Let’s get on with it here. :)
Thanks guys. Just wanted to add that I was, and still am contemplating having husband build me a small chicken coop with enclosed, covered yard but I am really concerned now about them getting flu from rat carriers. We live kind of in the country and have had problem with rats out back from time to time. Have used traps and poisons before, but I don’t think living out here you can ever get rid of them all. I want a chicken coop very badly, how to deal with the rats? Putting a cat out there would be impossible as I have 2 big dogs that would eat it. Any advice would be appreciated.
When building the coop, bury the bottom board so that it is 8–10 inches below ground. Keep raccoons out also as they will not dig that deep to get inside. Cover entire coop with hardware cloth to keep them from chewing through. I have had no rats get inside.
Richard, read your post with interest. At least you found your county “plan”. I can’t find squat for Orange or Seminole. The lack of noise is deafening. I feel like they’ve already thrown up their hands. Today I was at a class across town, in a not so good part of town with a lot of minority and immigrant population. At lunch I went to two dollar stores for preps. Looking around at the population I thought a morbid thought. Many, many of these people will not survive. They don’t have the money to plan ahead, even if they were getting the information to do so. Then another thought occured to me. These people can be dangerous to me because I am able to plan ahead a little. I was stunned to feel these thoughts run through my head and couldn’t shake the feeling of shame for a long time. It felt like a Sci-Fi movie, where I was sent back in time and knew what was coming and they were just going on their merry way, oblivious to what lie ahead. I don’t want to feel that again.
Just a heads up to let you all know Winn-Dixie has nice 7 quart containers on sale, $2.50 each. They are round, rubbermade type plastic, with a very tight fitting top. They look like they would be a nice size to hold a 5 lb bag of flour, an open box of cereal, homemade granola or muffin mixes, or even an open container of dehydrated food. Stackable, too.
ack, that was me… posting from my son’s computer. He’s taken over mine while daddy teaches him how to write code. Just what the world needs, another programmer who spells like a second grader.
Experts to offer advice on avian flu
Orlando — Orange County Commissioner Linda Stewart and a panel of avian-flu experts will offer residents advice on how to prepare for a possible outbreak of the virus should it reach the United States.
The county’s Avian Flu Town Hall meeting will be at 7 p.m. today at the Orlando Airport Marriott, 7499 Augusta National Drive.
Thanks banshee, I’ll be there and report back. Hopefully it won’t be a debate on “if” it could happen, rather a planning session on how to prepare. Will you be there?
Orlandopreppie, I am in an entirely different part of the country! If I see things of interest to regional groups I usually just take a minute and post it on the appropriate thread. However, I will check back here later to read your report.
Orlandopreppie – at 15:48 Just wanted you to know that Orange County Fl. has gotten their act together. They have a web site under the county commission look for under either Fire and Rescue or emergency amangement. That is where I found mine.
Good luck tonight let us know what happen. Suggestion: ASK questions, write them down now as you think of them. Keep it at the county level. I had a similiar meeting but I asked questions that the state can only answer. National guard, Out side assistance, FEMA, Etc. The locals don’t know. So I got no answers.
I went to the meeting tonight. I got no answers to any of my questions and all were local based questions. It was better than I expected it to be but still short of the mark. There were 192 chairs, and I’d say 2/3 of them were filled. We have 117,000 school children in this county so I know we have over half a mil in the county. It was a panel presentation with 2 or 3 presenters presenting lots of pats on the backs for our wonderful “leadership” and using the word “planning” a lot but no specifics. We had to write questions down, and they answered six. No real interaction, well managed and filtered. It was after a lot of people left that a county commissioner got up and said plan for 4 to 6 months on your own. Before that there were different timeframes, a week to eight weeks and then that would morph into a month.
Lots of information about all the wonderful stuff the first responders will get, including masks and tamiflu…but the rest of us were told not to waste our time buying masks as they wouldn’t do anything.
I don’t need anybody to tell me how to plan, I can analyze myself. What I fear is the gazillion others who need some guidance. One woman from the Red Cross was so monotone that I wanted to poke her with a cattle prod to see if she’d have an inflection. We kept hearing “don’t panic” over and over but that is a natural response. I would much rather someone “panic” now and prepare than panic when it’s too late and the shelves are empty. Let them wake up and “panic”, research, and buy stuff. They’ll calm down in what, a week to ten days? Nobody gets hurt by a little “panic” now. Lots will get hurt when the REAL panic starts!
I was stunned and amazed that the best speaker was the Board of Education speaker. He mentioned three of the ideas I had to continuity in the “classroom”, and was more to the point. I was impressed with him. The rest truly were talking in circles…oh and we got two lessons on how to wash our hands. Two news stations showed up for about six minutes each. I don’t expect a lot of media exposure. The panelists said they were counting on us to get the word out. Want us to talk to others at home, church, work, etc. To me that is a cop out. They should start issuing daily press releases and calling for air time. Instead they leave it up to “us” and I know that the few people I have spoken to are about 50/50 in their response. You all know what I mean. Anyway, that’s the report from Orlando.
I looked up the pandemic for Miami Dade County…it definitely puts me in a frame of mind where some of our lives can be controlled or dictated by the government.
Shad.
It looks to me that many people saw the President’s speach, but didn’t hear a thing. What part of “You will be on your own” did they not understand? Maybe they forgot that part. gina
Kathy in FL First I have to hand it to you - your ideas on cooking will fill my hard drive and I’ll need 2 reams of copy paper to print it all up. And I’m going to do it. Next week. Saw ads for solar cookers on the net yesterday. Anyone ever try this type of cooking? It should work great here in Florida.
Orlandopreppie – at 23:12 I want to say thank you for going to that meeting. We all need to find out when these types of meetings are going on in our local areas. County Commisioners should know. We need to try and get more of them going. It may take a grass roots movement to get them off their A$$ !
SO WE HAVE 6 TO 8 MONTHS ON OUR OWN! About time someone owed up to the truth in Government. (That was the real story) last night. Did you get any good points of contacts with other preppers?
We either stand together as good neighbors or die alone and apart.
RICHARD FL – at 12:01 - Saw ads for solar cookers on the net yesterday. Anyone ever try this type of cooking? It should work great here in Florida.
Richard, a solar cooker is on my want list (that list is GROWING instead of shrinking! what’s with that? lol) and I agree with you, Florida certainly has a HOT sun. Sometimes I think I could lay a steak down on the floor inside my sliding glass door and it would be medium rare within 15 minutes.
Have any of you approached neighbors about bird flu? Not necessarily prepping, but just as an issue of concern for the neighborhood or development you all live in.
RICHARD FL – at 12:01 and flourbug – at 12:14
Actually I’ve heard that solar cooking isn’t all that great here in Florida though it is doable. I think it has something to do with the high humidity and the cloud cover we often have. Lots more fiddling with the cooker than they have to put up with in other places.
Don’t give up on the idea on my account though. I’d love to give it a whirl myself and intend on building some cheap homemade solar ovens to try them out.
The other thing I would worry about with a solar oven though is that you have to keep the mugs off of it and keep the maurading wild life out as well. Are these cookers enclosed?
Richard FL -I think the other preppers were the ones that left early. Whenever somebody on the panel said something ridiculously stupid you could see a few people whisper something to their neighbor. I was doing it too. Anyway they gave out a lovely folder with full color copies of the Federal plan. There is a business card attached that has four websites listed for information. They include the Fl Dept. of Health, CDC, pandemicflu.gov, and the WHO. It’s a start but I fear many won’t do the further follow-up that will help them truly prepare.
There was mention that they intended to reach out to organizations including Homeowner’s Associations to spread the word. I intend to contact the President of my HOA to see if they’re on this. I don’t think they are because I haven’t heard squat. I will volunteer to be the point of contact as long as they will allow dissemination of real information.
Well gang it seems we are starting to get together here in Florids.
I live in the NE section near Gainesville We know “Kathy Fl” lives near Tampa with a few others. We have people in PCola on the West Coast. And of course Orlando is covered. The only place we are missing is Key West? Any one…..
I believe we need to push on our county commisioners about this I plan to send E-mails to all five on my county board. I’ll post a copy here when I finish to give you all ideas…
The solar power stove I was thinking about was to sterilize water to save propane!
Found a neat newspaper/towel filter for water that is taken out of a pond, lake, or river. It uses a tub placed 40″ above filled with dirty water. a 50″x 1″ plastic tube filled with strips of newspaper with about 20″ left out of the top to sit in the upper tub then the water will trinkle down into a lower container clean and clear. It can due about 6 quarts per day. I tried it today but I used clean towels I ripped up and prestarted by having the towels wet when I started. The river water I used was muddy St Johns River. IT WORKED. The water is clear but still needs to be sterilized.
More tomorrow.
Shad,
read the Miami Dade Plan. you’re right “POWER” seems to be a recurrent theme. Otherwise, it seems clear and well-prepared(and in my opinion NOT DOABLE for a multitude of reasons). Perhaps in a smaller county with less population or daily international influx. My opinion that they’ll turn Miami Dade into a police state to try to get anything contained.
What’s up Richard! It does seem that there’s an abundance of preppers here in Florida. I think it may have something to do with our experiences from hurricanes the past few years. They have really taught me not to be caught unprepared for possible lengthy power outages, shortages of food, fuel, ice etc. I’m looking forward to seing a copy of the letter you mentioned and I will gladly send it on to my local PwrssTB as well as local media. I hope all you other FL folks keep touching base here with this thread. It’s nice to know there are others out there not so far away that are going through the same things as I am right now trying to prep and keeping an ear open to what’s really going on out there on the other side of the world. Take care everybody,check ya’ later! Dawn
OK here is my first letter I sent to all the county commissioners. I have (5) right now. It is a basic eye opening letter that I next will send to my local newspaper with some additional quotas from the CDC (NOT IF: BUT WHEN BF ARRIVES) so they get the hint.
