OK. Enough is enough. Murphy the Shadow is here to help you!!
This is for everyone who has either been procrastinating or is waiting for the imaginary Fluwiki Alert to finish your preps.
I will give you two scenarios, one real, one imagined, as to why you need to be done within the next 72 hours.
1)The unexpected happens all the time. It’s just reality. My generator experience:
Eight years ago I bought a portable generator due to the increasing power failures in my area. I brought it home, opened the box to look at, smiled, and slide it into a corner of the garage.
Several months passed before the power went out again. Hey, no problem. I got a generator! Well, true. That’s when I learned that they don’t ship them with oil in them! So off I go to find a store, (that has power), that sells the right kind of oil. Problem solved, right? Nope. (Sometimes I name my shadow ‘Murphy’). Turns out the generator had a mechanical defect that despite my mechanical skills and tools I could not fix it. ( A bad gasket would simply let the oil just pour out).
I am not advocating that everyone here run out and by a generator. I am simply using that experience to demonstrate that your preps that you hastily go out to get at the last minute may not be what you think they are when you get home and start to SIP, and it may become too late to remedy the situation.
2) The unexpected happens all the time. A hypothetical accident:
Imagine you see on the Fluwiki that not only has IT started, it is further along than any Fluwikian can believe!. (Need I remind you that in a ‘normal’ day now we see several suspected cases?) You post a few panicky posts and realize “I better get my butt moving!”
You jump in the car and you are off to the races baby! Too bad there are usually accidents in races, and on the streets. Through no fault of your own, not only is your vehicle out of commission, but you are on your way to the hospital to get a cast on your leg. As you wait at the discharge desk at the hospital you realize that the cat is out of the bag, and it is all over the news. Try prepping then!
The possibilities are endless. My point here is Murphy’s Law applies to all of us. There will be, more likely than not, something that happens that is going to interfere with that image in your head about last minute prepping.
And a quick note on finished preps. No such thing. You’ll see. But you will achieve a comfort zone. A paradigm shift, where if IT starts in an hour, you understand that you have done what you reasonably could.
So with that said, quit surfing the net. Turn the damn computer OFF, and GO DO SOMETHING FOR YOUR PREPS!!!
Murphuy the Shadow
(a.k.a.JWB)
JWB - But I have an online order to place. Does that count ? :) 72 hrs - Do you know something?
JWB, whew, we got past the 18th! I wanted to know how your friends funeral was and how his family is coping? Any word on the killer?
Also want to thank you ‘Shadow’ because you reminded me about oil for the generator — I know we have spare parts & since my husband is home today from work, I asked him about oil and he said, ‘you know, we probably should get some & let me check it out’. We run it for a few minutes each month and use it to power a hair dryer (recommended to make certain it can carry a load while running) but we’ve never really done anything lubrication-wise to it. Ours runs on propane or gasoline. Thanks for the reminder!
The Shadow knows! :-)
“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today”, eh?
Thank you, “Murphy The Shadow”.
JWB- ditto for the oil reminder. I subscribe to an excellant self reliant magazine called “Backwoods Home magazine.” It is based in Gold Beach, Or. It’s the only one of it’s kind around, better than Mother Earth News. Lots of great self reliant ideas. www.backwoodshome.com
if you check it out, let me know what you think.
cottontop - at 12:15:
I checked out the Backwoods Home magazine and it really does look excellent - lots of practical step-by-step advice. In the current issue they feature stories on building a 6,500 gallon water tank, making homemade pickles, picking chanterelles, and raising quail, for example.
To be honest, I prefer my quail and chanterelles to be served on a nice room service tray in a fine hotel, but I can be flexible, I can be flexible. :)
Pixie- I think we have champange tast on a beer income! I really wish my family could be more self reliant. I’m so into that idea, and lordy, I have 19 acres to do something with! Hubby just isn’t as interested as I am. He does love the summer garden. (of course. I do all the work!)
OKbirdwatcher – at 12:00
JWB - But I have an online order to place. Does that count ? :) 72 hrs - Do you know something?
Then place the order and get it overwith. And no, I don’t ‘know’ something. My point is if you can’t reach your comfort zone in the next 72 hours, you will definitely won’t when the SHTF.
I’m-workin’-on-it – at 12:07
Thank God nothing happened on the 18th. I was also using that date for me to reach my ‘comfort zone’ which I have.
Nothing to report on Joe’s killer, other than he better cross the police’s path before mine.
cottontop – at 12:15
I just added the site to my favorites! Thanks. I have a better and more fun way of making a water storage tank, I bought an used swimming pool. It holds about 4000 gallons.
Forgot to fix my cookie!
everyone- backwoods Home magazine has an article on the avian bird flu called: bird flu-panic or hype? It’s Jan/Feb 06 issue. The editor and senior editor are lavel headed guys, adn I respect their opinions as much as I respect everyone’s opinion here. Remember this was published at the first of this year when things hadn’t really started to boil over in asia. I like a good pro’s/con’s read.
