I think we have many more readers now than we had a month or so ago when a thread was opened just for new readers. So please use this thread to de-lurk, if you wish! Choose a name as your handle, and post a bit if you wish, to let us know what you are thinking!
Oh! I’ve been caught :)
I just found this website a few weeks ago, so I’m still digesting information.
Does anyone have any good links to the following subjects: natural tanning of leather (with minimal supplies), and drying/curing meat (without the use of electricity).
Thanks!
Stockin’ Up – at 14:13
tanning link http://www.braintan.com/intro/intro.html
salt curing meat http://waltonfeed.com/old/brine.html
bump — any other new lurkers?
I’ve been lurking for several months. I am from Northwest Florida. We are prepping on a basic level. So far, we have only stocked food and items that we use in everyday life or would use in the aftermath of a hurricane. We have made lists and when we feel a pandemic is close we will really get busy. We have been successful in convincing some friends and family to at least put panflu on their radar. Unfortunately, they are all looking to us to let them know when they should “get serious.” Anyone else in that situation? I worry about the responsibility.
Hi All,
Been Lurking here for several months. Feel a bit like I am on a see-saw - One moment I am stocking up on the specials at the supermarket, and the next, I think I am being unnecessarily dramatic (for use of a better word) & how in the world will 3 people ever eat all this rice??? LOL.
I talk to a best friend & my husband a bit,and they are intrested and intrigued. However, they mostly think it is a passing activity of mine. Live in a small, semi-rural/semi-suburban town in CT. Since I began reading this, I find that I always have a list going in the back of my mind of things to pick up/stock up on in my daily travels. Somehow doing it that way is more emotionally & psychologically acceptable to me than purposefully taking my list and filling it. Wierd, eh?
hey, in CT we lose power often enough. Ice storms, blizzards, etc… it’s all necessary stuff, anyway. it will never go to waste, especially if you rotate.
thread not closed.
thread not closed hehehe that’s a new one!
NWF gal – at 17:44 and when we feel a pandemic is close we will really get busy
Welcome & thanks for coming out from the shadows!
Ok, I understand your statement, and you and I are ‘regular’ type folks, who are asleep when things are at their peak of the day in the hotbeds where this is brewing, so what’s going to be your tipping point? Do you think there will be an announcement like for weather, or do you think the gov’t will break into tv programming?? Any ideas?
NWF gal, - Welcome aboard! How far to the weat in FL are you? This gal is in Pensacola. I’m a transplant from Panama City, but lived in Ft. Walton for a while when I was just a kid. Tread carefully, you may run over one of my relatives. Darn, for all I know you could be one. The family has been around since before the Civil War. If you’re nervous about transmitting information from this site,go to Profiles, my back door is there and always open.
As for what others think, don’t worry your skin will thicken up - mine did. See you around? gina
Stockin’ Up, let’s see, Lehmans sells a book titled, “Deerskins into Buckskins” by Matt Richards, that sounds like what you want; step-by-step, using all-natural material to tan. They also have books like, Where there is no doctor/dentist/women’s dr, and, lots of useful non-electric stuff.
NWF gal, we might feel pandemic is close enough to take those lists and start to “get busy” on the most important items now; if you and your neighbors wait for clearer signs, it may be when cases seeded all over via travel suddenly pop up and need confirming all over the place, and *all* the unprepared people will all begin to want to shop for supplies, and there isn’t enough in the pipeline to all do it at once. Manufacture/ distribution workers will be concerned as well. Tell friends and family to check the Flu Wiki; they need to not expect you to be responsible for them. What if you were sidelined with food poisoning for a couple days at the wrong time and missed the news? <wink> We’ve almost had a year of warning since the WHO’s 10 things you need to know about pandemic influenza ; how much more can we expect? Tell ‘em you’re sorry their officials didn’t send them a clear signal, but print them out the WHO things, and tell ‘em only the first 9 are still really valid. (Last I looked, their “Phase 3 was still dated Nov 2005.)
Pettibone, maybe they need that printout too, and remind them the feds and state said local authorites are responsible for meeting all the needs of citizens homebound by illness or quarantine (though they didn’t write “during a Pandemic Year).
Preps certainly won’t go to waste, and at least folks would be quite ready for storms, short power outtages, ect, that they are supposed to be ready for now anyway. Can skip those crowded last-minute store rushes.
:-) Welcome? Who else is here? There are usually discussion threads for others from your state, or nation, too.
As they say in some airports: there will be no further voice anouncements - please sit by your door
Calling All Lurkers: even if your friends and relatives do not support you, we do. I was a lurker, too, but I quickly discovered that there are a lot of really nice people here at Flu Wikie who are eager to be helpful and share their knowledge.
Welcome!
OK..OK I’ll post.
