Thread: BASIC LIST / SUGGESTED ITEMS FOR LONG TERM SURVIVAL

Protecting Yourself from Wildfire Smoke

Tuesday, June 7, 2011



The Wallow Fire wildfire burning in eastern Arizona has quickly become the states second largest wildfire and is starting to cause problems for residents of many surrounding states. According to a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Denver, a ridge of high pressure is carrying the smoke as far away as central Iowa. He also said the smoke was hitting eastern Colorado as well as New Mexico, Nebraska and Kansas.

The Arizona Department of Health Services has a great list of ways to protect yourself and your family from wildfire smoke: http://www.azdhs.gov/phs/oeh/wildfire.htm

Pay attention to local air quality reports: Pay attention to any local news coverage or health warnings that are related to the wildfire smoke. Most news reports will issue warnings and give suggested tips for how to handle the current level of smoke.

Use visibility guidelines: It can be difficult to monitor smoke from wildfires because the fires usually occur in remote areas but the smoke from these fires is generally highly visible. Generally, the worse the visibility is, the worse the smoke is.

Use common sense: If it looks smoky outside, you should avoid outdoor activities. Also, it is not a good time to send children or pets outside to play.

If you are advised to stay indoors: Keep all windows and doors closed. Check your air conditioner to make sure the air filter is clean.

Don't add to indoor air pollution: Don't use anything that burns including fireplaces and candles. Vacuuming can stir up particles already inside your home so you should avoid it. Don't smoke; it will put even more pollution in your lungs and the air around you.



Dust masks aren't enough: Regular dust masks won't protect your lungs from the small particles in smoke. N95 Masks http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_ ... sid=ppblog will filter out 95% of particulate in the air which will protect your lungs from many of the smaller particles that you could be breathing.

Posted by Emergency Essentials® at 4:56 PM

http://preparednesspantry.blogspot.com/ ... smoke.html

Thursday, June 2, 2011

What to Do During a Tornado

When a tornado is coming, you only have a short amount of time to make life-or-death decisions. Advanced planning and quick response are the keys to surviving a tornado. Since tornadoes can hit at any time of day, there are many situations you might find yourself in during a tornado.

If at home:
• If you have a tornado safe room or engineered shelter, go there immediately
• Go at once to a windowless, interior room; storm cellar; basement; or the lowest level of the building
• If there is no basement, go to an inner hallway or a smaller inner room such as a bathroom or closet away from corners, windows, doors, and outside walls
• Get away from the windows
• Get under a piece of sturdy furniture such as a workbench or heavy table or desk and hold on to it
• Use arms to protect your head and neck
• If in a mobile home, get out and find shelter elsewhere

If at work or school:
Go to the area designated in your tornado plan
• Avoid places with wide-span roofs such as auditoriums, cafeterias, large hallways, or shopping malls
• Put as many walls as possible between you and the outside
• Do not open windows

If outdoors:
• If possible, get inside a building
• If shelter is not available or there is no time to get indoors, lie in a ditch or low-lying area or crouch near a strong building
• Be aware of the potential for flooding
• Use arms to protect head and neck

If in a car:
• Never try to out-drive a tornado in a car or truck
• Get out of the car immediately and take shelter in a nearby building
• If there is no time to get indoors, get out of the car and lie in a ditch or low-lying area away from the vehicle.
• Be aware of the potential for flooding

http://preparednesspantry.blogspot.com/ ... rnado.html

Friday, June 3, 2011

What to Do After a Tornado

FEMA has a great section on their website with links to answers of Frequently Asked Questions about what to do to recover from disaster. One important thing to remember is that recovery from a major natural disaster, will take time. Make sure you stay safe and get help from authorities when necessary.

Here are some tips of things to do after a tornado:

• Help injured or trapped persons
• Give first aid when appropriate
• Don't try to move the seriously injured unless they are in immediate danger of further injury
• Call for help
• If you smell gas, do not turn on any appliances or switches. This includes using phones, flashlights or a cell phone.
• Turn on the radio or television to get the latest emergency information
• Stay out of damaged buildings. Return home only when authorities say it is safe
• Use the telephone only for emergency calls
• Clean up spilled medicines, bleaches, or gasoline or other flammable liquids immediately. Leave the buildings if you smell gas or chemical fumes.
• Take pictures of the damage--both to the house and its contents--for insurance purposes

http://preparednesspantry.blogspot.c...r-tornado.html

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

What to Do Before a Tornado

There are many things that you can do at any time to prepare for a tornado. Many of these will also help you plan for any other variety of emergency.

