contain food, water, first aid supplies, flares, jumper cables, and seasonal supplies.
Pasted from <http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/assemble_disaster_supplies_kit.shtm>

[Since Hurricane Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf states in 2005, the Red Cross and FEMA have extended their emergency preparation recommendation from 72 hours (3 days) to 5 days for certain categories of disaster. The official, public preparation documents do not reduce preparation procedures into subcategories, so the official recommendation remains 72 hours. This document, Your 72 hour emergency kit lays out a general plan, from which you can adjust your food and water supplies to fit either the 72 hour, or upgrade to the 5 day emergency period. Mr. Larry]

B.  The basics for natural disasters
The US Government’s Homeland Security website provides a list of in-home emergency kit items. The list focuses on the basics of survival: fresh water, food, clean air and materials to maintain body warmth. The recommended basic emergency kit items include:
•  Water, at least one gallon of water per person for each day for drinking & sanitation (should be rotated every 3 months)
•  Food, non-perishable food for at least three days which is not required to be cooked or refrigerated
•  Emergency Food Bars, preferably the products with 2,400 or 3,600 calories and contain no coconut or tropical oils to which many people may have an allergic reaction, in addition to non-perishable food which does not require cooking or refrigeration
•  Battery and/or hand-powered radio with the Weather band
•  Flashlight (battery or hand-powered)
•  Extra batteries for anything needing them
•  First aid kit
•  Copies of any medical prescriptions
•  Whistle to signal
•  Dust mask, plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
•  Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
•  Wrench or pliers to turn off water valves
•  Can opener for canned food
•  Local maps
•  Spare Keys for Household & Motor Vehicle
•  Sturdy, comfortable shoes & lightweight rain gear, hoods are recommended
•  Contact & Meeting Place Information for your household

Earthquake
Below is a list of commonly recommended items for an emergency earthquake kit:
• Food and water to last at least 3-5 days
• Water purification tablets/portable water filter
• Heavy-duty gloves
• A first aid kit
• A minimum of $100 in cash, at least half of which should be in small denominations
• Family photos and descriptions (to aid emergency personnel in finding missing people)
• Copies of personal identification and important papers such as insurance documents, driver’s license, etc.
• A flashlight (LED type for greatest efficiency) and radio (battery, solar, and/or hand-powered)
• Extra batteries (lithium type for longest shelf life).
• Goggles and dust mask
• A ‘port-a-pottie’ or 5 gallon bucket with sanitary/trash bags
• Water – one gallon per person, per day

Hurricane
For hurricanes, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recommends that the ‘disaster bag’ include:
•  a flashlight with spare batteries and
•  a battery operated portable radio (and spare batteries);
•  a battery operated NOAA weather radio (and spare batteries);
•  a “Self Powered Radio” and a “Self Powered Flashlight”. One, “Eton” model has the Weather Band and it is “self-powered”. Some of these will keep your cell phone charged
•  First aid kit and manual;
•  prescription medicines (be sure to refill them once they expire);
•  cash and a credit card;
•  a cell phone with a fully charged spare battery;
•  spare keys;
•  high energy non-perishable food;
•  one warm blanket or sleeping bag per person;
•  special items for infant, elderly or disabled family members;
•  change of clothing.

C.   Building an emergency kit
Make sure you and your family has enough emergency food and water to see you through the first several days of a disaster. Depending on the severity and location of the catastrophe, it may take time for help to arrive and shelters and food to become available. For convenience, you may want to purchase a Red Cross disaster kit.
From <http://www.seattleredcross.org/show.aspx?mi=4171>

Helpful tips
•  As a general rule, you should store 3-5 days worth of supplies. If room and resources allow, store more.
•  Replace emergency food by the expiration dates and bottled drinking water supplies every six months.
•  Make sure your kit is easily accessible. When a disaster hits, you don’t want to dig in the back of the attic for your supplies.
•  Keep smaller versions of your disaster kit in your family vehicles and at work.
•  Prioritize.
•  Purchase a Red Cross First Aid kit and get Basic First Aid training.

Your disaster kit should include: 
1.  Water
Store at least one gallon of water per person per day (two quarts for drinking and two quarts for sanitation and food preparation. Children, nursing mothers and ill people will need more). Store water in plastic containers such as soft drink bottles. Avoid using anything that may decompose or break. Water should be replaced every six months.

2.  Food
Store at least a 3-5 day supply of non-perishable food. Select foods that are compact and lightweight, require no refrigeration, preparation or cooking and little or no water. If you must heat food, pack a can of Sterno Canned Heat, but use outside and away from flammable objects.
•  Ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits and vegetables.
•  Emergency food bars
•  Canned juices
•  Staples (salt, sugar, pepper, etc.)
•  Food/formula for infants
•  Food for family members with special dietary requirements
•  Vitamins
•  Comfort/stress foods to lift morale (chocolate)
•  Remember to pack a non-electric can opener.

3.  First Aid kit
•  (20) adhesive bandages, various sizes
•  5″ x 9″ sterile dressing
•  Conforming roller gauze bandage
•  Triangular bandages
•  3 x 3 sterile gauze pads
•  4 x 4 sterile gauze pads
•  Roll 3″ cohesive bandage
•  Adhesive tape, 2″ width
•  Anti-bacterial ointment
•  Cold pack
•  Germicidal hand wipes or waterless alcohol-based hand sanitizer
•  Six (6) antiseptic wipes
•  Pair large medical grade non-latex gloves
•  Scissors (small, personal)
•  Tweezers
•  CPR breathing barrier, such as a face shield

4)  Medications, medical supplies, and information
•  Keep enough essential medications on hand for at least three days (preferably seven days).
•  Keep a photocopy of your medical insurance cards or Medicare cards.
•  Keep a list of prescription medicines including dosage, and any allergies.
•  Aspirin, antacids, anti-diarrhea, etc.
•  Extra eyeglasses, hearing-aid batteries, wheelchair batteries, oxygen tank.
•  List of the style and serial numbers of medical devices such as pacemakers.
•  Label any equipment, such as wheelchairs, canes or walkers that you would need.
•  Instructions on personal assistance needs and how best to provide them.
•  Individuals with special needs or disabilities should plan to have enough supplies to last for up to two weeks (medication syringes, colostomy supplies, respiratory aids, catheters, padding, distilled water, etc.).

5)  Tools and supplies
Keep some of these basic tools:
•  Battery operated radio and extra batteries
•  Flashlight and extra batteries
•  Cash or travelers checks
•  A copy of your disaster plan and emergency contact numbers.
•  Map of your city and state (to evacuate the area and/or to find shelters)
•  Utility knife
•  Non-electric can opener
•  Fire extinguisher:  small canister ABC type
•  Pliers and wrench
•  Tape
•  Waterproof matches
•  Paper, pens and pencils
•  Needles, thread
•  Plastic sheeting
•  Aluminum foil

6)  Sanitation supplies
•  Toilet paper, towelettes
•  Soap, liquid detergent
•  Feminine supplies
•  Personal hygiene items
•  Diapers
•  Plastic garbage bags, ties (for personal sanitation uses)
•  Plastic bucket with tight lid
•  Disinfectant
•  Household chlorine bleach
•  Hand sanitizer

7)  Clothing and bedding
Include at least one complete change of clothing and a pair of sturdy shoes per person. You also want to consider packing blankets or sleeping bags, rain gear, hats and gloves, thermal underwear and sunglasses.
If you live in a cold climate, you must think about warmth. It is possible that you will not have heat. Think about your clothing and bedding supplies. Be sure to include one complete change of clothing and shoes per person, including:
• Jacket or coat.
•  Long pants.
•  Long sleeve shirt.
•  Sturdy shoes.
•  Hat, mittens, and scarf.
•  Sleeping bag or warm blanket (per person).

If you live in a hot, desert climate, dress to reflect the sunlight and keep cool.
•  Light colored, loose-fitting clothes
•  Several layers of clothing for the cooler night weather.
•  Wide brim light-colored hat.
•  Bandana or cool tie neck-band with water absorbing polymer beads
•  Thin leather gloves.
•  Desert shoes or boots with canvas tops and durable, heat-resistant soles.
•  Sunglasses rated to reduce UV as well as overall glare.

8)   Important family documents
•  Keep copies of important family documents in a waterproof container.
•  Will, insurance policies, contracts, deeds, stocks and bonds
•  Social security cards, passports, immigration papers, immunization records
•  Bank account numbers
•  Credit card account numbers and companies
•  Family records (birth, marriage, death certificates)
•  Medical insurance and Medicare cards

9)  Entertainment
•  Deck of cards
•  Books
•  Portable music device
•  For children, include a small toy, stuffed animal or coloring book and crayons.

D.  More ideas for your 72+ hour emergency supply kit

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Wednesday, January 20, 2016 · 12:10 AM

Temporary tooth filling & crown repair

(Survival Manual/6. Medical/a) Dental/Temp filling  & crown repair)

A.  Temporary filling
Temporary tooth filling compounds can either hold displaced crown in place or fill a tooth for up to about two weeks. They are  a great thing to have if you cannot consult a dentist right away – like when you’re camping in the middle of nowhere and have a dislodged crown.

The typical sign of a dislodged crown or a lost filling is when you feel pain when cold liquids, food, your tongue, or cold air touches the delicate area that was previously protected with a filling.

What you need for the temporary filling or repair
Use the mixture available with a few first aid kits or stand alone dental repair kits, i.e., Dentemp. In a case where this is not available, you could roll a ball of sugarless gum or use candle wax or ski wax instead.
•  Premixed compounds/kit i.e.; Dentemp OS, Refilit, Temparin, Recapit
•  Antiseptic soap
•  Latex gloves
•  Some disinfected water, and
•  Oil of cloves to act as a painkiller.

Procedure for applying a temporary tooth filling
__1.  Clean your hands with the antiseptic soap and put on the pair of latex gloves.
__2.  Prepare the temporary filling – roll a ball of sugarless gum ( or wax ) or if you have it – use the premixed compound.
__3.  Use the disinfected water to thoroughly rinse the mouth.
__4.  Apply a drop of oil of cloves (or eugenol ) to the spot in the mouth where the filling or crown was earlier. This should ease the pain in the mouth.
__5.  Place the temporary filling carefully into the hole and be sure to cover exposed tissues if any.
__6.  Gently bite down and line the tooth with the one either below or above it.
__7.  You might want to wait before the filling hardens in case you are using either the premixed compound or the one from a first aid kit.

More about tooth fillings
•  Fillings are very common with dental work, as they present a way to repair a tooth that has suffered from decay or a cavity back to its original shape. When performing a filling, the dentist will remove the decayed area of the tooth, clean around it, then fill in the area that he has removed with a special material that will cater to the shape and form of the tooth.
•  Fillings work by closing out the area where the bacteria enters into teeth, helping to prevent any type of decay in the future. The materials used for fillings include porcelain, gold, composite resin, and amalgam. There is really no best type of filling, as several factors come into play. Your reaction to different material, the shape of the tooth, extent of repair, and where the filling is needed will be determining factors as to what material is used with your filling.
•  The gold fillings that are used are made in a laboratory, then cemented into place by the dentist. Gold material fits well with the gums, and can last you for many years. Gold is considered by many to be the best, although it is also the most expensive and will require you to visit the dentist several times before the filling will be complete.
•  Silver fillings on the other hand, are less expensive than gold materials and they can be quite resistant to wear. With their color being dark, they are easier to notice than composite or porcelain fillings, and aren’t recommended for visible areas of the mouth, especially the front teeth. Composite fillings are a common type of material, as they match the color of your teeth. The material that makes up the composite filling is mixed then placed directly in the cavity, where it hardens. They last several years, although composite isn’t recommended for large cavities, or areas where they may chip.
•  The final type of filling is porcelain. Porcelain is very common, and produced in lab where it will be matched to your teeth then bonded to the affected tooth. Porcelain fillings match the color of your teeth, and are resistant to any type of staining. The costs for porcelain fillings can be very expensive, some costing as much as gold fillings.

If a cavity, decay, or even a crack has managed to damage a large area of the tooth, you may need a crown or a cap. If the decay has managed to get to the nerve, you may end up needing a root canal to get rid of the dead pulp. When the dentist decides he can fill your tooth, he will remove the cavity then fill the hole with a material listed above. Depending on your insurance and what you can afford, you can choose which one you want or take his recommendation. In most cases, porcelain or composite fillings will be recommended. Gold fillings are popular, although most people want a filling that will match the natural color of their teeth.

Keep in mind that only a dentist can make the decision regarding fillings. When you visit for your routine checkup, the dentist will look in your mouth and use instruments that will let him examine the surfaces of your teeth. If he finds any cavities, he will usually recommend a filling. You won’t feel anything, as he will numb the area he is going to be filling. It normally takes less than an hour, and you’ll be up and at ‘em before you know it. A filling is great for cavities, as most look natural and they won’t result in the loss of your tooth.
Pasted from <http://www.loveableface.com/teeth%20includes%20files/TemporaryToothFilling.htm>

See demo videos at (this is a long website address):
<http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nDHFCYrxUQ0/0.jpg&imgrefurl=http://modernhmong.com/home-dentistry-Putting-temporary-filling-in-tooth-cavity/K_v0pQF1INo.html&usg=__wF4cb6fLqJPrgonYQlyv1L_quWM=&h=360&w=480&sz=10&hl=en&start=120&sig2=5QQJFHyVvdpELkhn9QyByQ&zoom=1&itbs=1&tbnid=qDMKxlZco9xWdM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmaking%2Ba%2Btemporary%2Bfilling%26start%3D100%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_en%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=ybh7TeH5MMaV0QGZkdjeAw>

B.   How to temporarily fix a loose dental crown
Buy a Dental Repair Kit at Walgreen’s or Amazon.com that consists of the adhesive and a little stylus.
This procedure is easy.

