Water – Amount Needed

We can live without food for a long period of time.  We may get lucky and not need any guns.  Chances are we don’t really need a significant amount of cash on hand in our house.  Water, however, is critical.  The human body can not go very long without it.  I consider this to be the most critical part of our preparations.  Fortunately, it doesn’t seem that it will be that difficult to get prepared in this area – at least in regard to short-term survival.  Having water for the long term if the infrastructure suffers a long term collapse is another issue altogether.

As far as I can tell, the following things need to be considered when putting together a water plan:

1. Amount needed
2. Possible sources
3. Collection
4. Transporting
5. Storage
6. Purification

Amount Needed
Assuming that you don’t have a source of water readily available (river, well, etc.), several books I have read recommend having a three-month supply of water stored.  They also suggest having 2 gallons of water per person per day.  Therefore, if these recommendations are followed, we would need 180 gallons per person.  We have a family of 5, thus we would need a total of 900 gallons of water for a 3 month supply.   That is a lot of water!

I don’t understand why we would need 2 gallons per person.  Supposedly one gallon is for drinking, and the other gallon is for washing, cooking, sponge bathing, laundry, dishes, and so on.   Who drinks a gallon of water per day?  I would think it would be half that.  A half gallon of water is 64 oz, or 8 cups.  Also, I think we could get creative and get by with a half-gallon per person for the other water needs mentioned above.  Therefore, for a 3 month supply that puts us at 450 gallons of water.  We will probably bump that up to 550.  That would be 10 55 gallon drums.  I just don’t have room to store any more than that.

Cash Complete

For the last 6 months I have been making  cash withdrawals from the bank so that we could have some cash on hand in the event that the electronic transaction infrastructure goes down for any period of time.  I realize that this is extremely unlikely, but it can’t hurt to do this.  The interest paid on checking, savings, and money market accounts is so low, we don’t lose anything in having some money at home.

Half of the money is in 1′s.  The other half in 20′s.  I am thinking about taking half of the 20′s and turning them into 5′s.

It feels good to have this done.  Just one more small thing that is now behind us.

Once we get all the core preparations done, I plan on stocking up supplies that we could use in a bartering situation – toilet paper, cigarettes, coffee, etc.  That is way down the road, but it is on our radar screen.

For any random person reading this post who might be thinking there are large sums of money to be stolen at our house, please know 2 things:

1. It is really not that much money, and
2. Recall my recent handgun purchases!

Rough Week

It has been over a week since I posted.    In the middle of last week we learned of the sudden death of one of Colleen’s cousins.  The rest of the week was a whirlwind of rearranging schedules and cramming my work load into the available spaces.  This week has been extremely busy at work – playing catch up, a lot of travel, an overbooked calendar, and our email server collapsing yesterday.

Anyway, I hope to be back on track next week.  My next item is to post my “Water Plan”.  Hopefully, I can have the core preparations behind me by the end of November.  I am ready to move beyond the “short term survival” preparations into the “long term recovery” stage.

Update on Week

I have made some progress in the last few days:

1. I have read through my Taurus Pistol handbook a few times now.  So many things to remember; I am sure this will become second-nature as I spend more time with it.  I can see how there are so many firearm accidents.
2. I am scheduled to go shoot this Saturday afternoon.  Plan on taking both the pistol and the revolver.  I am sure I will get some interesting looks shooting a revolver with a pink handle.  After shooting one of my friends is going to show me how to clean my guns.
3. I have learned a lot about biometric safes (even the term biometric).  No retail outlet sales them.  I spent about 30 minutes on the phone Monday with different manufacturers.  Basically, you have to buy them online, and they are a little pricey.  I hope to purchase one this week so that we can keep loaded guns next to our beds without fear of the children getting into them.  I just don’t trust the keypads; my 2nd son would do anything to get access to a “real gun”.
4. I have learned a lot about bullets and how expensive they are.  Someone recommended two sites that seem to sell at some pretty aggressive prices:
   1. CheaperThanDirt.com
   2. AIM Surplus
5. While updating inventory, I realized that I really need to do this every day or whenever anything is added.
6. We have eaten three dinners from our emergency food supply.  They have all been fantastic.  We had a tuna casserole on Tuesday (and Wednesday) which was made from canned tuna, dried pasta, and some dehydrated peas.  The peas were a little chewy; so, next time we might hydrate them before putting them into any recipe.
7. I have made notes for what needs to be done for the water supply.  I hope to post that information tonight or in the morning.  Since this is the most critical need during any long-term emergency, I am looking forward to getting this part of the preparations behind us.  The plan will cover the following things:
   1. Amount needed
   2. Collection
   3. Transporting
   4. Purification
   5. Storage
8. I will be in Cleveland, Tennessee, today.  Therefore, I plan on dropping by the Volunteer Ordnance Works to get the night sites on my Taurus pistol and get the key the owner’s manual said I need.