Create a kit: Make sure you have basic disaster supplies on hand and easily accessible. These supplies should include:
• Flashlight
• Extra batteries
• Portable battery-operated radio and extra batteries or other alternative energy powered radio
• First-aid kit
• First-aid manual
• Emergency food and water
• Non-electric can opener
• Essential medicines
• Cash and credit cards
• Sturdy shoes

Develop an emergency communication plan: In case family members are separated from one another during a tornado (a real possibility during the day when adults are at work and children are at school), have a plan for getting back together. Ask an out-of-state relative or friend to serve as the "family contact". Make sure everyone in the family knows your plan and how to reach your out-of-state contact.

Tornado Watches and Warnings: Know the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning.

•A tornado watch issued by the National Weather Service when tornadoes are possible in your area. Remain alert for approaching storms. This is time to remind family members where the safest places within your home are located,and listen to the radio or television for further developments.

•A tornado warning is issued when a tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar.

Mobile Homes: Mobile homes are particularly vulnerable. A mobile home can overturn very easily even if precautions have been taken to tie down the unit. When a tornado warning is issued, take shelter in a building with a strong foundation. If shelter is not available, lie in a ditch or low-lying area a safe distance from the unit.

Tornado Danger Signs: According to FEMA, there are some danger signs that you should look for:
• Dark, often greenish sky
• Large hail
• A large, dark, low-lying cloud (particularly if rotating)
• Loud roar, similar to a freight train

If you notice any of these signs, or there is a tornado warning in your area, be prepared to find safe shelter immediately.

http://preparednesspantry.blogspot.c...e-tornado.html

Clarified Butter

Show Nutritional Information

Premier gourmet clarified butter has a long-term shelf-life. Made in the U.S. from pure butter. Was made with strict standards and can be used in any type of cooking, baking, sauteing, frying, basting, even add it to popcorn. This product is salt-free and lactose-free. Dimensions: 4" x 3" can

Link: http://beprepared.com/product.asp?pn=FS D020



Video: Clarified Butter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOSiG9gP ... r_embedded

How to Communicate When the Phones are Down

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image by Gonzalo Baeza Hernandez

All it takes is one really good-sized crisis and suddenly individuals are left without the means to call home and say, “I’m okay.” Whether it’s a weather disaster, riots, a terrorist attack or a governmental crack-down, access to the internet, cell phone service, radio and telephone landlines can be quickly and rather easily disrupted.

Here in America we’ve seen just how quickly a violent windstorm, wildfires, or hurricane can shut off our communication. No, you won’t have to resort to using smoke signals! In fact, most of these non-traditional methods are rather hi-tech. Check them out.

1. Do you have a solar/battery powered emergency radio? If it can be powered up with a hand crank, so much the better. Some units include lights and even a compass. Check out WeatherRadioStore for this type of unit.

2. Two-way radios are an attractive option because of their low cost. Some models even boast a 30 mile range. In reality, even the highest quality radios will rarely have more than a two mile range. However, these radios can come in handy when electricity is out because they operate on VHF and UHF signals, and if you live on a large homestead, these are hard to beat and require no expense to operate.

3. Breaker, breaker! What’s yer 20? It might sound like a really bad line in a country-western song, or a line in a bad country-western song, but a Citizens’ Band (CB) radio is a low-cost form of communication that is free to operate and doesn’t require a license. Depending on your location, the range of a CB radio might be as much as ten to twenty miles. Check out your local Craigslist or even Freecycle to find one in your price range.

4. Feeling hi-tech with your cool, trendy iPhone? Did you know you can install an app on your iPhone or iPod Touch that will give you access to police, sheriff, Coast Guard, and fire department scanners? Although this requires cell phone availability, you’ll be right on top of the latest developments in a crisis. Visit Edgerift.com to learn more.

