Plan for the Week of September 7, 2009

So, how did I do on last week’s plan:

1. I read two chapters in the book.  I was hoping to finish the whole thing.  However, the meat of the book is in the first few chapters.  The detailing of plans based on this information took longer than I thought.  The content of most of the plans I have detailed thus far, can be found in the “pages” section of this blog.
2. The “taking of inventory” is taking longer than I expected.  I decided to collect the nutritional information of the food products in addition to the amount we have on hand.  The idea is that I can go back at any time and determine if we have enough of the nutrients we need.
3. I will be labeling and dating all the items today as I take inventory.  I have labeled and dated all of the food items.
4. I am having trouble purchasing the additional 55 gallon drums.  Something in me is resisting it.  Instead of using the time it would have taken to go pick these up; I went and took the next steps required to get my carry permit.
5. I have not cleaned my shotgun.  I just forgot this was on my list.  I will try and get this done this week – probably this weekend.  I may ask a friend to come over to help me through this after the gun show this weekend.

The Plan for this week:

1. Finish inventory (Wednesday night)
2. Create database
3. Create a list of things that need to be done – decision to be made, things to make,  conversations to have, etc.
4. Create a list of things that need to be purchased.
5. Clean shotgun
6. Buy handgun (attending gun show on Saturday)
7. Look at calendar as to when I can take some time off to complete the plan by the end of November.

So, by the end of this week I hope to have a full inventory of all that we currently have, and a full plan of what is needed going forward.  After this week, I hope to take small bites of the elephant each week until we are self-sufficient for one year.  The goal is to be completely done by the Thanksgiving break.  This may require taking a few days off.  I have 5 more vacation days available to me.

Carry Permit – Stage 2

A few weeks ago I attended the required 8 hour class that teaches handgun safety, use, and law.  Once that is finished you get a certificate that must be taken to a ‘full service’ DMV (which means one where they actually give driving tests).  I did this on Friday.  I arrived at the DMV at 8:30 and I left just before 10:30am.  My interaction with the person behind the counter was less than 1 minute; the rest of the time I was waiting.

Once finished there, they gave me a phone number to call so that I could schedule my fingerprinting.  It seems the government outsources this function to various private companies in the area.  I waited 20 minutes on the phone for someone to get me registered.  Once complete (less than a minute), they told me the locations close to me that did the finger-printing.  Hoping to get it all done in one day, I drove there immediately.  Once there, I registered, waiting another 20 minutes and then was escorted into a small room where my fingerprints were scanned electronically.

I was done with everything at around 11:30; so,  all-in-all it was a 3 hour exercise.

There is a gun show this coming weekend.  I hope to buy the handgun (or maybe two – one for my wife).   When it is all said and done, this portion of our prep work will have cost me close to $750.

• Carry Permit Course – $65
• Carry Permit Application – $115
• Handgun – estimated cost – $500
• Ammunition – $70

Once I have the gun, I plan on going to a local shooting range on a monthly basis until I am comfortable firing the gun.   I am usually pretty good about following through on things like this.  That being the case,  I am leaning toward buying a higher caliber gun – probably 40 caliber.   We were told in the class that if we were ever called upon to shoot, that we needed to shoot in bursts of 3 or 4 shots.  The higher the caliber the harder it is to be accurate with the shots fired after the first one; therefore, they recommended going with a smaller bullet (e.g. 9mm) if a person was  not going to train regularly.

Water Drum Accessories

I was advised to get water drums with the plugs on top versus the kind that has a top secured with a metal ring.  My water drums don’t have a top – just two plugs on top where you can put fluid in and take it out when needed.  The place where I bought the drums sold me a flimsy plastic pump; it just didn’t fill me with confidence.   So, I went back to my preparedness adviser and asked for help.  He pointed me to these aluminum hand pumps. I bought two – one is a spare.  He also suggested we buy a plug wrench.   While on the website, I saw the funnel; it wasn’t much money, and it looked like it might prove helpful.  It all came in earlier this week.  I purchased all of my pump accessories from Northern Tool.  Links to Northern Tool and each of the products can be found here.

Kick in the Pants

Someone sent me a link to a World Net Daily article yesterday.   The article is about the growing numbers of people who are preparing for a collapse of our infrastructure by moving toward a self-sufficient life.

Preppers get ready for the worst – movement to stockpile for emergency at all-time high

Within the article is a paragraph about a family that left their life in California to find some land in the mid-west near a  stream that they could use for drinking water, bathing, cleaning, and irrigating their home-grown crops.   It made me realize that I have been comparing our efforts to most of the world and thought we were doing pretty well.  This family reminded me of others that I know of or  have read about that are fully committed to this.  I am lingering in the middle.  If we are really going to be prepared, then I think we have to really sell out.