So here goes:
(Your address)
Dear County Commissioners, June 23, 2006
I wish to bring to your attention a problem that shall happen some time in the near future. This problem will affect all areas of _ _ _ _ _ _ County. It is a PANDEMIC called “Bird Flu; H5N1 series”
• I expected that the local authorities would have information for local planning, exercises, meetings, panels, citizen groups, after action reports, etc. about this threat. NOTHING
• What have I have found my local county authorities doing, the people Who should know best what, where, when, why, and how; to best utilize our limited local resources and what outside assets we can expect to have available. NOTHING
• Where are the points-of-contact?: We don’t even have a POC to report dead birds. What about when the H5N1 is spreading Human to Human. NOTHING
• What planning for hospitalization of H5N1 contaminated people and for burial of Bird Flu casualties. NOTHING.
• Will the power and water supplies be maintained with up to 50% personnel missing due to sickness? NOTHING.
• Will the Sheriff, and Fire and Rescue have enough personnel; to maintain order and security, sustain the Jail, and provide rescue and fire services as needed. NOTHING.
What action(s) are you willing to start over the next 30, 60, and 90 days? Will the Commission provide us (concerned citizens) a time line as to the basic planning and preparation work needed to survive this disaster?
These questions need to be answered within the next 30 days.
Thank You
(Signed)
Great letter. I’m off today and will work on mine maybey this evening.
I know it needs work but you have to start somewhere.
I will send another letter to each commissioner and the county manager asking A specific set of questions starting next week. *I will start with local conditions as I see them now. Then ask questions as to specific planning guidelines.
Have a great and sunny weekend gang
Most of your Florida preppers have surely gone to bed and Lord knows why I am still up at this hour…but I am. Have just recently started reading up on fluwikie and have found it very helpful. I am in Martin County…and have just started contacting a few folks here to see what is being done to educate the public about the flu, how to prepare, etc. My first email was to the local Red Cross simply asking if there were any seminars planned. They responded by asking if I wanted to volunteer to make some presentations. Long story short, they are sending me the PP presentation, brochure and handouts that have already been prepared by their national office. I said that I would be happy to do the presentations…in hopes of getting more intrically connected with those who are responsible for actually adding some real-life HOW TO’s to the generic plans that seem to be circulating across the country. Have read about a dozen different plans…and not ONE of them contains specific details about HOW anything is actually going to be accomplished. Having been an event planner for 30 years, success is ALWAYS in the details. Just not seeing details in any of these plans.
I figure the best thing I can do is make the presentations as requested, encourage participants to ask questions, and I can then give them the real answers. In the meantime, will continue to finish my prepping. Fortunately, we have a 20 acre ranch where we can very comfortably ride this thing out!
Had a very disturbing conversation today with a very close friend who is a senior administrator at a well known hospital in South Florida. He stated that they are preparing for Pandemic Influenza (PI) at the hospital by stocking up on medicines and PPE for their top ranking doctors, nurses and administrators. I asked him what he meant by “top-ranking”. He said it meant that they could only get medicines for their doctors and some of their nurses. He said they couldn’t get enough for all the nurses and that none of the staff would be provided for. He sounded extremely distraught, so I didn’t ask him for any more details.
Will be re-evaluating my plans and preparations today. This is very alarming news to me, as it illustrates how dire the situation will get and that we will truly be on our own.
shaddup: will email you ASAP, gotta go to the store before the next monsoon arrives.
You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink!
FlaKeys – at 14:20 Seems the hospital people have got the plan backwards. If their top Doctors are ok but have no meds for the crowds of sick people; how long do you think these people will abide the situation?
Ranchgirl – at 01:31 Think of the situation as a hurricane that is 6 to 8 months in length. You may get Water maybe!! Electrical only on a good day if you live near a power station. Grow your own food and plan to due alot of canning and outdoor cooking in the future.
PS Any kids? Home schooling is the answer here in my county. Send the kids home with the books and school work for how ever long it takes. At least it’s a plan!!
Loads of rain the last two days in my neck of the woods. Boy have we needed it. Still far from bringing everything back up to normal levels, but as I said it does help.
But watching all of that water pouring off my roof did give me a good idea of where to place any water barrel that I set up. But it also caused me some concern. The water was coming off the roof so hard I realized that I will need some way to stabilize the barrel to keep it from tipping, at least until it gets too heavy to tip.
And the leaves blowing into the pool reminded me that I need to get a new tarp for the pool as well as a good anchoring system …. at least better than a couple of cinder blocks on the corners of the tarp. <grin>
Kathy in FL You have to remember if you have a normal roof (tar and shingles)you cannot drink it due to the chemicals that are released. Only concrete and title roofs can be used for this purpose.
Also you could if you place tarps to catch the rain water.
You can use it to flush toilets or wash clothes. I guess you will be ok. I don’t know about washing hair or skin though. Any one??
Richard: Personally I’m grateful that hospital is trying to stockpile medicines and protective gear for their doctors and nurses. I’m sorry to hear that they won’t have enough supplies for the rest of the hospital staff. And of course the general public is going to be SOL.
I’m making a list of items to get specifically for any HCW that is compassionate enough to come to my house and help us. I am going to prepare and preposition large “thank-you” containers for them. Am going to be ordering masks (N100), face shields, coveralls, booties, gloves, and antiseptic gels/wipes. Will also include freeze-dried foods and other premium items. I figure if someone is brave enough to come help me and my loved ones, then it’s only proper and fitting that I make sure they receive what they need for themselves and their families.
Need to go look at warehouses now…I’ve almost run out of storage space in my house. People are gonna start thinking I’ve gone totally wacky-doodle!
Thanks for the concern Richard but water runoff would strictly be for non-potable uses such as washing clothes, etc.
Calling all preppers! I’m up in Washington D.C area for a Teachers Conference on the Holocaust, that’s why I’ve been off the board for a few days. I’m rained out, literally, as metro has been shutdown in places due to flooding. I am staying with a longtime friend whom I love dearly, in Springfield Virginia. She has a two bedroom 2 bath condo and lives alone. She is not prepped at all, has heard nothing about this, etc. She has extensive family here, including two grown chidren and two grandchildren and elderly parents. I feel some hard choices coming on as none of them will be prepared.
I am hear for another seven days. I need help to figure out what somebody in an urban setting needs to address and don’t have a lot of time to do it in. Money isn’t the problem for her it is for me, but time and space are. Please help. I’m investigating utilities first. It gets cold up here, not like Orlando. So warmth, plumbing, cooking, are issues here. So is space!
Oh, my!!!! Between the dreary weather we’ve had the last two days and all the house work/prepping that I’ve been doing I want to just toddle off to my bed and crash for about 40 days and nights.
Glad I ran out of time and didn’t get to spray the pest control spray around the outside of the house … it would have just been washed away. On the other hand, all the rain did unearth a nest of carpenter ants and I need to take care of that problem tomorrow.
I’ve also discovered that I have some issues with my gutters that hubby needs to repair as soon as he and son get back in town from a Boy Scout high adventure trek.
I’ve found some room for more preps … now to find the where-with-all to buy the preps to fill up the space that I’ve found by cleaning things out.
I think I need to add some high octane energy drinks to the preps. Not the healthiest stuff in the world to drink and a lot of them are hard on your kidneys … but I’d hate to be exhausted during an SIP if we have illness in the house. Fatigue, stress, and depression go hand-in-hand … need to think of some ways to deal with this likelihood.
Orlandopreppie, I’m helping my daughter in NJ prep. She lives in a 3rd floor, 1 bedroom walkup (small living/dining area, and TINY kitchen) with her husband, and they have invited my other daughter and her fiance to SIP with them. Their house has well water, and their landlord has a generator and plenty of fuel, so they have water even if their electric goes out. I bought her several battery powered lanterns, a Mr Buddy for heat, a camp stove for cooking, handwarmers, and a down blanket… I know they already have heavy clothes… and some battery powered fans and a couple of weeks worth of batteries in case it gets too hot.. and a ton of other stuff that your friend probably already has or doesn’t really need.
As for food, I went heavy on dehydrated items. I loaded them up on the standard rices and beanses, but also hash browns, scalloped potatoes, potato pearls, barley, couscous, kasha, pasta, chinese noodles, about every flavor of TVP you can get, powdered eggs, butter, milk, sour cream, dehydrated mushrooms and onions, powdered gravy, cheese sauce, white sauce, big buckets of soup base in chicken, ham, beef, seafood and vegetable, all types of dehydrated soups - and what wasn’t in #10 cans I sealed up in 5 gallon buckets so they can store in their garage (they will bring it in well before necessary). I gave her a lot of home canned goods too - 3 cases of chicken stock in quarts, a case of chicken in quarts, ditto pork, chili and spaghetti sauce. She took just about every bottle of wine I have - flu tonic, you know. We also hit up several stores down here where she was able to load up on some of their favorite pre-made meals. I bought a dehydrator for myself, and she’s placed her order for a lot of veggies and fruit - which I will just stick in gallon freezer bags and ship up to her. She is stocking up on canned goods and drinks.
You may also want to consider loading up on PPE now while masks, gloves, and protective clothing are still available to the public.
Plumbing… sewer shut off valve for sure, a camp shower or new pump sprayer for washing, several buckets and laundry detergent, then a camp potty with a lifetime supply of plastic garbage bags and shredded cedar hamster bedding. Don’t forget the TP!
Flourbug - thank you so much. I’m not sure I understand but you can get powedered butter? Powdered sour cream? Oh please let me know more for my own sake. All will be well if I have bread, sour cream, and coka cola.
Is a sewer shut off valve the same thing as a backflush valve? I guess she’ll have to look into that with her association.
You gave me some great ideas. I’ve been thinking about a food dehydrator but don’t like “jerky” myself so can you tell me what the benefits are? I have a vacuum sealer that I love. I think I’ll have a few bottles of flu tonic too. the PPE are at the top of my list for her. I’m already covered except for coverall, but I found them and will buy after first large water storage container has been purchased. Thank you for the great ideas.