Things You’ll Need:
•  Dental Repair Kit
•  pointed knife or other sharp pointy object
•  crown
•  toothbrush
•  Dentemp or other dental temporary adhesive

Procedure
1.  For a loose crown. Remove crown and clean the crown and your tooth with a toothbrush.
2.  Take a pick or pointy knife and carefully remove all tooth and old dental adhesive product from the inside of the crown.
3.  Press crown back on tooth to make sure it will still fit. If it does not you are stuck and must wait till you can see your dentist. If it fits remove it and lightly fill inside of crown with the Dentemp or other temporary dental adhesive material.
4.  Press crown back on the wet tooth, press firmly. Then bite down a few times to make sure that it is a comfortable fit.
5.  If any of the Dentemp or dental adhesive material leaked out of the sides of the crown you will want to clean it up and remove it. Rinse mouth well with water.
6.  Most dental repair kits require that you do not eat anything for at least 1 hour after applying.
7.  For a lost filling or broken tooth. Brush tooth to remove any debris. Wash hands.
8.  Open canister of Dentemp or other temporary dental adhesive. remove a small amount of the Dentemp or other dental adhesive and form it into a small ball.
9.  Firmly press the little ball of Dentemp or other dental adhesive into the tooth that lost the filling and make sure to fill hole, bite down to insure it is comfortable.
10.  Remove any excess Dentemp or other dental adhesive, rinse mouth thoroughly, then Do Not eat for one hour to allow it to set firmly.
Pasted from <http://www.ehow.com/how_4845502_fix-loose-dental-crown.html>

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016 · 12:10 AM

Home dental procedures

(Survival Manual/6. Medical/a) Dental)

Any dental emergency, like an injury to the teeth or gums can be potentially serious and should not be ignored. Ignoring a dental problem can increase the risk of permanent damage as well as the need for more extensive and expensive treatment down the road.

1.  Home exam
http://www.homedental.com/selfexam.asp

_A. Mouth Check
For many… pain was the major telltale sign that a dental appointment was needed. Bleeding gums were not a significant warning, because some people just didn’t know if they had cut their gums a little or what. Now, with the help of computers, we will be able to show you some of the warning signs, you, yourself, can see. Education is your best ally so you will easily know what you’re looking for. All you have to do, from time to time, is to take a look at our page and call a dentist when you see you’re having a problem.

Images above, L>R: L) Swollen gums, C) Cavities, R) Plaque and Tartar

If you see or think you see any of these conditions in your mouth or your child’s mouth, you will be smart by quickly making a dental appointment. Of course, prevention is always better than cure. If you know you have a condition that a dentist should treat, the sooner the better is always the best way to go.

_B.  Giving Plaque the Brush-Off
<http://corner-dental.olhblogspot.com/other-dental-news/taking-care-of-your-teeth/&gt;
In order to prevent cavities, you first need to remove plaque, the transparent layer of bacteria that coats the teeth. The best way to do this is by brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing at least once a day. Brushing also stimulates the gums, which helps to keep them healthy and prevent gum disease. Brushing and flossing are the most important things that you can do to keep your teeth and gums healthy.

Toothpastes contain abrasives, detergents, and foaming agents. Fluoride, the most common active ingredient in toothpaste, is what prevents cavities. So you should always be sure your toothpaste contains fluoride. If you have teeth that are sensitive to heat, cold, and pressure, you may want to try a special toothpaste for sensitive teeth.

_C.  Cleaning Tartar from your teeth
About 1 person in 10 has a tendency to accumulate tartar quickly. Tartar is plaque in a hardened form that is more damaging and difficult to remove. Using anti-tartar toothpastes and mouthwashes, as well as spending extra time brushing the teeth near the salivary glands (the inside of the lower front teeth and the outside of the upper back teeth) may slow the development of new tartar.

  1. Buy an antiseptic oral cleanser to help clean the tartar deposited from your  teeth. Gargle with this liquid every day, which will loosen the tartar from the edges of the gums. People should make it a habit to rinse their mouth with oral cleanser after each meal. This will remove the food particles which get stuck in the mouth after eating food.
  • After rinsing the mouth with an oral cleanser,  floss your teeth.
    It’s important to know the correct manner of flossing the teeth otherwise you can hurt your gums. People should floss their teeth thoroughly upwards and downwards. [I could never get my fingers in my mouth  just the right way to work the string version of dental floss,  so I use the dental floss picks shown at right. This brand has 90 picks per pouch which cost about $3.50 at Wal-Mart.]
  • If you eat lots of spicy foods, you’ll find it easier to remove tartar from your teeth. Spicy foods increase the production of saliva in the mouth. Saliva is very important to drain out those food particles which get stuck between teeth.
  • Rubbing your teeth with a mixture of salt and baking soda is very effective for removing tartar.
    Mix a small quantity of salt in baking soda and apply with a finger. The best thing about this method is that you can get instant results from it. It is one of the most effective home remedies for teeth tartar removal
    .

2.  Homemade tooth paste recipes
a)  Mix equal parts of baking soda and salt. The result tastes like dirt, but it does a decent job of cleaning your teeth and gums.
Simply moisten the toothbrush, dip it into the mixture and brush as usual.
Recipe from the book, Dirt Cheap Survival retreat by M.D.  Creekmore.

b) Two more recipes for  homemade toothpaste
http://naturallycheerful.blogspot.com/2011/09/homemade-toothpaste.html

Homemade Orange Toothpaste Recipe
1 tablespoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon glycerin or  1- 1/2 tablespoon of peroxide
1 teaspoon orange extract or  ½ teaspoon dried orange*

Homemade Vanilla Toothpaste Recipe
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoons water, or peroxide to be added if desired

These store well in empty baby food jars.

*Place some grated orange rind in a blender and grind until it is fine and powdery.
or you could even use mint leaves if you like it minty.  Pretty much any kind of good tasting essential oils can be used as flavoring, just a couple drops though.  Easy does it.

NOTE: This is from the back of the ‘Arm & Hammer baking soda toothpaste tube’.
“Ingredients:
Active Ingredients: Sodium fluoride (0.24%) for anticavity.
Inactive Ingredients: Sodium bicarbonate, water, glycerin, sodium saccharin, PEG 8, flavor, cellulose gum, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate

You see the only things missing from the homemade toothpaste are:
1)  fluoride (which is bad for your bones),
2) lauryl sulfate (Google it. It is found contributing to the cause cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, it is not good for us in any form), and
3) saccharine (which is sugar), rubbing sugar on your teeth?
Go with homemade and avoid all the other garbage. Don’t take your health, including your dental health lightly.
..

3.  Summary of what to do for some common dental problems
<http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/handling-dental-emergencies&gt;
_A. Toothache
First, thoroughly rinse your mouth with warm water. Use dental floss to remove any lodged food. If your mouth is swollen, apply a cold compress to the outside of your mouth or cheek. Never put aspirin or any other painkiller against the gums near the aching tooth because it may burn the gum tissue. See your dentist as soon as possible.

Tooth pain is one of the most painful types of discomforts known to man. Unlike other types of pain, that can be relieved with a temporary remedy, in most cases, tooth pain is something entirely different as it throbs consistently, is sensitive to hot or cold, or both and because you have to eat so you’re constantly irritating the painful area three times per day.

When you first experience tooth pain, your first instinct might be that you have food in between your teeth. If the pain is affecting your gums more than the tooth, then that is exactly what the pain will feel like. Around the infected area, check for any food that is stuck in small spaces. Do not try to aggravate the area by overly brushing or flossing, but gently use the brush or floss to get the food out.

1.   If you are able to stand warm liquid on the tooth, rinse your mouth out with warm salt water to help remove excess food. The wonderful benefit of warm salt water is that it can be done as often as you need to and it helps treat your gums.

2.   There are a number of ways to treat tooth pain that may or may not provide you with temporary relief. The most common ways of treating it is taking an anti-inflammatory drug, such as Advil, which
can be bought at most any store over the counter. This will help the pain and also help to ease the swelling and inflammation in the surrounding area. However, it’s still only a temporary relief.

3.   An ancient home remedy that might be very effective for your mouth pain is to use clove oil. Soak a cotton ball in the clove oil and then apply it directly to the tooth that is giving you trouble.  Clove oil has many soothing benefits, with the addition of infection fighting ingredients that can help relieve the pain and treat the area at the same time. If your tooth has a negative reaction to the clove oil and it causes the area to hurt worse, then rinse immediately with warm salt water. [Clove oil and q-tips should be maintained as part of your emergency medical supply kit. Mr. Larry]

Regardless of what type of temporary treatment you choose, it is still crucial that you visit the dentist as soon as possible. Even if you are able to find a home remedy that relieves the pain, there could still be a serious problem with your tooth that will need to be treated appropriately. Make sure that you inform the dentist of any pain relieving methods that you tried at home.

_B.  Toothache remedies that you can easily find

  1. A clove of garlic is good. Garlic is a natural anti-biotic. It attacks bacteria and has been known in many instances to work on bacterial infections all on its own without the use of prescribed
    antibiotics. Crush the garlic, and place it in the cavity. It will sting for a few seconds going in, but it settles the pain before long. If you want it to work even better, prepare a strong salt solution and swish the area to get rid of any debris that may be lying around, and then place the clove there. The pain will go, and you may not even need to see a dentist
  2. An onion will work in the same way – it  will kill bacteria and leave you free of pain. Treat it the same way you would the garlic – pound and pack the cavity. If you’re not in too much pain to chew, chew it and take around your mouth, letting it linger around where you have the pain.
  3. Wheatgrass is also excellent. If you can chew it, go ahead and chew it. If you can’t, find a way to crush it and pack it around the painful area. It acts as a strong, natural mouthwash, and it draws out bacteria from both the gum surface and the teeth.
  4. Clove oil has strong antiseptic properties. If you can get hold of some, pour a couple of drops directly into the cavity. If you can’t, crush a clove and pack it against the cavity or get the juice in there.
  5. Activated charcoal can be bought in some pharmacies now, and is good for aching cavities. Just crush it into a paste, pack it into gauze and hold it against the painful cavity. It should take away the pain.

The long term solution for cavities though, is to have your dentist have a look and recommend a permanent course of action – remember that sometimes even filling cavities may not be a permanent solution. Taking regular extra-good care of your teeth if you have cavities is one way to make sure that you get toothaches less frequently. Otherwise, keep all the above handy; you never know when you’ll need them.

_C.  Chipped or broken teeth. Save any pieces. Rinse the mouth using warm water; rinse any broken pieces. If there’s bleeding, apply a piece of gauze to the area for about 10 minutes or until the bleeding stops. Apply a cold compress to the outside of the mouth, cheek, or lip near the broken/ chipped tooth to keep any swelling down and relieve pain. See your dentist as soon as possible.

_D.  Knocked-out tooth. Retrieve the tooth, hold it by the crown (the part that is usually exposed in the mouth), and rinse off the tooth root with water if it’s dirty. Do not scrub it or remove any attached tissue fragments. If possible, try to put the tooth back in place. Make sure it’s facing the right way. Never force it into the socket. If it’s not possible to reinsert the tooth in the socket, put the tooth in a small container of milk (or cup of water that contains a pinch of table salt, if milk is not available) or a product containing cell growth medium, such as Save-a-Tooth. In all cases, see your dentist as quickly as possible. Knocked out teeth with the highest chances of being saved are those seen by the dentist and returned to their socket within 1 hour of being knocked out.
__1)  Extruded (partially dislodged) tooth. See your dentist right away. Until you reach your dentist’s office, to relieve pain, apply a cold compress to the outside of the mouth or cheek in the affected area. Take an over-the-counter pain reliever (such as Tylenol or Advil) if needed.
__2)  Objects caught between teeth. First, try using dental floss to very gently and carefully remove the object. If you can’t get the object out, see your dentist. Never use a pin or other sharp object to poke at the stuck object. These instruments can cut your gums or scratch your tooth surface.

_E.  Possible Broken Jaw
If you think that your jaw might be broken, apply a cold compress to the area to minimize any swelling. You will need to see your dentist immediately or go to the emergency room of a nearby hospital.

_F.  Lost filling. (See Survival Manual/6. Medical/a) Dental/Temporary Filling & Crown post) As a temporary measure, stick a piece of sugarless gum into the cavity (sugar-filled gum will cause pain) or use an over-the-counter dental cement. See your dentist as soon as possible.

_G.  Lost crown. (See Survival Manual/6. Medical/a) Dental/Temporary Filling & Crown doc) If the crown falls off, make an appointment to see your dentist as soon as possible and bring the crown with you. If you can’t get to the dentist right away and the tooth is causing pain, use a cotton swab to apply a little clove oil to the sensitive area (clove oil can be purchased at Amazon.com, your local drug store, or in the spice aisle of your grocery store). If possible, slip the crown back over the tooth. Before doing so, coat the inner surface with an over-the-counter dental cement, toothpaste, or denture adhesive, to help hold the crown in place. Do not use super glue!

_H.  Broken braces wires. If a wire breaks or sticks out of a bracket or band and is poking your cheek, tongue, or gum, try using the eraser end of a pencil to push the wire into a more comfortable position. If you can’t reposition the wire, cover the end with orthodontic wax, a small cotton ball, or piece of gauze until you can get to your orthodontist’s office. Never cut the wire, as you could end up swallowing it or breathing it into your lungs.

_I.  Loose brackets and bands. Temporarily reattach loose braces with a small piece of orthodontic wax. Alternatively, place the wax over the braces to provide a cushion. See your orthodontist as soon as possible. If the problem is a loose band, save it and call your orthodontist for an appointment to have it recemented or replaced (and to have missing spacers replaced).

_J.  Abscess . Abscesses are infections that occur around the root of a tooth or in the space between the teeth and gums. Abscesses are a serious condition that can damage tissue and surrounding teeth, with the infection possibly spreading to other parts of the body if left untreated.

Because of the serious oral health and general health problems that can result from an abscess, see your dentist as soon as possible if you discover a pimple-like swelling on your gum that usually is painful. In the meantime, to ease the pain and draw the pus toward the surface, try rinsing your mouth with a mild salt water solution (1/2 teaspoon of table salt in 8 ounces of water) several times a day.

_K.  Soft-tissue injuries. Injuries to the soft tissues, which include the tongue, cheeks, gums, and lips, can result in bleeding. To control the bleeding, here’s what to do:

  1. Rinse your mouth with a mild salt-water solution.
  2. Use a moistened piece of gauze or tea bag to apply pressure to the bleeding site. Hold in place for 15 to 20 minutes.
  3. To both control bleeding and relieve pain, hold a cold compress to the outside of the mouth or cheek in the affected area for 5 to 10 minutes.
  4. If the bleeding doesn’t stop, see your dentist right away or go to a hospital emergency room. Continue to apply pressure on the bleeding site with the gauze until you can be seen and treated.

