Tension with N. Korea is on the rise. N. K. is doing nuclear tests and missile tests - a bad combination. They act like they are getting ready for war. I don't know how far N.K. could reach the US with a nuke, but now is the time to get ready. STOCKPILE and LISTEN to the news. It is important that everyone be prepared.
That being said, I want to give you a word of warning: BE CAREFUL WHO KNOWS THAT YOU ARE STOCKPILING. I live within a few blocks of people that I know would try to take supplies from me during a longterm emergency - if they knew I had them. That is one reason I have guns and extra ammo hidden throughout my house. Most of the people in my small town seem like decent people, but even decent people can sometimes be pushed into doing desperate things.
There no way I could provide shelter or food or water for my entire town of about 400, but I can store other things that they may need after major disasters. I can store extra tarps, blankets, clothes, hand tools, and non-hybrid seeds. All of these things could mean the difference between most of my town surviving, or most of them dying after a massive nuclear or other disaster. I am currently using any extra money I have to finish buying supplies for my family. Once that is done, I can begin buying for my town. I just hope I have the time.
May 29, 2009
May 27, 2009
Supplies: water
If you are just starting to prepare for a nuclear event, you are probably asking yourself the same question I asked when I started: Where do I start? The first think that concerned me, was radiation and fallout. As I researched these, I learned that what I needed was mass between the radioactive world outside and my fallout shelter - aka my basement. My basement is not the perfect fallout shelter (one of the long walls leads directly out to the open instead of being underground). So, without major modifications to the house, how would I get the mass I needed to protect my family? While doing more research, I found that you can use your supplies to shield you against radiation, and they are safe to use after a little time has passed.
I decided to keep a two week supply of water and food in the basement kitchen, and store the rest of my supplies along the exposed wall. Knowing how much to store required some calculating. I actually measured how much of each food I ate at a given meal. Knowing that I at x amount of a certain food, that I would be eating it y times each week for a year let me calculate how much to stock (I try to stock a few weeks extra in case there are circumstances that cause us to eat more). I also measured how much water I drank in both summer and winter, how much my dogs and cats drink in both summer and winter, how much water I use for cooking, cleaning, washing clothes and dishes.
I know, buying water and food can be expensive. The only way I can afford it is to buy an extra food item every time I am at the store. Maybe an extra box of instant potatoes, or a can of beans or vegies. I drink about a 2 liter bottle of soda a week, so I wash these out and store drinking and cooking water in them. I store them in plasic rubbermaid-like boxes that are stacked along the exposed wall. This makes storage easier, since I can stack them, and if one of the 2 liters leak, the water will be saved in the box and can be used for cleaning later.
Ideally, I need a year's supply of water, but that's a lot of 2 liters. For now, my goal is a 90 day supply. While I could use rain water a few months after a nuclear event, it would be a lot of trouble if I needed to use it for drinking or cooking. First, I would have to filter the water to take out particles, then boil it for 3-5 minutes (which uses a lot of fuel), then treat it with bleach or chemical tablets. This may seem like a long, unneeded process, but I would rather be safe than risk getting sick from improperly treated water. If I used this water for washing clothes, I would only need to filter out any particles.
I save the bottles my dish soap comes in and store water for washing dishes in them. It took some figuring, but a good soap to water ratio for me is 1 squirt of antibacterial soap for each 1/2 liter of water the bottle will hold. I also use rinsed out detergent bottles to store dish water. One thing to keep in mind: during a nuclear event there will be no refrigeration to store left overs. All food must be eaten, and all dishes must be promptly washed. This will keep the fallout shelter from smelling, and it will help keep incests and other vermin from wanting to enter your shelter. If you get into the habbit of washing all dishes immediately after each meal now, it won't seem like such a chore later. To limit the amount of water used for washing dishes in emergencies, buy a refillable squirt bottle to use to rise the soap off of dishes. Buy a small plastic tub - a wash tub- that will fit into your sink. You would need to wash and rinse dishes into this tub. Since the sewers may not be working right, the more water that goes down the drain means the chances of sewage backing into homes is higher. Unless there is danger of radiation outside, all used water should be pored outside. (Once a month I practice washing dishes just as I would during a nuclear event.)
Washing clothes with no electricity or running water can be a pain. It will not be practical to wash clothes after one day's wear. I have two 5-gallon bucket for washing clothes. I fill one about 1/3 full with water, add a little detergent or liquid antibacterial soap (not much since I will have to rinse it out), and repeatedly dunk one article of clothing until I think it is clean. I then dunk it several times into the other bucket that is half full of water. I continue this until my rinsing bucket is too full of soapy water to rinse the clothes out properly. I then use the water in the buckets (unless it is too dirty) to mop my basement floor and clean the walls or other surfaces that are dirty. If it won't bother your skin, you can use the "rinse" bucket to bathe with -just remember to rinse off with clean water.
I decided to keep a two week supply of water and food in the basement kitchen, and store the rest of my supplies along the exposed wall. Knowing how much to store required some calculating. I actually measured how much of each food I ate at a given meal. Knowing that I at x amount of a certain food, that I would be eating it y times each week for a year let me calculate how much to stock (I try to stock a few weeks extra in case there are circumstances that cause us to eat more). I also measured how much water I drank in both summer and winter, how much my dogs and cats drink in both summer and winter, how much water I use for cooking, cleaning, washing clothes and dishes.