Murphy, I’m so glad you started this thread! I was pondering the idea of preps being “finished” and then realized that this would not happen. It’s like laundry- there is no such thing as finished.
Also, thanks to Hillbilly Bill. He suggested listing the items one still wants/ needs and then prioritizing them. I did this and it helped me feel much more in control.
prepperbabe – at 13:27
‘’Also, thanks to Hillbilly Bill. He suggested listing the items one still wants/ needs and then prioritizing them. I did this and it helped me feel much more in control. ‘’
Yes. List’s helps. I use to always resist that. But now I know that it creates clarity and vision, and with that, purpose and attainable goals.
prepperbabe – at 13:27 It’s like laundry- there is no such thing as finished.
That is sooooo true — you start with the basics, gather all you can, then eventually you get to where you can upgrade your stuff. For instance, I started out with 2 folding Sterno stoves that would hold one small pot each & uses one of those little cans of liquid food, and a propane BBQ grill, and 1 bag of charcoal. Then I added a propane powered camp light so we could use the BBQ grill in the dark if necessary, 2 more folding Sterno stoves and more spare cans of Sterno fuel, and more propane.
The next big move was to a non-folding oven for the grill and a Coleman 2 burner cookstove.
The next big move was to get a folding oven, 3 more little folding stoves (total of 6 now) more sturdy (more milirary or ‘true camping’ type thing) than the Sterno and the new ones are 2 burner size (again for small pots), and put them in our bug-out bags.
The latest is to have just bought a butane stove with cannisters for $34 (I think at Winn Dixie our neighborhood grocery) because it appears to be the fastest way to boil water and that makes it an efficient thing to have in an emergency.
What that means is that I have several alternate ways to cook, either large or small meals, and I can give away a couple of the Sterno folding stoves (and still have 3–4) so that someone else can benefit from them and that gives me an opportunity to talk BF with them, and if I run out of one type fuel, I can use another.
It IS like laundry — always somethin’ to do!
I can’t function without a list. have then everywhere! One thing that might come in handy is to write a brief summary of your families daily routine. do a mental walk thought when pandemic hits. will help you know what will have to be changed, and will also help to establish a regular new routine. when creating this new routine, list priorities for the new routine. example, instead of making coffee first when you get up, you will have to get wood and water first. I hope you understand my point.
Cottontop: I have been an avid subscriber to Backwoods Home Magazine since 1999. I have collected the anthologies that they publish for the earlier years, but at some time hope to have them all since it puts everything in a concise package. Just the sections about “Ask Jackie” regarding gardens, canning, etc. is all invaluable information. :) Glad to know that there is another fan out there!
Now that my list is shorter, I have to get the stuff I don’t want, but need. (Let’s see, solar motion activated lights or a year’s supply of my favorite skin care?. Sigh. There goes my youthful complextion.)
So it takes even more discipline. Your support helps, JWB.
I understand what you mean and it can be overwhelming when you start putting ALL the steps to cooking something like bread in that scenerio you’ve envisioned.
But it does help you to see what needs to be on hand for each “little” step through your day.
To Cottontop 14:06 - no, I will be having cold left-over coffee from the night before before getting wood!
Seriously, though, this is a great idea - to look carefully at our “needs” or wants throughout the day and those of our families and make the necessary adjustments. Thanks
snowhound1- I don’t have any anthologies yet, but certainly plan on it. they have some good books that’s on my LIST, and jackie clay is the best. just think it’s an invaluable magazine all around. also had thought of contacting dave Duff the editor and pitch our “little” forum to them and see if they would be interested in doing an article on fluwiki.
Better yet, write the article FOR them.
:-)
You’re never done prepping.
It’s like most hobbies.
Once you have the basics, you want to constantly upgrade and immediately want the graphite clubs. ;-)
Bird Guano-
yes, even better. What was I thinking? (I’m distracted because of the snow. Yuck!)
Sunny @14:17
It’s going to be difficult at first, but after awhile, the family will settle into a routine. the only thing is that the novelity of it wears off as time goes by, and that’s when you really need to watch the stress level. To keep the stress level down in my home, mother’s morning coffee will be as usual!
Instant human.
Just add coffee
:-)
Snow ? I don’t DO snow.
Ok, you got me. I’ve been procrastinating on an alternative heat source because I want to put in a wood stove, but it will require major remodeling and won’t be done this year.
I orded a 10,000 BTU Kerosene heater today and four 5gal kerosene storage cans. We’re in a very cold climate, but I figure in an emergency I could use it in 1 room and make 20 gallons last a week or so. I may order more containers, but it’s going to cost me another $60 to fill the ones I ordered, so maybe I’ll add more later.