5. A satellite phone may be your best bet when you absolutely, positively have to get in touch with someone, and there’s no other way. A ‘sat phone’ works everywhere, except indoors. These babies sell for several hundred dollars each, but are often the only reliable communication in areas hit by an extensive disaster or in a region with virtually no phone coverage of any kind.

image by Paul McGuire


6. Very often, people outside your area will have more up-to-date knowledge of your situation than you will. With a shortwave radio, you can reach thousands of shortwave radio stations around the world. People operating these stations will likely have internet access even if you don’t. Radio Shack has a rather dry but informative Q&A on their website.

7. People networks. Just as many churches have “prayer chains”, “information chains” can be organized among friends, relatives, and neighbors. Choose an out-of-state individual who will serve as a contact point for everyone and keep track of timely, vital news so everyone stays informed. There’s a service that provides something like this that you can read about at EverybodySafe.

8. Amateur radio licenses aren’t just for nerds anymore! I was surprised to find out how many women have, or are getting, their HAM operators license. You don’t need the tall radio tower in your front yard, and it’s possible to pick up basic equipment at a nominal price. In a catastrophe, Amateur Radio operators may be the first to begin broadcasting, and in a worst case scenario, they may be utilized for getting information both in and out of an area when nothing else can.

Have a Plan A, B, and C for communicating if and when an emergency situation arises. Make sure each family member knows who to contact and how to contact them. Have at least one alternative way to receive information and one alternative way to communicate outside your area.
Sometimes we overlook communication back-ups in our hurry to stock up on food, water, and other tangibles. It’s hard to imagine the rising level of panic that occurs when your family members and other loved ones cannot be reached by phone, and you have no idea where they are or if they’re alive. This aspect of preparedness should be addressed by every family.

© 2011, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/05/26...ones-are-down/

8 Compelling Reasons to Learn Survival Skills, Part 1

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I have long preached of the importance of learning skills and gaining knowledge in a wide variety of areas in order to be more survival savvy and ready for whatever the future brings. Today begins a four-part series that will be posted every other day and will detail reasons why this is one of the most important things any preparedness minded person can do.

Not everyone can afford a million dollar survival retreat, but everyone can learn practical skills, such as sewing, small engine repair, or bread baking. With summer coming, your family may have time to explore new skills and research survival-related topics. Here are two reasons why building your skill/knowledge repertoire is so important.

1. Be prepared for emergencies

image by Chris Violette

If the power goes out for more than just a few minutes, with a bit of information and preparation, you’ll have the knowledge to go into full on SurvivalMom mode, filling bathtubs with water, duct-taping the fridge and freezer closed so the kids don’t open it twenty times in the next half hour, and unplug vulnerable electronics and appliances.

Depending on where you live, you can be ready with an assortment of contingency plans for earthquakes, floods, wildfires, and every other natural and weather disaster that might affect your family. You’ll have a plan in writing that can be posted and rehearsed until you’re certain every family member knows exactly what to do. When FEMA comes to your town, they’ll drive right by your house. “We don’t have to worry about them. A SurvivalMom lives there.”

My friend Debbie is prepared for things that have never occurred to even me. Her kids know what to do if a dirty bomb ever goes off in her town. They have the plastic sheeting, duct tape, and juice boxes (for hydration) ready to go. I love that she’s taught her young kids in which county they live. She said, “If mom’s not there and the kids are listening to the news and being informed of a national weather alert in Maricopa county, would they even realize they were in that county?” Smart.

image by sillygwailo


There’s a lot of peace that comes with knowing you’ve made plans, have back-ups, and have trained the husband and kids for escaping from a home fire, evacuating Disneyland if a terrorist ever manages to make his way past Mickey Mouse, and even more peace when you realize that your family won’t be fully dependent on overwhelmed emergency workers or law enforcement. That’s self-reliance in action.

2. Learn skills important to basic survival

Master a half dozen or so basic wilderness survival skills, and your family would have a better than average chance of surviving in the wild if that ever were necessary. These basic skills would include locating and purifying water in the wild, several ways to start a fire, how to set up a campsite,wilderness first aid, and cooking outdoors.

If you’re one of those Survival Moms already deep into wilderness survival, you probably named your kids Les and Bear in honor of survival men Les Stroud and Bear Grylls. If every member of your family owns a Buck knife, can skin a rattlesnake, and knows that when push comes to shove, they may have to drink their own pee, you’re well aware that basic survival skills spell self-reliance.

Does this sound like you?