Mplly McButter is a powdered butter substitute that tastes like the real thing to me! Grocery stores have it. Good luck.
Sorry, that’s Molly Mcbutter.
duh! I had forgotten about Molly. thx
Orlandopreppie, I got most of my supplies from Honeyville Grain or SurvivalAcres. Both have excellent prices, but Honeyville has everyone beat with their charge of $4.49 for your ENTIRE ORDER. This can save a LOT of money. I know you’ll go crazy over the long list of goodies they have for sale.
One more thing - get supplies for sprouts and for growing your own greens in a sunny window. Sprouts are just seeds and a mason jar with screening instead of a solid lid. For greens you’ll need a jiffy tray or even a few flowerpots and a couple of packs of seeds. If you can’t find lettuce and spinach in your local nursery stores any more, try Burpee.com
I have a unique question…Does anyone know if salt water would hurt a septic system? I live in the Daytona Beach area. Our area is on septic, rather than sewer. If there was no “tap” water available, the ocean would be a source for flushing toilets, but I don’t know if it would mess up the dynamics of the septic system. Input anyone?
Snow White – at 18:24 - Does anyone know if salt water would hurt a septic system?
I think this is something a lot of people who live along the coastlines and bays should know, but unfortunately I have no clue. Post this as its own thread. Fluwiki has experts who will know the answer, but they aren’t watching the Florida thread.
Salt would kill the “perk” in your septic system. Septic systems run off of yeast breaking down the solids. Too much salt will kill the yeast.
Orlandopreppie – at 13:15 “Evacuate”
If she is important to you; invite her to spend an unlimited (6–8 months) “vacation time” in the future with you. Get her to do a trial run like memorial day weekend to come down and visit. Then when the time is right fly her down and you will have another shoulder to lean on and help from someone you know and love. Another way to look at it you will spend less time worrying and less money in the wrong area of the country.
Is a sewer shut off valve the same thing as a backflush valve? Yes just another name for it.
Thanks Richard. But she was born and raised here and will never leave her family. It’s understood. We’ll just have to do what we can. flourbug, I’ll check out the websites you cited. I sense a shopping spree coming on.
I just got in an order today from beprepared.com. It included powdered butter, powered whole eggs and dried onions. I cant for the life of me remember why I bought dried onions! It was a tad pricey but I figured they werent items that you could get readily at the local mart. Except for the onions…which I still cant figure out. :)
Dried onions are GOOD. Presoak a couple big handfulls of dehydrated hash browns and dried mushrooms in water. Heat a little butter and oil in a cast iron skillet. Drain the potatoes and mushrooms, add onions, bacon bits, maybe some peppers, whatever you like… and generously spice to suit your taste. Then dump it all in the sizzling pan and pat down. Brown the bottom on top of the stove, then place the pan in a preheated oven for 25 minutes. 10 minutes before its done, top with a handful of cheddar cheese, velveeta, cheese soup, whatever you have that resembles cheese. If you happen to have cooked sausage or bacon, a couple of sunnyside up eggs, all the better - toss that on top too.
Thanks for the comments…I agree that too much salt will “kill” the system. I’m trying to figure out how much “too much” is. I’ll keep researching on my own and if I find anything useful I’ll pass it along.
flourbug – at 21:26 It sounds great!! May try that tomorrow. How do you use powered butter? just add water? Like the milk and eggs?
Richard, you’ve got the idea. Dehydration removes moisture, so to reconstitute just add water and you get butter, eggs, milk.
Other than me, Shad, and nopower, anyone else from Miami Dade, Broward or Palm Beach?
Yes, Palm Beach county!
Great! It’s good to see South Florida represented more. Just saw a “memo” from one of our local cities (South Broward) — governmental prepping is being done, but very, very slowly.
Dusty – at 13:15 With everyone talking about the ice melting up at the north and south poles, I’m going to be the South Florida representative within a few years. And I live north of Gainesville !!!!!
Hello and have a nice day. Me I’ve got rain again, 4th day of it!
Powdered eggs, milk, and butter!! Boy I think I’m back in the military (Flash Back to C-rats) you know that is where you get green eggs and green ham in a can :( Don’t want those days again!!!!
Richard FL,
Don’t be such a pig. You could share some of that rain. If a another storm blows in here, we will flood. We ar living up to the saying,”It’s so dry I could spit cotton”. Now, would you send us some of your wet stuff? Pease. Make sure it comes to NWFL ok. I’ll send you some cotton. gina
Hurricane Alley RN – at 14:07 I’ll send some of our rain your way … we’re living up to our typical rain every afternoon without fail!
Have been away from FW for awhile due to summer traveling, but will now continue to periodically check in to get updates. It’s a crazy summer — more traveling, family illness etc — but I hope to see this FL thread going strong. I think as a state we’re probably the most prepared (if not physically, at least mentally) due to hurricanes — it’s nice to hear from everyone! take care.
It’s time to say hello to my fellow Florida preppers. I’m a serious lurker (9 months) and prepper. Dusty, I am probably not too far from you in SE Florida. Doesn’t seem to be much prepping going on in my neighborhood. I read daily and am starting to chime in more and more, so I’m sure I’ll be talking to you all.
Welcome Lurker Mom.
I’m in the Tampa area.
Hi Lurker Mom, I’m in Orlando but “vacationing” in D.C. now. Can’t seem to leave the wiki though. I’m glad your prepping.
Welcome Lurker Mom!! Glad you’re now chiming in.
Orlandopreppie – at 15:22 You still stuck up in DC due to the Rain?
To the new/old people welcome to h@ll. Why because no matter what we do as individuals there are people (Family members), politicans, etc. who just dno’t want to listen. They want to put their heads in a hole. Don’t want to here it
Well all I can say is F#@$@# Them. I’m tired of hitting my head against the wall and getting blood every where. This has been going on for over 8 months for me.
Today; My daughter called me obsessed with BF: that I was out of my mind! This from my own kid!
RICHARD FL – at 18:03 I’m sorry to hear you’re upset over others’ reactions. Hold strong. Understand that everyone looks at things differently. Feel comfortable in your own prepping and maybe as time goes by, your daughter and others around you will come around.
OK, another Tampa flubie here!!! (Actually Pasco County)
I haven’t really dug into food preps yet, mainly due to lack of cash and space, but also I mercifully have a very nicely stocked Sam’s Cub down the street, plus I also have all the usual hurricane preps in place. i figure I’ll have a 48–72 hour jump over most others to get high gear preps together (my wife and I are excellent at shopping, mainly ‘cuz we hate it!) The dumb question of the day-is there a good basic food list that I can use as a starting point? I’m not too worried about recipes (my wife is a food professional who can get VERY creative), just would like a good shopping list for “iron rations”…
Thanks, Franc (penguinzee)
RICHARD FL – at 18:03
My 16 year old “tolerates” my “interest” in pandemics … sees it as so much science fiction, but does see it from a hurricane perspective … sort of. Of course, it is hard for most 16 year olds to take in something that might change their future like a major pandemic would.
My 13 year old on the other hand wants to know what he can do to help.
I’m not sure if it is the age, personality, birth order, or what. <grin> It is a lot to take in. I figure that’s why I’m their mom and am making preps for them … I can handle it, and the grief I might get for prepping for them. <grin>
penguinzee – at 22:30
Between you and flourbug we must have this end of town covered. I’m in Lutz off of US41. <grin>
Basic foods … hmmm. Rice (white, brown, and wild); dried and/or canned beans; powdered and/or canned milk; flour - white, whole wheat, corn, etc.; something that will give you some Vitamin C such as fruit juices and/or canned fruit; sweetener such as granulated sugar, honey, molasses, etc.
Think along the food pyramid or have your wife come up with a basic 2 week menu plan that you can create a grocery list from then just duplicate it “x” number of times until you have the amount you are comfortable stocking.
Hope this helps, I’m not much on shopping either. In and out as quickly as possible. But with a family of 7, I spend rather more time at it than I’d like. <grin>
RichardFla, my co-workers think I’m nuts too, I just tell them not to show up at my house when TSHTF cause I’m armed too… You can lead a horse to water but… I tell anyone who I care about and it’s up to them to do something or don’t. At least I did what I could.
Richard FL - You are not alone. Always remember that. Oh. and I’m not talking about the little grays either. My son plans to have me locked up in a padded cell at Chattahochee. I told him that Chattahochee was for the criminally insane now. Besides, I had not killed him …YET. I also told him I would remember his threats when the preps started running low. That shut him up. However, I think it gave the phrase,”The best way to a mans heart is through his stomach,” new meaning. gina
Richard FL, 18:03 the rains have been extreme for this area but they haven’t stranded me here. I did. I caught a ride with my father to Williamsburg, then got one of the last trains to D.C. for convention. I’m spending a couple of days with my old friend before I go up to Maryland for a couple days. Then back to Williamsburg, and I’ll fly home. I don’t have a car up here, and hate that.
To tell you the truth, I really want to go home now. I miss my animals more every hour. Teachers go back to school in three and a half weeks in my county and I just started my break today. I’ve had so much to do that there hasn’t been a break yet. I get antsy with too much time on my hands. I have prepping to do at home, and I need to paint the exterior of my house before hurricane season really hits. Too many cracks in the stucco for my comfort. Thank you for asking. Very nice of you.
I got the word from the medical group I work for. Nothing will be done about putting out the BF education materials I wrote/gathered for the employees and business at this time. The head of the medical group will wait until a new infectious disease MD joins the group in August so he can review what I wrote and make a decision. I am a bit disappointed, as a month more of anyone preparing could make a difference. My whole idea was that if the group appeared to be taking it seriously, some employees might also take it seriously. As best I can tell, this large group (around a 800 people) has no plan at this time. I think I will see if the head of the area I work in will let me pass out info to the 80 employees under her.