Bullets and Car Kit

Yesterday I went to purchase bullets for our newly acquired guns.  Someone recommend I get them at Wal-mart (price).  I went there after work, and the only handgun ammunition they had was .45 caliber.  Their shelves were bare.  The guy behind the counter said it had been that way for at least 3 months.    I may try Gander Mountain today.  I need to get a finger-print safe as well; so, maybe I can knock out two things at once.

Also, I completely finished the car kit yesterday.  I have update the “car kit” page with pictures.  I also added “tow rope/chain” to the car kit.  We won’t have one of these, but I thought I should include it in case others reading the list might want to consider it.

I have not completed the “car kit” needed for an evacuation.  That list includes 5 items, but I think I am only going to get a 5 gallon gas container and 5 quarts of oil.  I won’t be buying a spare radiator hose, spare fan belt, or spare fuses.  If we had a problem with any of those things, the only one I would know how to fix anyway would be the fuses.  Maybe someone else would stop and help us if I needed to replace something like a fan belt, but I just think the chances of needing to do that versus the space needed for other things makes it not worth it to us.

Today, I hope to accomplish the following:

1. Buy bullets
2. Buy finger-print safe for storing loaded guns in bedroom
3. Fill 2 one gallon gas tanks
4. Fill 5 gallon gas tank
5. Buy 5 quarts of motor oil
6. Update inventory lists with items purchased from last week
7. Make detailed action item list (things to do, things to buy) for water needs

Weekly Plan – Week of September 14, 2009

How do I do on last week’s plan:

Overall, I did not complete several of the items.  However, I am pleased with my progress.  I got three “big rocks” in place – the car kit is complete, I completed the inventory (bigger task than I thought), and I made 2 handgun purchases.

1. I finished the inventory I had at the time.  (I need to update with the items I purchased this week).
2. I did not create the database.  After creating the inventory spreadsheets, I decided I could just make those work.  I hope to create the database after I have collected all the staple items.  It will be part of my “clean up” or “polishing” process.  It is just not as high of a priority as it once was.
3. I added to the list of things that needed to be done, but in no  way is this complete.  More on this in this week’s plan
4. I added to the list of things that needed to be purchased, but in no way is this complete.  More on this in this week’s plan.
5. I did not clean the shotgun, but I have now purchased the necessary supplies and have read through the owner’s manuals.
6. I purchased two handguns – one for me, and one for Colleen.
7. I requested the 4 remaining vacation days I had at my disposal.  I am taking off the 2 days prior to the short Thanksgiving week and two days after the short Thanksgiving week.

Plan for this week:

1. Stop by the shop who sold me handguns to get night sites put on the Taurus Subcompact. (Thursday)
2. Clean the shotgun (Wednesday)
3. Buy bullets – practice rounds and self-protection (Monday)
4. Make appointment to shoot gun at firing range / clean gun afterward (Tuesday)
5. Update inventory lists with items purchased last week (Monday)
6. Update “car kit” page.  (Monday)
7. Make detailed action item list (things to do, things to buy) for water needs (Tuesday)
8. Make detailed action item list (things to do, things to buy) for food needs (Wednesday)

Guns for him and her

I finished the car kit today.  I ended up finding a cheap reflector triangle.  They also had a device that you can plug into your cigarette lighter that will recharge your battery enough to start the car in 10 minutes.    I also went to Wal-mart today and got the flashing lights.