• You never leave the house without a healthy supply of bottled water in the first place, but if you ever needed to, you know how to make a solar still, filter water, and you have everything needed to purify it and then purify it again, just in case. image by andy coan
  
  
• You use the stars and migration routes of the Monarch butterfly to navigate your way through the wilderness, and your compass skills rock.
• If you ever do become lost, you know at least half a dozen ways to signal for help and once even tied your red bra to a branch to wave down a passing helicopter.
• When it gets close to bedtime, pitching a tent is a no-brainer for you, and your family can easily camp, primitive style, for weeks at a time if necessary.
• Outdoor self-reliance is a long-lost skill few families practice any more but you’ve made sure yours can survive anywhere.

Urban survival skills are just as important. Have you studied your community and know several routes out of town? Could you get from the workplace to your home ten different ways? A savvy SurvivalMom keeps her vehicle equipped with life- and sanity-saving tools and supplies because she never knows when she might be stranded far from home with three grouchy, hungry kids and then discover that her period just started. Survival isn’t just about making lean-to’s and chewing on pine resin. It’s about staying safe no matter where you are.

The best thing about many of these survival skills is that they are fun to learn. A few camping trips can help teach most of them, and kids naturally love the adventure of being outdoors.

Action step

Make a list of the skills and knowledge that are part of dealing with emergencies and wilderness survival. Check off the ones you and your family already know, and then prioritize what’s left. A little bit of research at the library and online will likely yield a vast amount of information to help you learn what you still need to know!

Coming next: Budget friendly skills!

You may also like -

• Skills to pass along and help others, Part 3
  
• The case for practical skills by Mike Rowe
  
• Top 10 Products for the Beginning Prepper
  
• 2 More Compelling Reasons to Boost your Skills/Knowledge Repertoire, Part 2

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/05/23...skills-part-1/

2 More Compelling Reasons to Boost your Skills/Knowledge Repertoire, Part 2

8 Comments
This is the second part of a four-part series that, I hope, will inspire and fill you with ideas for learning new skills that will help your family thrive in an uncertain world.
3. Money is tight, but you have options with skills & knowledge

image by stuartpilbrow


If there’s one thing a Survival Mom is good at, it’s finding creative ways to live abundantly on a tiny income, and a Survival Mom equipped with financial savvy is worth her weight in gold. When there’s not even a spare dollar for new school clothes, she can pull out the sewing machine, grab some left over fabric from an old project, and design customized outfits for her kids.

Years ago I had a friend named Jan who was a master at clothing her kids in beautiful, expensive outfits she found at yard sales. Sometimes I wondered if those kids ever wore the same outfit twice. I do know she was able to save enough extra money every year for a great family vacation. She put her bargain hunting skills to work, which provided options her family wouldn’t have had otherwise.

If there’s a baby in your family, who needs expensive disposable diapers when you’re an old pro at using cloth and making your own baby wipes and lotion? Five bucks worth of yarn can be turned into a delicate baby blanket, nicer than the ones on display at the baby boutiques.

Frugal Survival Moms make their own baby carriers and construct solar powered breast pumps, just in case. Okay, I’m joking about the breast pump.

image by Violette 79


When it’s mealtime, frugality and creativity go hand in hand when you know at least twenty different meals that combine rice and beans in so many flavor combinations your family is fooled into thinking they’re eating gourmet meals every night. You manage to make oatmeal so delicious and enticing that when your kids are offered Cap’n Crunch, they say, “Ewwwww!!!”

There are dozens and dozens of skills that will help your family save money. A lot of money.

4. Scarce services or products aren’t a problem when you can duplicate them
Economic recessions cause many thriving businesses to shut their doors, and when they do, the community loses important services and products. When this happens, the tendency of most people is to respond with, “Oh no! How will we get along without ______?”

It’s a good feeling to know that your family doesn’t have to rely on others for every little thing when you’ve been learning how to take care of more and more of those, “little things”. If the beauty salon closes its doors or the gourmet bakery goes bankrupt, what’s the big deal? You just pull out a pair of scissors, watch a few YouTube instructional videos and then grab the slowest kid for your first try at a haircut. With

image by surlygirl


just a little practice you’ll wonder why you ever thought you needed Super Cuts!

And that gourmet bakery? Master a to-die-for fondant, learn how to wield a mean decorator bag, and it could be your lemon meringue cupcakes that people are lining up to buy. All the not-so-handy moms in the neighborhood will be asking you to make a special birthday cake for their little sweeties.