_L.  Bitten Tongue or Lip
If you have  bitten your tongue or lip, gently wipe the area clean with a cloth. Apply a cold compress to the area to minimize any swelling. If the bleeding will not stop, you should go to the emergency room of a nearby hospital.

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Wednesday, January 6, 2016 · 12:10 AM

Emergency home dental kit

(Survival Manual/6. Medical/a) Dental/Home dental kit)

A.  Guide to Emergency Dental Kits (Buy as kit or as individual items)
One of the common themes with dental emergencies is that, the quicker you get treatment, the better long-term prospects that treatment will usually have. Therefore, if you have a tooth knocked out, that tooth can often be saved if you get to the dentist quickly enough. Assuming of course, that you have picked up the tooth and brought it with you!
As more and more people are realising the benefits of early treatment, emergency dental repair kits are becoming far more popular. Emergency Dental Kits are a relatively new phenomena. These are kits that you can buy over the counter in pharmacies and supermarkets and which contain a wide variety of dental treatments for emergency situations.
Essentially, an emergency dental kit will give you the opportunity to effect some preliminary care before going to the dentist. An emergency kit will not give you the materials you need to treat yourself properly. However, it may just mean you can patch yourself up enough to stop the pain, protect your teeth and get professional treatment.
(Internet image above, cover of the book: Where There Is No Dentist by Murray Dickson, 228Pgs. Recommended for reading and inclusion in your library. Amazon.com)

B.  What can be treated with a dental repair kit?
A dental repair kit is not intended to be used to perform permanent repairs. The majority of over-the-counter kits will include materials that are lower grade than your dentist would use. Therefore, materials such as dental cements will only stay in place for a short period of time. However, your dental kits can be used effectively for temporary treatment in a number of different scenarios:
Experiencing toothache: you may be suffering from toothache caused by a cavity which you cannot see or reach. Your dental kit will usually include some clove oil and cotton wool. Clove oil contains eugenol, which is a powerful natural pain-killer. Dilute it with some olive oil and soak the cotton wool, then bite down on the cotton wool with your affected tooth. This should help soothe the pain.

•  Losing a tooth: your mouth is full of blood vessels so, sometimes, when you lose a tooth the cavity can bleed quite heavily. Your dental repair kit will contain cotton wool balls that you can use to staunch the flow of blood. It may also contain some pain-killing gel that can be used to soothe sore, tender and inflamed gums.
•  Losing a filling: we all lose fillings from time to time and a lost fillings can mean that your tooth becomes immediately very sensitive to hot and cold. Some dentists recommend sticking sugar-free gum over the cavity until you can get professional dental treatment. Your dental kit, however, will include dental cement that can be used to cover the cavity. This will also help to stop debris getting trapped in the cavity, irritating the tooth and therefore causing more pain.
•  Fracturing a tooth or losing a crown: if the structure of your tooth is weakened by decay, then the tooth can split or crack unexpectedly. This can of course be painful and it requires immediate professional treatment. In your emergency dental kit, you will usually find a temporary crown and dental cement. This crown can be used to cover the broken tooth and protect it from further damage until you can get to your dentist.
•  Breaking a denture: many people who wear dentures find that keeping an emergency dental kit handy is useful. Dentures can easily be damaged, cracked or broken and, when this happens, it can be uncomfortable and embarrassing to have to manage without them. An emergency dental kit will include orthodontic wax that can help to smooth the edges of damaged dentures. You may also be able to use dental cement to make minor, temporary repairs to broken dentures.

C.  Make your own dental repair kit
Of course, you do not necessarily have to go out and buy a branded dental repair kit. With a little bit of research, you can learn more about the kinds of products that are useful and put together your own pack. In many ways, spending a bit of time getting to know different items will mean you are more likely to know what to reach for when the pressure is on!
•  Clove Oil: Clove oil is used prominently in dental care, in products like mouthwashes and tooth pastes. Clove oil has pain killing properties which help it to soothe tooth aches, inflamed gums and sores such as mouth ulcers. It can also help keep the breath fresh and you can easily buy it in your local chemist or natural health store.
•  Dental Floss: Dentists recommend that you floss regularly. Even if you do not, you should still keep some dental floss in the house. It is useful for removing items or debris that become stuck in your teeth.
•  Antiseptic mouthwash: There are different types of mouthwash available. However, a mouthwash that contains antiseptic can help to clean blood away from a wound or to wash away debris from a shattered filling, for example.
•  Cotton wool: Whether you need to staunch the flow of blood or stop a filling from hurting, the patient often needs to bite down on something. So keep plenty of cotton wool in your kit, as this does the job perfectly.
•  Pain Killing gel: There are a number of pain killing gels available on the market under different brand names. These gels are appropriate for a number of different purposes, from soothing teething pain in children to relieving the pain from canker sores in adults. They can also help with pain caused by ill-fitting dentures.
These are the basics of any home dental emergency kit. Of course, there are many more items that you could potentially add to it. However, it is important that you strike the right balance between equipping yourself for emergencies and ensuring that you know when to call your dentist.

D.  Commercial Emergency Dental Kit
Amazon.com price: ~$28 with S&H
Dental module supplies and complete instruction manual for treating dental emergencies in the field. Module comes heat sealed in a resealable bag for easy access and storage.

Contents:
1  Mouth Mirror
1  Dental floss, 12 yd
3  Orasol Packet
1  Clove Oil (Eugenol)
1  Wax Stick
1  DenTemp (Zinc Oxide & Clove Oil)
1  Spatula
10  Cotton Pellets
3  Gauze Dressing, 3″x3″, 2’s
1  ActCel  Hemostatic Gauze, 2″x2″
5  Cotton Rolls
1  Tweezers
4  Toothpicks
8  Ibuprofen, 200 mg Tablet
2  Nitrile Gloves, Large
2  Nitrile Gloves, Medium
1  Hazardous Waste Bag
1  Instructions

E.  Pain Relief for Tooth Aches
•  Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin)The best over-the-counter painkillers for toothache are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs including ibuprofen. Ibuprofen is sold under many brand names, but the most common are Advil and Motrin. Dentists often prescribe 800mg Ibuprofen every four (4) to six (6) hours as an alternative to narcotic pain relievers.
•  Acetaminophen (Tylenol) or even aspirin are also pretty good for dental painkiller. However, dental pain often comes from inflammation and pressure on various tissues and nerves of the face. Ibuprofen can be better for dental pain because they are both pain relievers and good anti-inflammatories, vs. Tylenol-acetaminophen, which is only a pain reliever.
•  If a cavity is causing your toothache, rinse your mouth with warm water and use a toothpick to remove food from the cavity. Soak a piece of cotton with oil of cloves and pack it into the cavity, but avoid getting any oil on your tongue.
•  Tip: “If your pain is from nerve damage and you are getting the spontaneous night pain try sleeping in a sitting position. The nerve and pulp chamber doesn’t get filled with fluid and blood and usually u don’t get that throbbing pain.
•  If the pain is from a broken tooth and you have an exposed nerve, if the nerve is still relatively healthy just covering it up will cause a great amount of relief. Take a piece of sugerless chewing gum chewed up and cover the nerve and tooth, it should help alot. I have had patients try it all to cover the nerve, shove cardboard in their tooth, air plane glue trying to seal the tooth, etc. but the sugarless chewing gum is your best temporary solution.”

Tooth Sensitivity and Pain
Pain, especially to cold things, can also be caused by exposed dentine – the inner substance of the tooth, which is covered by enamel. The enamel can get quite thin, especially where the tooth meets the root (at the gumline). The root is covered by a substance called cementum, which is easily worn away. Dentine contains little tunnels (tubules) that link to the nerves on the inside of the tooth, and when dentine is exposed, these nerves are easily stimulated, resulting in pain.
•  Desensitizing agents such as Sensodyne work by blocking off the tubules, so that the nerves don’t get stimulated. Sensodyne doesn’t work that well used as a toothpaste. It works a lot better by gently massaging it into the sore spot with a finger. Do NOT rinse it off with water or mouthwash. It may take several weeks before the desired effect is reached. Sensodyne can be used indefinitely. The warning on the US packet not to use Sensodyne for more than a month is a legal requirement, designed so that people won’t put off seeing a dentist when something might be seriously wrong. There are no actual health reasons for not using Sensodyne long-term
•  QuickStix Oral Pain Swabs (topical anaesthetic): Contains 20% Benzocaine for maximum pain. Also safe to treat canker sores and sore gums. Using the swab tip, apply a small amount of medication to the affected area including the surrounding gum or oral tissue. Use up to 4 times daily or as directed by a doctor or dentist. Caution: Don’t use this product continuously. Do not use if you have a history of allergy to local anesthetics such as procaine, butacaine, benzocaine, or other “caine” anesthetics.
Please note that such products are meant to be temporary measures – so don’t expect them to last long (4-5 days if you’re VERY lucky).

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Wednesday, December 30, 2015 · 12:10 AM

Another look at the .22LR round

(Survival Manual/Prepper articles/Another look at the .22 LR round)

Ruger 10/22 .22LR shown below in several configurations

22lr configurations

A.  Ask Foghorn: Is .22lr The Best for Self Defense?
4 Jun 2012, TheTruthAboutGuns.com,  by Nick Leghorn
Excerpt pasted from: http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2012/06/foghorn/ask-foghorn-22l-for-self-defense/

About a year ago Greg Ellifritz over at Buckeye Firearms concluded a pretty darn impressive analysis of gunfight data recorded over a 10 year period, the total count of incidents included in his analysis topping 1,800. It doesn’t give us a statistically significant look at murders in the United States, but the data is sufficiently large and normal to give us the ability to use his results to compare the effectiveness of different calibers.

22lr total observations

Admittedly 9mm does take up a disproportionate percentage of the observations and .32 data is a little skimpy, but its good enough for our purposes. So, using his data, let’s take a look at how well the lowly .22 round does compared to other handgun calibers (and shotguns, just for comparison sake).

First things first, let’s see what percentage of observed gunfights ended in a fatality for the person on the receiving end.

22lr percent of gunfights

The graph is pretty clear on this: .22 caliber firearms are just as deadly in a gunfight as any other handgun caliber. In fact, it beat the average (far right). Surprisingly, every caliber that begins with a 4 (.40 S&W, .45, .44 Mag…) performed worse than the .22 caliber firearms in terms of putting the opponent in the dirt for good.

The next thing I thought was interesting was the metric about how many rounds it took to incapacitate the opponent.

22lr avg rounds to incapacitate

In case you were wondering, the smaller the bar in this example the better the round performed. And, in terms of performance in putting the opponent down, only a shotgun beats the .22 round. I get the feeling that in reality you can chop a round off the 9mm’s numbers, as the double tap has been trained into almost every shooter these days and probably means the numbers are artificially high.

Greg also includes something about a “one shot stop” percentage, but I don’t agree with his methodology on it and is not presented here. Go read up on it at the original site if you’re interested.

There’s a small fly in the ointment: the percentage of incidents where the opponent was not incapacitated.

22lr percent of shootings

Another chart where large bars are bad, and here the mouse guns aren’t doing so hot compared to the big boys. However, I get the feeling that this chart is somewhat deceptive with its results. Newer shooters have a tendency to get the smaller guns with smaller calibers, and also have a tendency to not be as well trained as those carrying the larger rounds. So, instead of this chart being an argument against the lowly .22 round I see it as an argument against poor training. As we saw with the last chart, IF you can hit the guy there’s a great chance he’s going down. But the issue is hitting him, and incorporating some of the accuracy results from the original study seems to back up my suspicions.

So, in short, what’s the answer? Is a .22 a good self defense round? According to the numbers, it looks to be among the best in terms of stopping the threat. Add in the fact that it’s lightweight, low recoil and uses firearms that are ridiculously easy to conceal and you can see where a .22 caliber firearm for concealed carry might be a winner.
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B.  Comments about the .22LR round from shooting forums around the Internet
> Take that pain, and quadruple it, at the minimum. In fact, most .22LR rounds generate 100+ foot-pounds of energy, so multiply the pain by somewhere around 20 times. Then couple that with the fact that it isn’t just a surface wound, so you’re going to have to deal with bleeding, which may cause lightheadedness at the least, and passing out or death at the worst. That’s only if you got shot somewhere that there are no vital organs. If you get shot in the chest, you could die within a few minutes. A nick to the aorta would cause you to bleed out fairly quickly. For that matter, being shot in the leg could kill you in a matter of seconds as well; a cut femoral artery would likewise empty your blood quickly.

> You ever seen swamp wars? yeah, them  gators died with one shot to the dome…an alligator! I’d imagine it would feel like being shot by a firearm.

> Well it damn near killed President Reagan.

> Robert F Kennedy was killed with a cheap .22LR revolver.

22lr 22 vs lge caliber> Look at one shooting – Hinckley shooting Reagan in 1981. Hink gets off 6 shots of 22lr. One hits Macarthy in the belly (Secret service guy, stepped in front of Reagan); another hits DC cop Delahanty in neck. One hits Brady in forehead; 2 miss; last one hits Reagan under arm, goes thru lung.

Results: Macarthy drops to ground (probably can’t believe he just stepped in front of a bullet);  Delahanty goes down;  Brady goes down – central nervous system hit;  Reagan thinks his SS guy broke his ribs pushing him into the car.
One true ‘stop’ from CNS hit; 2 stops from ? (pain, psychological?) 1 no stop (although Reagan was probably closer to death than the other 3 guys)

> While the 22LR has no stopping power it DOES have killing power . In fact it has a reputation of being worse than some bigger cartridges because when it enters the body it is very easily deflected. So the person may not even be aware of being hit but die a day or two later

> Well, FWIW in my 20+ year’s as a former LEO I’ve seen more people killed from a .22 LR Hollow Point; than I have any other caliber, bar none!
One case that stands out in my mind is where my partner and I answered a “person down” call. When we arrived on the scene, one victim was laying in the drive-way shot in the stomach (belly button) with a .32 S&W Long; the other victim (and perp) was on the front porch shot under his right arm with a .22 LR Hollow Point.
The victim shot with the .32 S&W Long survived the shooting to live another day; the victim and or perp shot with the .22 LR Hollow Point was declared D.O.S. by the county corner.
So to answer your question, YES the .22 LR Hollow Point can be very deadly; especially when a vital organ* is struck.