What does that mean?  Well, it means:

1. I have to focus on this project exclusive to everything else.
2. That we may need to make some unbelievably tough choices about careers and where we live.
3. Some significant expenditures might be in our future – e.g. do we need to put in a water well?

This article, and in particular the family mentioned in the article, has given me another wake-up call.  It seems that I need a good kick in the pants at least once a month to break free from the cultural inertia that puts me back to sleep.

Inventory Database

I think a database is needed to keep up with our inventory.   Here are some of the reasons:

1. I have found myself buying things that we already have because I forget we had them
2. Some things have expiration dates that must be either used or disposed of.  I don’t want a medical crisis to hit and then find out that our ‘flu medicine’ is bad.
3. Things are stored in so many places (I am finding storage to be a significant issue in all this).  I need to know what is where.
4. Do we have enough?  The idea is to stockpile the things we need for one year.  The database will allow me to make see how we are progressing toward that goal.

The Data.  Here is a list of the data I want to include in the database, and how that information will be formated:

1. Item
2. Description
3. Qty on Hand
4. Qty Desired
5. Unit of Measure
6. Price Each
7. Expiration Date (just list the nearest one if there multiples of this item)
8. Power Source Needed (e.g. batteries – what size)
9. Storage Location

I will probably want to manually take an inventory every quarter until I am convinced that we have gotten into a good rhythm of updating our inventory as we incorporate using our emergency storage items into our everyday living.

Prepper

It looks like I have a new label:  Prepper

Preppers get ready for the worst – movement to stockpile for emergency at all-time high

The 72 Hour Emergency

I spent my morning creating some lists.  Following the advice of Peggy Layton in her book, Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook, I spent some time thinking through the short-term emergency scenarios.  I have noticed that she and others suggest that everyone prepare for a 72 Hour Emergency.   Here are some things to consider (links take you to the actual lists I have created):

1. Evacuation Plan
2. Car Kits
3. 72 Hour Evacuation Kits
4. Food and Water
5. Staying Warm and Dry – Clothing, Shelter
6. First Aid / Medication / Sanitation
7. Communications
8. Entertainment / Comfort
9. Storing these Items
10. Updating these items / Rotating Stock / Buying clothes as kids grow
11. Things to pack at last minute (everyday use items that can’t be stored) if we need to evacuate
12. What if roads are blocked or vehicle breaks down – what can / should be carried on foot?
13. What specific needs does my family have – pets? elderly? babies? medicines?

There is so much to think about and so many things to purchase.  How do I keep all this organized?   It is a little overwhelming, and this is just the72 Hour Emergency list.  Some thoughts on that:

1. First, a lot of what is purchased for the 72 Hour Emergency is needed for longer term emergencies; so, once you are prepared for a 72 Hour Emergency you are well on your way to being prepared for the long term.
2. And, there is only one way to eat an elephant – one bite at a time.  My goal is to complete one subcategory each week.  For example, next week, I want to have the First-Aid / Medicine / Sanitation subcategory complete.
3. To stay organized, I plan on putting tasks into my planning database that remind me to update the things that need attention every few months (e.g. clothes 2x / year, medicines with expiration dates, etc.).  I also plan on creating an inventory database.  More on this in a later post.  Creating this database is the next thing on my list.  I hope to have the structure of the database completed this week so that I can update the entries as I go versus trying to do it all at once.

EFS&SH – Introduction

EFS&SH stands for Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook.  It is the book I am re-reading to make sure our plans our complete – what am I forgetting?  what things do we need to think through?

Here is a blurb from the Introduction along with some comments from yours truly.

Indeed, few of us would find it easy – if possible – to provide for our families in crisis situations if we had only ourselves on which to depend.

ME:  That is so true.  When an infrastructure collapse occurs, it will be like Hurricane Katrina on a national scale – the difference being that there will be nobody to come to our rescue; we will all be in the same shape.

To me it is all about risk  and reward.  Sure, we are spending thousands of dollars preparing for something that will probably never happen, but don’t we all do that anyway?  Isn’t that what insurance policies are for?  I see our preparations like we are self-insuring.   If we don’t prepare and nothing happens – so what?  However, if we don’t prepare and something does happen, then we are the biggest fools of all.