I bought two handguns at the gun show this weekend.  I had thought I was going to get the Glock Sub-compact 40 caliber and the Smith & Wesson J-Handle .38special.  You can put a pink grip on the gun – not kidding.

I got the Smith & Wesson.  However, I decided to go with the Taurus Millenium Subcompact.  It was about the same size and weight as the Glock, but it had an external safety.

The cost of the Taurus Subcompact was $416.00

The cost of the S & W J-handle 38 special was $542.93

I bought them both from a dealer in Cleveland, Tennessee.  I will drop by there later this week to get night sights on the Taurus pistol.

Gun Cleaning Kit, Car Kit

One of my goals this week was to clean the shotgun I purchased a few years back.  I bought the gun used at a pawn shop.  Since I have not shot the gun since I purchased it, I really have no idea how long it has been since it was cleaned.  Regardless, the instructors at the carry permit class  told us that our guns need to be cleaned after every use or at least a few times a year if they have not been used at all.  Of course, that makes me wonder if my gun is in working order.

I will attempt to clean the gun this weekend.  I will ask my “gun expert” friend this weekend of ideas of where I can safely and legally fire it off.  I want to shoot it at least one time to make sure I know how it works and that it is in good working order.

All this to say that I went out after work yesterday to pick up a gun cleaning kit.  I got a kit that will allow me to clean both my shotgun and the pistol I hope to buy this weekend.  It was $40 at Dick’s Sporting Goods.  They had kits for half this price at Wal-mart.  I will show my kit to my “gun expert” friend this weekend and see what he says.  I should have asked his advice before buying anything.

I also purchased a cable gun lock.  At the carry permit class they said that the trigger locks were dangerous (could pull the trigger accidentally during install or uninstall).  That made sense to me; I threw our trigger lock away and will put the cable lock on when I get back from work this afternoon.

While I was out, I decided to buy the final items needed for my car emergency kit.   I had most of what I needed, but the kit still needed a few of less important items:  reflectors and road flares.  I also decided that I wanted to keep a good flashlight in the kit in addition to the ones we keep in our house.   I discovered that flares are a little outdated. They did not sell them at Wal-mart nor Auto-Zone.  I found a package of two at O’Reilly’s; the package was $5.  However, I noticed that they only burned for 15 minutes.  So, I decided against buying them.  O’Reilly’s also had some “reflector triangles.”   They came in a rectangular box which weighed somewhere between 5 and 10 pounds.  This kit cost $20.  I decided against buying them as well – at least for now – too big.

I ended up picking up the following:

• 5 one-size-fits-all ponchos – $0.88each
• 5 emergency blankets (reflective surface – supposed to capture body heat) – $2.88each
• Coleman 115 lumen flashlight that runs on AA batteries and uses LED bulbs;  another customer recommended this to me because of the high lumens; it was almost 10X everything else available, but it came at a cost – $24.88
• Spotlight.  The idea here is to put the spotlight on any strangers that might be approaching our vehicle.  We want to blind them if necessary and get a look at them from a distance.  $3.50
• Instead of a 2 gallon gas tank (little larger than I expected), I went with 2 1 gallon gas tanks.  I though it gave me more storage options – $6.50each

After work I am going to put all of my “car kit” items together and see what kind of storage container we need.  If there is room leftover in the bin, I will go get the flares.  If there is not enough room, we just won’t include reflectors in our kit.

Based on all of this.  I have updated the “Car Emergency Kit” page.

Days Off

I get 15 vacation days each year.  I have already used 10 of them.  I have some college friends coming in for the Auburn-UT game in early October; so, I took the Friday before the game off.  That left me with 4 days.  I wanted to use all of them for prep work; so, I am taking off November 19th, 20th, 30th, and December 1st.  The 19th and 20th are the business days prior to the short Thanksgiving week.  The 30th and1st are the two days after the short Thanksgiving week.  Thanksgiving week is usually dead.  I will be working on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of that week, but hopefully it is slow enough for me to work on preparations as well – phone calls, quick errands, database work, etc.