> I’ve been shot with a .22 LR–trust me, it ain’t no picnic. You don’t want it. There’s no glory and no background music there when they’re messing around with your bones and that drain tube.

> …As to how lethal the .22LR is–although illegal for whitetail deer hunting, it has killed as many deer as many centerfires. THEY ARE DEFINITELY NOT TOYS, AND SHOULD BE TREATED WITH GREAT RESPECT.

> … have NO doubts about its lethality.. it lacks STOPPING power, but pure killing power, it’s actually very good at.

> A .22lr round to the head is exceptionally lethal – the bullet typically has enough energy to penetrate one side of the skull but not the other, resulting in it ricocheting around inside the skull and shredding brain tissue almost as badly as a larger caliber hollow point would.

> There are countless stories of people who get hit with a .22 bullet and never notice that they were hit until someone points out the blood. Of course, shot placement remedies many of those complaints, but in combat incapacitation is as good as a kill, and sometimes better because then his buddy has to drag him away.

> I find it hard to believe that a person would be hit by a .22 hollow-point and not notice. The effects on animal flesh, from what I’ve seen, are startling (and horrific). The hole going in is tiny, but the hole coming out is – gross. If it did that to a porcupine, would it not do the same to a person?

> …a .22 (especially a hollow point) won’t have any useful penetration. It’ll be stopped by the lightest body armor, or a thin wall, or the multiple layers of sheet metal in a car door.

> .22 is one of the most feared rounds to get shot with according to policemen. The explanation given to me was that a .22 has the velocity to enter the body but slow quickly and if it meets with resistance, like a bone, it will ricochet around inside of you making it difficult for a surgeon to repair the damage. A 9mm on the other hand will often travel right through you in a straight line and be far less dangerous than a .22.

 

C.  Using the .22 for Self Defense
12 Aug 2013, ActiveResponseTraining.com, by Greg Ellifritz
Pasted from: http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/using-the-22-for-self-defense Since my handgun stopping power study was published last month in American Handgunner Magazine, I’ve received several questions from readers about my data.  I expected to be castigated by all the big bullet aficionados for reporting honest data about the “mouse gun” calibers.  That wasn’t what I received.

All the email that I got was from .22 advocates telling me that I misinterpreted my data and that the .22 is the best defensive cartridge ever invented.  Really?  I’m open to an honest discussion about the relative merits of carrying a .22 in certain situations, but I promise you that if I was to grab a gun right now, knowing that I would be getting into a gunfight, my .22s would be VERY low on the list.

Here’s a summary of the data I reported and the heart of the controversy:

Caliber

%   stopped after 1 shot

How   many shots to stop

%   that did not stop
.22 (short, long, long rifle)

60%

1.38

31%
.25 acp

49%

2.2

35%
.32 (acp and long)

72%

1.52

24%
.380 acp

62%

1.76

16%
9mm Luger

47%

2.45

13%
.38 spl

55%

1.87

17%
.357 magnum

61%

1.7

9%
.40 S&W

52%

2.36

13%
.45 acp

51%

2.08

14%

The .22 required the least number of shots to stop an attacker as compared to the other cartridges.  Some folks used that number to bolster their choice of the .22 as the best defensive sidearm available and criticized me when I stated that I don’t believe that’s true.  Here is one of the emails I received:

“I am surprised that you did not accept the “fact” evident in the data that the lowly .22 is actually more effective than the high power cartridges: 9mm, 40sw and 45 acp! Your statement “those are likely psychological stops rather than physical incapacitations” is not supported by any data you offer. Rather, it appears to be a purely prejudicial statement which spoils your excellent efforts at conclusions based upon data. In fact it is very counter-intuitive. You are proposing that “mouse gun” is more intimidating than a 45 ACP so it scares more people off than the very big opening in a 45 barrel!

If you have data supporting this counterintuitive conclusion, please share.  My conclusion is that you are doing a disservice by not acknowledging that average folks are much better off carrying .22’s for their own personnel safety. Inaccurate shot placement of high power cartridges might just get us Joe average citizens injured during an attack.”

First, let me make myself perfectly clear.  Shot placement is vitally important.  If you can’t hit with your chosen carry gun, pick something else.  You should certainly be able to pass Gila Hayes’ five rounds, five seconds, into a five inch circle, at five yards test cold, every time you shoot.  I would prefer even better performance than that.

If you can’t meet that standard with one of the common service calibers and can do it with a .22, I would prefer that you carry the .22.  No problem at all with that decision.  But most of us don’t have a physical limitation and can learn to handle a bigger caliber with a minimal amount of training.

The reader asked me to explain why I considered the .22 stops to be more likely “psychological stops” as opposed to physical incapacitations.  That’s easy to explain…and it doesn’t have anything to do with the size of the muzzle.

There are only two mechanisms for physically incapacitating someone with a handgun.  The first is a shot to the central nervous system (CNS).  A bullet placed into the brain or the upper spinal cord will usually stop someone instantly.  Can the .22 do that?  Certainly, but I think a brain or CNS shot is less likely with the .22 than with a larger caliber.

Arguably, the .22 is more accurate and controllable than a centerfire pistol.  That would make brain and CNS hits more likely (if one was aiming there).  The problem is the historic lack of penetration in the .22 round.  They are notorious for failing to be able to penetrate the skull.  I had a doctor in my class last weekend who told me about a patient he treated who had eight .22 bullets under his scalp and none had penetrated into his brain!  The patient was conscious, alert, and asking for a beer!

Most .22 rounds also lack the ability to penetrate deep enough to reach the spinal cord on a front to back shot on an average human male.  It’s for these reasons that I doubt the .22 stops were the result of brain or CNS hits.

The only other mechanism for physical incapacitation is through blood loss.  On average, a bullet that penetrates deeper and/or makes a larger hole will create more blood loss.  We already established that the .22 doesn’t penetrate very deeply and it certainly doesn’t make a big hole.  That takes blood loss out of the equation.

22lr pocket pistolIf the .22 bullet doesn’t cause CNS disruption or extensive blood loss, it won’t physically incapacitate an attacker.  That’s why I commented that the .22 stops are likely to be more psychological in nature.

The data is what it is.  I can’t change that.  My study showed that people were stopped with fewer shots from the .22 than with any other caliber.  Does that mean the .22 is the best choice?  Not necessarily.  There could be other factors that caused the smaller number of shots until incapacitation…

I’m just pulling numbers out of thin air, but let’s just postulate that it takes five seconds after a person is shot for him to realize he is hit and abort the attack.  The average number could be higher or lower, but it doesn’t matter.  It will still take a few seconds for the bad guy to process the fact that he is shot and decide it’s in his best interest to escape before being shot again (a psychological stop).

If we are dealing with psychological stops and not physical incapacitations, firing additional rounds at the attacker during this five second time frame isn’t likely to influence his behavior quicker.  The processing takes the time that it takes.  Anything that will slow the rate of fire will reduce the number of rounds that the attacker soaks up before he aborts his attack.  In other words, the small number of rounds until incapacitation could be more the result of slower firing rate than superior cartridge performance.

Is the .22 likely to have a slower firing rate?  In handguns carried for defensive purposes, yes.  Most .22 defensive handguns are of relatively low quality.  They are extremely small and difficult to shoot quickly.  Compare the rate of fire between a NAA Mini revolver in .22 and a 9mm Glock.  Which do you think you could shoot faster?

How quickly could you shoot this tiny single action revolver? Data that you assume means a superior cartridge could be attributed to a slower rate of fire.

The .22 rimfire round is also more prone to malfunctions than any centerfire round.  A malfunction will also decrease the rate of fire.  Rate of fire wasn’t factored into my study and could have caused the low numbers for the .22.

Another fact that many people haven’t considered is the difference between police and armed citizen gunfights.  My friend Claude Werner often points out that when a criminal is involved in a gunfight with the police, the stakes are higher.  The criminal knows that the cops won’t stop until he’s dead or in jail.  That’s not true with a gunfight against an armed citizen.  The armed citizen just wants a break in the fight.  If he can cause the criminal to flee, he wins and stops shooting.

When criminals fight the police, they are likely to fight harder and take more rounds before giving up, because they know giving up equals a long prison sentence.  Giving up and running away when fighting an armed citizen has no such negative consequences.

Many of the gunfights involving 9mm, .40, and .45 calibers in my study were police gunfights.  Very few of the .22 data was from  police gunfights.  The very nature of the differences between the victim characteristics in the different gunfights could also account for the smaller number of rounds taken by those hit with the .22.

Here’s the good news for the .22 carriers…

In Claude’s lifetime study of defensive gun uses, he has yet to find a single case where an armed citizen was  killed by a criminal after the criminal had taken at least one .22 round.  In the case of civilian defensive gun usage, the criminal almost always flees after the first hit.  I have been unable to find any gunfights that prove Claude wrong.

But take a look at the third column in the table above…

That’s the statistic that most .22 advocates choose to ignore.  It’s the percentage of people who were not physically incapacitated after any number of rounds.  It’s roughly three times higher with the .22 as compared to the service caliber cartridges.

Yes, the criminals fled, but they were not incapacitated.  They could continue to fight back if they choose to.  If you were to face the rare motivated criminal who presses the fight, would you want a .22 or something else?  Encountering the motivated criminal who presses the fight against an armed citizen is exceedingly rare, but it is a possibility. Should you prepare for the statistical norm or the statistical anomaly?  In my view, I think it’s best to prepare for the worst possible outcome, rather than the most likely.  Statistically, you are unlikely to ever need a gun at all, yet most of my readers want to prepare for the worst, so they carry a gun.  Why wouldn’t you use the same logic when choosing an appropriate defensive sidearm?

My best advice to you is to carry a gun that is reliable and shoots well.  If your preference is a .22, it will probably serve you well.  My preference is to carry something a little larger whenever it’s convenient.

D.  YouTube video: SHTF: 10 reasons for a 22LR Firearm
See at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-radX2VMWgY

 

E.  The Crossbow: a Terrible SHTF Weapon Choice (Comparing the .22LR with a crossbow)
Unless you’re fighting zombies, skip the crossbow.
December 2013, AllOutdoor.com, by  Dr. John
Excerpt pasted from: http://www.alloutdoor.com/2013/12/03/crossbows-viable-shtf-option/

…The Crossbow vs. the .22LR So what is the consequential impact (pun intended) of a crossbow bolt in theory? Ponder this: Most crossbows today send a bolt flying at from 300-400 feet per second velocity. By comparison, a .22 Long Rifle flies out the muzzle at 1200-1400 feet per second. A 40 grain .22 bullet produces roughly 130-170 foot pounds of killing energy. Though a field point usually weighs 100 grains and a typical crossbow bolt broadhead weighs 100-125 grains, because of the low velocity they can produce less terminal energy than a .22 LR round. You have probably commonly seen hunting shows depicting arrows sailing right through a deer. It is unlikely that a field point would do so unless only soft tissue was penetrated. Translate all of that into a SHTF event where a human might be the target. What it means in terms of electing to use a crossbow for a SHTF defensive weapon is to aim for areas of the target where penetration would be realistically anticipated. If the threat is wearing a heavy coat or armor, then good luck with that. So if you’re determined to use a crossbow post-SHTF, then you’d better start stocking up on those expensive broadheads, as the killing impact of a broadhead is in the cutting capability

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Wednesday, December 23, 2015 · 12:10 AM

Toilet paper & Kleenex: the little things of life

(Survival Manual/ Prepper articles/ Toilet paper & Kleenex: the little things of life)

 A.  When The Toilet Paper Runs Out
October 30, 2011, NC Preppers, by
Pasted from: http://ncpreppers.com/2011/10/30/when-the-toilet-paper-runs-out/in

tp-kleenix1[The last roll of TP]

I have a prepper friend who admits that if TSHTF, “I will share my stored food and supplies with family members who make fun of me for prepping. But I WON’T SHARE MY TOILET PAPER!”

Most of us have stored food, water, and supplies with plans for sustainable replacement. For example, we are planting gardens, raising chickens and rabbits, have rainwater barrels, and manual pumps for our wells.

But what happens when the toilet paper runs out?
If we are planning for a long term event, we need to face the scary fact that toilet paper is not a renewable resource and will eventually run out. I know some people who have a panic attack at the thought of that. What are our options?

What did people do before toilet paper was available? Everyone has heard about dried corncobs (ouch). When I was a child visiting my grandparents in the Appalachian mountains, I had to use their outhouse. Everyone in that area used old Sears’ catalogs. I would tear out a page and rub the page together as my cousins taught me to soften it a bit. Slick paper doesn’t work so well. I have read that Indians and pioneers used leaves. Some cultures use just their hand. For obvious reasons, none of these alternatives seem very attractive to me.

Almost two years ago someone started an entertaining thread on the American Preppers Network about the use of “family cloths.” I will admit that the idea of using cloth toilet wipes to be be washed and reused pretty well grossed me out. I thought, “These people are nuts!” Then about a year ago I decided to make some “for emergencies.” Once I made them and started using family cloths, I found I prefer them to toilet paper and miss them when I travel away from home.

tp-kleenix2

I found a website that sells them as baby wipes and bought a dozen to try. I liked the way they were made and bought the fabric to make my own. They are two layers, one terry cloth, the other flannel. I zigzag the edges in a very close stitch to keep them from unraveling. They are approximately 5″ X 7″. I made some smaller ones for those times when just a little blotting is needed. I made 40 cloths out of one yard of terry and one yard of flannel.

They are thick, soft, and substantial. I bought white fabric because I use bleach. After being used for a year, they still look like new. I am the only one in our household who uses them. Some people make them in different colors, one color for each person in the family. Many people save money by making them from old linens, t-shirts, or washcloths.

I am not 100% toilet paper free. I use a few sheets of TP initially followed up with the cloth. I wet the cloth with water and a little soap on one end of the cloth on the terry side. A dry cloth works for other times.