FWIW, I had an oncology visit Monday. 1) My oncologist said I was the first patient to bring the subject of BF up. 2) He said he will read my info if I read a book on the 1918 pandemic that he just finished reading (I had no idea he had been studying the subject). 3) As I was leaving, I ran into the oncology nurse practitioner and told her I left some BF info for the doc to share with her. She turned to me and with a serious face (and no prompting from me) said “it is going to happen and I hope we are prepared”.
penguinzee – at 22:30 Check out the prep lists (food from which to choose and items - Pandemic Preparedeness) on this site — I found them very helpful! Welcome to the site.
RICHARD FL- We all know that we are the first people our children will seek out if TSHTF. You are such a great dad to take care of your child even when she doesn’t realize that she needs it. Someday, she’ll thank you.
My grandmother lived through the 1918 Spanish Flu in Chicago. When I was little, she told me about what she did to make our family survive, and emphasized that I needed to remember. It scared me and I didn’t want to hear it at the time. But now, I remember her advice and I know that what we all are doing is best. My family is going to survive again, as will yours.
My big problem is she is 29 with a family of her own and has had Nurse training! I could never force any family member out the door.. Just not in me. But any stranger who tries to take what is mine or tries to deprive my family… What the fireworks fly.
My grandparents lived through the 1918 flu so did some of my uncles and Aunts. My mom and dad were the babies born 22/24 in their generation. I did a college project on the 1918 flu back in 1978 and got alot of info from all of them. They talked about family farms going under due to everyone being forced indoors by order of the county health Inspector. This was under threat of county sheriffs guns!! This was done in a county in Wi. a very small farm community.
I got my first reply back from the county commissioners they told me to see the county health department. So I did - All they have is the pamplets that the Federal Government have posted. So again nothing has been done! Also did you see the amount of money Florida gets out of 8 billion - 4.6 million - not enough to buy masks or tamiflu for the national guard units here!!!!
So my next letter to the county commissioners is going to deal with PPE personal protective equipment (Mask gloves suits)and Tamiflu needed by police, fire, rescue, health employees. Something practical they understand. (Spending money)
Who is going to pay for this? How is it to be added to the annual budget? Remember here in Florida the counties are required to have a line item, annual, and balanced budget.
So has anyone else written letters? Don’t be afraid to come out of the closet!!
CashB – at 12:33
I was in the Class of 68 from Palm Beach High School. Know a few of TPTP in the city and county. WPB water company has a 6 month supply in stock to treat the water. Some of the PWD (Public Works) Guys have been trained to keep the water running. Police and First responders have all been trained and have PPE to support them selves. Problem with electic is that it is run by Florida Flash and Flicker (FPL) They could not speak to that issue but they are after them to insure you have lights. Lots of other things are being done quickly and behind closed doors so as to not spook the natives. From what I learned your area seems to be in the best of shape. But of course with all of the people around you, you could have more people coming in then the city/county can handle.
Just thought about the sunshine laws in Florida. Bet if you look under the sections for prepardness you will find extra stuff for Hurricianes, Bio terror and other natural diasters. Remember amtrax in Boca. Your counties may be better off then you think.
I just picked up an Orlando Sentinel Hurricane survival guide for 2006 at Albertson’s. Not a bad little publication for the first timer. It is free.
Cloud9 are you in Orlando too? I’m in east orange county. Richard, I don’t know what to say to encourage you. I will write some letters upon my return. I am having a little luck with my friends boyfriend. I showed him one of the news aggregates today and he was floored. Also, showed him the story about the ducks and chickens being moved out of the national zoo today. He should have heard about that as it was local, but there was only a small blurb on the news and they don’t watch the news. I’ve been a news freak for years. He asked me “how many people have died so far?” and “how many do they think will die?”. I think he’s starting to get it and he’s the key to my friend.
I’m in Sebring, south of you.
Orlandopreppie – at 00:40 good for you keep hitting them with facts.. sooner or later it will have to get through or they will become a fact them selves.
My other daughter lives in Hawaii and is in good shape, She lives on a military base and they have had alot of briefings about what to do and what not to do. Remember Hawaii is isolated and will not have wild birds with BF. TOO far away. So one worry finished so much more to de and so little time to do it.
I’m going to contact the Red Cross on Wednesday and see what they have. Their Web site does not recognize Bird flu or H5N1. Maybe we can open their eyes….and ears.
I have never understood “Average Joe’s” need hear it from somebody in authority. Even now, the authorities have been saying it pretty clearly, but people still blow it off. It infuriates me. I don’t understand why more people can’t think for themselves, especially when confronted with fact.
All you Pensacola preppers out there might want to know that you can go to the Health Dept. on Fairfield Dr. and get a pneumonia vaccine if you were considering getting one. I gave them a call this afternoon to ask them if I could get one, they asked for my age, checked to make sure they had it available and said I could come on down. It cost $35 and no one even asked why I wanted it. I feel great knowing I have this taken care of. I’m only 39 ( a young 39!) but I will also be lining up to get myself a flu shot as soon as this year’s becomes available. Never had one before, but anything I can do to help keep myself healthy this winter, I am doing. I had the flu one time and could barely get out of bed for at least a week. Had a high fever, bone jarring cough and terribly aching body. I was probably 25 or 26 yrs old then and I lost 10 lbs in that one week. Don’t ever want to have to go through that again. Take care all, keep up the prepping! There’s certainly a lot of news coming off the presses just the last couple of days on how many depts of the govt are ramping up there preps. This winter does not look good.
Whoops, I didn’t notice I had become anon somehow. Must have lost my handle for a moment when I recently changed internet providers. That is my post above!
P’cola prepper – at 00:57 --- It’s also the apostrophe in your handle. PMWiki doesn’t like those. Try an underscore, ie. P_cola Prepper
Is this dash ok?
Is this dash ok?
That works
Anon451, somewhat encouraging, thanks for sharing the info.. We are still doing everything we can to be as self-sufficient as possible. We are lucky to live on some acreage with a well and septic so I feel we are in as good a spot as possible. I am from Pompano originally but have been up here for 16 years. Yes, you are probably right that people will find whatever area that seems to be operating, to provide for their families. Meanwhile we keep prepping!! Thanks for the support.
P-cola prepper – at 01:02 Did they tell you how long the vaccine lasts? I’ve heard five and ten years … You’re lucky, I’m much older and my doc said I wasn’t old enough for the pneumovax!
Anon_451
Good morning (for me right now it is as I am visiting my son in LA). They all laugh at me out here when I mention concerns about the bird flu. But when I told them that Gov. Schwartznegger just appropriated $400 million for flu preparedness, they were quite surprised. Anyway, sounds like you and I are neighbors. Lived in PBC County since 1957 (yes, that makes me a little older than P’cola prepper), but now in Martin County. I FINALLY got through to a few key people involved in flu prep there…they said they had a committee that had been meeting for awhile (perhaps a few months). The April minutes of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council said that one member went to a statewide flu prepareness summit but that’s all it said. SOOOO, I think they are, in fact, still working on their “plan”, and are just not ready to open the public door for review and/or discussion until they feel they have it nailed. Do any of your “guys” know whether Martin County “guys” are getting ready yet?? In the meantime, I did receive the official Q&A for the Red Cross education series and they thankfully are telling it like it is. Not sure when they intend to start education series tho. Once they do, think there will be a run on supplies.
PS. Just bought a supply of Tamiflu from Canada (had to click the button that says that I acknowledge that it’s illegal for me to buy it if I’m in the US.) 30 pills (75mg) for $279 lots of Canadian websites selling the stuff…overpriced but at least available.
Anon_451
Good morning (for me right now it is as I am visiting my son in LA). They all laugh at me out here when I mention concerns about the bird flu. But when I told them that Gov. Schwartznegger just appropriated $400 million for flu preparedness, they were quite surprised. Anyway, sounds like you and I are neighbors. Lived in PBC County since 1957 (yes, that makes me a little older than P’cola prepper), but now in Martin County. I FINALLY got through to a few key people involved in flu prep there…they said they had a committee that had been meeting for awhile (perhaps a few months). The April minutes of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council said that one member went to a statewide flu prepareness summit but that’s all it said. SOOOO, I think they are, in fact, still working on their “plan”, and are just not ready to open the public door for review and/or discussion until they feel they have it nailed. Do any of your “guys” know whether Martin County “guys” are getting ready yet?? In the meantime, I did receive the official Q&A for the Red Cross education series and they thankfully are telling it like it is. Not sure when they intend to start education series tho. Once they do, think there will be a run on supplies.
PS. Just bought a supply of Tamiflu from Canada (had to click the button that says that I acknowledge that it’s illegal for me to buy it if I’m in the US.) 30 pills (75mg) for $279 lots of Canadian websites selling the stuff…overpriced but at least available.
oops - using someone else’s computer and posted twice but not under my handle…
Hello I hope everyone is having a nice 4th of July weekend… If you get a chance look and comment about my comments under “public unrest” the last week.
Still looking for people in NE Florida to set up group effort. For an exchange of information, purchase of goods locations, etc….
Luck to All
Richard FL, I changed locations and am now in a small town in Maryland. It’s gorgeous. Visiting step-brother, wife and baby with my father and step mom. They are set here and wife used to be a nurse and is soaking up all information. They are on well, ceptic, with basement room ready to be stocked, fireplace upstairs, and wood burning stove downstairs. I am very impressed. On 14 acres with 31 horses they board and transport. What an amazing setup. They have a generator for sump pump and that seems to be the one weak spot I can see, gasoline. That an supply feed for animals but suppliers are local for all of that. I’d love to have a setup like this! Anyone would!
I don’t have much hope for friend in D.C only hope she will keep the 24 hour list and act on it. I’ll check out “public unrest” today. Place I am now also only has dial up, but I’ll try to get her DSL this week. I have to mind my internet manners and not hog their phone line.
Hi I went last night on MY SPACE.com and started a general discussion called H5N1 Bird Flu. I wanted to get other peoples opinions about what they thought about bird flu and possible pandemic occiring in the near future. The replys included things like don’t sweat the small stuff. Why worry it’s not going to happen to people, to individuals who wanted information; but did not know where to go… So we may see additional voices here soon. I hope.