The big time consuming things left appear to be cooking and kitchen supplies, clothes, and building some storage racks.

There is always more that can be done;  so, we will never be “finished”, but I am hoping to have everything we need for “short term survival” purchased, inventoried, and stored by the end of this year.  Once done, I can begin spending more time on the “long term recovery” portion of our plan – the self-sustaining community.  I am also eager to move into the next part of my 5 year plan.

Taking Inventory is “Complete”

Although distracted by President Obama’s speech, I spent over 2 hours completing inventory last night.  Here are a few things worth mentioning:

1. I will create a database soon, but right now I am collecting the data in an Excel spreadsheet.
2. I quickly noticed that the columns I created for the food (a lot of nutritional information – calories, carbs, protein, etc.) didn’t make sense for all of the durable goods.  Therefore, I decided to create a new worksheet for them.  Then, it hit me – I should make a column for each category of preparation.  So, I now have the following worksheets:
   1. Food
   2. Cooking and Kitchen
   3. Commerce
   4. Medical-First Aid
   5. Energy
   6. Communication
   7. Protection
   8. Sanitation
   9. Tools
   10. Warmth
   11. Lighting
   12. Leisure and Comfort
   13. Water
3. With the exception of food, most of the columns in my worksheets were the same.  These are my non-food worksheet columns:
   1. Qty
   2. Item
   3. Description
   4. Notes
   5. Expiration Date
   6. Energy Source (if it needs something to “make it work” e.g. batteries, gas, etc.)
   7. Cost Each
   8. Tax Rate
   9. Cost each with Tax (multiply ‘cost each’ by ’1.0X’ with x being the tax rate)
   10. Cost extended (multiply ‘cost each with tax’ by ‘qty’”
   11. Where purchased (in case I want / need to buy again)
   12. Where stored (where it is currently being stored in our house)
4. I actually have two spreadsheets on each worksheet – one on the top and then an almost exact duplicate spreadsheet under it.  The one on the top is called “Items currently in inventory”.  The one underneath it is called “Left to Buy”.  This latter column is so that I can easily see what is left for me to purchase.  I thought about combining the two spreadsheets and just putting a “0″ in the qty column which would imply I need to get something or maybe add a column called “qty to purchase” and maybe even a column called “desired qty” and then just have the “qty to purchase” be automatically calculated as the difference between “desired qty” an “qty on hand”.    I decided to do it the way I did since this spreadsheet is hopefully temporary until I get the database up and running, and this would give me a quick way to see what needs to be purchased.
5. Over the last few months I had started this project 3 or 4 different times; so, I had 3 or 4 random spreadsheets already in existence.  I went through each of those to make sure I had accounted for everything.  I then deleted all of those previous spreadsheets from my hard drive to make sure I didn’t use them again.
6. I realized that many things I put on the “72 Hour Emergency Kit” worksheet really belong to these other categories.  So, I am going to go back and move each of these items into the appropriate worksheet.   I will create two additional columns “72 Hour Emergency Kit” and “Car Kit”.  If that item is part of either of these two “evacuation categories” will put an “x” in that column.  This will be a lot cleaner once the database is up and running, but creating a column like this will allow me to easily sort and find those items.  In fact, I may leave the “72 Hour Emergency Kit” worksheet and just have the items on that worksheet be listed in two different worksheets.  I want to be able to print a quick “evacuation  list” if and when that time comes.
7. I am struggling with how to keep up with “energy items”.   For example, my water purification device uses batteries.  Should I include the batteries in the same worksheet or put them in the “energy” worksheet.  It initially makes sense to put them in the same worksheet as the device they power, but it also makes sense to keep them in the energy column so that I can quickly see how many of each battery I need – that is, instead of listing AAA batteries in 6 different worksheets, I would combine them into the “energy” spreadsheet which would allow me to know if I had enough in stock.  Once the database is complete, this will take care of itself, but for now, it is a pain in my over-organized brain.

I know this sounds like a lot.  I think being organized is important so that we don’t miss anything or buy unnecessary duplicates.  It is also nice to be able look at what is needed for each category.

As I clean up the worksheets I will create pages for them so that others can review my lists.