Following use, I fold the used cloth in half and place it in a large plastic container of water with a little laundry soap and Oxiclean and cover with a lid. There is no odor and nothing gross about draining most of the water off of them and just dumping the cloths into the washer. I wash them with homemade laundry detergent and bleach. They come out perfectly clean and white.

I have gone from using one roll of toilet paper a week to one roll a month. When the toilet paper runs out, I won’t be using corn cobs or a Sears catalog.

As I posted above, the key to avoiding stains is to put used cloths in a bucket (I use a plastic coffee can) of water with a bit of detergent and Oxiclean to soak until they are washed. I use the lid of the bucket to drain the water off them into the toilet before washing. I wash mine about once a week whenever I do laundry. If there were more people using them, I would wash them more frequently. I do not use bleach to soak them which would shorten the life of the fabric.

I wash them in the washer by themselves with laundry detergent, Oxiclean, and bleach. (I don’t measure.) Since it is a “small” load, I use less than a cup of bleach.

It has now been over two years since I started using the cloths daily. They still look like new with no stains just like in the blog pictures. The material and stitching have held up well with no mending needed. It is not unlike what you would do with white cloth diapers.

I keep cloths and a container for soaking in my master bath and the half-bath I use on the first floor. Because I use a few sheets of toilet paper for a first wipe when I do more than pee, the cloths are not really gross. If I ever don’t have access to TP, I will be fine using the cloths exclusively.

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B.  Several types of alternate cloth wipes
__1) Green Mountain Diapers
Pasted from: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/other.htm
I bought the ones that are 5″ X 8″, two-sided terry and flannel, 12 for $9.95.
Cloth-eez® Two-Sided Wipestp-kleenix3
Cotton terry on one side, soft flannel on the other side. Terry is great for the main job, and the nice, smooth, gentle flannel is great for the final touch-up details. White cotton is the best color for wipes, so you can see what you are doing. 5×8 inches, approximate measurements before washing, and they will shrink somewhat. I love this size, the feel, and the practicality of the 2 different sides. May fit in your wipes warmer without folding. This wipe is Karen’s favorite, because I find it easiest to use several wipes per poopy change, grabbing a fresh wipe as needed, rather than folding a larger wipe over and over. These wipes are a less overwhelming size for a young baby’s small bottom, yet still fine as baby grows. To me, flannel on one side and terry on the other has the best “feel” for the job. An inexpensive wipe in the perfect size. Fits in many wipes containers. Suggested amount: 4 packs for a young baby, 3 packs for an older baby. 100% cotton. Made in China. Pack of 12 for $10.95 + about $6.95 S&H

tp-kleenix4
__2) GroVia Cotton Cloth Wipes, 12 count
Amazon.com, $11.50+$4.99 S&H
> 88% Polyester and 12% cotton, ultra soft baby terry
> 12 cloth wipes per pack
> 8″H x 8″W
> Easy to use and washable
> Our ultra soft baby terry wipes are gentle enough for baby’s face yet perfect for cleaning the messiest bums.
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C.  Using Handkerchiefs Instead of Facial Tissue
diyNatural, by Betsy Jabs
Excerpt pasted from: http://www.diynatural.com/using-handkerchiefs-instead-of-facial-tissue/

Five reasons to use a handkerchief:
1. It saves money. I used to love coordinating all the cute tissue boxes with my bathrooms (wow, that’s marketing at its finest), but I estimate we probably spent $20-$40 per year just on facial tissue. Not a huge savings, but I can certainly think of other things I could use that money for. We have not purchased a box of tissue in almost a year, and the tissues we purchased before that were to keep available for guests.
2. It produces less waste/saves resources. I have been so thankful for handkerchiefs as we strive to go paperless in our house. They take up very little space in the laundry and prevent our trash from filling up so quickly. Keep a stack of hankies in an easily accessible drawer in the house so family members aren’t tempted to use the paper alternative.
3. Hankies are more comfortable to use. Tissues used to make my nose raw after prolonged use. My 100% cotton hankies feel very nice on my face. As far as the moisture in the hanky goes… without going into graphic detail, I’ll just say that it all works out somehow and hasn’t been an issue for me. After using a hanky, it can be folded up, tucked away, and it’s usually dry the next time you pull it out. (And if this grosses you out, you can always grab a fresh hanky!)

tp-kleenix5

 4. Hankies create less of a mess. Hankies don’t leave any particles
behind, and never rip as I’m using them. The white fuzz left on Matt’s face after using facial tissues is a thing of the past. (I kind of miss being able to laugh at this.) Hankies won’t create trouble in a load of laundry if accidentally left in a pocket–and we’ve all had this laundry mis-hap with tissues. Picking a gazillion of those little white tissue remnants off clothes coming out of the washer? Ugh! Never again! In fact, you’ll just end up with a clean hanky if one is left in a pocket.
5. Hankies are more sustainable. Handkerchiefs are a much more sustainable replacement for facial tissues AND many other things. Think about replacing other things in your home with hankies…paper napkins, paper towel, toilet paper, tissue paper, or other things around the house that might currently be disposable. We no longer have to worry about running out of tissues. In the past, when the last tissue had been used, we would grab for toilet paper and frantically run to add tissues to the grocery list. With hankies, you can grab a fresh one whenever your current one is getting icky, and you can forget about a trip to the store.

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D.  How to Wash Handkerchiefs
ehow.com, S.F. Heron, eHow Contributor
Pasted from: http://www.ehow.com/how_5047316_wash-handkerchiefs.html

Washing handkerchiefs is relatively easy. The hard part lies in making sure the stains and nasal fluids have been completely removed from the fabric before sterilizing it for future use. Handkerchiefs come in many styles, including lace edged and monogrammed. Test any cleaning method on an inconspicuous spot before attempting to clean your handkerchiefs whether you are laundering basic cotton handkerchiefs in the clothes washer or by hand.

Things You’ll Need
•  Color safe bleach (if colored hankies)
•  Bleach
•  Shout or OxyClean
•  Detergent

Instructions
Washing Handkerchiefs in the Washing Machine
1. Address any stains or spots on the handkerchief fabric first. Spray spot remover on the handkerchief as soon as possible after the stain occurs to help prevent setting the stain. Allow the cleaner to work for some time before laundering. Don’t let the stain remover completely dry or it might enhance the existing stain or create another one.
2.  Fill the sink basin with hot water and 1/8 cup of bleach (or color safe bleach for colored fabric handkerchiefs).
Immerse the handkerchiefs into the water and allow to soak for some time. This step helps sterilize the fabric to remove germs.
3.  Place the handkerchiefs into the clothes washer and set the dial for a delicate cycle. Use hot water to help sterilize the fabric. Include the appropriate amount of laundry detergent for the load.
4.  Either air dry or tumble-dry the fabric handkerchiefs, removing the items from the drier while still slightly damp to help release the wrinkles.

Washing Handkerchiefs by Hand
5.  Soak the handkerchiefs in a sink basin filled with a small amount of chlorine bleach and water to remove germs and bacteria after testing to make sure to the fabric can handle the harsh affects of bleach.
6.  Fill the sink basin with hot water and a tablespoon of laundry detergent.
7.  Immerse the handkerchiefs completely into the water, squeezing the fabric to make sure it absorbs the water. Wring the fabric to make sure detergent gets into the fabric as well.
8.  Allow the handkerchiefs to soak for 30 minutes.
9.  Run clear, cool water over the fabric until all bubbles are removed. Be careful not to wring the fabric too much as this will create wrinkles. Hang the handkerchiefs up to dry.
.

E.  Why a Handkerchief  Should Be In Your Survival Kit
November 17, 2011, PreppingToSurvive.com, by Joe
Pasted from: http://preppingtosurvive.com/2011/11/17/why-a-handkerchief-should-be-in-your-survival-kit/

tp-kleenix6

Sir Baden-Powell founded the original Boy Scouts in England following his defense of the town of Mafeking in the Second Boer War in South Africa. The original uniform for the Boy Scouts included a Handkerchief folded in half and worn conveniently around the neck. His decision to include this accessory was not merely one of fashion. The handkerchief offers someone in the wild many varied uses.

Uses in First Aid
A handkerchief can be of great value when it comes to wilderness first aid. Few items are so flexible as a handkerchief. It can be used to put a sling around an injured arm, split a sprained ankle, and bandage an exposed wound. Handkerchiefs can be used to clean a cut with soap and water or cool someone who is suffering from heat exhaustion. Yes, when it comes to applying emergency aid to a victim in the wild, handkerchiefs come in handy.

Uses with Food and Water
Handkerchiefs offer a number of uses around the impromptu kitchen when effecting survival. You can place a handkerchief over the mouth of a container to strain muddy water from a pond or puddle. The water must still be purified but at least the handkerchief will prevent some of the larger items from making it into your drinking water.

As you purify your drinking water, the handkerchief can be used as a potholder to prevent you from burning yourself when removing a container from the fire. You can place handkerchiefs over your food to protect it from flies while tending to other survival activities. And you can use a handkerchief to aid in washing and cleaning your cooking utensils.

When water is in short supply, you can tie a handkerchief around your leg as you walk through a field of high grass and use it to collect water from the morning dew. Periodically take the handkerchief off, hold it above your head, and squeeze the refreshing liquid into your mouth.

Uses in Survival
By attaching a brightly colored handkerchief to the end of a long stick, a makeshift signal flag can be created to help alert distant rescuers of your presence.
In hotter climates, a handkerchief can be soaked in water and worn around the neck or over the head to help cool your blood and thus lower your overall body temperature. In cold weather, a handkerchief can offer additional insulation under your hat to help keep body heat from escaping through your head.

Handkerchiefs are lightweight, easily carried, and incredibly useful. Boy Scout uniforms are still adorned with the standard neckerchief for many of the same reasons listed here. Shouldn’t one or more be in your survival kit?

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Wednesday, December 16, 2015 · 12:10 AM

How to keep warm at home

(Survival Manual/Prepper articles/ How to keep warm at home)

A.  Ice Storm Survival Preparedness
Posted on 14 December 2012, ModernSurvivalBlog.com, Submitted by: Ken Jorgustin (MSB)
Pasted from: http://modernsurvivalblog.com/weather-preparedness/ice-storm-survival-preparedness/

warmathome ice storm
An Ice Storm is a unique weather phenomenon that immediately paralyzes a region, much more so than a major snow storm. An ice storm is so debilitating that you risk your survival and life simply by walking out your front door.

Just prior to nearly any forecast of a major storm, people rush out to the grocery stores, which quickly run out of lots of food and supplies. How does this happen? Its pretty simple really… just think about your own habit of going to the grocery store… you probably go on the same day of the week, right? Let’s say you normally go Friday, someone else goes Saturday, yet another always goes on Tuesday, etc. When a storm is forecast, people disregard their normal schedule and many of them run out to the store during the same day just before the storm. Bingo… the store shelves go empty. The lesson is to NOT have to run out – keep enough at home to begin with. Not only that, but an ice storm will completely prohibit you from running that errand as soon as the fist liquid begins to freeze into ice.

EXPECT more dumb decisions. As it is, a certain percentage of people make dumb decisions, but for some reason just prior and during a storm, there are more of them making poor choices. There will be more accidents (automobile and otherwise). People rushing around, nearly panicked. Out for themselves. It’s really quite amazing to witness. So the best advice is to stay out of their way, and better yet, stay at home!

If you are stuck at home for days with the rest of your family, it will become increasingly likely that you will all get bored or stressed out. Think ahead of time for things to do. Have books to read. Games to play. Projects to accomplish. Be extra nice so as to reduce the possible stress around everyone.

Ice will quickly bring traffic to a crawl or complete halt. Cars may become abandoned and roads completely impassible. Even though you may have a 4×4, keep TIRE CHAINS in your vehicle. A 4-wheel drive will do no good on ice, just like a 2-wheel drive vehicle. Chains however will add biting grip to your tires (even 2-wheel drive vehicles) and may be the difference to get you home. They are easy to get… just ‘size’ them according to the tire model/size that you have. Oh, and once you get them, be sure and familiarize yourself with putting them on one time in your driveway, when the weather is nice, so you know how to do it!

One major danger and risk is that the power often goes out during an ice storm. The weight of the build-up of ice on the power lines and tree branches is enormous (more than you may think). Once a critical point is reached, these lines and limbs will start crashing down. Even worse is that it will be nearly impossible for repair crews to do their job until AFTER an ice storm. This means that you may be without power for a LONG TIME.

During the winter, being without power is an entirely different deal than a summertime power outage. Even a relatively short term power outage in the winter can be deadly. Your home will likely lose its ability to heat. Pipes may freeze. You may freeze. It is crucial to consider an alternative method for keeping warm. Safe portable indoor heaters are available. Of course a wood stove is a no-brainer.

Remember this, whereas during a power outage resulting from a snow storm may allow you to drive to another location which has heat or power, during an ice storm you will NOT be able to safely travel. This makes it all the more important to have a means of keeping warm in your home during a power outage.

Plus, there are all of the other aspects that go with getting along without power…

For your vehicle, keep tire chains, tow strap, salt/sand, shovel, ice scraper, snow brush, a safe gas can, extra gloves, extra hat, blanket, 72-hour kit with food (or at least some power bars, etc.), road flares, LED flashlight, car charger for cell phone, and whatever else you think may be good to have just in case…

A few additional preparedness items for home include LED flashlights, extra batteries, solar battery charger, portable battery powered AM/FM Shortwave radio, a weather radio, a safe indoor cooking stove, enough food, some stored water in case municipal tap water pumps go dead, generator, extra fuel in safe gas cans, car charger for your cell phone, and most important of all… enough hot chocolate!

If you have large trees or limbs over or near your home or roof, be very aware of this. A falling tree can easily slice into a house and kill you. Consider trimming large limbs that may be a risk. At the very least, I would not sleep or spend much time in a room underneath such a danger zone.

Conserve the power on your cell phone. Shut it off except for when you are going to use it. Cell towers are often repaired well before the power comes back on, so bear that in mind.

If you are ‘out’ and you hear a forecast of icing, do your best to get where you are going to go, BEFORE the event. Your ears should perk up when you hear the word, ICE.
Be prepared.

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B. How to Winterize Your Home
15 Dec 2012, The Ready Store,
Pasted from: http://www.thereadystore.com/diy/5657/how-to-winterize-your-home?utm_source=rne_mon_20121217&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=monday&utm_content=main

Previously, we talked about what you could do to prepare for a power outage during the winter. But how can do you winterize your home to be ready for the snow and cold weather?