I have family now in Greece on vacation. I tried to warn them of what to do and not do while there. So what did they do the first day. Visit an open country market where they had both dead nnd live birds!! How stupid can you be…. I told them.
Have a happy and safe 4th of July.
My 21 year old son just came home from 4 months in Australia (but spent 10 days in Thailand just before coming home), unbeknownst (if that’s really a word) to me. Since his return, 2 people have gotten sick (sore throat, headache, coughing, etc.) Don’t think its the bird flu, but it got me wondering. Does anyone know the answer to this: Can a human contract the virus but NOT show any symptoms? Could someone be a “carrier”? And the same question goes for other mammals (i.e. cats).
The other question I had was this: If an infect bird leave its “droppings” in my yard, how long afterwards would the flu virus still be contagious? Does it have to be wet? Asking because of our dogs and cats who are outside often could be carriers at some point in the future. Knowledge is power, right? So…anyone got the scoop on bird doo-doo?
bump
As I undertand it the bird droppings can be wet, dry , or dust. I would check the more medical links to make sure. I too worry about my dogs and figure when TSHTF I’ll have to go out in the yard first to check for dead birds. Don’t know what to do about the poop though. My parrots are indoor only, so I think they’re ok. I also think some people can be asymptomatic, again I’d check the more technical threads.
I was happy to see an article at one of the news sites that had been posted in the Brevard County newspapers today. I’m travelling but had my husband set it aside for me to give a girlfriend over there.
Orlandopreppie - Do you have a link to that article?
Also, if anyone has a link to the “technical threads” that might answer these questions, would appreciate you adding a link here. Thanks!
We have some information here in this forum, but the best place is to ask CDC in Atlanta your questions. They are the lead authority for the US and most of thw world about BF. If you get any answers back let us know because we are all interested…. Have 3 dogs 2 birds my self.
The WHO has come out and stated that the first human to human spread of BF has been documented in Malayisa.. The New York times carried the story last week. So the chart has moved up a notch closer to pandemic (5) we now sit and 3.5 limited human to human transfer.
The CDC has come out and stated that there is now 5 different patterns of H5N1. It means that the virus is changing; trying to find a way to transfer from animal to animal. If the virus mutates to a easy transferrable type of virus we will be in a pandemic within 30 days…………(CDC) stated in Nov 95 briefing to state medical officals.
I went to the CDC site. This is their current analysis of the situation. (I hope I did the tinyurl thing right!)
And this site is from an article from today’s Indy Star that has info on who to call for questions regarding birds. http://tinyurl.com/q7ktn
Hope this helps!
Just wanted to say that I’m leaving on Saturday for 2 weeks in Alaska. Hopefully nothing significant happens while I am gone. I’m more worried about a hurricane and have my shutters up and outside stuff brought in or strapped down. I’m taking a couple gloves and masks in my checked bags just incase.
On the brightside, I’ll have an RV and plan to load it up with some supplies since we will be camping. Probably not a bad place to be if PanFlu hit (except in the winter).
nopower – at 09:49
H5N1 or not, I’m envious. <grin> Alaska is one of those dream vacations that hubby and I have dreamed about.
Have fun, we’ll keep a light burning for you. <wink>
Dusty – at 08:21, That is a good synopsis from CDC … but I do notice that their page was “last modified May 17, 2006.” Their info is now over six weeks old. Of course, anything we read in popular magazines or professional journals is also (at least) that old. Even old farts like me have become so accustomed to instant access to worldwide information sources that we now look at regular news and say, “That is SOO last month.”
Now … where is my link to bangkokpost.com?
According to Drudge, there is the possibility of storm development in the next couple of days. A system is forming up in the Bahamas and is expected to cross Florida into the Gulf.
From the Tropical Weather Discussion page of the National Hurricane Center at 8:05 AM EDT:
ATLANTIC OCEAN… A WELL-DEFINED UPPER LOW REMAINS OVER THE STRAITS OF FLORIDA NEAR 24N80W WITH AN UPPER TROUGH COVERING THE W ATLC S OF 31N W OF 72W WITH A NARROW RIDGE JUST TO THE E WITH A SURFACE TROUGH REFLECTED DOWN ALONG THE E COAST OF FLORIDA FROM CUBA TO 29N. DIFFLUENCE E OF THE UPPER LOW/SURFACE TROUGH IS GENERATING SCATTERED SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE AREA FROM THE GREATER ANTILLES TO 31N BETWEEN 65W-80W INCLUDING THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. BROAD UPPER TROUGH COVERS THE REMAINDER OF THE W ATLC INTO THE CENTRAL ATLC N OF 18N FROM 40W-65W WITH A WEAKENING MID LEVEL LOW CENTERED NEAR 30N63W AND A WELL-DEFINED UPPER LOW NEAR 31N46W. HOWEVER…DUE TO THE DRY UPPER AIR…ONLY CONVECTION OVER THE W ATLC. AN UPPER HIGH IS CENTERED TO THE E NEAR 23N32W AND COVERS THE AREA FROM 24W-40W. ANOTHER UPPER TROUGH COVERS THE NE ATLC N OF THE CANARY ISLANDS E OF 24W TO INLAND OVER NW AFRICA. AT THE SURFACE… BROAD AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS FIRMLY ANCHORED OVER THE ATLC E OF 70W. AFRICAN DUST CONTINUES TO MOVE OFF AFRICA COVERING THE TROPICAL ATLC FROM AFRICA INTO THE E CARIBBEAN…SUPPRESSING CONVECTION AND POSSIBLE TROPICAL FORMATION.
Dennis in Colorado,
You’re hired! Thanks for the Tropical Update. Now I don’t have to look it up for today. LOL, gina
Ranchgirl- sorry it took so long to reply, as a guest I have to mind my manners. If you look in the left hand side bar on this site you will see a link that says “Influenza News Sites and Resources” If you click on that the links will load up. I go to the NewsNow site, it’s like the fifth or sixth one down the list. Jim Lehrer is the first. Anyway, that site polls over 21,000 news sites every FIVE minutes. The story was up yesterday, July 4, at 7:07 a.m. I had my husband save it to desktop for me, and will get it next week when I’m home. If you haven’t found it then I’ll post it. The more technical threads I referred to were all on this site. One if “questions for Dr.’s and Nurses” or something like that. I’ve learned most of my stuff here.
Ranchgirl — here’s the article from Florida Today http://tinyurl.com/pa89l
Anyone know if Disney World has a bf plan? hmmm
Dusty, I’d be interested in knowing that, too. I will be attending a convention there next month (August 8–12). We’ll be holding our meetings (and I will be staying) at the Coronado Resort, but will probably get out for one day at Epcot. We also have an outing to Kennedy Space Center scheduled for the 8th. There will be ~2000 people at the convention, including people from ~40 nations. Flu-wise, I feel comfortable in going there in August but would worry more if it were being held in October or November.
Dusty & Orlandopreppie - Thanks for the info on the Florida Today article. I am meeting with the director of our local Red Cross tomorrow and will pass it along to him as well. Also found out that Martin County is in the process of establishing a “Medical Reserve Corp”. Are there any preppers out there from Martin County visiting this thread??? Others may want to see if your area has establish an MRC - just visit http://tinyurl.com/nmxn5
(hope I did that right…it was my first time creating a link).
This came from the WHO notice dated 30 June 2006 Assestment:
“…Assessment of mortality rates and the time intervals between symptom onset and hospitalization and between symptom onset and death suggests that the illness pattern has not changed substantially during the three years.”
So for 3 years though the virus has mutated a minimum 5 times; No matter how the virus mutates it seems it will continue to effect US the same way.
Hey Richard - seems like this is the first time I’ve been online at the same time you are. Where exactly are you located again?
I’m now in Williamsburg Virginia, God I love laptops. Anyway, went to the newsnow site and found a VERY plain speaking article from Rappahannock Virginia newspaper. I emailed it to myself. Whomever wrote it referred readers to three sites, including Fluwiki. There are some news outlets, print mostly, that are trying to get people off their collective a****. Many of them are smalltown papers without politically minded editors slashing and burning their words. I wish the tv news were more forthright. I was asked how long between infection and death. I gave a range of a week. Does that sound accurate given all the different stories we’ve heard?
2–17 days is what the news stories say.
Today’s Sun-Sentinel had a front page article on how healch care workers are being more prepared for after a hurricane (will help also with bf). Interesting note: once a hurricane is headed our way, insurance companies must now allow us to order prescription supplies in advance etc. This story may be on their stite — I’ll try and find a link.
Ranchgirl – at 21:33 Sorry my power went off due to the storm yesterday first chance I got back on line. I’m in the NE small county called Clay county. We may have about 120,000 people total.
I will be placing more info from the WHO today and a scientist I’ve been in contact with when she sends me info from SE Asia she thinks we need to know about.
Orlandopreppie – at 22:34 Sorry just reread your question the time according to the CDC is between 3 and 14 days with most showing signs within 1 week. This is due to the mutations of H5N1. See CDC H5N1 site for latest update.
From a July 5th column in the Orlando Sentinel:
…I am interested in what readers have to say about the avian influenza issue and the threat of a human influenza pandemic. Is it real? Is it hype? Do you care? Are you prepared? If so, how have you prepared? Do you have faith in what the U.S. government and others are doing to monitor the problem?
Kindly direct your thoughts, observations and strategies to me at jbersia@orlandosentinel.com, and I will summarize the responses in a future column on avian influenza.
---
ABOUT THE WRITER
John C. Bersia, who won a Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing for the Orlando Sentinel in 2000, is also the special assistant to the president for global perspectives and a professor at the University of Central Florida. Readers may write to him at the Orlando Sentinel, 633 North Orange Ave., Orlando, Fla. 32801, or by e-mail at jbersia@orlandosentinel.com.