Also, it is not as if we won’t be using what we buy.  For example, we plan on just eating through our emergency food and replacing it as we go.  The food is extremely less expensive and much healthier.  In fact, on just the long-term savings on groceries, we will break even on our overall emergency preparations in just a few years.  So, in summary, we will be prepared for a collapse of our infrastructure, be healthier, and financially better off.  Someone please tell me how this is crazy.

Plan for the Week

Book by Peggy Layton

My ‘Big Rocks’ this week in regard to Ark Building are very simple:

1. Read the book Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton.  I have already read this once.  This time through I want to make detailed notes of all that needs to be done and thought through.   If I read one chapter a day, I should be able to finish by Sunday.
2. Take inventory of all that we have purchased thus far.
3. Label and Date all the food we already have in inventory.
4. Buy 5 more 55 gallon food-grade water drums.
5. Clean shotgun.  During the carry permit class I attended a few weeks ago;  they suggested that we clean our guns if we have not used them in over a year.  Well, I purchased our shotgun used about 3 or 4 years ago.  I have never done anything to it.  I downloaded the user’s manual last week.  I have never cleaned a gun before.  We will see how it goes.

Threats

I am often asked, “What do you think is going to happen?”, or “What are the threats to our society that have you so worried?”

So, I have put the following list together. It is important to note that in many cases, it is not the event that will create the chaos, but the resulting collapse of our just-in-time infrastructure. Some of these are man-made, some are natural in origin.

I think it is possible that you might see multiple waves of disasters – some triggering others.   For example, if the US economy collapses, I think a nuclear strike within our borders might result.    I could even see our government initiating a war of some kind – either as a distraction or as an event designed to pull us out of our economic woes.

I have listed these in order of my personal concern.

1. Unknown. We are in the midst of humanity’s third great transition. We have experienced massive destruction and devastation during the first two transitions – both man-made (as the existing power structures resist the emerging power) and natural (e.g. the Bubonic Plague during the Dark Ages). I see no reason to think we will avoid a similar fate. Who knows where it will come from? As Nassim Taleb reminds us in The Black Swan, highly improbably events always catch us by surprise. “We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and reshape our world.” Thus, the black swan theory.
2. Financial Collapse / Hyperinflation. Think Weimar Republic in Germany in the 1920′s, Argentina in the 70′s, and Zimbabwe today. Unfortunately, I think the chances of this happening are extremely high. When I think about preparing, I typically have this or the next item (deadly pandemic) in mind.
3. Deadly pandemic. Something similar in magnitude to the Spanish Flu of 1918 or the Bubonic Plague. Again, the chaos created from the infrastructure collapse will be worse than the pandemic itself.
4. EMP Blast. This is where someone detonates a weapon that fries all of our electronics and thus making them inoperable.
5. Nuclear War / Nuclear Winter. At some point somebody is going to detonate a bomb – Iran, Russia, India / Pakistan, North Korea, etc.
6. Space Debris / Kessler Syndrome There is no air in space; so particles fly through space at incredible rates of speed. Even the smallest particle can create enormous amounts of damage to whatever it hits. More importantly chain reactions are created as items collide – thus exponentially increasing the amount of space debris. There was a tremendous collision earlier this year. If the Kessler Syndrome happens, then it could render our satellites useless. We are now dependent on satellites for our voice and data communications. If those go down, our infrastructure goes down with it.
7. Global Warming. Is this real? I don’t know. If it is real, it will create enormous shifts in population and economic chaos. It will also lead to shortages of food and possible pandemics as once dormant threats become more active in the new climate.
8. Asteroid Collision. Will the earth be hit by an asteroid similar in scope to the one that put the dinosaurs out of business? I can say “yes” with almost 100% certainty. Will it happen in my or my children’s lifetime – probably not. The point is that we don’t know when it might happen; so, for any chance at long term survival we all need to be prepared at all times. We have near misses quite regularly – in 1989 an asteroid passed through a spot where the earth was only 6 hours before. It would have had the impact of a nuclear weapon wherever it struck.
9. Super-Volcano. Like the ELE type asteroid, this is another 100% certainty. It will happen at some point – why not always be prepared? The ash in the atmosphere could block a significant portion of the sun’s heat for many years.
10. Geomagnetic Reversal. Most scientists don’t think this will be an ELE (extinction level event) since it will mostly likely happen slowly over thousands of years. However, there are a few scientists who believe that the shift does not occur linearly but exponentially. This could leave the earth unprotected from solar radiation for a long period of time (decades? centuries?). See the Moon for an example of a body that is not protected from solar radiation.