Here are a few points to consider as the winter weather descends upon us. Check out these points and then add your insights below. Your tips could save people money and time as they prepare.

Reverse the fan
One thing that most people don’t think about is reversing the ceiling fan. Hot air rises and you’ll want to make sure that the warm air that is collecting around your ceiling is being pushed back down into the room to heat everyone.

Clean the gutters
The last thing you’ll want to do in the middle of the winter is climb up on your frozen roof on a cold ladder and take out soggy and frozen leaves from your gutters. Cleaning your gutters allows cold water to quickly get off your roof and not collect.

Insulate
Besides making sure that your house is well insulated, make sure that there aren’t any large cracks or leaks in your home. Those cracks can let hot air out and drain your heating bill.

You’ll also want to make sure that the seal around your windows and doors is tight. Many people even consider putting bubble wrap or other clear plastics around their window during the winter to allow light to come in and cold air out. You can even sew your own door draft stopper.

Planting a windbreakers
This probably isn’t something that you can do quickly or easily but you should consider planting evergreen trees close to your home. This keeps a buffer of tree between your house and the cold wind outside. The evergreen trees will also force cold winds up and around your house.

Programmable gadgets
One new trend is consumers who are installing timers on their heating systems or water heaters in order to only run during certain times of the day. This allows you to only heat when you need it – saving you money!

Shut the door
Many times it’s just more efficient not to heat a room. If there is a storage room that you aren’t using – just close the vent and the door. That allows you to focus your heating on the rooms that you use on a regular basis. You’ll have to make sure that without the vents open the room doesn’t get too cold that you have a busted pipe.

Use your large appliances
When it gets cold outside, clean the house. The heat that the washer, dryer, dishwasher, oven and other appliances put off will heat your home when it’s cold. That means you’ll want to make sure that your appliances are in working order.

Make sure you have an auto emergency kit
While you’re out and about during the winter time, make sure that you have the proper equipment in your car. That means having jumper cables, food, water and other items that will be necessary if your car breaks down in a winter storm.

 . 

C.  How to Stay Warm with Less Heat
4 Dec 2012, TheOrganicPrepper.ca, by Daisy Luther
Posted from: http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/how-to-stay-warm-with-less-heat-2-12042012

warmathome cold day

I live in an older house.  It’s not too fancy, but it features things like wood heat, an independent water supply and a million dollar view with a frugal price tag.   In the Northern winter, however, I notice exactly how drafty and chilly our little house is!  The breeze off the lake also increases the nip in the air.  With an older wood stove as our only source of heat, the rooms more distant from the stove move from chilly to downright COLD.

From a prepping point of view, using less heat allows you to extend your fuel supply. If you are totally without heat, greater measures would need to be taken than the ones listed here.  For some SHTF heating ideas, this article has some fantastic and inexpensive tips.

I rent so it isn’t feasible to insulate or replace the windows and wood stove with more efficient models. So, in the interest of non-tech solutions, here are a few ways that we keep warmer without plugging in the electric space heaters.

warmathome dress warm Keep your wrists and ankles covered.  Wear shirts with sleeves long enough to keep your wrists covered and long socks that keep your ankles covered.  You lose a great deal of heat from those two areas.

Get some long-johns.  Wearing long underwear beneath your jeans or PJ’s will work like insulation to keep your body heat in.  I like the silky kind sold by discount stores like Wal-mart for indoor use, rather than the sturdier outdoor type sold by ski shops.

Wear slippers.  You want to select house shoes with a solid bottom rather than the slipper sock type.  This forms a barrier between your feet and the cold floor.  We keep a basket of inexpensive slippers in varying sizes by the door for visitors because it makes such a big difference.  Going around in your stocking feet on a cold floor is a certain way to be chilled right through.

Get up and get moving.  It goes without saying that physical activity will increase your body temperature.  If you’re cold, get up and clean something, dance with your kids, play tug-of-war with the dog, or do a chore.  I often bring in a few loads of wood to get my blood flowing and get warmed up.

Pile on the blankets. If you’re going to be sitting down, have some layered blankets available.  Our reading area has polar fleece blankets which we top with fluffy comforters for a cozy place to relax.

warmathome sleep warm

Use a hot water bottle.  If you’re just sitting around try placing a hot water bottle (carefully wrapped to avoid burns) under the blankets with you.

Use rice bags.  If you don’t have the readymade ones, you can simply place dry rice in a clean sock.  Heat this in the microwave, if you use one, for about a minute, or place in a 100 degree oven, watching carefully, for about 10 minutes.  I keep some rice bags in a large ceramic crock beside the wood stove so they are constantly warm.  You can put your feet on them or tuck them under the blankets on your lap.

warmathome warm room

Insulate using items you have.  A friend recommended lining the interior walls with bookcases or hanging decorative quilts and blankets on the walls to add an extra layer of insulation. It definitely makes a difference because it keeps heat in and cold air out. If you look at pictures of old castles you will see lovely tapestry wall-hangings – this was to help insulate the stone walls, which absorbed the cold and released it into the space.

Layer your windows.  Our house has large lovely picture windows for enjoying the view.  However, they’re single pane and it’s hard to enjoy the view if your teeth are chattering.  We took the rather drastic step of basically closing off all the windows but one in each room for the winter.  We insulated by placing draft blockers at the bottom in the window sill (I just used rolled up polar fleece – I’m not much of a sew-er.)  This was topped by a heavy blanket, taking care to overlap the wall and window edges with it.  Over that, we hung thermal curtains that remain closed.

 Get a rug.  If you have hardwood, tile or laminate flooring, an area rug is a must.  Like the blankets on the walls, this is another layer of insulation between you and the great outdoors.  We have no basement so our floor is very chilly.  A rug in the living room protects our feet from the chill.

Wear a scarf.  No, not like a big heavy wool scarf that you’d wear outdoors – just a small, lightweight one that won’t get in your way and annoy you.  This serves two purposes.  First, it covers a bit more exposed skin. Secondly, it keeps body heat from escaping out the neck of your shirt.

Burn candles.  Especially in a smaller space, a burning candle can raise the temperature a couple of degrees.

Cuddle.  Share your body heat under the blankets when you’re watching movies or reading a book.

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Wednesday, December 9, 2015 · 12:10 AM

Life After The Collapse, Part 2 of 2

Survival Manual/2. Social Issues/Life After The Collapse, Parts 2 of 2)

J.  De-nationalization
Along come racial conflict, the disintegration of our nation-state will begin. It is not impossible to control large areas of land using primitive means. Look at China and Russia. They had their ups and downs, the enlargement than the contraction of the areas they were able to control. But over centuries they could keep large areas under one rule. The US might not be able to do so. This will mostly hinge on oil availability. And perhaps the ability to utilize the railroads. The East has the water transportation system, which might also be used for troop movement. Even with some neglect, as seen in all sectors of our infrastructure, the upkeep will be minimal. And the bulk of the population is on some waterway. But military transport is largely oil based. Whereas in World War Two we moved large troop numbers by railroad and merchant marine, it is doubtful we can duplicate this again. The support system has been neglected to a large extent. Nevertheless, if you have a railroad nearby you are hoping will help support your community come road transit breakdown, it is possible it will be nationalized and used for military use. Not guaranteed, but a possibility. Even if the military uses every possible means of transporting themselves to trouble spots, most likely their numbers will be too small. I can’t see an immediate withdrawal of overseas troops to quell local troubles. By the time they are shipped home, the civil unrest will be too large to contain. Assuming of course things get bad enough that kind of unrest takes place. Which I think is a safe bet. They might successfully subdue some areas, but not all. Long term, one area after another will become unruleable. Add in severe economic trouble, disease outbreaks due to failing health care and sewage main breaks along with water contamination, troops needing to help against huge crime upsurges, an unhealthy dependence on high tech needing foreign parts and a total mechanized military, the trouble of depending on troops to fight fellow citizens and even the inability to properly feed and reequip soldiers and I can almost bet on the military being too inefficient and undermanned to keep the peace.

      This in no way should give you peace of mind regarding military suppression and martial law. You could very well be effected. This is a long-term outlook. Short term, you could find yourself battling police forces, the military, criminal gangs, local militia, or more than one at a time. Which should worry you. Not only because it means you might get killed, but because trade will stop or become disrupted and you might find yourself with a dwindling stockpile of ammunition to protect yourself. If China stays around as a viable power, you might see them eager to help out the disruption and arm whatever group they see as helping their interests (which is the destruction of the US as a military power able to challenge them), but that is not a sure enough thing to base your choice of a personal firearm on. In other words, the steel cased ammo that feeds an SKS or an AK-47 may or may not still be available.

Unless you can stockpile as much as you think you will need beforehand. This projected resupply problem is why I frown on semi-automatic weapons. They are superior as fighting weapons in a lot of aspects, except logistics come collapse. Now, as much as I disagree with the direction our country has taken away from a Constitutional Republic, rest assure that if and/or when the government is unable to keep the Union together come collapse, local tyrants are not going to be any better and most likely will be a lot worse. Local strong men won’t even acknowledge there is any rule of law other than that from the barrel of a gun. And they won’t see anything wrong with wringing all the wealth from the citizens without regard of their long term health. And since they don’t rule from far away they will be much more effective in their suppression. So, while it will be nice to see the current group of thugs lose power, their replacement will be much worse.

So, after you get done suffering economically as everything you know and are used to (cheap energy, welfare state, your currently employable skill ) is done away with, after a short depression followed by hyperinflation kills any savings and dwindles your emergency supplies, you’ve just seen the warm up of the collapse. Oil will start running out or become unavailable from overseas. Food won’t be delivered and many people will start to go hungry. The military will try to contain unrest with brute force. The ghettos will spew violent criminals and race dominated wars. The US will start to break up. Infrastructure will collapse. Water won’t run, the toilet won’t flush. Disease will spring up everywhere, to include a lot of resurgent tropical or Third World diseases. Perhaps even a few man made ones to use against dissident areas. Neighbors will try to turn you in for rewards, crime will explode as authority recedes. If you don’t die now from mugging, kidnapping or home invasion, you might be gang raped and die later of AIDS. Both male and female. This is the start of the huge die-off.

K.  Die off
‘Die off’ will be due to a lot of different things. Disease. Hunger. Exposure to the elements without heat or cooling. Crime, which includes losing all your stored food and equipment. Combat with police or the military. Widespread death will happen. The global carrying capacity of a non-oil, primitive agrarian society is less than a billion people. And this number is assuming the entire population knows how to survive without petroleum. Since a lot of areas have completely lost their roots with nature, that figure will initially be less. Say half a billion. Globally. However, it is the nature of things that when a die off happens, the numbers of survivors fall sharply below the natural carrying capacity to begin with.
Rome went from the center of a vast civilization, a metropolis of its day, to little more than a village after collapse. Mayan cities went from large urban centers to overgrown jungle ruins with a few paltry settlements set on their fringes. China always had its farmers as the center of its civilizations and fared better, although in recovery its population figures did fall sharply. Populations are built up, having conquered farmlands to swell its numbers. Centralization helped the numbers increase. But when the lands carrying capacity was surpassed and there were no more victims to plunder, population took a swift downturn. Crime, disease, starvation and warfare took its toll. This process has been likened by others as a bottle of alcohol being brewed, and I can’t top that description. A sugar rich environment aids a rapid increase in the culture, who eat up the available food. When a critical mass is reached and the culture dies off to almost zero. There is no more food left. We are left with a bottle of spirits, which is a good thing. In the human environment, you are left with a corpse ridden field with just a few survivors remaining. In our case, the die off will result as the remaining oil is not sufficient to feed the swollen population. Most die off from hunger and the remaining few take the little available fertile soil and relearn organic farming on a decentralized level. Animal population are another illustration. In an example from others, a herd of caribou is introduced on an island which has overgrown with lichen due to no known “predator”. With this rich food source, the caribou population goes from a few pairs to hundreds or even thousands. The natural replenishment rate of the food is, say, a hundred. But once too many animals are there, once the plants no longer feed everyone, almost all of them die from hunger and just a dozen or two remain. Then it takes time to bring the population level up to that optimum hundred. Once the oil level declines just enough on a permanent basis to cease feeding all six billion, Humans, will see die off far below the level the globe can naturally feed with solar energy alone. Oil doesn’t have to run out, just fall below today’s needed level.

L.  Survival preps
This is where survival preparations come into play. You aren’t storing enough provisions to live forever. For most, a daunting if not impossible task (to say nothing of preparing for multi-generational survival). What you are doing is trying to prepare to survive the die-off period. Food stores are only part of the picture anyway. You must survive the conflict that accompanies the die-off. People will not stay at home, meekly waiting a slow death as the cupboards stay bare. Towards the end there will be no more strength to fight for what they need. But initially, they will try to take what they need to survive.

This is why a retreat out in the boonies is so often advised. It is far from the perfect answer, of course. Day to day employment and provisioning is necessary. And few have the means of buying this kind of land anyway. You can find remote land. The West is full of vast areas seeing no settlement other than near water sources. But the “perfect” retreat, with fertile land, woods for fuel, and available water is rare and expensive. I advise what I call junk land. The crap no one wants and is nothing more than a patch of dirt. You won’t pay much more than a thousand or two for it. But it has a poor road leading to it, no surface water or shallow water table, infertile soil and most likely in an economically depressed area. You can actually use these flaws to your advantage since few people will be nearby. It isn’t a farm, ready to feed you and your family. It is merely a legal squat so that in the initial collapse you won’t be harassed for camping on public land or private property or on the side of the road. Your supplies will keep you alive, not the land. After the troubles have subsided you can move to better land, into a settlement to barter any skills you have, or take up banditry or become a nomadic herder. No good answers, but if you are poor to begin with you don’t have a lot of options to pick from.