(Link is to Fort Wayne newspaper where I saw the column) http://tinyurl.com/oh529
In the news yesterday info about the dog flu.. They have determined that it jumped directly from horses who have carried H3N8 for 40 years. This is the first documentation of it jumping species. MSNBC stated there is scientific concern for the possibility of it jumping to humans. There is a vaccine for horses and they are working on one for dogs. It too was an avian flu originally, before infecting equines. It is evidently epidemic now in Florida and people are warned about exposing pets to it via kennels, dog parks, etc. With our close contact with dogs, could the opportunity be there??
banshee – at 11:48
This is my personal beliefs:
I’m convinced that this pandemic will hit us badly within 18 months.
I Believe the Government will NOT have a vaccine for use during the pandemic. The scientists stated that after the pandemic starts and they get good samples of the mutated virus it will be an aditional 6 to 12 months before an vaccine is available.
I believe that the reported death rate (56%) of the known cases is wrong since there are alot of unreported mild cases.
I believe that our losses (DEAD);will end up at an estimated 8% of all people exposed. World wide 360–500 million, USA around 24 million and 1.2 million dead in Florida. Based upon past pandemic historys. (The spanish Flu 1918–1921 , Plague 1350–1478, Smallpox1600–1900′s, etc.)
I believe that with proper planning people can save family and friends by helping them understand the risks and precautions needed to be taken daily. We will all need to change our life styles.
I believe that there will be unrest in the cities that will burn itsself out after 2 or 3 weeks.
I Believe that the government will survive but not in its current form.
Last: We know it is coming, we have good info on how to prepare, but few of us are totally prepared; we just need addditional time, information, and most of all money!
flamosier@comcast.net RICHARD_FL GYSGT USMC RETIRED
I’m just a student of human interactions and its impact on history.
Richard FL at 16:55
Just so we’re clear, I am NOT John C. Bersia. I just posted the info from his article in the Orlando Sentinel.
I know. Just sent this in letter form to your reporter with additional items added.
Richard FL,
Great that you sent the letter in!
Hello the SCi FI channel has a special on right now it includes H5N1 Bird Flu. The data is the same. Look for your selk.
Self. Sorry It is the Number 2 possible disaster by our life time. The answer is get a vaccine fast.. as if it was their only hope. They did mention the pandemic must be here before they can get samples. They talked about the lack of medical support. One study showed 250,000 extra beds needed in NWC alone. They talked about unrest - a voice said that it would be like katerina x every major city world wide!!! They stated a minimum 100 million dead world wide. Worst disaster to mankind in history. All this was stated on TV by educators and scientist.
And people call us “unwize or obssessed” to worry!!!!!! Did you ever feel like one of the old bible seers? I do now!
The Number 1 comet
Just tried to get the Sci-Fi, but am catching something about Atlantis. Damn. Mixing BF in with something like that does not help the credibility. Do you think I should email the journalist? I’m two neighborhoods away from UCF. I’d like to know his slant.
Richard, you were a Gunny? Wow. Now I know you deserve my respect. My ex was a Sr. Chief from Submarine Service. You guys are amazing. I did some work with the FA/18 program for Marines, among other things. Thank you for your service. I am in awe.
well at least we won’t worry about water , if this week is any indication!
I don’t know. My folks who live not too far from Trenton, FL are still parched. They’ve had a good rain or two, but nothing to make up for the drought that we’ve been having. North of them in Suwannee county they are still dry as well. The rains are hitting in spots, but don’t seem to be covering the state fully so there are still areas that are parched.
The parched must be mainly in the north part, cause we in the south are floating! Not complaining tho!! Maybe as this system drifts NE, the rain will come with it…
Just sent the following email to jbersia@orlandosentinel.com:
John -
I understand that you are looking for various personal opinions about the bird flu…here’s mine
I am not one to panic, but having taken the time to diligently read as much as I can about the avian flu, I am now convinced that we have an extremely high likelihood of experiencing a pandemic.
Timing: Based on flight patterns, etc., I think that we might see the flu in migratory birds in America as early as late October, and as late as late February 07. I would not be surprised if a more efficient H2H transmission is “declared” by the same timeframe.
Rate of H2H Spread – Once efficient H2H spread is established in any country, it will only take 2–3 weeks to become a global pandemic, considering the extensive amount of air travel that we have all become accustomed to. This also factors in the 3–5 day delay from contraction of the flu to display of symptoms. Many will actually have the flu and not know it…and thus will spread it to family, friends and business associates without realizing it.
Chaos factor: Most communities have a general plan, but have not been able to truly develop a logistical plan to how to actually implement that plan. Current plans are FAR TOO generic. As an event planner, it’s all in the details. Have not found one single county or community that he the detailed How-To plan figured out, much less have they been able to conduct any “dry runs”. As a result, you can count on complete chaos within 2 weeks of the pandemic’s onslaught.
Public Information: Government entities, from top to bottom, are fearful of creating panic, which is understandable. As a result, individual residents will be totally unprepared to shelter in place. Recommendations range from preparing for 3 days, to 2 weeks, and on occasion, one month. The reality is that each wave will probably last 6–8 weeks, and once the first wave is over and people come out looking to restock, there will be little inventory left to purchase, much less businesses that are still operational (primarily due to employees not coming to work for fear of exposure). Local government agencies will experience the same employee shortages and those left to hold things together will become frustrated, fatigued and depressed. Not the greatest formula for strong leadership. The media needs to be fed real information, and needs to publish this information weekly, but in various streams of news so people don’t tune out the notices. Those who prepare properly can survive this thing.
Medical: We can only expect doctors and nurses to serve the public for so long. At some point, they will have to think of their own families and their own health. Since a vaccine won’t be available for the front line people for at least 6 months, that means that they will be vulnerable for those first six months. When fellow medical personnel fall ill at the projected rate of 30%, it won’t take long for existing staff to buckle. There will be the few that continue to serve and coincidentally have immunity…if there is a way to test individuals to see if they are in fact immune, then they might be more willing to stick with it. Such a test (if fully reliable) would enable retired medical personnel to step in to help as well…but ONLY if they were assured that they were immune. I think the public message should be for everyone to stock up on supplies at home, and provide them with specific how-to’s regarding caring for a family member who is there in the house. Also be sure to advise them what to do if that individual dies. Should the body be placed in heavy garbage bags and buried? Who should be notified of the death? Should a blood sample be saved to confirm cause of death? Will insurance companies pay on life insurance policies if no death certificate?
Mortuaries: Same problem as hospitals…little staff will stick around. Wouldn’t be surprised if we have to revert to mass burial. During the 1918 pandemic, people left bodies on their front porch to be collected for mass burial. What department will be responsible for these pick-ups? How often will they make the rounds? Someone had a good idea of using a 24” auger to pre-drill vertical graves 8 ft. deep where bodies could be lowered into, and a 2 ft. round “plate” set on top to designated the individual buried, SS#, date of birth & date of death. These could later but dug up/pulled out for a more personalized burial/funeral service when the pandemic has passed. Also, it’s illegal in most areas to bury humans in your back yard. Will this regulation be lifted prior to the pandemic so people will know that it’s okay to do this (or at least for those who live out in the country).
Utilities: Hurricane-prone states/areas may have more of a problem than others. As long as utility companies prepare for a more automated system (assuming that staff will not report to work), most states should be okay. For those states who experience a hurricane during the pandemic, there will be little hope of necessary repairs. Individuals in those states are used to getting by without electricity and/or phones, but usually it lasts for only a week or two. In the case of a pandemic, repairs may take 3–6 months. And even for those with generators, delivery of gas and/or propane will most likely be suspended at some point. Residents of these hurricane prone areas need to be fully advised of this likelihood, and understand the need to prepare to function as in the “old days”.
Financial: It does without saying that a majority of the smaller, unnecessary business will fold. The stock market will crash. Larger corporations who offer necessary products and/or services will survive. The companies who offer ways in which for humans to revamp after the pandemic will thrive. Our currency will change. Barter will become more prolific. Systems will have to be rebuilt as the country recovers.
Leadership: Many of today’s politicians will fade away, and practical leadership will surface from local levels. Traditional politics will have little room to survive, and that won’t be all bad. Leadership will probably thrive within smaller geographic areas, emulating the probable direction of smaller geographic communities. Those leaders will get together to share ideas, solutions, and develop wider spread plans.
I have volunteered to give educational presentations through the local Red Cross for any association, business or fraternal organization that is willing to promote attendance. I will contribute my time, energy and experience now before a pandemic ensues. After that, I fully plan to Shelter in Place with my family. We are almost prepped for a 6-month period of isolation. The more people who can prepare now, the more that there will be to help rebuild our community.
Thank you for requesting, and taking the time to review everyone’s ideas and opinions about this important issue. I will look forward to reading the results of your study!
Great letter!
I just sent in a very long letter. I hope it help. Here it is if you’re interested. I hope there aren’t too many typos!
I understand you are writing an article on BF and are looking for local opinion. I live in Orange County and teach middle school in Seminole County. I have an extensive professional background in project planning for numerous defense contractors. I tell you this so you understand that I am a college educated woman who has the experience to recognize threats and plan accordingly.
I am very concerned that the Bird Flu is an imminent threat to our world. I teach history, and am an avid student of history. I have read extensively on the Spanish Flu of 1918 and understand more than the average bear. I am also a “news freak” and am well versed in the political world in which we live. I see the politics of the World Health Organization clearly and view them as an accessory BEFORE THE FACT in the deaths of millions. We are in big trouble here.
The flu has mutated, fact. Now, after years of assuring us of our safety because that fact had not occurred, the WHO are back peddling. Somehow it hasn’t mutated enough. But it will. While I think the Federal Government has been more than plain in saying it will happen, and that we are “on our own”, the average citizen STILL believes that there will be some rescue. The local Government is not doing near enough to spread the word and when they do, they lack specifics.