I send a barrage of email info to my group to pound it into their heads and this week, I sent them one that said if they bought the stuff and didn’t use it, they coud always donate it to a shelter and take the tax deduction. If they didn’t want to do that, they could bring it to me with receipts and I would repay them for it and I would donate it, MYSELF if it went unused if no pandemic occurred. But do notice that I included WITH RECEIPTS in there. Gotta be justified when my freeloaders try to unload a ton of Spam on me…
ICP – at 16:36
LOL on the Spam.
I’m now thinking along those lines. Once you reach your comfort level, the human side comes out and you start thinking about just helping out your fellow man. Goju must have reached this plateau a long time ago.
JWB - Brilliant thread!
Thank you for starting it. A real eye opener indeed!
Are we there yet – at 18:50
Thanks! If it just pushes one person, it’ll be worth it!
Cottontop - at 12:32:
“I have 19 acres to do something with! Hubby just isn’t as interested as I am…”
Hmmmm….I’d get him a plow for Christmas. ;)
Pixie,
Doesn’t that just kill ya?
19 acres. Wow. That’s a dream. I’ll take 19 vertical acres! (Cliff)
That’s because I’m not afraid of heights.
I’m afraid of widths!
there’s this brush company here that will come in and totally level the brush,ect. I just see something that looks like devestation.
You know I just hate the little details of things….I prefer the big stuff — researching and deciding on the right tent, the right generator, the right, 2 burner stove, etc., but today I got excited becaues we got that oil I rikd you about earlier…..I guess I can find big joys in small places.
I wonder if a pepper grinder would work to grind coffee if there was no power. *ponders* I buy whole beans because they last a long time in storage, plus they taste better. But how to grind them if the lights go out???
Do they make hand coffee grinders anymore? (Come to think of it, wonder if they would work on beans or grains? They only do a little at a time, I think, though.)
For the first time in my fluwikie experience I understand ROTFLMAO!!!
Murphy…you are priceless.
Darn. I thought Murphy was volunteering to come over and help me organize my pantry better.
…and I thought maybe he struck it rich and was going to share some of the bounty!:)
And if “the Shadow” hasn’t got you motivated to get everything completed now, remember the thread that ran after the Hawaii earthquake - how one of our preppers was ‘snug as a bug in a rug’ riding it all out as others went crazy at shops around him …
That thread also illustrated that “the Shadow’s” pretend incident was not such a pretence - people just couldn’t get to what they wanted.
We have an old family saying “eat your pudding first - who knows what might happen next” - loosely translated this means make sure you can relax and enjoy the good stuff, which can only be achieved if everything else is in place.
Ebay has a ton of hand grinders for coffee
I could add about a half dozen personal experiences about how what I bought or thought I was going to do didn’t work out as expected once I tried a test run. It just demonstrates that Practice is Essential.
HB - yep, been there cause I didn’t do that:-) A couple of storage ideas for dog food were not successful and it, thankfully, was discovered at a time where I could replace the food. I lost some bottled water due to a rodent problem. All I kept thinking of was “what if TS had already HTF”. After what I thought were careful preparations, I would have had 260 pounds worth of hungry dogs and 3 thirsty kids and a husband saying I thought you prepared for this…..
Watching in Texas – at 09:17 After what I thought were careful preparations, I would have had 260 pounds worth of hungry dogs and 3 thirsty kids and a husband saying I thought you prepared for this…..
aw, man, if that doesn’t make you want to get your act together I don’t know what would!!!
Watching in Texas, what do rodents do to water? Egad, do we have to store everything in metal??
Thanks, “Murphy’s Shadow”-my dehydrator is in the mail and should arrive today, thanks to your push!
Thank you, Murphy. Just this week I started getting more nervous and I thought I noticed it in others that are prepping. I attributed it to seeing people with colds and some isolated reports of flu going around. I don’t know if it will go H2H and stay very deadly anytime soon but I feel the need to get finished with preps FAST. Things can change on a dime.
Jane - they chewed throught the plastic water bottles. Now, as it turned out - they were doing it because someone nearby had poisoned them and with certain types of poison, it drives the rats to water. And, BTW, these were not just rodents. These were huge. At least 3 feet. Okay, fine. Maybe they weren’t that big. But when it was just me, my broom and the rat - it sure did seem that way;-)
We can’t use bait because of all the dogs, and especially now that I have acquired another one who is still a puppy, poison is out. We have to use glue boards. Now, that is a real treat. Walking out into your garage and finding a huge rat stuck to a glue board, writhing around and screaming help me….help me….
So, to answer your question about metal - yep or really, really thick plastic and lots of glue boards, a big broom and an angry housewife:)
I’m workin on it - <grin>
deborah at 22:08 -
If you have or plan to get a hand crank grain mill, they will also grind coffee. Just be sure to run a cup of grain through it afterwards to clean the coffee oils from it.