I know, buying water and food can be expensive. The only way I can afford it is to buy an extra food item every time I am at the store. Maybe an extra box of instant potatoes, or a can of beans or vegies. I drink about a 2 liter bottle of soda a week, so I wash these out and store drinking and cooking water in them. I store them in plasic rubbermaid-like boxes that are stacked along the exposed wall. This makes storage easier, since I can stack them, and if one of the 2 liters leak, the water will be saved in the box and can be used for cleaning later.
Ideally, I need a year's supply of water, but that's a lot of 2 liters. For now, my goal is a 90 day supply. While I could use rain water a few months after a nuclear event, it would be a lot of trouble if I needed to use it for drinking or cooking. First, I would have to filter the water to take out particles, then boil it for 3-5 minutes (which uses a lot of fuel), then treat it with bleach or chemical tablets. This may seem like a long, unneeded process, but I would rather be safe than risk getting sick from improperly treated water. If I used this water for washing clothes, I would only need to filter out any particles.
I save the bottles my dish soap comes in and store water for washing dishes in them. It took some figuring, but a good soap to water ratio for me is 1 squirt of antibacterial soap for each 1/2 liter of water the bottle will hold. I also use rinsed out detergent bottles to store dish water. One thing to keep in mind: during a nuclear event there will be no refrigeration to store left overs. All food must be eaten, and all dishes must be promptly washed. This will keep the fallout shelter from smelling, and it will help keep incests and other vermin from wanting to enter your shelter. If you get into the habbit of washing all dishes immediately after each meal now, it won't seem like such a chore later. To limit the amount of water used for washing dishes in emergencies, buy a refillable squirt bottle to use to rise the soap off of dishes. Buy a small plastic tub - a wash tub- that will fit into your sink. You would need to wash and rinse dishes into this tub. Since the sewers may not be working right, the more water that goes down the drain means the chances of sewage backing into homes is higher. Unless there is danger of radiation outside, all used water should be pored outside. (Once a month I practice washing dishes just as I would during a nuclear event.)
Washing clothes with no electricity or running water can be a pain. It will not be practical to wash clothes after one day's wear. I have two 5-gallon bucket for washing clothes. I fill one about 1/3 full with water, add a little detergent or liquid antibacterial soap (not much since I will have to rinse it out), and repeatedly dunk one article of clothing until I think it is clean. I then dunk it several times into the other bucket that is half full of water. I continue this until my rinsing bucket is too full of soapy water to rinse the clothes out properly. I then use the water in the buckets (unless it is too dirty) to mop my basement floor and clean the walls or other surfaces that are dirty. If it won't bother your skin, you can use the "rinse" bucket to bathe with -just remember to rinse off with clean water.
May 26, 2009
Why write this blog
As you might imagine from the title, this blog is about preparing for a nuclear disaster (namely a nuclear attack from another country). First, let me explain why I am blogging about nuclear preparedness. When I was a young teenager, I saw the first two Terminator movies. When they talked about Skynet nuking us, it made me wonder how many people in the world would survive if something like that did happen. I knew my family wasn't prepared, they were living paycheck to paycheck at the time. The closest thing we had to a fallout shelter was the crawl space under our house, 1/4 of which you could sit up straight, and the rest got smaller and smaller until you had to crawl on your belly. My grandparents (who lived less than a block away) had a basement, but only under about half of the house, and it leaked when it rained. And my grandparents never prepared for anything in their whole lives.
So, when I went house hunting as an adult, I looked for two things: a fair sized basement, and a house within a few blocks of my parents and grandparents. I found a house with plenty of room on the main floor for me to live in and plenty of room in the basement for storage and living (should it need to be used as a fallout shelter). It is also close to the rest of my family.
In this blog, I will pass along information I have found that might help those of you intereted in preparing for a nuclear disaster. I will also share different plans and storage ideas that I am using.
I should also explain my name in this first blog. I love the Terminator movies and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. My favorite line from them is "There is no fate but what we make for ourselves." This line has kept me from feeling like my life is out of control. And whenever I feel overwhelmed trying to prepare for the survival of myself, my brother, parents, grandma, our dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks, I think about that line. I want to decide my family's fate.
In the next blog, I will begin sharing information and ideas. For now, start thinking about what your life would be like without the convinence of electricity, water, and stores.
So, when I went house hunting as an adult, I looked for two things: a fair sized basement, and a house within a few blocks of my parents and grandparents. I found a house with plenty of room on the main floor for me to live in and plenty of room in the basement for storage and living (should it need to be used as a fallout shelter). It is also close to the rest of my family.
In this blog, I will pass along information I have found that might help those of you intereted in preparing for a nuclear disaster. I will also share different plans and storage ideas that I am using.
I should also explain my name in this first blog. I love the Terminator movies and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. My favorite line from them is "There is no fate but what we make for ourselves." This line has kept me from feeling like my life is out of control. And whenever I feel overwhelmed trying to prepare for the survival of myself, my brother, parents, grandma, our dogs, cats, chickens, and ducks, I think about that line. I want to decide my family's fate.
In the next blog, I will begin sharing information and ideas. For now, start thinking about what your life would be like without the convinence of electricity, water, and stores.
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