If you’re wondering which skill to tackle first, keep track of the various businesses and professionals you hire and consider if there are any skills you could begin learning.
Action step

Go through your family’s expenses over the past two months. You probably keep track of expenses anyway, but this time be thinking of what you could learn or what skills you, or another member of the family, could learn in order to save money. At the same time, are there businesses you use on occasion whose services you could learn? Remember, the more you know, the less you and your family must rely on others.

Coming next: Sometimes skills enhance the lives of others!

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/05/25...rtoire-part-2/

Skills to pass along and help others, Part 3

2 Comments
This is Part 3 in a series about learning new practical skills and knowledge. The more you learn and the more you can do, allows you and your family to become more and more self-reliant.
4. Learn new family hobbies

image by normanack


Most of what our Survival Mom forbears knew how to do was passed on to their children and grandchildren. Generation after generation knew how to hunt and preserve food. Knowledge and skills were meant to be shared, not only for survival but as a way for the family to share common experiences.


There’s no reason why a SurvivalMom should keep her skills and knowledge to herself. We need to also pass on what we know and are learning. As soon as my daughter was old enough to hold knitting needles, I had that little girl knitting a scarf, which ended up being as long as she was! We’ve spent hours in the kitchen together, and now she can make nearly any recipe from scratch! As soon as I learned how to shoot a gun, guess who we dragged along with us to the range? Yep, and now she can shoot better than me!

A common complaint of modern families is, “We all live separate lives. The kids have their activities, we have our jobs. We hardly ever see each other!” Look around and you’ll find that the happiest families are those that share the most common interests. A collection of family hobbies, focused on practical skills goes a long way toward drawing families close. When any activity has meaning and a purpose, it suddenly becomes a “grown up” thing to do, and with Mom and Dad setting an example, kids are eager to participate. Oh, don’t let the kids get hung up on “boy” or “girl” activities.

Your future daughter-in-law will love the fact that her husband-to-be, your son, can make marinara from scratch and knows how to sew a quilt!

image by derrickpubliclibrary


So, when you plant your spring garden, haul the whole clan outside to participate. Pulling weeds and sifting dirt builds character, but more importantly, it provides time for chatting about both important and trivial matters, telling jokes, and just being together. This is how memories are made and heirloom skills are passed from one generation to the next. If possible, be sure to include extended family members and friends to spread the love, and the dirt.

5. Lend a helping hand

Good things are meant to be shared, whether it’s a basket of warm cinnamon muffins or a bar of homemade oatmeal soap. A mom who has few skills and hasn’t bothered to learn helpful information doesn’t have much to share. Preparedness has an element of generosity. It’s not about hoarding for me and mine, but preparing in such a way that you have more to give, and that includes sharing what you know and what you can do.
Let me tell you about a time that I wasn’t able to help someone in need. I was at a movie theater and went into the women’s rest room to find an elderly lady standing over a sink with a severe bloody nose. I paused, thinking, “Wow, that looks bad!” when another woman came out of a stall.

She took one look at this helpless lady and immediately went into action.

This little brunette was a dynamo, grabbing handfuls of paper towels, placing them over the woman’s nose, and directing her to tilt her head downwards. When a theater employee came into the room, she yelled at her to call for a doctor. Me? I gawked and then scurried into a stall. Four years later I am still kicking myself that I wasn’t able to determine if the woman needed help and how to help her.
Action step

What can you do that you haven’t taught your kids? That would be a good place to start to ensure those skills are learned by a new generation. Ask your kids what they would like to learn. Take classes together and look for opportunities to use your new-found abilities to help someone in need.
Coming next: Part 4 in our series will give you ideas for learning skills that will add to your family’s income!
You may also like -

• 8 Compelling Reasons to Learn Survival Skills, Part 1
  
• 2 More Compelling Reasons to Boost your Skills/Knowledge Repertoire, Part 2
  
• Book Review: Survival Challenge for kids
  
• The 12 Days of Christmas: A New Craft for Your Kids

http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/05/27/6808/

Rense & Emord - The 'FDA' is Essential

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNuYSqK7pVU



Jun 12, 2011

An introduction to Pharmaceutical attorney Jonathan W Emord's work against the FDA and the Federal Bureaucracy in general.