      It is impossible to guess the time period of collapse and die off. Some maintain it will be a long drawn out process. An emergency, shortages, ad hoc solutions. A traumatic period, then a leveling off as people adjust to the new way of doing things. Then, further resource depletion and more emergencies. More depopulation until the “new” level of resource availability is met. A period of relative calm until another spasm of die off, adjustments to the next level of food availability. Etcetera. This could very well happen, as illustrated by the two hundred year Mayan decline or the three centuries it took Rome to fall. I’m far less optimistic. Back then, a primitive level of agrarian existence was practiced, even as farms became bigger with conquest or water sources were centralized. Come overpopulation and soil depletion, you merely saw enough famine to adjust to less population, that which matched less fertile soil or limited water. Today, most soil is already infertile, only producing because of oil inputs. Farms are far from population centers and transportation is required. Instead of ninety percent of the population farming, there is only a few percent, in the single digits. Most farm areas have water availability issues, such as California seeing drought decrease mountain snow melt off or aquifer depletion in the middle part of this country (Texas, Nebraska, etc.). The adjustments needed will be much larger than in the past. There is far less knowledge of farming than in the past (we concentrate on the industrialized First World throughout). There is far less farmland available than in the past, due to artificial fertilizers and mechanized farming growing so much more per acre. I foresee a much bumpier, more rapid decline than in the past because of all this.

M.  Types of preps
Survivalists come in all shapes and sizes and they usually rival the different sects of Christianity in their dispute over doctrine. There are primitive Stone Age adherents, short term ‘weather disaster preppers’, ‘nuclear fallout shelter occupants’, ‘back to the landers’ only concerned with growing their own food, Yuppie Survivalists intent on recreating every luxury of their middle class existence in Armageddon mode, hoarders of gold and silver that will buy their salvation, modern day desert hermits who will survive through a collapse unknowingly due to loss of contact, or, my favorite, ‘frugal preppers’ that can prepare on almost nothing as their needs have been pared down to the bare minimum. I can’t say which group has the most chance of arriving intact on the other side of die off.
•  The Stone Age practitioners are least vulnerable to technological collapse, but any number of poor marksmen with modern firearms can invade their territory and kill off all large game leaving him nothing to eat but berries, insects and small rabbits. Will there be enough skins to get him through winter, or is he far enough away to thrive?
•  The short-term preppers don’t stand much of a chance with limited supplies unless there is an instant die off such as an asteroid strike, Yellowstone volcanic eruption or nuclear exchange and he can pick and choose supplies lying around as in a poorly budgeted B-movie.
•  The nuclear crowd is well equipped to survive only one type of disaster. Or will the local tax man except MRE’s in lieu of property tax during an economic depression?
•  The ‘back to the landers’ are well equipped to feed themselves, their arriving family and perhaps a neighbor or two. Unfortunately most of their plans need to have a strong government capable of keeping the lawless forces away from them so they can continue to till the soil unmolested. Plus, they usually owe a mortgage on their perfect farm and are thus susceptible to economic downturn.
•  The Yuppie Survivalists are the school most taught by authors of best selling preparedness books. That is because the breed will buy anything that promises to save them in complete comfort. Authors and salesmen follow the money and sell to these people. The ones who can’t stand the thought of any decrease in their standard of living. Instead of stocking candles for illumination they will buy $800 worth of solar panels, 12v auto lamps and a few hundred bucks in marine batteries to see with while off  the grid. Their whole preparedness plan is just like this, spend one hundred times the needed amount for tools because they can’t let go of their soft and comfortable lifestyle.
•  The precious metal advocates are not wrong because “you can’t eat gold”. Precious metals will play a vital part after the recovery. They are wrong because they think money alone, even in a safe inflation proof form, will help them survive. They only look at the aftermath, forgetting one must travel a ways through treachery to get to a society living once again on a gold standard.
•  Desert rats that are not at the end of their hoard of beans and bacon can blissfully ignore the world crashing around them as they are alone in the wilderness and protected from the folly of their fellows. Unfortunately, they only postpone the day of reckoning when they must come in for resupply.
•  Frugal preppers are not the most enlightened nor the smartest. This school of survivalism is not any more perfect than most other types. Except for one critical factor. It allows anyone, even those of the most humble economic means, to prepare as much as possible for the coming collapse. This is why it should be much more attractive than it currently seems to be. Especially during the current economic collapse when job losses are epidemic, credit continues to contract causing companies that were just a year ago sound and prosperous to see so many problems beset them.

These go hand in hand, where companies have no choice to salvage some stock value and continue to give their top echelon workers a “merit” based raise or bonus at the end of each quarter. Before, when cutting costs was the path to efficiency during boom times, workers were habitually laid off. Today, vastly increased numbers are given pink slips regardless of the long term effect this might have on productivity. Panic mode is in full bore and where once the left over work force was compelled to handle the increased work from fired coworkers, now the trimming is so close to the bone it is doubtful the companies can survive. Before, another competitor bought off the suffering company with cheap and plentiful debt. Now, entire industries will all but disappear to a fraction of their former selves to claim the reduced demand of cash negative and credit impaired customers. States and all other levels of government are also seeing their ability to borrow suffering, and since they can’t print money like their brothers at the Federal level they will have no choice but to ax civil servants. Government will not be the safe haven for workers it used to be during downturns. Therefore, everyone should be very wary of being able to keep their jobs and thus their mortgages, credit rating, SUV’s and other badges of a middle class lifestyle. You would think a cheap way to insulate against calamity with an affordable stock of food and protection and alternate energy would be most welcome by frightened workers. Alas, the herd instinctively runs to the big money boys, the Yuppie Survivalist teachers and suppliers. Just as they did during the 1970’s.

      If you are one of the few that sees the futility of spending twenty grand on an arsenal, a quarter million on a remote farm and five grand per person on freeze dried field rations, welcome to frugal survivalism. Anyone can have the basics for under a grand. That includes food, shelter, protection, filtered water. Another three grand will see you safely on your own paid for land in a more permanent shelter.

To briefly summarize; The basics consist of a store of whole wheat kernels bought from a feed and grain store (untreated by vet medicine), stored in five gallon poly buckets. A $25 cast iron grain grinder. A moron proof way of constructing your own 13,000 gallon water filter for just $50. A used WWII surplus bolt action thirty caliber rifle, usually on sale under a hundred bucks. There is a bit more to it, but in essence by preparing at a bare bones level anyone can afford to stock a years worth of emergency rations and protect it adequately. The cheap homesteading method is to buy a piece of junk land (usually on E-Bay) on little more than a grand and park a trailer or build a very small cabin on it for the same amount. Most off-grid expenses such as a generator or well or septic can be bypassed cheaply. Remember, preparations only get you through a die off period. Even spending half a million on a remote farm and protecting it with your home grown militia toting semi-automatic carbines and eating MRE’s will do little to increase your chances of survival due to the rest of the world surrounding you and wanting to interfere with your existence. You should clearly see this as you read further. There will be strategies to diminish this threat, but all in all inexpensive functional tools will see you through as well as the much more expensive ones. Mindset will be far more important. Just ask yourself, do I want the help of dirt poor rednecks that learned at the school of hard knocks and are barely equipped. Or do I want a bunch of pampered Yuppies loaded with the most expensive tools who are unaccustomed to almost any hardship outside of the corporate boardroom along for the ride?
.xx

II.  Life after the collapse

A.  How far will we collapse

The last time an individual possessed all of the needed skills to survive was during the Stone Age while hunting and gathering. Since the Agricultural Age began almost no farming community has existed without outside trade. Before, an individual could survive physically if separated from his tribe ( psychologically was a different matter ). After, a farming community separated from trading with others could not survive, in most cases. If a local source of salt was available, and if there was an ore deposit nearby then semi-independence was possible. But, by and large, since we tied ourselves to the land we have needed to trade to survive. There were few areas were all the necessities of life were available, so trade allowed far more marginal lands to be settled. For instance, a dry rocky area was perfect for olive groves and produced almost no grain or meat but did have an abundance of oil. Another area rich in soil that yielded a surplus in grain could trade for oil, something they had little of. One area had forests of nut trees. Rather than fell the trees and plant on soil ill suited for anything else, the nut surplus was traded for other foods. Today, it makes sense to grow coffee on hilly areas (or cocaine, but that’s a different story) and trade it to the Americans, who have an over abundance of corn that is a staple of your country. The corn was cheaper (pre-Bush ethanol debacle) grown up north by mechanical means and shipped south than could have been achieved on those steep hillsides. When man was first growing crops and domesticating animals, there were few people and some really choice spots to settle down and grow. As the globe has filled up, trade has become more and more important as people live in far from choice spots. Trade is essential now, even for the barest necessities of survival. Almost no one outside a few nomads still living primitive lives can live without trade.

Why is this important? Because trade is impossible without a functioning economy, trust, rule of law and energy for transportation. All of these things are ending. The US has been living off of creating debt, inflating its currency, bullying its partners into nearly giving away their goods, and little else for some time. Our GNP is no longer a measure of manufactured goods being shipped overseas but of a measure how much the bankers borrowed from China and loaned to consumers through credit cards, how many dollars were created to “buy” our oil from Third World countries, how much houses were inflated in worth to create derivative sales to pensioners in Europe, and other computer manipulated, magically productive activities that only could come true with a healthy sprinkle of Pixie Dust. As our economy unravels, trust in the form of credit is being destroyed. Without trust, no trade takes place. As it is, credit is contracting wildly right now. And there is no end in sight, as everyone else is seeing how manipulative and dishonest our financial community has been. They are starting to show caution to our future promises. The rule of law, or law and order, is breaking down. African pirates holding ships hostage is only one sign of the coming unrest. Month long protests in once placid First World countries.

Energy for transportation is, as already discussed, on a downward trend. Add it up and it spells the eventual halt in trading. At the point where an international police man is impotent, trade falls to a low level, where only luxury goods are profitable, where only precious metal is accepted, and where the bulk of necessities revert to whatever can be produced locally. At that time, we are back in another Dark Ages ( Post Oil Dark Ages ). Mass migrations will occur, as the many uninhabitable areas are abandoned. The rest die off, their area unable to support more than a hand full. After Rome fell, and trade stopped, areas formerly pottery centers of the empire were reduced to being unable to produce anything other than crude approximations of their former wares. Specialists were supported by wide-spread business. They turned out quality and quantity. Once trade suffered, the factories almost reduced to ruins, the specialists departed or killed, the area known for high quality low cost pottery was unable to do little more than turn out misshapen lumpy, poorly glazed pale imitations. This is what the collapse of trade does. Specialists can’t ply their trade, centralization and economics of scale falter. Poorly made inexpert handcrafts take products places. Now, add in our dependency of oil. We are untrained in manufacture due to our dependence on machines. We are unschooled in many modern basics such as chemistry or engineering due to hyper-specialization. We are on the down side of the Oil Age. The collapse can go mighty low once the perfectly aligned parts are disrupted.

      Even if you can get an expert to join your group of survivors, they won’t have oil to run their machines. Or any machines, susceptible to parts failures. Or basic supplies to practice the modern arts due to trade disruptions. Add in the need to eat, and hostile surrounding forces. You all don’t stand a chance, and neither does our modern society. Things will turn primitive really fast. Knowledge alone is no guarantee a process will be practiced. It takes skill, practice, parts supplied from centralized factories far away, a strong defense force to protect against bandits. We all take progress for granted. But destruction is much easier. It takes two minutes with a match to burn down a million dollar mansion that took a year to build and several decades of toil to pay for. And destruction is only curtailed by the forces of law and order. Which will be hard pressed to achieve either. After a certain point is reached, the collapse continues until there is almost complete ruin and almost no one left alive. And where the technology level is far below that once practiced. We will return to a primitive agrarian society, and as our modern tools fail there will be only primitive replacements. Some areas will still pump and distill oil ( on a small level ). Some areas will mine and smelt the metal from the ruins. But it will be unavailable to most due to a collapse of trade and a shrinking of borders.

B.  Lifeboat communities
 A nice concept, lifeboat communities. Get a bunch of modern hippies together and start a community that practices all those neat concepts that circumvent the need for oil. French Intensive organic gardening, alternate energy, super insulated buildings, integrated crop/livestock production, old time skills, etc. The first problem with these is that they are very expensive to start, as currently envisioned. It is one thing to put up some mud/straw walls and thatched roof, get a few chickens running around and making your own candles. It is quite another to build straw bale 2,000 square foot houses, greenhouses, import specialty livestock, install solar panels, sink hundred foot wells, convert a truck to bio-diesel, grow specialty crops for the French chef in the towns $75 a plate Yuppie Greasy Spoon, pay property tax and a mortgage on the land, etc. No one is going to get together and do it cheap and primitive, but high dollar and comfortable. Thus, very few go past the planning stage. Then, once your community is up and running, you have a nice big target painted at your front gate. Look, we grow crops here. We can survive the end of oil. Won’t you come on in an conquer us and make us the serfs to your royal personage? Lifeboat communities are not exactly security conscious. They attract the idiots that gazed at Al “I invented the Internet” Gore with a twinkle in their eye and tried to save the world by changing their regular lights with made in China by political prisoner labor fluorescent bulbs. They are not heavily armed with anything more than guilt over their opulent middle class lifestyle paid for with a taxpayer supported job as environmental consultants. Yes, their heart is in the right place. So was Jimmy Carter’s, and he made some colossal blunders.

      Unless you can get together a group of militia that likes to grow organic lettuce, forget lifeboat communities. They could have been the spark that carried knowledge through the coming darkness, if they hadn’t been plundered during the first food shortages. Wishful thinking and fantasy is what led us to this problem of oil dependency in the first place. Wishing upon a star to make it all go away isn’t going to work either. Power will trump righteousness. They might be just what the world will need, but some lazy, vicious greedy punk is going to exploit them quickly. It won’t matter if it is the current mayor or sheriff, a former drug gang or a new home grown power. The natural order of things is for a gang of criminals to exploit the work of others in exchange for “protection”.

C.  Organic farming
Organic farmers are not as vulnerable as lifeboat communities. They are not advertised in New Age magazines, nor do they give interviews to the local TV station for filler in-between the weather and sports scores. They are decentralized and widely scattered. They can include, more often than not, an armed owner. And they are the only way to farm after the oil stops running. Unfortunately, this does not come with a Get Out Of Jail Free Card. Just because you have a skill does not automatically make you precious and invaluable after the collapse. The local ruler can, indeed, force you to share your skills whether you want to or not. And likely not on your terms. When twenty horsemen approach you with an offer you can’t refuse, it might not be wise to do so. They can take family members hostage, burn down your house one night, snipe at you, horse whip you until you concede, etc. You are tied to the land. You can’t run away. This is the problem with farming. It leaves you as a stationary target. It is justifiable when you gaze with pride at a productive field. You created a means to sustain your family out of nothing. Hard work, a large investment. All for nothing when law and order break down and local tyranny triumphs. Unless you are isolated and have a lot of armed men with good logistics, you will not survive on your land unmolested.