I’ve been checking out the site for a couple of weeks now. I run a medium size municipal water department in the midwest. Right now I guess I’m mildly concerned/interested in the subject. The one thing I can’t get over is the similarities between all the prepping now and Y2K. I bought into it back then prepped mildly (some food, water, ammo)and was obviously grateful everything went smoothly without any problems. We have begun to discuss pandemic influenza at work a bit (discussing plans for the possiblity of reduced staffing levels, etc.). I think some of you have little faith in our abilities to continue service although if it’s severe (lasting many months, widely spread, high fatalities) things could be difficult. One thing I’d like to address is electricity. That is the hinge pin. . .to a point. If power is lost you could likely count on service for at least a week or so (backup generators). Longer if diesel can still be delivered.
I have been checking out the posts regarding water preps and I only have one thing to add regarding pfwag’s (although he has obviously done tremendous research, and is quite informed) post under water preps I. . . there is talk of assuming that all untreated well water contains crypto. Crypto is a much bigger problem in surface water than ground water. I would more likely assume that there’s crypto in surface than ground if your groundwater source is still functioning. He references a study that found 1 in 10,000 sources contain crypto (I’m assuming his sources are accurate). If the flu breaks to the point where municipal systems fail I’ll take those odds(just my opinion, make your own decisions). Crypto would be the least of my fears at that point and chlorine only disinfection would be sufficient for me. In my area there are hundreds of thousands of homes that are not on municipal systems and have their own private wells. None of these homes have much of any treatment better than ion exchange softening (for hardness and high iron). I have never heard of any residential cases of crypto originating from one of these groundwater sources. The incident (referenced often when discussing crypto)in Milwaukee was from a surface water source(Lake Michigan). I will continue to “lurk” here and occasionally check the site. Just my 2 cents.
Hi Horse,
I bought into the Y2k thing too and it stings now when someone raises that all-knowing eyebrow at me for bringing this up now.
I stayed “prepped” after 2000 so you’d think I was prepped now, right??
WRONG!
This is soooooo different for several reasons — we had a very clear deadline back in the good ‘ole Y2k days. We knew WHAT it would affect — anything with a computer chip basically. We also knew that there would be a short term of discomfort if things didn’t work right then we’d all get back to our lives. And we figured that whatever we had to do — stay at work, crank up the new generator, count out our cash at the Walmart checkout — we’d do as a healthy individual.
Now think about doing any of those things SICK!
It’s a whole new ballgame — one that doesn’t have quarters or innings — no true beginning & no clear end & we don’t know how handicapped we might end up being at any point along the way.
I’m anxious for you to tell us all about what you’ve been able to get the folks at your place to do — and what YOU’RE doing to prepare!
Hi! Thanks for the words of encouragement! :>}
I’m a long time prepper (since 9/11) and that is mostly where my interests lie. You all are very good at gathering and deciphering the news (that which does manage to trickle down) but sometimes it can be overwhelming for me so I prefer to concentrate on things I can control like spreading the word on why it’s so important to prepare and educating my small community on the pandemic that I see looming on the horizon.
I have only posted one time here but I’ve been lurking for a while now. You have a great bunch of people here. I spend a lot of my “BF time” on another forum but many of the same folks hang out here as well. I like the rational, intellectual nature of the discussions here and value the opinions of many who post regularly. The only frustration I have is that is takes soooo long for each page to load (or unload) and I don’t know why that is. I don’t seem to have that problem anywhere else. I also don’t understand the “bump” thing and was wondering if you had a personal message system in place. Oh, and I live in northern NJ and would love to know if there are any other fluwikians in my area. I have been working very hard to get the word out in my community but it is slow going at best.
Anyway, thanks for being here and for all the terrific information. You are making a big difference in a lot of peoples lives. :>}
Hi! I’m in Southern California, trying to get relocated up to Monterey County, to a rural beach area much more amenable to peace of mind and the coming challenges. Got into researching BF last winter, wow! Had NO IDEA what H5N1 was all about! People just have no idea of the train I believe is coming! Was active on another bird flu site that got very controlled by a profit-oriented leader. After reading this site for a while, its really good to see some serious and truly helpful folks without the agenda-driven science and discussion censorship. And I enjoy the raw science, both discussions and arguments! Excellant! BTW, Y2K was not a problem, due in great part to the expenditure of at least 45 billion dollars by business and government to avoid it! When prepping works it can mean there’s NO disaster.
if you are new and you want to learn more about the forum posters,
here is an archive:
http://magictour.free.fr/fw.gz
(30MB)
decompress it and search it with:
http://magictour.free.fr/fw.exe
for keywords.
Welcome Horse With No Name! I am glad to see you here, with your expertise. I don’t know about others on this list, but I for one am primarily concered with what happens if/when we lose electricity for more than a week or so. I’m sure water companies around the country are planning and always plan for all sorts of contingencies, but what concerns me is that I’m not sure they are planning for what I think could be a worst case scenario. Seems like the plans (a) are not being made public and (b) are focused on how to keep things up and running with 40% absentee for 3 weeks. That’s a start — but people could well be sick for more like 2 months, and there’s that chance of losing electricity for longer than a week, too.