I attended the June meeting on Bird Flu held at the Airport Marriott. It was frustrating to sit there and listen to how they are “planning” and planning to “plan”. There were NO specifics. It was only after many attendees left that two plain speaking people got up and said there will be multiple waves, and prepare to feed yourself for four months. I applaud that Commissioner. But there need to be specifics. What is the plan, if any, for masks? How should people cook food? How will we get water IF the chlorine runs out? How much chlorine do we have?
The meeting asked participants to write down questions, which we did. They filtered them and answered SIX. That’s it. Six. None of them were hard core questions either. Their assertions that they are “planning” doesn’t mean anything. I want specifics. I know many of my neighbors and friends haven’t heard enough to worry them. Until they hear it on every newscast, radio station, and in the paper they won’t do anything.
They need to have the time to prepare. It’s not easy to set aside food for months without a little lead time. The government wants to prevent “panic”, well the I think it’s normal for a little initial panic whenever a human encounters a threat to their survival. I would rather they panic now when there’s food on the shelves, than panic later when there’s no food on the shelves. But a complacent person is a threat to me and my family. A complacent person is a threat to the lives of every one of my dear students. I can’t feed them all. I can’t care for them all. The public officials need to begin demanding media attention to get the word out that pandemic is inevitable.
I believe that there will be a BF pandemic, maybe this year or maybe next. I think there will be 2–3 waves lasting 6 – 8 weeks apiece. I believe the schools will shut down, and utilities will have intermittent power outages for 6 – 8 months (minimum). I think there will have to be Federal legislation preventing foreclosures to prevent people from losing their homes during a pandemic. I think it will take months to have a vaccine, and up to two years to reach all of us. I think it will probably have burned out by then.
I anticipate civil unrest for an unknown amount of time as people who didn’t prepare run out of food for themselves and their family. I think there will be bird flu deaths and bird flu related deaths during this unrest as people will protect what they have.
My household is preparing to “shelter in place” for six months. This includes food and water for my family and all of our pets. I am working to stash food that I can deliver to others anonymously. I am working to put lesson plans online, and provide a UVC box to decontaminate papers my students can turn in. I think we can use cable stations to teach and still provide the structure our children need. I think we’ll be learning how to garden again, and collect rainwater. It may be a chance to create the next “greatest generation”. I am keeping these plans to myself until the time comes to avoid unwanted attention.
I think we will have a lot more dead than announced. Upwards of 24 million in the U.S. alone. I think you would be part of the solution if you would take this seriously and begin the process or spreading the word. Good luck with your editors.
Kelli
Kelli, that is an excellent letter. To me, it comes across as knowledge filtered through indignation. No inflated claims, no hysteria … just facts and some carefully-worded (and clearly-labeled) opinion. Well done.
If enough voices sound off; then maybe the non-belivers will findly do something about their situations. Keep it up; we need to put pressure on our local newspapers to print opinions like those I read above. I found nothing wrong with their logic nor the conclusions they have reached (each on their own).
Being a Gunny I have seen a lot of death. More than a person should have to live with. Over 35 years since Viet Nam and 17 years since Gulf War I, and I still have nightmares 2 or 3 times a week. I’ve held children who died in my arms; just for the lack of food.
I will do what ever it takes to keep that from happening again!!!! So Help Me GOD!
RICHARD FL GYSGT USMC RETIRED
Kelli, you go girl!!
Great letter Kelli! it is my belief that he will print the common message among the majority of the letters receive, so let’s all make sure he receives enough of OUR letters!
Thanks everybody. I’ve always been a persuasive writer and speaker, now I can use those skills for good instead of evil! I go home tomorrow, I’ve been away for 17 days pirating dial-up here and there. Everyday I felt the pressure to get home and keep prepping. I also regret the $200 bucks I spent on different things, but it’s been a lot of years since I had a dime to spare…and they are dual use (butter churn).
I have a promise from my father to help me make four 4′ x 4′ raised garden beds. I think it will be easier than trying to till my Florida bahia cow pasture lawn. DH is disabled and scares the crap out of me when he picks up a drill or saw. Luckily this only happens when he needs a testosterone fix. Also, need to find a local bottling company and pilfer 55 gallon water drums.
My father and I have decided that my grandmother (87!) who is always looking for ways to “help”, will generously provide a pandemic pack for each family member. There are 17 adults, and five children aged 2 - 11. I came up with a basic list to take them a month or more (each will get a 50 lb. bag of rice in their pack), that ought to get them started. Runs about $400 apiece from Sams. I think it will be one of the greatest things she can do for us. The other half of the family is the shallow end of the gene pool and it will reduce exposure to 87 year old Nanny if they don’t pop over to borrow a cup of survival. I’m the poor one on my side (teacher), and other two siblings quite well off but we’ve decided that no one should be left out. For family political reasons my Dad won’t take her to his house. I may try mine, but sometimes, such as during Cat 4 hurricanes she doesn’t respond to stress appropriately and may, in fact, be better off in her own environment.
I included masks and gloves in the pack, but let me know if you guys have any ideas. I did not do anything about water. I know, I know. But maybe I can get enough barrels to do something.
Thanks everybody. I’ve always been a persuasive writer and speaker, now I can use those skills for good instead of evil! I go home tomorrow, I’ve been away for 17 days pirating dial-up here and there. Everyday I felt the pressure to get home and keep prepping. I also regret the $200 bucks I spent on different things, but it’s been a lot of years since I had a dime to spare…and they are dual use (butter churn).
I have a promise from my father to help me make four 4′ x 4′ raised garden beds. I think it will be easier than trying to till my Florida bahia cow pasture lawn. DH is disabled and scares the crap out of me when he picks up a drill or saw. Luckily this only happens when he needs a testosterone fix. Also, need to find a local bottling company and pilfer 55 gallon water drums.
My father and I have decided that my grandmother (87!) who is always looking for ways to “help”, will generously provide a pandemic pack for each family member. There are 17 adults, and five children aged 2 - 11. I came up with a basic list to take them a month or more (each will get a 50 lb. bag of rice in their pack), that ought to get them started. Runs about $400 apiece from Sams. I think it will be one of the greatest things she can do for us. The other half of the family is the shallow end of the gene pool and it will reduce exposure to 87 year old Nanny if they don’t pop over to borrow a cup of survival. I’m the poor one on my side (teacher), and other two siblings quite well off but we’ve decided that no one should be left out. For family political reasons my Dad won’t take her to his house. I may try mine, but sometimes, such as during Cat 4 hurricanes she doesn’t respond to stress appropriately and may, in fact, be better off in her own environment.
I included masks and gloves in the pack, but let me know if you guys have any ideas. I did not do anything about water. I know, I know. But maybe I can get enough barrels to do something.
double post, I hate dial up. Sorry.
Been away for a while. It’s good to see this thread alive and well. Tomorrow I give a talk to a couple of families from church who are interested in prepping for emergencies in general. I work for the National Park Service and things are starting to get quite active at least in the planning and monitoring. They are also training biologists and volunteers via satellite on how to take blood samples from suspect sick and dead birds. At least I feel like we are moving forward. As for my office co-workers, a few are concerned enough to listen but not prepare. The rest think I am crazy. Of course, I work with a bunch of archeologists so I should not be surprised.
This weekend I made jam, jam, jam. My family likes jam. We picked a lot of fruit so we could have plenty of jam for our preps and Christmas presents (and those 15 blueberry-peach cobblers my kids demanded for the year- I really need another freezer). I think my fingers will be permanently stained purple ;/
This weeks’ prep is to start planting my winter garden. It is about that time to start sprouting the plants that will be transplanted in 4–6 weeks. I will be seeding broccoli, cabbage, kale, lettuce, leeks, onions and brussels sprouts indoors while I will direct seed in a couple of weeks carrots, beets, swiss chard, parsnips, kholrabi, and winter storage radishes. The rest will have to wait until after the summer stuff still growing gets pulled. Also, it is time to amend my soil for that yummy garlic that will be planted in October.
Keep up the great work everybody!
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Finally! I’m back home and thrilled to be here. I flew in today from Newport News, prayed the whole time. Trouble happens in 3′s, and there were already two plane crashes. Normally I’m not that superstitious, but I have no control when flying.
DH and I spoke about his grandmother in Connecticut, and are trying to get her to prep. We don’t think she will as she’s never made a viable plan in her life. Nor do we think she will agree to come down here. DH is trying to get his family to wake up, but they aren’t planners. Most live accidental lives. Most of my family is prepping. Except Mom and we are working to put things aside for her.
Went to Sam’s today,and spent $250 on food preps. Made me feel better. Now we’re right at three months. I will try and find a local bottling company this week and see if I can get empty barrels. Anybody have any idea what to do if they aren’t available?
Look up the “Barrels and Drums” listing in your Yellow Pages. Sometimes you’ll have a local distributor for the new ones and won’t have to pay shipping! The closed head barrels are much cheaper than the open head ones.
Just came back from my emergency preparedness talk with two families from my church. They seemed to like it a lot. They want me to go to other peoples’ homes and give talks as well. The more informal approach worked well. There must have been 10 kids running around (2 were mine) and even some of the kids were interested. The kids liked my props that I brought. The items that got the most attention were our first-aid kit, a washed-out gallon plastic container that used to have apple juice in it with a 1/4″ layer of baking soda in it, and the Krill stick. I can understand the Krill stick, but the others…. Actually, they joked about auctioning off the first-aid kit starting at $150. We had a lot of fun. I gave them the link to the wiki, so maybe they will pop in sometime. Oh, and they were excited about a 5-day cooler. I guess I will slowly help people one family at a time. At least I have an audience that is interested.
FLgardenmom - That’s wonderful to hear that your church families were interested. I have been enlisted to give presentations on behalf of the Red Cross here in Martin County…they were going to approach is as “if we get any requests”. I offered to develop a “target list” of organizations to pitch the idea to…and get Pro=active rather than being Re-active. Should be interesting to see what kind of reaction we get when we contact groups with the idea. Hopefully, they will be as receptive as yours!