      When slavery is mentioned, you usually think about a muscled black hoeing cotton. Grunt work. But look at history. Most advanced civilizations had highly skilled slaves. They were craftsmen, and they were teachers. They were not protected from slavery because they had skills. They were much more valuable than mere field hands, true. That fetched them a higher price at auction. And allowed them far better treatment. But they were still slaves. But you won’t even be that unless you are lucky. You will merely be a serf. Tied to the land. You won’t face as bleak of a future, since modern organic farming is a much better producer than ancient farming. You won’t starve as easily. But you will produce the food for your owner, and you had better do a good job because he will take his cut. You want enough to eat and sell for some small comforts, you grow as much as possible. Organic farming won’t keep you free, just better fed. It will increase your odds of a full stomach. Just not as a free man. That said, this might still be one of the few good options open to you. We will cover the other viable trades likely available after the collapse, but if you don’t realistically see yourself capable of performing them ( or don’t see your family holding up under their demands ) farming might be your only option. It is the only one most of us can practice now. If you have access to land, farming now has several benefits. It reduces your stress from your daily job, reduces your stress about the future, saves you money as times get tough, allows you to eat much healthier at a time when medical costs are making health care an unaffordable luxury, and will see you nicely through the Depression and the initial collapse phase. There is a reason that farming holds such an allure. It is better than money in the bank, which is a tool that only works in good times. Feeding yourself is tailor-made for bad times. Just beware of its long-term consequences when we enter a true dark age.

D.  Population shifts
Another bit of bad news for you to worry about is population shifts. Come collapse, the population will move. Even if little or no automotive transport is available, expect huge population shifts as people flee to perceived safety. Americans have always been nomads, shifting locations to better serve their financial interests. It is bred into us, as normal as breathing. We are not like most other societies, where staying near our safety net meant life or death. There have always been nomadic cultures. But they have been the exception for the eight thousand years we have lived by agriculture. It has paid to stay put. The Mongols were only able to live in areas of rich grasslands. The Gypsies have always been marginal in numbers, and more of a gang of grifters moving away from their victims. The Bedouin were confined to their desert. There is always a place for nomads, as they bring mostly agrarian wasteland into production to the benefit of all. But they are not the majority. The stationary farmers are. So American society has been somewhat unique in its mobility. Largely, this was the process of filling up a huge area that had never been “mined” of its wealth. We killed off the Indians and moved in wave after wave of people taking advantage of unexploited resources. After that was done, we lived the same life but now by living off the accumulated riches of our exploitation. We slowly started living off of our seed corn, the accumulated principle of our savings. That is now over and done with and the decline of our civilization has started, but the huge numbers of autos, the large amount of oil we take from others by trade or force, all this still gives us the illusion of the wealth we had and we still feel free to move around. A perpetual band of Okies seeking the illusive Golden State.

The point being, Americans are still very much in the habit of thinking riches (or at least safety) are just over the horizon. Most will turn into unknowing refugees with very little provocation. Expect several large waves of humans. To the warmer South and Southwest after heating oil, natural gas or even electricity are no longer available to keep them alive in the winter. To navigable rivers and waterways as all other forms of transportation fail. To those areas serviced by hydroelectric power or that have the potential to once again be dammed. From cities to the surrounding areas to farm the land. Away from highly populated areas to almost anywhere else regardless of its suitability. And from infertile areas to farms or potentially farmed areas. Thus, after waves of crimes, you can see waves of refugees and then waves of immigrants. You need to be aware if your area is a target, since all your careful plans can be disrupted if too many walking mouths move in next to you. To help visualize the scale of this, just think of Hurricane Katrina. Half the city of New Orleans took up permanent residence in other areas. And most of those people were life time welfare recipients with no skills and poor attitudes, thinking the government owed them a living and that crime was both recreation and if incarcerated their lifestyle would improve. Some areas such as Houston Texas were negatively affected by this influx of useless demanding refugees. Now multiply these tens of thousands at least several thousand times, and make it nationwide. This is what you can look forward to. Without much law and order, with no welfare system and not enough food even for the locals already there.

Warmer areas are naturally going to attract those needing to survive winter. There are plenty of hardy folk, braving out winters by storing up wood and food during summer. They like to live this semi-independent style as their ancestors did. But for every one modern pioneer, there are tens of thousands who live in normally frigid areas yet have no idea how to live with the cold. They go from natural gas heated dwellings where they wear the thinnest clothing, scurry hurriedly to their petroleum warmed cars and drive to work where central heat continues to comfort them. They expose themselves to a mere few minutes of cold a day, a thick synthetic jacket covering their torso, with tennis shoe clad feet, bare hands and not much else differentiating their clothing from what they wear in the summer. They are totally dependant on fossil fuels and a functioning infrastructure during the winter. They won’t be able to adapt to lack of oil. They will head south. Modern homes are largely not made to withstand the cold without petroleum inputs. Nor are southern dwellings made to be inhabited without air conditioning. This itself could be a life threatening situation, but that will seem a minor problem when the southeast reverts to its true habit of killing off its population with tropic diseases. On top of disease caused by improper sanitation, expect the return of things such as malaria. The northerners will discover their new home is a pestilent swamp which, without modern pest control and drug deliveries, will kill them off as quickly as the cold would have up north. The southwest will offer nothing more than starvation as the power fails and irrigated farms dry up as the water is no longer available. Even if a few wells still stay in production, the new population will overwhelm its capacity. If the newly empowered Mexican Rights advocated don’t go on a White killing spree as they quickly try to give back several western states to Old Mexico ( they will soon find it was the Yankee wealth that was coveted, not more desert, something Mexico already has enough of ). And water availability, already a life and death struggle, will just get worse with no oil and new state un-cooperation.

Most of the US population already lives close to a waterway. Partially, this is a holdover from when water was the only reliable and affordable transportation. As trade is essential to life, the waterways will take on increased importance. If certain areas still have desirable farmland, such as the plains states ( that which can be sustained by rain alone and not irrigation ), you might still see depopulation if their links to other areas are severed. At first, rail will hold an advantage over road freight, being much more energy-efficient. But in time, as infrastructure fails and fuel dries up ( as well as spare parts ), rail will fail and ancient waterways will become the only way to move goods. In the newly primitive state of existence, the level of technology will dictate this. Ocean front inhabitants may or may not see a continuation of trade. It depends on location, if they can offer an outlet to needed goods. For instance, Southern ports might be viable if tobacco becomes a new cash crop again. Los Angeles should not survive. It has little natural water available and is a thoroughly modern port. Unless the Long Beach port continues to receive container cargo from China, what is the point of it? Unless, somehow, paved over areas are exploited for their oil pumping potential, you will see very little L.A. has to offer that others need. And if water can’t be imported from the Sierra’s ( assuming its snow pack doesn’t shrink too much), forget the crop potential from the San Fernando valley. Even if they continue to grow, expect fighting over its resources to disrupt things anyway.

Sacramento has potential, with its delta watering crops and that outlet to the Pacific. But, expect levee breaks and flooding. What is currently there will be vastly altered. Yet, the thing to keep in mind about California is it is so overpopulated it will have major conflicts from now until it is largely depopulated. It will not be a pleasant place to live. Far down the future, after modern life and its supports have been erased, most freshwater and some seawater areas will be where most of the population live. Without pumping water by artificial means, man must accept those areas Mother Nature offers to live. For trade and for the life water makes possible. And a last word about population shifts and California. Much is made about the Golden Hoard, the masses of refugees moving from California out to all other surrounding states in times of disaster. The same can be said about the northeast corridor. Huge numbers of people with no means of support after oil. They won’t have any good place to go. But they will go there anyway, as anyplace will seem advantageous compared to the gang warfare, the militia fights, the cannibals and the racial conflict. The mass starvation, out of control fires, the water supplies being disrupted. Beware the arrival of these desperate people with insatiable demands and nothing to offer. Hope your community has an easily blocked, minimal amount of entrances.

In the 1970’s, as commercial survivalism reached its zenith, too many books to recount gave the same good advice. Get out of the cities, the urban areas, the ghettos. They told you to pick any city over a certain size on the map and then draw a circle around it for three hundred miles. This was the death zone.
You didn’t want to live anywhere near an area a car load full of gasoline and Angry Armed Minorities could travel to in the event of a disaster. The three problems with this advice were that,
1)  the cars could only travel along roads so that a lot of those drawn circles were still habitable,
2)  if you avoided all circles, there was maybe two areas you could retreat to and they had no stores or water for a hundred miles, and
3)  as the car loads of hostiles drove towards you, mechanical difficulties and the fact that not everyone had a full tank of gasoline meant that the immediate areas surrounding a city were much more dangerous than those a little bit further along (in other words, the danger dropped rapidly).

This did expand your options slightly, enabling you to choose a spot closer to work or affordable housing. But of course, this only addresses the immediate danger in the event of calamity. I think most philosophies were heavily influences by the Cold War, nuclear weapons and their fallout and the ability to live normal until the very end. This is simply wishful thinking, but to this day the ‘bug out’ is discussed and adhered to as a viable strategy.

Recently, after the nation as a whole has switched over to ‘just in time’ inventory where as soon the continually moving replenishment system hits a snag supplies dry up as no one carries excess inventory, hurricanes have shown how roads turned into instant parking lots and gas deliveries are severely disrupted. That alone should keep people from trying to work in one place and live a self sufficient lifestyle elsewhere. Yet, they simply carry more gas cans and map out alternate routes on minor roads. But, regardless of short term problems, the long term is what we are concerned about. Even out of shape people can walk at least twelve miles a day (the California missions were located twenty miles apart along the coastal chain, telling us this was the norm for encumbered travelers back before cars). It won’t take that long before all areas that are deemed desirable see the refugees show up there. So, if you do get caught up in mapping evacuation routes and population centers, follow the roads rather than a drawn circle surrounding a city. You are a lot safer, at first, away from the cities, even closer than three hundred miles. But in the end, those on foot will find your area if it is desirable. My strategy is to live far away from everyone, where few will want to go. Of course, it has its own set of problems.

There is a potential monkey wrench in the normal perceived flow of refugees. Global warming. Now, I hate Al Gore. I’m convinced that he didn’t contest the skewed Florida election results so the Supreme Court could crown Bush the new king in record time. As a result he was rewarded financially in a rather handsome manner (W. Bush is a total moron that needs help completing a coherent sentence, proof positive moneyed interests were behind both his election and the Gore buy off). After the election, he becomes, in effect, new global weather czar. He and his traveling circus travel the globe (in carbon spewing planes) trying to alarm everyone about global warming. He made a lot of money on his lecture circuit. So much so that he can drive his huge carbon spewing SUV’s from the airport to his huge country home, using more polluting natural gas to heat his several thousand square foot office space each month than the average American uses to heat their dwelling all year. So I am not totally sold on the concept of global warming. Rather, I should say I have problems accepting global warming is man-made, or that we can do much about it. When there is money to be made, place your hand firmly over your wallet. The scores of scientists genuflecting before their new idol, lashing themselves with branches, their mouths foaming in ecstasy as they proclaim everlasting devotion and fidelity, all this leads me to wonder if global warming isn’t full of crap. We do have the new solar cycle starting, promising colder weather as sunspot activity is down sharply. Yet, colder weather can lead to less moisture. And those pictures of retreating glaciers are pretty convincing. In the end, unfortunately, you must decide these things for yourself. No one, especially not me, can know enough about your circumstances to guide you through more than superficial preparedness. It is all fine a well to give advice on the basics such as food, water and weapons. It is quite another to give advice that effects your family. No author knows your circumstances, so all the posturing, positions and philosophy must be taken with a grain of salt. We present an argument, you decide if it has merit. Myself, personally, put enough stock into the possibility of rising sea levels that I never bought property in Florida. I left there for Nevada, higher and drier and so many less population. I made the right decision, for me.

Now, come rising sea levels, if they indeed occur, you are going to have the opposite problem of refugees. Rather than heading towards warm climates, they will be headed away from them. Or, headed from warm and wet climates to both colder climes and those warm but dry such as the southwest. I love the desert, personally. Mostly the fact that it is quiet and peaceful and lacking of hoards of slack-jawed mindless humanity. If this eventuality occurs, you might wish to be far away from seawater flooded areas. You look at a sea of starving humanity in refugee camps and you think of passive people glad to get their small cup of gruel every day. That is not what American refugee camps will look like. They will be short on weapons, since the politically correct police will disarm before allowing entrance, but attitudes can’t be checked at the door. To a man they will be belligerent and nasty, hostile and demanding and full of a sense of entitlement. They will demand full supplies (food cooked by others and available menu fashion to allow individual choice) and will put forth no effort for it. In fact, I would wager that in the act of wiping themselves after the digestion process in complete, they rue the effort involved on their part in that. The refugees on the road will have the same attitude. Our government long ago chose to pacify the mobs by allowing them to live off of a lavish welfare state. At the same time the government, as it was doing to everyone else, encouraged a sense of outrage at others. The divide and conquer routine. The young resent the old for their Social Security. The poor resent the rich. The ghetto dwellers resent anyone working. It works great to deflect anger from the government while also forcing a dependence on them. It is a win/win for those in power. After the system comes unglued, it spells trouble for the survivors. You have untold multitudes unable to take care of themselves and quite willing to band together to take what is yours. They are, after all, an exploited minority and deserve to be taken care of since they were oppressed and unable to fend for themselves

(as a good example of this, look to whites in South Africa today, after the blacks took over and started to loot the old western nation ). Fear their arrival as waves of refugees….”

If you’d like to read the entire book, Life After the Collapse by James M. Dankin
Click here to order the eBook version: http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-dakin/life-after-the-collapse/ebook/product-4419799.html
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End of article (Survival Manual/2. Social Issues/Life After The Collapse, 2-2)

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