I live outside Washington DC and there ain’t no well water here. If we lose electricity to get water to us, my backup water supply is the Anacostia River — and that would be a 30 minute hike away.
But that’s my own private concern — welcome and thanks for posting, please post again on a water thread if you care to so your comments don’t get lost on the welcome page!
And, Welcome to Naomi and Fiddler Dave! Naomi, I don’t know why it takes longer to load these pages than it does on other sites.
Naomi, when you post a message to a thread, the thread moves to the top of the main list of threads. As others post, the thread you posted to moves down in the list. When it’s gotten so far down(because no one else has posted anything to it) someone may post a “bump” message to move the entire thread back up to the top of the main list of threads so it can be seen. So….if you post something & no one answers and the thread is ‘sinking’ down the list, then you can go in and bump it back to the top to keep it easily visible.
About NJ, there’s a New Jersey thread (one for every state) just type in the word “jersey” or “NJ” in the search box and see which way it comes up. I think one of our most illustrative posters (Lily) is from NJ. She’s a pseudo-prepper and writes about her days explorations & all her posts are like very interesting short stories. She’s not been around lately tho, I guess enjoying the cooler weather & beatuiful fall color.
I have been mostly lurking since January. I have posted a little bit , but not much. I depend on the regulars with the expertise to relay information. I’m not great at deciphering news and I’m not great with the computer. I am so grateful to all of the experts who post here. I am aware of all the time and effort they put and I respect their opinions. Clearly, the majority of the regular posters deal with the facts and are not alarmist. I like that. I get my PPF from them. When they get aggitated, I too become nervous and prep a little more. I really enjoy the rational analytical conversation. Thanks again Fluwiki.
Nice to meet you cel, glad to have you be part of the fluwiki family. Feel free to post anytime, and be sure to post to your state’s thread as well so they’ll know you’re around!! They’ll be very happy to see you I’m sure.
Hello…again to some. My wife Angela/Sam in FL (long story) and I were lurkers for a while until we decided to be bold and post a few days ago. Since then, we’ve received excellent advice, had one post (religious) get shut down, and been reprimanded by a shadowy authority figure. We’ll still keep coming back, though, because its just too interesting here. <LOL> Much better discussion than with our disbelieving friends and family who think that we’ve both gone nuts.
We’ve been prepping for a family of seven for about five months now and are stunned with how much still remains to be done. We pray that prepping is truly the answer and ofcourse also pray for the best.
Welcome, Wolverine! (Although I may get booted off here for sticking up for you a little bit on the other thread a few minutes ago)
Anyway, religion and politics aside, this is a terrific place to get info. and to provide info., if you can. I’ve been lurking, (and then posting much later) pretty much since it started up, and it’s definitely the best layout, and fairly and friendly moderated site. Most of the people contributing here are unbelievably talented and nice, as I’m sure you already know. Great that there is yet another prepping family out there…. :)
Nice to meet you Niah…and I do appreciate you sticking up for us. It got a little hairy over there for a while, didn’t it? We’re still getting the hang of things, but like I said before, it’s nice to be around so many interesting, well-read, and proactive people. Keep posting that commentary. :-)
Horse with no name – at 21:18 I hope you will continue posting. Thanks for the info on crypto. I live in NW Illinois and have known several people in the last month that were infected with crypto. Several were from swimming pools, and my brother-in-law’s was not determined - maybe from fishing.
Question, how many days’ supply of chemicals does your water dept keep on hand? I would assume that chemicals might run out perhaps before the electric grid went down, requiring boil orders or chlorine treatment?
Do you have any alternative local electrical source you could tap? For example, there is a small hydro electric plant in our town that I think sells to Comm Ed. I’ve wondered if it could go off-grid and the hydro-electric plant’s electricity could be re-directed to our municipal water dept.
Welcome, new lookers, lurkers, and posters! :-)
Horse with no name, Y2K was a human made- human-fixed problem; nothing like a bad H5 virus, when all the “flu” the public knows (what little they seem to) about is H1.
Current health infrastructure and vaccine manufacturing in our country isn’t really up to a busy “today”, let alone an influenza pandemic along the lines of 1918 or so, that seems good at killing the young, healthy, and essential.
Your state forum thread would be lucky to have you posting there.
Hi there!! I’ve only posted one or twice but I do a lot of lurking. I just took a break from moving cabinets to organize our preps better and thought I’d say HI. I asked my paramedic brother in law if anything was being done about bird flu/pandemic and he said nothing. He said they were too worried about EEE and west nile (we are from south east Mass).
The good news is we got my sister to at least start planning a water supply for her family of 5. Oh yes, I can’t forget the canned butter that is arriving tomorrow!! I’ve never tried it but it will be very nice to have around.
Hi! Well, thanks so much for letting me know what “bump” is and for bumping this thread up b/c I couldn’t find it again! lol
Thanks again all for the warm welcome. :>}
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