I too am getting ready for planting time - gave up on the summer garden because we don’t have a sprinkler system so it’s all hand watering…and in a major drought no less. Whenever I go away…nobody wants to take over so little by little, my poor little plants get weaker and weaker. Finally getting some rain and very grateful.
As soon as I get back from Jacksonville (my daughter had a baby girl tonight and we’re heading up first light), I will start my seedlings as well. May hit you up for some advice since last year’s garden didn’t produce that much, and this winter I think it will be far more critical to make sure I have a good crop! Will check in when I return…now it’s off to sleep so I can go see my little new “Savannah Rose”.
bump for BB.
bump
FLgardenmom @ 02:20 ~
I’m also starting to mentally layout my garden for this winter. I have 2 composters going which I will incorporate into the soil which will definitely boost the nutrients in the soil. I have 1/3 of my garden set apart for herbs and lettuces and the other 2/3 I’ll plant the other. I’m still enjoying the onions I planted (those were one of the few things that made it through all the stupid hurricanes we went through last year)…
Ranchgirl @ 23:38 ~
Try composting and feeding that into your soil…it’s a great way to use non-meat scraps from the kitchen, along with grass cuttings and landscaping cuttings from the yard. The benefits it gives to ones garden is well worth the few extra steps. It’s neat to see the ‘cycle’ of plant life being used to keep our bodies healthy and then turning the scraps around to feed the plants that we will once again consume.
Shad.
Mari - Thank you for your help! I just tried calling the local Pepsi plant, boy what a pain. Everybody else made it sound so easy. Now I’m waiting for a call from somebody I know will never call back. So I called a local Barrel company and they want $40.00 per barrel, new. I told them I could use reconditioned as their website they contained food product only, but the receptionist says not to. The reconditioned ones ar $27.00 per. Any thoughts?
Orlandopreppie – at 14:34 - It depends on what “reconditioned” means, and what type of barrel it is. I wouldn’t try to clean out a closed head barrel. You could probably clean a used high-density polyethylene plastic barrel if it is open head. The plastic coated metal barrels might be more of a problem, just because it would be easy to scratch the coating, and you shouldn’t store water treated with bleach that touches metal.
That’s not a big price difference between reconditioned and new - I’d go with the new one. The price in my area is $49 for a new closed head plastic barrel, picked up. If you look at a reconditioned barrel, be sure to take a good sniff through the opening (after making sure that it had only stored food). You might have to live with the odor in your water.
Thanks Mari. My next concern is circumference. My husband is a math guy so I’ll let him take the diameter measurement and determine cirumference. I’m only worried about transporting it home. It’s just a start.
I think we’ll go buy the wood for raised beds tonight.
Orlandopreppie – at 15:42 - I built my raised beds using bricks, since I had a major problem with carpenter ants a few years ago. Lots of good exercise moving those bricks around! The boards should make it a much easier project.
I just had a two inch well put in. The cost was a mere $500 to have water independent of the city.
Money is tight here, husband out of work, and bricks are expensive. So I figure boards with fasteners at corners would be cheaper, I already have the weed screen which is a must here as you know. I checked out one of the seed sites someone recommended, Seed Savers, do you know anything about seed costs? I have a decent selection, non-bybrid I hope, but don’t know if their price is competitive.
Cloud9, my father is looking to put in two wells in August and it’ll be almost 2K. I have a couple of questions. First, by “two inch” what are you referring to? Secondly, do you live in a suburb? Third, would you share name of plumber if you’re in Central Florida?
Orlandopreppie 14:34 - I vaguely remember someone talking about getting barrels fairly cheap around Lakeland it may have been Kathy in FL. You may want to go back to the original Florida thread and look for posts from her. Assuming you are still in Orlando - not sure what part so Lakeland may be too far if you are further North.
Orlandopreppie: I can help you out with seeds if you are tight on cash. For a small raised bed, you do not need entire seed packets. I have a lot of SSE’s seeds as well as many other heirlooms. E-mail me and let me know what you need.
FLgardenmom - We sure would appreciate the help. I was looking for zucchini, squash, red peppers, green peppers, onions, brocolli, chives, thyme, green beans, carrots, butternut squash, beets, ground cherry, corn, potato, watermelon, and/or anything you’d be willing to share. It’s only for two of us. We planned on building four 4′x4′ raised beds and can use other existing beds for corn if necessary. We have a decent sized corner lot behind a privacy fence, just we’re not in great shape and husband is disabled. Let me know if you need my email address and we can talk offline.
Orlandopreppie- I have a profile on the wiki set up and my e-mail is there. Go ahead and drop me a note and we can chat about the varieties you would like.
It’s nice to hear about other Florida gardens. We have such a variety of growing zones here. If anyone is in an area that can grow garlic, I have gound a great online resource that is familiar with the problems of growing garlic in our climate. They have a lot of info online and sell eating and planting stock. Shipping is high, but it is organically grown. They also have a page on using garlic for emergencies: http://tinyurl.com/glpm5 (scroll down to the section that says “Disaster Survivor’s Underground Guide to Using Garlic in a Medical Emergency”)
By the way, congrads Ranchgirl on the new grandbaby!
Orlandopreppie: Two inch refers to the diameter of the well casing. I live in the suburbs. The well took about two hours to put in. It is fifty feet deep. Here in south Florida water is right under our feet. This end of the state is sugar sand and lime stone. The lime stone is honey combed with caverns. The caverns are full of water. The well drilling equipment is light compared to systems you have in other states. The water is potable but is intended for lawn irrigation. The contractor was Jady Hill. 863 385 8466. This is the second well Jady has put in for me. Actually, I think it is the third. All of them have been good serviceable wells. I used one to irrigate a nursery and the second was used to water cows.
Cloud 9 I had a 2 in well put in too(orlando) but it cost me 2 grand. It took them two days and it collapsed a week later and they had to come back and go deeper. 175 feet to get good water. Now I need to have it tested. I am bummed it went so deep as I will have to get a big hand pump to pull the water out that costs a lot more than the small hand pumps. It has an electric pump now that I can use the generator on if need be. I wish I had gone with a 4 inch.
Mojo, my Dad lives down near Disney and he’s having two wells put in for a large lot. They want 2K for that. I don’t see any way to afford that, so I’ll have to go with storage and rain collection. I didn’t think we were much more above the aquafer (sp?) than south Florida that it should be so much more expensive…but everything in Orlando is getting ridiculously expensive. Today I bought my first barrel, new for $40. We’re still trying to get some free ones but I wanted the security of knowing there was one in the garage.
FLGardenMom, I will look up your profile and email you directly. I can’t thank you enough for the offer of help!
Mojo, I am sorry you had difficulty. All of mine have worked well. No pun intended. I wonder if your guys did not go too deep. I know nothing about the geology of your area.
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Orlandopreppie – at 20:14
Some of the cost of the well may be due to the house density per area in the county vs. size of the aquafer that the county pulls from. The county does have a lot to do with the cost of the well because they set the price of the permit for drilling.
A couple of years back Hillsborough county temporarily stopped issuing permits for new wells …. and it was doggone hard to get a permit for re-drilling an old one. It didn’t even matter if you house was on a well and the well gave out … it was/is considered one of the hazards of buying a home not on municipal water. It was during a bad drought a wells were failing all over the county but they still wouldn’t issue permits … “too bad, so sad, you aren’t getting a permit anyway, deal with it.”
Knock on wood that even though we’ve had to replace both the motor and the bladder on our well, we’ve never lost the well itself. Its iron water …. but most water is around here. Our house in Suwannee county has some of the sweetest well water you would ever want to taste though … and it is cold as the dickens even in the hottest summer months and in the winter makes you teeth ache if you drink it straight from the tap. Wish our water in Hillsborough was as good as the water in Suwannee. But I’ll just be happy to have water period if things get bad.
Anyone know of a local … Hillsborough or Pasco county preferrably, though I’ll go to Pinellas if need be … supplier of bulk amounts dried whole eggs?
Realistically buying the #10 cans of dried whole eggs is just price prohibitive for us. I have 3 but only plan to use them very sparingly. I have enough egg-less bread recipes that if we run out we won’t have to do with out, but lots of stuff requires eggs.
I’ve also thought about Flaxseed as an egg substitute, but that is expensive too.
So … its back to looking for a local bulk supplier. Thanks for any help.
I’m looking too Kathy, I got two cans but thought I’d need more when I sized up my preps realistically. If I see anything here in Orange/Seminole I’ll let you know. I went to school in Tampa (USF) so I know the area. I could drop it off or send if I find any. Let me know if you find any.
Start getting answers together for people who have questions:
Asked question: Why do we need to worry? Answer: Senior UN System Coordinator for Avian and Human Influenza David Nabarro confirmed once again that “the Bird Flu (Avian Flu) virus had mutated in an Indonesian village in a limited manner H2H transfer…” Monday July 10th 2006, 4:49 pm “WHO”
Asked question - How will it get here when we live 3000 miles across an ocean? Answer: State agriculture officials said Wednesday …”they aren’t sure how much poultry smuggled into the United States from China affected by the avian flu made its way into southeast Michigan’s Chinese restaurants, Asian markets and residential kitchens…. It was discovered 2 days later to be true; in that over 190,000 lbs of frozen chicken was destroyed.” “Detroit News 7–12–06″
We need good reliable sources that people will believe.
Hi Richard FL, I wondered what happened to you.
I really try to avoid conspiracy theories, but they are sooooo entertaining. The WHO, on the other hand, really sets the stage for great theories. Remember how they were patting us on the head during the Indonesia family cluster that killed 7? People were dying every day and over the course of that time they didn’t even announce that anyone else was ill!
Now here we are, a month or so beyond that and they are finally saying “it mutated”. No s---. I think what I’m trying to say is sometimes it’s not what the “reliable” sources say, it’s what they don’t say and how long it takes them to not say it. I just find the silence defeaning. Keep in mind, that I am not a fan of either the WHO or UN and don’t expect anything better from them. They are operating as designed.
Closed due to length. Discussion is continued here.